Providing the correct materials for your students
Within SIMnet there are multiple book series created by separate authors. This gives your school the ability to select the appropriate series for your needs. It also means that some parts of SIMnet are accessible or inaccessible to your students depending upon what your school has elected to make available to students. When you are setting up your course, be sure to review your materials and ensure that the materials you selected will be available to your students.
When a course offers materials that are not provided with the license purchased by a student, they will receive a Missing modules notification on the assignments that require a book the student did not purchase.
SIMnet books largely cover either the four major Microsoft Office applications: Access, Excel, PowerPoint and Word; or additional materials like general Computer Concepts and additional applications like Microsoft Outlook.
SIMnet offers book series that are specifically written to the 2016 version of Microsoft Office and the 365/2019 version of Office.
The Skills Approach series features the four main Microsoft applications: Access, Excel, PowerPoint and Word. The Office level book encompasses the introductory chapters of all four applications and the introductory Essential Skills for Microsoft Office. This includes the first five chapters of Word and Excel, and the first four chapters of Access and PowerPoint.
Also included with the Office level book are the Skills Approach Internet Browsers, Outlook, and Windows 10 & File Management books as well as the Standalone Computer Concepts book and Technology at Your Service.
Each application also has a Complete book. The Complete books include the introductory chapters of each application and additional chapters. The Word book includes 9 chapters and 2 addendums on Mailing and advanced features. The Excel book includes 10 chapters. The Access book includes 8 chapters and 1 addendum. The PowerPoint book includes 8 chapters.
Each Complete book also includes Internet Browsers, Outlook, Windows 10 & File Management, Computer Concepts and Technology at Your Service.
The In Practice book series features the four main Microsoft applications: Access, Excel, PowerPoint and Word. The Office level book encompasses the introductory chapters of all four applications and the introductory Essential Skills for Microsoft Office. The introductory chapters include the first four chapters of Word, Excel and Access, and the first three chapters of PowerPoint.
Also included with the Office level book are the Standalone Internet Browsers, Outlook, Windows 10 & File Management, and Standalone Computer Concepts books and Technology at Your Service.
Each application also has a Complete book. The Complete books include the introductory chapters of each application and additional chapters. The Word book includes 12 chapters. The Excel book includes 11 chapters. The Access book includes 10 chapters. The PowerPoint book includes 7 chapters.
Each Complete book also includes Internet Browsers, Outlook, Windows 10 & File Management, Computer Concepts and Technology at Your Service.
Microsoft Office Specialist exams are a well-recognized certification. Microsoft offers Associate level exams in Excel, Word, and PowerPoint (but not Access). Microsoft offers Expert level exams in Access, Excel and Word (but not PowerPoint).
SIMnet offers the 365/2019 MOS Office SIMbook complementary with all 365/2019 Office Level licenses. The 365/2019 MOS Office SIMbook includes content for the three Microsoft Office Specialist Associate level exams (Excel, Word, and PowerPoint) and for the Access Expert level exam (coming soon).
SIMnet also offers individual SIMbooks for each Office Application that come with each edition of the Complete book series:
365/2019 Access comes with the MOS Access Expert SIMbook (coming soon)
365/2019 Excel comes with the MOS Excel Associate SIMbook
365/2019 PowerPoint comes with the MOS PowerPoint Associate SIMbook
365/2019 Word comes with the MOS Word Associate SIMbook
The SIMnet Standalone series features the four main Microsoft applications: Access, Excel, PowerPoint and Word. The Office level book encompasses the introductory chapters of all four applications and the introductory Essential Skills for Microsoft Office. This includes the first five chapters of Word and Excel, and the first four chapters of Access and PowerPoint.
Also included with the Office level book are Internet Browsers, Outlook, and Windows 10 & File Management books as well as the Standalone Computer Concepts book and Technology at Your Service.
Standalone books are written for a single application. Each book includes the introductory chapters of each application and additional chapters. The Word book includes 9 chapters and an addendums on Mailing. The Excel book includes 10 chapters. The Access book includes 8 chapters and 1 addendum. The PowerPoint book includes 8 chapters.
Each Complete book also includes Internet Browsers, Outlook, Windows 10 & File Management, Computer Concepts and Technology at Your Service.
The Computing Essentials textbook includes 13 chapters on using technology and computers both as a consumer and a professional.
At its core, each SIMbook is a series of concepts for students to learn and skills for students to master. These skills may come one to a page or three to a page or more. SIMnet seamlessly transitions these many skills and concepts into single interactivities in a SIMbook, single questions on an Exam, or single points on a Project. This is accomplished through the Student Learning Objective.
The Objective denotes the location of the information on the SIMbook page by the book series, version, application, chapter, and page. For example, one Student Learning Objective would look like this: SA19-WD-02.01. This SLO is from the Skills Approach book series, Office 2019/365 version, Word application, Chapter 2, Skill 1.
Student Learning Objectives can be used to compare different SIMbook series to determine which parts are covered. They can be used to review Project Results to determine how a student did on each skill, throughout the project. SLO can be used to review Report Types by organized by Objective and Report Types organized by Question.
