At a Glance
Institution:
Fanshawe College
Instructor:
Ryan Vatanchi
Course Name:
HRIS Data & Enquiry, Software Applications for HR Professionals, Information Management
Course Material in Use:
Nordell, Microsoft Office 365: In Practice, 2019 Edition
Resource in Use:
SIMnet
Course Type:
Hybrid and online
Integration:
Blackboard
Course Enrollment:
600 per year
Better Product, Better Price, Better Support
Before deciding to use SIMnet in his Human Resource Management courses, Ryan Vatanchi found that students tended to lack the technical skills required to be successful and that he did not have the necessary practice examples to help them gain those skills. Much of his time was spent with course management activities such as creating custom tutorial videos, providing detailed feedback for each assignment, and grading MS Office exercises. Each of these laborious activities took valuable time away that he could have used in creating new content, teaching his students, and providing additional help. He also found it frustrating that he lacked the data to identify how long students spent on assignments and reviewing instructional content. He also could not easily measure which skills each student struggled with most so that he could provide custom and additional practice for based on each student’s individual needs.
Luckily, Professor Vatanchi discovered that SIMnet fulfilled all of these wishes and more.
“I was very pleased with the pricing as well – I was happy to let my Associate Dean know the value my students were getting with SIMnet and saving money at the same time. Better product, better price, better support.”
Professor Vatanchi found the SIMnet platform intuitive and easy to navigate when he was first introduced to the product. In particular, he liked the instructional videos and the ability to choose what would be required versus optional for students. SIMnet provided his course with deep LMS integration, reassuring him that grades would be automatically captured and synced with the course gradebook. He also appreciated that SIMnet gave students the option to work on content they got wrong on assignments to further hone their skills. The platform was also accessible to students for life, allowing them to continue to learn and master their Office platform skills even after the course was finished.
Compared to other products, Professor Vatanchi found SIMnet to be easier to use and was overall a better experience for students. Students tended to spend more time on SIMnet practicing exercises and ultimately mastering skills.
When Professor Vatanchi began the implementation process for SIMnet, he found the process straightforward with the McGraw Hill support team helping him every step of the way. He booked regular touch-points with his dedicated support team and would email them with additional questions, receiving quick responses. He and his support team put together a timeline for building his course so that he did not feel rushed and could ensure he built in everything he desired for his course.
“It’s nice to know that we’re in good hands and dealing with professionals who would get things done and not waste our time, plus they’re fun to work with, which is a big deal for me personally.”
Professor Vatanchi currently assigns between 60% and 100% of course grades to SIMnet, depending on the course. Students are assigned weekly content to practice skills and submit as small evaluations in addition to exams using SIMnet.
Since using SIMnet in his courses, Professor Vatanchi has found that students are better engaged with course material and have the opportunity to do extra practice if they need it. Overall, students are learning the skills faster and retaining them better than ever. As a result, faculty are able to spend more time working with students to cover essential skills and answer their questions, rather than manually grading or moving grades to the LMS. SIMnet has also allowed for greater consistency across different course sections, ensuring that students are learning skills in the same way and making course data easier to accurately compare. The built-in instructional videos were also helpful to provide students with tutorials before class so that class time could be used for reviewing sample practice rather than repeating the basics.
“SIMnet helps me know where my class is at with each chapter, so if extra emphasis is needed on certain skills then I can do that when we meet in person.”
Students have told Professor Vatanchi that they find the platform easy to use and navigate with many tools and options to help them practice the skills they need. Digital badging was also a huge hit in Professor Vatanchi’s course with over 60% of students participating in just the first semester he used SIMnet. A large portion of his students are international and language barriers can be a challenge, so Professor Vatanchi finds the translation option has received positive feedback from students.
“I find SIMnet to be a huge enabler, because as an instructor I can show every student where to focus based on their strengths/weaknesses and create custom work such as homework and evaluations to help them improve concepts they struggle with or got wrong on an exam.”
Instructor Profile
Ryan Vatanchi is Professor of Human Resources Management at Fanshawe College in London, Ontario. He is a seasoned educator and HR consultant with a proven track record of contributing to student and business success. Championing effective course design and “out of the box” delivery to provide measurable value and enhanced learning experience, Professor Vatanchi thrives on leveraging technology to improve what it means to be an educator in today’s digital world. As an educator, Professor Vatanchi is a passionate professional committed to bringing real world industry experience to the classroom, combined with engaging experiential learning to enhance the student experience. Professor Vatanchi is a certified change management practitioner with proven industry track record in partnering with business leaders to bring effective HR practices in support of change enablement.
Specialties and areas of interest: Online Course Design & Delivery |HR Technology & Information Systems (HRIS) |HR Metrics & Analytics |HR Transformation |ADKAR Methodology-Prosci (Change Management) | Strategic HR Planning |HR Digital Transformation| Excel for HR
Recommendations from Professor Vatanchi
Leverage the support team for best practices. Once you run SIMnet for a couple of semesters you will figure out how to make it work best for your needs.
Use the existing options/features until you get comfortable with the platform. SIMnet is a great platform as is, so baby steps make sense because you can have confidence in its quality.
Assign the projects (both guided and independent) so students get enough practice and exposure – you can certainly make the guided ones optional and keep track of adoption rate among students.