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.
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.
After 20 years working in the IT industry at companies like Novell, Symantec, and IBM, Spencer DeGraw and his wife followed their dream of owning a bed and breakfast and moved across the country to Salt Lake City, Utah. To stay connected with IT, DeGraw became an adjunct professor at Ensign College.
At the time, Ensign primarily offered business-related associate degrees and only one technology degree. Spencer pointed out the high demand for skilled IT grads and proposed that the school offer more IT degrees. He was then promoted to the position of director and tasked with building the program.
Spencer met the school-wide initiative to move toward the Flipped Classroom model and to focus on hands-on, skills-based learning when he integrated TestOut’s LabSim courseware: “I saw the LabSim environment and was really excited about it. Our students watch the videos, do the labs, and take the quizzes on their own time, while in-class time is spent having short, meaningful discussions and then jumping into hands-on exercises. The students have fun and look forward to class, and the teachers love it because they don’t have to spend as much time lecturing.”
Ensign College now offers ten technology associate degrees. Six of them utilize TestOut Pro courses and certifications. Spencer said, "The reason that I love TestOut is that it's allowed me to scale myself very quickly when I was building out our IT program because they provide me with a lot of the data and the content, which allowed me to focus on going more in-depth to provide deep-learning opportunities."
"Having my students put their Pro Certifications on their resumes gives them confidence going into interviews. It levels the playing field, and they are getting the same jobs and the same pay as the four- year degree grads.”
In addition to CompTIA, Microsoft, and Cisco certifications, Spencer decided to offer the TestOut Pro certifications as an option to students. But he found that, as with other certifications, few students got around to taking them, even with a complimentary voucher. “We’d push how important getting certified was to the students. It’s one thing to have a degree in IT, but when you go into that job interview, the company wants to know which certifications and hard core knowledge you have, not just a generic IT degree from some college.”
One issue Spencer saw was that his class schedules didn’t cover all the course sections, so to prepare for certifications, students had to motivate themselves to study on their own. This is when DeGraw tailored his course schedules around the Pro certifications: “When I made the Pro certifications required finals, the students took the classes and getting certified more seriously and were more prepared to talk to employers come graduation.” Integrating the exams had its challenges. With a lot of course content, Spencer had to strategically choose sections to focus on.
All in all, Spencer’s program growth and success can be attributed not to the Pro certifications alone, but to how they’re included with the TestOut course curriculum: “The Pro certifications are absolutely imperative and critical to our program, but it’s how they’re integrated with the rest of the course curriculum that makes them truly valuable. I tell the students that it’s not just about passing the class, but they’ve got to know their stuff. It’s about preparing them for a real job, and the LabSim curriculum, tailored around the Pro certifications, is the best solution I’ve found to help our program accomplish this. We use everything TestOut offers. I wish they made more.”
"We’ve had 100 percent job placement, so the fact the Pro certifications are new hasn’t been an issue for us."
Spencer’s classes currently have a 75 percent pass rate with the Pro certifications, and a fair amount of students who fail buy a retake voucher and take the exams again. He has found it effective to use the Pro certifications as an incentive to his students: “Many of them are worried that they’re not learning everything that other students at the bachelor programs are learning, but both are competing for the same jobs. That’s why we emphasize the Pro certifications. Having my students put their Pro certifications on their resumes gives them confidence going into interviews. It levels the playing field, and they are getting the same jobs and the same pay as the four-year degree grads.”
Spencer has found that even though the Pro certifications are new and not as well known among employers, HR people accept them. “We tell the students that since the exams are new, they’ll have to explain the performance-based difference. We’ve had 100 percent job placement, so the fact the Pro certifications are new hasn’t been an issue for us.”
"It levels the playing field, and they are getting the same jobs and the same pay as the four-year degree grads."
“First, I recommend using the Flipped Classroom model so your students stay engaged. Second, use the Pro certifications as finals for your classes. Go through the exam objectives and see which sections cover them, and make sure to use the custom exam builder to assess your students on the objectives. I came from the IT industry, so I understand the power of certifications, but
they’re not all created equal. If I’m the hiring manager, I know that some people can pass a multiple-choice test without actually knowing how to do the job. That’s the differentiator for the TestOut Pro certifications. Even though they’re not as well known, this hasn’t been a problem for our students. The employers we work with accept the exams, and our students are getting jobs. Really, it’s silly not to use the Pro certifications in your program. Your students get an exam voucher included with the course, and you have the authority as an instructor to require them to get certified, which gives you confidence in knowing that they have the skills and are job ready when they leave your program.”
Request free instructor access to get started setting up your class up with TestOut 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.
