Schools Replace Textbook with
TestOut’s LabSim Training
Need: An Affordable, Up-to-Date IT Curriculum
High schools, colleges, and career centers search for the best ways to provide their IT students
high-quality training experiences while keeping costs within budgets that are often constrained.
Many institutions that need to cut costs limit the budget for teaching materials, causing instructors
to feel that a traditional textbook is the only curriculum option. “I don’t want to use a textbook
because it goes out of date so quickly,” said Charles Thompson, teacher at Middleburg High
School in Florida. Instructors like Thompson look elsewhere for an affordable, long-term curriculum resource they can count on to fully prepare their IT students for certifications and careers.
Solution: TestOut’s LabSim Training Is Self-Supporting
Many schools, colleges, and career centers have replaced their IT textbooks with TestOut’s
LabSim certification training courses as they’ve discovered that LabSim trains IT students more
fully than many texts. As a sole curriculum resource, LabSim is more effective than a textbook
because, in addition to text lessons, it offers instructional videos, hand-on labs, and exams with
immediate feedback—all in a single interface that can be accessed from any computer online.
At Sno-Isle Skills Center in Washington State, instructor Tory Klementsen has chosen to use LabSim
certification training instead of a textbook because textbooks change so quickly, but the material
in LabSim online updates automatically. She admits it is frustrating to invest in a curriculum only to
see CompTIA revise exam objectives the next year. “It’s worth it to me knowing that TestOut
always keeps LabSim courses up to date,” she said.
William Schlick, Computer Information Systems professor at Schoolcraft College in Michigan, said
that, in the past, he used a standard textbook in his classes to supplement TestOut’s LabSim
training. “I found the books completely unnecessary because LabSim is totally self-supporting,”
he said. Schlick discontinued the use of a textbook and now relies fully on LabSim and his own
lectures in class.
Schlick utilizes the different teaching methods in LabSim to support each other. For example, he
encourages students to use LabSim’s written lessons as checklists when they watch the videos.
Or, if students are working on a lab and get snagged, he encourages them to use the written
explanation to get through. “If they’re doing a lab or watching a video and realize they already
know the material, they can move on to the next. They love that the videos are always available
to review or to use as a reference when they have questions,” Schlick said.
Result: Students Gain Skills, Confidence, and Certifications after Training with LabSim
TestOut’s LabSim training courses have supported Thompson, Klementsen, and Schlick in preparing students to pass certification exams, and most of their students have passed on the first
attempt. Without relying on a textbook, their students are gaining hands-on IT skills, as well as
confidence to succeed in IT careers, from a convenient, always-up-to-date source.