SAM 2007 v. 1.0 will be released in June with tasks covering our Introductory Office textbooks, with more tasks to be added approximately every six months. The initial tasks will cover the four core Microsoft Office 2007 applications—Word, Excel, PowerPoint, and Access, as well as Internet Explorer 7, Outlook, and Windows. Each task will have two assessment scenarios, as well as a training scenario.

The SAM team built the initial task list based on three criteria:

• The most popular tasks from SAM 2003;
• Tasks that reflect the new features and functionality of Office 2007; and
• Tasks that cover the skills focused on in the Introductory Office books in the Shelly Cashman, New Perspectives, and Illustrated series.

The scenarios offer a mix of both liberal arts and business settings, designed to cater to a variety of students.  Here are some examples:

Word
Ice Cream Shop
Construction Company
Errand Service

Excel
Day Care Center
Sandwich Shop
Gym Franchise

PowerPoint
Photography Club
Science Fair
Animal Shelter

Access
Adventure Cruise Line
Rental Company
Sports Logo Company

Beginning in March, your sales representative will have an assessment and training demo containing 10 fully functioning tasks available to show you..  Be sure to ask about it!

Want a sneak preview? Visit http://samcentral.course.com

In Nicole Pinard’s post, “Remembering the Past and Preparing for the Future,” she described how in her early days as an Editorial Assistant at Course Technology, she was told about our unique Manuscript Quality Assurance (MQA) process. In this post, we share more about how this process works.

The MQA team works to produce technically accurate and functionally impeccable products. We are responsible for ensuring a seamless interaction between the published text of our books and the software that each book teaches or demonstrates. We are also responsible for the technical review of ancillary materials: Data files, Solution files, Instructor Resource Kits, some aspects of Instructor’s Manuals, etc.

Now that you know what we do, here is how we do it: An MQA tester wears two hats, that of a knowledgeable technician with regard to certain software and computer concepts, and that of a student.

Primarily, the MQA tester verifies all steps or instructions, book figures, references, and related files by key-stroking each book as if an end-user. The instructional steps in a text should be written in such a way that following them produces the described or pictured end-result. The three-step process includes: validating the accuracy of steps, validating the accuracy of references, and validating the accuracy of files.

The MQA tester also takes on a “student” role when testing each book. This role takes on varying importance according to the level at which a certain book is written (for beginning, intermediate, or advanced audiences with regard to computer literacy). Especially in texts geared to beginning computer concepts and applications, the MQA tester repeatedly asks if the text is keeping to its intended audience. Are there any terms that stick out as too advanced? Does a series of steps seem tricky because of vagueness of word choice or direction?

The MQA team plays a key role in the development of our products. While the MQA process adds extra time to the production of our texts, we think these efforts are essential to producing courseware of the highest quality that makes the learning process easier for both students and instructors.

Christian Kunciw, MQA Supervisor