Almasri, A., & Hamrick, T. R., & Hensel, R. A., & Oppong-Anane, A. B., & Santiago, L., & Hulcher, C. (2025, July), WIP: Measuring Student Engagement in Simulated Excel Instruction - Methodological Limitations and Future Directions  Paper presented at FYEE 2025 Conference, University of Maryland - College Park, Maryland. 10.18260/1-2--55281

\bibitem{asee_peer_55281}
  Almasri, A., \& Hamrick, T. R., \& Hensel, R. A., \& Oppong-Anane, A. B., \& Santiago, L., \& Hulcher, C. (2025, July), \emph{WIP: Measuring Student Engagement in Simulated Excel Instruction - Methodological Limitations and Future Directions}
  Paper presented at FYEE 2025 Conference, University of Maryland - College Park, Maryland.
  10.18260/1-2--55281

Atheer Almasri, Todd R Hamrick, Robin A.M. Hensel, Akua B. Oppong-Anane, Lizzie Santiago, and Carter Hulcher.  "WIP: Measuring Student Engagement in Simulated Excel Instruction - Methodological Limitations and Future Directions".  FYEE 2025 Conference, University of Maryland - College Park, Maryland, 2025, July.  ASEE Conferences, 2025.  https://peer.asee.org/55281 Internet.  12 Aug, 2025

\bibitem{asee_peer_55281}
  Atheer Almasri, Todd R Hamrick, Robin A.M. Hensel, Akua B. Oppong-Anane, Lizzie Santiago, and Carter Hulcher.
  "WIP: Measuring Student Engagement in Simulated Excel Instruction - Methodological Limitations and Future Directions".
  \emph{FYEE 2025 Conference, University of Maryland - College Park, Maryland, 2025, July}.
  ASEE Conferences, 2025.
  https://peer.asee.org/55281 Internet.  12 Aug, 2025

@INPROCEEDINGS{asee_peer_55281
author = "Atheer Almasri, Todd R Hamrick, Robin A.M. Hensel, Akua B. Oppong-Anane, Lizzie Santiago, and Carter Hulcher"
title = "WIP: Measuring Student Engagement in Simulated Excel Instruction - Methodological Limitations and Future Directions"
booktitle = "FYEE 2025 Conference"
year = "2025"
month = "July"
address = "University of Maryland - College Park, Maryland"
publisher = "ASEE Conferences"
note = {https://peer.asee.org/55281}
number = {10.18260/1-2--55281}
}

TY  - CPAPER
AB  - SIMnet® is a simulated environment platform for developing students’ skills in Microsoft Excel, Word, Access, PowerPoint, and Outlook. The goal of this study is to find out how the time students spend completing readings and Microsoft Excel SIMnet activities impact their grades in a mid-semester exam in an introductory engineering course. However, it is important to mention that we are not endorsing SIMnet; rather, we are focused on analyzing the data.
This study focused on two main questions in a freshman engineering course. (1) What is the average time spent on reading and completing activities related to a certain Excel skill? (2) How does the time students spend completing these activities impact their grades in the mid-term exam? This project was conducted in an R1, land-grant, large public university in the Mid-Atlantic Region. Approximately 2000 students were enrolled in this course in the past two academic years and their data will be analyzed. The activities included practical problems where the students needed to download an Excel file and apply their knowledge of the program to complete necessary tasks. The participants are all freshmen and sophomores studying in an engineering college.
The results suggest that students who spend more time completing tasks in the simulated environment earn higher grades. While it was not possible to compare time spent on assignments and readings before the introduction of the simulated environment, the exam results provided a basis for tracking and comparison. This study holds significance as it can inform decisions about which skills students may focus on most and which areas instructors should emphasize more in class when teaching Excel.

AU  - Atheer Almasri
AU  - Todd R Hamrick
AU  - Robin A.M. Hensel
AU  - Akua B. Oppong-Anane
AU  - Lizzie Santiago
AU  - Carter Hulcher
CY  - University of Maryland - College Park, Maryland
DA  - 2025/07/27
PB  - ASEE Conferences
TI  - WIP: Measuring Student Engagement in Simulated Excel Instruction - Methodological Limitations and Future Directions
UR  - https://peer.asee.org/55281
DO  - 10.18260/1-2--55281
ER  -