Instructors Get Free Courseware
Frank Lucente | Assoc. Professor at Westmoreland County Comm. College
Frank started using TestOut Office Pro and TestOut IT Fundamentals Pro online courseware in 2020. He’s seen some incredible results.
Kim Arlia | Adjunct professor at Central Piedmont College
Busy adjunct frees up her time while helping more non-traditional and working students by reducing face-to-face class time with TestOut Office Pro.
Spencer DeGraw | Professor and Program Director at Ensign College
Spencer's TestOut Pro certified IT students get the same jobs & pay as 4-year degree grads with the level playing field that TestOut courseware provides.
Jed Patrick | IT Prog. Coordinator at Mountainland Applied Technology
TestOut Pro Certifications put students in a hands-on testing environment where they can prove what they can do.
Kris Rosenberg | Professor & Program Dir. at Oregon Institute of Technology
TestOut Pro Certifications help schools emphasis skills-based training curriculums that produce job-ready graduates.
Bill Baur | Professor at Sussex Community College
Professor has extra time to motivate students because TestOut Office Pro saves him hassles and headaches grading and tracking students' progress.
Frank Lucente has taught technology courses for 40 years at Westmoreland County Community College in Youngwood, Pennsylvania. He’s previously turned down administrative positions, so he could stay in the classroom. He’s fun and engaging, the kind of teacher students love.
Frank and the other instructors in his department have been using TestOut Office Pro and TestOut IT Fundamentals Pro online courseware since 2020. He’s seen some incredible results, including grades going up by 22% and completion rates being up by 13%.
Frank recollects his transition journey over the past few years: “With everything happening with Covid and all, I was really getting tired.”
It even got to the point where Frank considered leaving his teaching career, but then TestOut gave him the boost and support he needed to turn things around:
“I was talking retirement, and now I don’t even see it in the near future. Working with TestOut was like an infusion of something that made me want to teach more. I’m not saying TestOut is the new Geritol, but it might be. It made me feel like I was making a difference again.”
…including grades going up by 22% and completion rates up by 13%
Up until the beginning of 2020, Frank and his teaching partner used another publisher for 30-40 course sections. Soon after the Covid pandemic began, they transitioned to 100% remote learning. They started a laptop distribution program, which became a nightmare,
and they didn't have enough IT equipment to share.
A lot of parents purchased Chromebooks and students experienced many problems getting the other publishers’ materials to work on Macs and Chromebooks. Frank and his partner determined they needed to find a better solution fast.
Frank remembered hearing about TestOut and championed the switch in his department. His decisive actions helped them salvage their courses, mid-semester.
With TestOut, students consistently had successful remote learning experiences, regardless of their computer type.
After returning to in-person instruction in 2022, Frank and his department continue to use TestOut because it works great in their classrooms as well.
In the past, when Frank put his course curriculum together, he would have to do web searches to find videos. Now with TestOut, up-to-date videos and auto-graded lab assignments are embedded in the course, and the information flows very easily for his students, which is something he said is very needed in their experience.
There are many other reasons Frank likes using TestOut, including TestOut's LabSim learning platform environment that is very consistent and easy to learn. He finds it’s intuitive for students in each course segment to follow the same pattern and know where all of the learning components can be found in one place.
Frank had this to say about TestOut’s Customer Success team:
Summarizing the top three reasons he likes TestOut, Frank said, “The environment is the first thing. The second is reliability. And the third is the support. You put all those together, and you’ve got a product serving and helping the teacher.”
With TestOut, students could have successful remote learning experiences, regardless of their computer type.
Frank shared his exciting results using TestOut for his two course types, CPT 145 Intro to Computers and CPT 150 Microcomputer Concepts. He created these statistics using the last semester he used a previous publisher and the most recent semester using TestOut courseware as a comparison:
With TestOut’s auto-graded labs and assessments, Frank has a lot more time to spend with his wife, they love to go golfing. Plus, he enjoys doing things to help less experienced instructors in his department succeed.
Frank ended his story with:
“As you can see, things have dramatically changed with your product. The process of working with TestOut has rejuvenated me. I'm excited about this new alliance’s potential and frankly feel that I will be around for a while now.”
Would you like to explore how TestOut can help you achieve your goals for your Intro to Computers and Microsoft Office classes?
Frank Lucente | Assoc. Professor at Westmoreland County Comm. College
Frank started using TestOut Office Pro and TestOut IT Fundamentals Pro online courseware in 2020. He’s seen some incredible results.
Kim Arlia | Adjunct professor at Central Piedmont College
Busy adjunct frees up her time while helping more non-traditional and working students by reducing face-to-face class time with TestOut Office Pro.
Spencer DeGraw | Professor and Program Director at Ensign College
Spencer's TestOut Pro certified IT students get the same jobs & pay as 4-year degree grads with the level playing field that TestOut courseware provides.
Jed Patrick | IT Prog. Coordinator at Mountainland Applied Technology
TestOut Pro Certifications put students in a hands-on testing environment where they can prove what they can do.
Kris Rosenberg | Professor & Program Dir. at Oregon Institute of Technology
TestOut Pro Certifications help schools emphasis skills-based training curriculums that produce job-ready graduates.
Bill Baur | Professor at Sussex Community College
Professor has extra time to motivate students because TestOut Office Pro saves him hassles and headaches grading and tracking students' progress.
