I'm an Associate Professor in the Business Computer Technology Department at Pellissippi State Community College in Knoxville, Tennessee and teach Word, Excel, Computer Applications (Word, Excel, Access), and Office Integration courses in traditional, hybrid and online formats. Over the years, our department has struggled on how to engage the students in the learning process for our online students and while outside of class for the traditional students. In addition, we wanted students to get immediate feedback as well as help on concepts taught. Our answer was the digital support of SAM Skill Assessment, Training, and Projects!

As with all computer skill courses, we had the constant problem of getting students to spend time/practice within the software packages. Students were also coming to us at various levels of understanding of these packages. The beauty of SAM Skill Assessment and Training is that it not only allows the students to work at their own pace, but to practice just the skills they lack in a simulated environment. With SAM projects, the students work directly within the software packages, but they still upload into SAM for grading. Students like getting that immediate feedback be it a SAM Path, Quiz, or Project. Our overall success rate has improved tremendously in our online classes in the Computer Application course since we have incorporated SAM into it. The reporting of grades is also a seamless process that our adjuncts and full-time faculty appreciate.