Audience Analysis
Public Speaking for Everyone helps students take an audience-centered approach. Our audience analysis feature prompts students to think critically about who they’re speaking to.
Through questions like “What is your age range?” and “How important is religious faith in your life?” students gather data that deepens their understanding of their classmates’s perspectives and values.
Students reflect on audience data before each speech. This process not only helps them craft more effective messages but also reinforces good habits for analyzing their audience every time they prepare.
Visit soomo.co/publicspeaking to learn more!
#highered #publicspeaking #studentsuccess
CTwAI Chatboxes
A recent survey from Inside Higher Ed (soomo.co/AI-survey) found that a large number of undergrads don’t know how and when to use AI appropriately. We designed Critical Thinking with AI to support faculty in teaching students how to engage with AI. In this video, author Adrienne Kaufmann shows how students interact with AI chatboxes in the text.
Through structured activities, students practice interacting with AI. They reflect on their interactions in writing templates, which instructors can review and leave feedback on.
As the authors highlight in our blog post (soomo.co/blog-AI), “The goal here is to teach [students] that in order to use AI effectively, they have got to incorporate their own critical thinking.”
Learn more at soomo.co/AI.
#highered #AIeducation #edtech
Webtext Racing
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
Inclusive Syllabus Study
We really like this recent study from Worcester Polytechnic Institute (WPI) (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 soomo.co/ihe-inclusive-syllabus. 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 soomo.co/inclusive-syllabus-guide.
#highered #freeresources #inclusiveeducation
Critical Thinking with AI
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
National Intern Day 2024
Our interns are incredible—and no, an intern did not write this. We really mean it! Our interns 👏 put 👏 in 👏 the 👏 work. In celebration of #NationalInternDay, we asked our current interns—Kaylee, Ryan, Sam, and Nate—to share what work they’re most proud of doing this summer.
Research Spotlights
In this video, author Jennifer Harper walks us through Research Spotlights—a feature in our introductory psychology text that helps students build empirical and data literacy skills. We’ve included these activities in every chapter so that students can practice evaluating headline claims and identifying methods and variables in real research.
Visit soomo.co/psych to learn more about the text and how it’s aligned with the American Psychological Association’s Introductory Psychology Initiative (APA-IPI).
#highered #edtech #psychologytips
Soomo Emojis
For #WorldEmojiDay, we ranked our favorite and most-used emojis at Soomo. These are the ones we collectively decided we couldn’t live without—although some of us have very strong opinions about certain emojis that didn’t make the cut. We won’t name names. But Ryan Madden, just know that :chompy: occupies a very special place in our hearts.
Our emoji thumbprint captures a lot of what it’s like to work at Soomo. We laugh, praise, and thank each other all the time. And of course, we do a lot of frantic typing too—and occasionally try to disappear like Homer Simpson sinking into the hedge.
These emojis can tell you a lot about us. But if you want to know even more, visit soomolearning.com.
Credits:
Thank You - Vaughn Fender
Keyboard Cat - AaronsAnimals (youtube.com/c/AaronsAnimals)
Cowboy Fingerguns - Our very own Rachel Garzarelli made this by modifying an original emoji from olivvybee
Cat Dance - YBM
All the Things - Allie Brosh
Simpson emojis - Slackmojis.com
#highered #edtech
Living Democracy Interactive Timelines
In Living Democracy, students use interactive timelines in each chapter to explore the evolution of an issue or policy. Each timeline event is labeled with a pathway of action—such as “courts” or “elections”—to help students see how political actors achieve their goals.
After each timeline, a series of questions encourages students to notice key events.
Want to see what other features are included in the webtext? Contact us for a demo! And visit soomo.co/living-dem to learn more.
#highered #edtech #studentsuccess
The Speaker Series_Meet the Students Clip
Meet Davidson, Madison, and Maddie—three students featured in Public Speaking for Everyone. We follow them through a series of videos as they prepare for their persuasive speeches. Watching real students talk about managing nerves, structuring outlines, and overcoming other challenges helps makes the course content more relatable.
Learn more about Public Speaking for Everyone at soomo.co/publicspeaking.
#highered #publicspeaking #studentsuccess
Global Beatles Day
In honor of #GlobalBeatlesDay, we asked some Soomoans to name their favorite Beatle. Our Creative Director said Yoko, and in totally unrelated news, we now have a job opening for Creative Director.
Just kidding! Happy Global Beatles Day, everyone!
Brown v. Board of Education
We heard from professors that intro-level students struggle to read landmark Supreme Court cases, like Brown v. Board of Education. To make studying landmark cases more engaging, we created our Supreme Court Stories video series. Each original video tells the story of a classic Supreme Court case and features some of the best storytellers in the discipline, including Dr. Michelle Deardorff.
Many of the videos are featured in Central Ideas in American Government, our best-selling webtext. You can learn more about its features and contents at soomo.co/am-gov.
To see the full video, go to soomo.co/brown-v-board.
#highered #edtech #politicalscience
