Use SIMskill' built-in screen reader to read your lessons, Let Me Try, Guide Me, and Show Me
SIMskills offers a built-in text reader that will read your lesson text without the need to download or install any additional software. Lesson content also have the added Translation feature.
When you navigate to your Lesson assignment, the Text To Speech button is available in the upper right corner. You can click on the button directly or press the Tab key once to select it.
Clicking on the button begins the audio at the top of the page, working through the entire page. When the audio player begins
The Pause/Resume button starts the text reader and pauses it, holding the current location on the screen.
The Stop button stops playing. Upon resuming text, the reader will begin at the top of the screen.
The Volume button controls the volume of the audio. Clicking the button brings up the Volume slider which you can click and drag to raise and lower the volume of the speech.
The Close Player button will stop speech and minimize the player to the top right corner of the page.
If you would only like to hear audio for an individual portion of the page, you can select the text you would like to conver to speech directly. Select the text you would like to hear by clicking and dragging across all of the desired text. Below the text you will see a mini player popup. Click the Listen to this selection text button in the middle of the player to hear the selected text. The reader will stop at the end of the highlighted selection.
You can use the Translate this selection button to translate the selected text in your SIMbook and Lesson. Select the text you would like to translate and click the Translate this selection button.
All translations are generated by software powered by Google Translate. As such there may be issues with the translation as compared with a translation prepared by a human translator.
Select the language you would like to translate the selected text into. There are many different translation options. Once you have selected your desired language, review the note about automatically generated translations and select I Understand to dismiss the note.
Use the controls to Play, Stop, Increase text size, Decrease text size, Change volume of speech, and Change reading speed. You can also increase the size of the window to take up the entire screen and close the window using the controls in the upper right corner.
The Reading Speed button controls the speed of the text. Clicking the button brings up the Reading Speed slider which you can click and drag to raise and lower the speed of the speech.
Lesson navigation includes access to your courses, the table of contents, glossary, bookmarks, search, and print.
SIMnet Lessons and SIMbooks are interactive ebooks that includes a glossary, key terms, bookmarks, highlights and notes, search, and print. Each Lesson and SIMbook also contains interactive Teach Me, Show Me, Guide Me, Let Me Try exercises.
The courses shelf contains the SIMskills courses associated with your license.
Click the Table of Contents button to display the table of contents for the current book and chapter on the left side of the screen. Click any chapter to see the specific tasks that chapter covers. Click a task title in any chapter to navigate to that task.
The Glossary will appear on the left side of the page and contains all terms found in the current book. Click a term to display its definition as well as a link to view associated pages.
You can bookmark any page in the SIMbook so you can easily return to it at another time. You can tell which pages are bookmarked because the Bookmark button will appear with a solid blue background.
The title of the current SIMbook chapter or Lesson assignment will always appear in the top header of the SIMbook.
You can easily search for content in the SIMbook by clicking the Search button, typing the word or phrase you want to search for, and pressing Enter. The results will display all of the instances of your search criteria in the book. Click any of the results to navigate to that page.
Click the Accessibility options button to display a message box. Here, you can increase or decrease the font size as well as the line height. You can also enable or disable high contrast mode.
Print the current page by clicking the Print button. A message box will appear reminding you to select the correct print settings in your browser.
At any time, you can exit out of the SIMbook by clicking the Exit button.
You can highlight important text in the SIMbook just like you would in a textbook with a highlighter. Simply click and drag your mouse to highlight the text and it will appear with a blue background. The highlight will be saved and every time you return to the SIMbook page, it will appear highlighted. You can click the highlighted text to delete it, convert it to a note, or convert it to a hyperlink.
The Note button appears next to most paragraphs and images on the SIMbook page. Click the button to type a note about the content. Once you have added a note, the button becomes darker and a number appears indicating how many notes have been added. Click the button at any time to review your notes.
Easily step back to the previous page in the SIMbook by clicking the arrow button on the left side of the screen. Or, you can advance to the next page in the SIMbook by clicking the arrow button on the right side of the screen. When you roll your mouse over either button, the title of the next or previous page displays.
Completing Show Me, Guide Me, and Let Me Try interactive exercises.
The Show Me, Guide Me, and Let Me Try exercises can be found in Lessons. These three exercise types can be taken an unlimited number of times depending on the settings your instructor has enabled.
Success: The best way to master a skill is to complete the Show Me, Guide Me, and Let Me Try exercises in order.
The Show Me is a video that shows you the necessary steps to complete a task. Audio narration helps you follow along as you watch each step being completed in the application. This exercise is not interactive but you are able to pause and replay portions of the video.
The instruction text appears at the top of the window and is just the text version of what the narrator is saying. This text will update throughout the duration of the Show Me.
The title of the task always appears in the heading of the Show Me window for reference.
You can play or pause the video at any time during the Show Me. Once you click the Pause button, the icon will change to the play option. Click the Play button to resume the video.
You can easily start the Show Me from the beginning at any time by clicking the Restart button.
Several round circles, or checkpoints, appear on the timeline at the bottom of each Show Me. Each checkpoint is filled in with a solid blue color as the timeline progresses throughout the video. Click a checkpoint anywhere on the timeline to skip to that portion of the Show Me.
A counter appears below the timeline that shows the time that has passed since the beginning of the Show Me.
Click the Mute button to mute the audio narration but continue watching the video. If you choose not to listen to the audio, the instruction text will still appear at the top of the window and reflect what the narrator is saying.
The Guide Me is an interactive exercise that guides you through each task step-by-step. Each step gives you one specific instruction that you must complete correctly to advance and you have an unlimited number of attempts for each step. Continue answering each step until you've reached the end of the Guide Me.
As you progress through each step of the Guide Me, the box in the upper left corner will indicate which step you're currently on and how many total steps there are in the Guide Me.
The instruction text appears at the top of the window and tells you what action is expected.
The title of the task always appears in the heading of the Guide Me window for reference.
If, after reading the instruction text, you are still unclear what action to take, click the Show Hint button. The hint text will appear alongside the instruction text and the item of note will be highlighted on screen.
The Let Me Try uses the same simulated interface as an exam question and requires you to recall what you learned in the Show Me and Guide Me to complete it.
Success: The Let Me Try exercise is graded for completion only, so there is no harm in exploring the interface or answering incorrectly.
The box in the upper left corner will indicate which step you're currently on and how many total steps there are in the Let Me Try.
The instruction text appears at the top of the window and tells you what action to take to answer each step correctly.
The title of the task always appears in the heading of the Guide Me window for reference.
Click the Show Hint button to display the hint text, which will appear alongside the instruction text.
Click the button for each exercise to launch the Show Me, Guide Me, or Let Me Try. View the Show Me, Guide Me, Let Me Try section to learn more.
Each time you attempt to complete a step in the Guide Me, a message box will appear indicating whether or not you were correct. If you did not complete the step correctly, a red message box with the headingIncorrect appears. Review the hint and click the Continue button to try again. If you did complete the step correctly, a green message box with the headingCorrect appears. Click the Next button to continue. If it is the last step of the Guide Me, click the Continue button to advance to the Let Me Try or the Close button close the exercise.
Info: If the Show Hint options isn't available your instructor may have required you attempt the Let Me Try a number of times before being able to get a hint.
Each time you complete a step in the Let Me Try, a message box will appear indicating whether or not you were correct. If you did not complete the step correctly, a red message box with the headingIncorrect appears. Review the hint and click the Continue button to try again. If you did complete the step correctly, a green message box with the headingCorrect appears. Click the Next button to continue. If it is the last step of the Let Me Try, click the Continue button to advance to the next task or the Close button close the exercise.
