SolidProfessor May Newsletter: New Setting to Limit Review Tests for Students and Other New Features


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Happy May, instructors! We’ve had a lot of exciting changes take place over the last few months: a new Content Ambassador and a new Success Team member, new and updated courses, and new features like the ability to limit how many times your students can take review tests. Read below for more details!

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Limit the Number of Review Tests Available

Check out this new setting in the Class Details tab in the Admin Tools!

In response to your feedback, we’ve added the option to set a limit for how many times your students can take the Review Tests at the end of each of your assignments. To set a limit, go to the Class Details tab in your Admin Tools, select the setting and enter the number of retakes available to your students:

If you set a limit for Review Tests, here’s what it will look like for students (you can preview any of your assignments in the “Classes” section of your account):

As before, if you choose to include a Baseline Test in your assignments, it will only be available to your students once. The Baseline Test kicks off each of your assignments with a few questions and functions as a diagnostic to gauge what your students know before starting on the lessons you’ve assigned.

New Format for Hands-on Exercises

Hands-on exercises are coupled with videos to provide guided practice in  2016 courses

Beginning in our 2016 courses, hands-on exercises and walk-through videos are easier to add to your assignments – they are now coupled in one lesson in the assignment video:

With their detailed, explicit instructions and included coaching video that helps students correct their own work, these hands-on exercises are best used as “guided practice” to help students start to employ the techniques they learned about in the lecture lessons. Don’t worry – we have new supplemental materials that you can use to give your students independent practice or assessments. These supplemental materials for SOLIDWORKS can be found here (you’ll find them in your Admin Tools soon), and we’ll be releasing materials for Inventor in the next few weeks.

New and Updated Courses

Our Content Team adds new courses and a new member to rapidly expand our Library

It’s been a busy spring! In addition to adding a number of new and updated courses, we have also added a new member to our Content Development Team. Bassanio Peters is spearheading our plans to rapidly expand the software and engineering topics for which we have content in our Library. To share software and topics you’d like to see, take this survey (no more than a few minutes of your time!).

This spring, we’ve added and updated the following courses. Click not the links to take a look!

SOLIDWORKS 101-Academic: this curriculum is a combination of lessons from our SOLIDWORKS for Beginners, SimulationXpress, and CSWA Prep courses. The 13 segments provide a suggested outline to learn the essential tools, functions, and skills required to pass the CSWA exam.

CSWA Prep: this course familiarizes you with the structure and style of the CSWA and walks you through sample exercises covering every aspect of the test.

SOLIDWORKS MBD Workshop: an introduction to the philosophy behind using Model-Based Definition in SOLIDWORKS.

Photoview 360: learn how to create photorealistic renderings of your parts and assemblies.

SOLIDWORKS Routing: this course teaches you how to create electrical, piping, cable, and other routed systems in your assemblies. Complex systems can be quickly created using components from the Routing Library, and there are many tools to help automate the process.

SOLIDWORKS Simulation: get familiar with the fundamentals of using the Simulation design validation software to analyze your parts and assemblies before manufacturing.

SOLIDWORKS Flow Simulation: in this course, you’ll learn the fundamentals of using Flow Simulation to analyze fluid flow and heat transfer effects within your parts and assemblies before manufacturing.

SOLIDWORKS Workgroup PDM: learn how to effectively manage your design data and revisions using SOLIDWORKS Workgroup PDM.

Surfacing: this course teaches you how to create simple and complex surfaces.

Solving Surfacing Errors: this workshop covers advanced techniques you can use when surface features won’t complete or thicken.

Toolbox and Design Library: this course is designed to introduce the SOLIDWORKS Design Library and Toolbox, along with some of their benefits and capabilities.

Intermediate Revit: explore more intermediate and advanced methods of documenting a building project in Revit Architecture.

Introduction to Civil 3D: learn how to apply Civil 3D for basic 3D design projects.

Intermediate Civil 3D: this course emphasizes intermediate civil engineering tools within Civil 3D.

Fusion 360 Introduction to CAM: get an introduction to creating tool paths and NC code for CAM in Fusion 360. It covers setting up parts for machine, defining stock, operations, and machining strategy, simulating toolpaths, and post processing the final output.

Welcome, Joe!

We add a new member to our Customer Success Team

To continue helping you and your students success, we’ve added a new member, Joe McAferty, to our Success Team. Joe joins the team after several years on the commercial and educational sales teams. He has a ton of experience and will be a great resource for you and your students as you wrap up the semester. Joe will be your main point of contact going forward: I’m still part of the Success Team, but I’m taking a step behind the scenes to work with our development team on initiatives to improve our website and your experience, like the “Limit Review Test” setting we just released. If there are features you’d like to see added or changed, please reach out!

Thanks for reading!

As always, I’d love to hear from you! Please don’t hesitate to reach out!

Megan Davidson Director of Customer Success mdavidson@solidprofessor.com (619) 376-1451


Megan Davidson
About the Author

SolidProfessor Director of Customer Success, marathon/cat enthusiast