Soomo Learning

We’re so lucky to have an executive editor like Jenny Westrick, who deeply cares about instructors, students, and the webtexts we create to support them. Jenny leads our editorial team, overseeing the development of our interactive webtexts, including the ones we tailor-make for courses at specific universities. She’s motivated by the students who say we’ve helped them become confident and engaged learners—and also by the promise of one day being able to develop a webtext devoted entirely to the history of witches. Learn more about us at soomolearning.com! #leadership #highered #edtech

On your marks, get set, go! It’s easy for instructors to get started with Soomo. In this race, John Alfieri and Georgia Mason go head-to-head to see who can get into a webtext the fastest! If you are an instructor who wants to review any of our webtexts, you can get access in under a minute! All you have to do is visit soomolearning.com and click “Get Started” on our homepage or any catalog page. After filling out a short form, we’ll send you a link to confirm your email address and take you to a preview of any webtext you’re interested in. From there, you can even create your own course! Just answer a few questions, customize your table of contents (add, drop, or rearrange chapters), and we’ll handle the rest! Warning: there are flashing lights in this video. #highered #edtech

Learning is hard! That’s just one reason why we put so much effort into making our webtexts easy to use. We develop our webtext content and platform hand-in-hand, entirely in-house, to support effective learning. By following universal design principles, we strive to create smooth user experiences for everyone—but you don’t have to take our word for it! Whenever we’re working on new features, we ask ourselves questions like: “Can a student use this from a mobile device with intermittent access to data connections?” and “Will this interface work with the assistive technologies we know so many students rely on?” We have found considerations like these improve our product for all users. Beyond being easy to use, we also have to be there when students are ready to work. We’re very proud that our annual uptime record consistently exceeds 99.99%—meaning the number of users impacted by outages is extremely small. You can learn more about our platform at soomolearning.com/platform. #edtech #studentsuccess #highered

No matter which LMS you use—Canvas, Blackboard, Brightspace or another platform—we can seamlessly integrate with it. Our LTI Advantage integration (certified by 1EdTech Consortium) centralizes everything your students need in one place, from showing them scores and due dates to granting them one-click access to their webtext. Our LMS Specialist Maclin Sweeney and the rest of our Customer Success team are here to help you create a smooth learning experience for your students. You can learn more about what we offer at soomolearning.com/platform. #highered #edtech #studentsuccess

104 years ago today, the 19th Amendment was certified, officially completing the process that gave women the right to vote! In celebration, we’re sharing our much-loved parody video, Bad Romance: Women’s Suffrage. Go to soomolearning.com/suffrage for behind-the-scenes footage, teaching resources, and more! And if you can’t get enough of suffragists singing and dancing, we highly recommend “Suffs” on Broadway! #WomensEqualityDay #WomensRights #19thamendment #highered

Soomo webtexts don’t just make it easier for students to learn; they also make it easier for instructors to spot students who are struggling or falling behind. From their weekly email reports, instructors can quickly see which students have low completion or low scores, making it easier to reach out and offer support for students who need it. Want to see other features of our platform? Visit soomolearning.com/platform for more. #studentsuccess #highered #edtech 

Ever wanted to title a book? Now’s your chance! We’ve been developing a nonmajors biology webtext. And we want YOUR input on what we should call it. Some details to know: The book is designed to engage students who may only be taking biology as a requirement. Coauthors Farshad Tamari and Trevor Quirk make it a priority to connect the chapter content to real-world events and common experiences. The webtext focuses on the big ideas of biology so students can walk away understanding the most important concepts. Vote in the poll or comment with a title of your own! If you’d like to learn more about the book, you can read our new blog post about Farshad and his teaching philosophy at https://lnkd.in/ensKtGDZ.

We really like this recent study from Worcester Polytechnic Institute (soomo.co/syllabus-study). It found that students appreciate inclusive practices in the course syllabus. Inside Higher Ed published a great article about the findings, which you can read at https://lnkd.in/eBUAGcKF. And if you’re looking for some tips for making your syllabus more inclusive, our editors have put together a guide that can help! You can download it now for free at https://lnkd.in/dAJnBiNM. #highered #freeresources #inclusiveeducation

Take a tour of Critical Thinking with AI led by author and professor Adrienne Kaufmann! This resource, which only costs $10 per student for the fall semester, can be used as a supplement to any course to teach the ethical and effective use of AI. We’re currently offering a limited number of FREE sections (one per instructor) for the fall semester. Learn more at soomo.co/AI. #highered #edtech #studentsuccess #AIeducation

Did you catch the 200th episode of The PsychSessions Podcast? Dr. Elliot Aronson talks about how psychology has played a role in his personal life–such as in his relationship with his wife Vera (they’ve been married for 70 years!) and in his understanding of others. Applying the insights of psychology to our own lives is a major theme of our introductory webtext, Psychology in the Real World. We show students how studying the discipline can help them understand more about their own perceptions, feelings, and motivations. We emphasize the emotional, biological, and sociocultural factors behind who we are and how we see the world. You can listen to the episode with Dr. Aronson at soomo.co/psychsessions and learn more about our webtext at soomo.co/psych. #highered #studentsuccess #psychology