Decoding Project Names

#instructors #tips-tricks

The projects at the end of each SIMbook chapter are crafted carefully. They present a series of increasing challenges, that, together, help students move from acquiring new skills to perfecting them. Both A Skills Approach and the In Practice series have three levels of projects in SIMnet. Each of these types of projects have their own name to make it easier for instructors to select the project that fits the needs of their course.

In Practice

• Guided Projects provide step-by-step instructions to apply features, skills, and concepts. Screenshots guide students through the more challenging tasks.

• Independent Projects provide students with further opportunities to practice and apply skills, instructing them what to do, but not how to do it.

• Improve It projects are open-ended and allow students to use critical thinking and creativity to produce attractive professional documents.

A Skills Approach

• Skills Reviews assist students in applying the skills that they have learned by providing click-by-click instructions to complete the new skills from that chapter.

• Challenge Yourself projects work with few prompts. Students use skills that are broken into digestible instructions but not the correct button to push or where information is located.

• Fix It projects represent the use of finely honed skills. These can be treated like a practical exam for the skills in each chapter. Students are given broader instructions rather than prompts on how to complete the task in question.

Instructors may select projects based on how projects fit into their overall class structure. Some instructors use Projects as an exam during class time. They typically would use an Improve It or Fix It project for that purpose. Other instructors use Projects as homework assignments for skill building. They may prefer Guided Projects or Skill Reviews. And, as usual, instructors find brilliant ways to get more out of all of our SIMnet content than we imagine. Make Projects your own!