Testimonials

Let me applaud you on developing a simple yet elegant means of presenting ecological concepts. I am as excited about SimUText Ecology as I have been about anything in the academic arena lately.

Dr. Rocky Nation, Southern Wesleyan University

I thought the [SimUText] was just fantastic. The idea of having simulations embedded within the textbook is brilliant, and I think a vast majority of students cannot help but become engaged by this technology.

Jeffrey Holland, Purdue University

I definitely would use [SimUText] again. I think it's good that they can actually do hands-on work. I am a big supporter of learning that way rather than just reading and trying to remember, which only goes to their short-term memory anyway. [In SimUText] they have to read, but they also have to learn the ideas another way.

Katalin Szlavecz, Johns Hopkins University

My students and I are loving SimUText. The simulations are excellent and really do drive home points that students need to really comprehend. I really love the integration of a few study organisms across a variety of topics as was done for example with threespine sticklebacks in the Evolution module. It provides the depth and continuity that I want people to have, rather than flying from one organism to another.

John Carothers, Cabrillo College

I was impressed with how positive the student comments were. They really liked that [ecological] dynamics were presented in a dynamic way, and I think they like that the information is parceled out one screen at a time, so its less overwhelming than a textbook chapter.

Brendan Bohannan, University of Oregon

The [SimUText] simulations gave life to concepts that many students have difficulty understanding.

Howard Lasker, University of Buffalo

I think [SimUText] is definitely a great learning tool for students. The main benefit is the simulations and self-checks which really help students think about what they are doing and retain the information.

Heidi Pearson, Northeastern University

I thought [the SimUText chapters] were really accessible and did a nice job of keeping things simple. I think you met your goal of having a sufficient amount of content without too much text. Not having there be more than a few paragraphs of text before there is a question is really helpful for the students.

Richard Phillips, Indiana University

I am very impressed with the quality and the functionality of SimUText... The simulations are perfect, the questions are at the right level, you're walking them through it and demanding a response so they can't be passive like they can in lecture.

William Brown, SUNY Fredonia

I really liked the chapters in SimUText. This was my first foray into assigning online materials for a course, and I felt [SimUText] was bringing in nuances that I wasn't able to get to during my lectures. What I liked about SimUText is that it was bringing in more of the neat stuff.

Anne Lubbers, Centre College

One of my biggest problems is students don't read the text that I assign. By having them submit answers based on [chapters in SimUText], that's basically forcing them to read the textbook. They have to get in there, they have to read it, and they get something out of it. It is forcing better behavior.

Martha Phillips, St. Catherine University

[My students] said things made a lot more sense after they did the SimUText chapter. I go over the same things in lecture, but it was a really nice complement. I've got a big class. I can't ask questions in a 70 person class, I can't be very socratic. The SimUText chapter in a way replaces that socratic function that I'd like to do in class. It was a really nice mix of text and questions.

Steven Dobson, Auburn University

I really like the idea [of SimUText], I'm glad its out there. It didn't cause me any extra work, and it gave [my students] a way to practice the concepts.

Jeffrey Klemens, University of Pennsylvania

I think [SimUText] has got a great future. I would definitely use it again. I think it is really useful for the students to be more engaged in the text.

Jessica Forrest, University of Toronto

I think [SimUText] is fantastic. To me SimUText actualizes the electronic textbook, takes the electronic textbook to a whole new level. Right now, most electronic textbooks are just paper textbooks made electronic. They are trying to replicate the features from paper. They haven't pushed the paradigm. SimUText pushes the paradigm.

Chad Brassil, University of Nebraska

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