The Student

Guide to Using
Connect®
We’ll walk you through the
basics and show you how to
navigate, complete assignments
and access reports on Connect.

McGraw-Hill The Student Guide to Using Connect 1

 Getting Started
McGraw-Hill Connect is our digital assign-
Optimizing your Computer
ment and assessment platform that helps
students (that’s you!) better connect with McGraw-Hill cares about your learning experience and we
want to make sure Connect and SmartBook will run smoothly
your coursework and instructors, ultimately
on your device.
setting you up for future success.
After you’ve logged into Connect, make sure your computer
Through Connect, you’ll be able to manage is optimized to run the program by visiting:
and submit assignments online and access www.connect.mheducation.com/connect/troubleshoot.do
engaging course-specific resources.
Trouble logging in?
Luckily, remembering your email and password doesn’t
count toward your grade. If you’re experiencing trouble
accessing Connect, ask yourself these questions:
■ Am I using the same email address I used when I
registered? If you forget which email you’re using, contact
our support team for help: www.mheducation.ca/support-
contact
■ Did I forget my cryptic password? If so, click on the
Forgot Password link at your instructor’s Connect course
web address and follow the prompts to reset it
Once you regain access to Connect, you can update your
account info by navigating to your account at the top left
corner of the menu.

2 The Student Guide to Using Connect McGraw-Hill

 Navigating Connect
To Do
When you first log in to Connect, you will arrive at the To Do
page. This page provides you with a snapshot of upcoming
assignments for all of your Connect courses, with the most
urgent at the top of the list. Connect helps you organize your
study time so you can tackle the assignments that need
attention first.
The navigation on the left of this page is always available
through Connect:
■ My Account – see your McGraw-Hill account details
■ To Do – see upcoming assignments
■ Calendar – view assignment due dates by day, week or
month
■ Classes – access all Connect courses you are enrolled in
■ Results – view status of assignments, progress and results
■ Insight – visual display of how you are progressing in your
course
■ Log out – log out of Connect
■ Contact Support - access the Connect online help
documentation

To access an individual course, click on the section name

underneath the Classes menu link.

McGraw-Hill The Student Guide to Using Connect 3

 Course Section Home Page
The course section home page takes you into one specific
course. From this view, you can see all assignments for the
course and their due dates.

You’ll also see information about your instructor, view any

files he or she has uploaded, and be able to access your
course eBook if available.

4 The Student Guide to Using Connect McGraw-Hill

 Media Bank
Within your course home page, you’ll see Media Bank on the
left-hand side. Here, you will find the Student Resources that
are available with your course, which may include additional
resources, cases, videos and other multimedia.

You’ll also have the option to order a loose-leaf print copy of

your textbook at an additional cost.

McGraw-Hill The Student Guide to Using Connect 5

 Assignments
You will find a list of the assignments given to you by your
Active assignments are those that have been instructor on your Course Section Home Page.
assigned by your instructor. Assignments can be
inactive for a variety of reasons: Assignments that are not yet available will be indicated with
• The assignment is past due a lock icon. Any assignments with an arrow are available to
• The assignment has a future start date be completed. When you click on an assignment, the right
• You have used up all your available attempts side of the screen displays the assignment details, including
• If your instructor has set a time limit, it may have start and end date, point value, number of attempts allowed
run out and more.

6 The Student Guide to Using Connect McGraw-Hill

 Taking an Assignment

Once you’ve launched an assignment, there are several

features to help navigate your way through it. Use the Prev/
Next buttons to advance through the questions or use the
Question Map at the bottom of the screen to quickly jump to
a particular assignment question.

Do not use the back and forward buttons on your

web browser to navigate – you could lose some of
your work.

McGraw-Hill The Student Guide to Using Connect 7

 Save & Exit vs. Submit Assignment
If you can’t finish your assignment in one sitting, use the
Save & Exit button. Your work is saved and will not count
as an attempt until you click the Submit Assignment button.
However, if your assignment is timed, using the Save & Exit
button will not pause the timer; you must finish the
assignment within the allotted time frame.
Once you are happy with your work, click the Submit
Assignment button to have your assignment graded.

8 The Student Guide to Using Connect McGraw-Hill

 Calendar
The calendar offers an alternative view of assignments,
allowing you to plan your study schedule around due dates in
multiple Connect courses. You can view the calendar by day,
week, or month. Colour coding and assignment icons help
prioritize your work. The calendar view can also be filtered
by class to view assignments for a single course or all your
courses at once.

Results
Under the Results tab in the main menu, click on a course to
view all completed assignments for that class. Once you have
submitted an assignment, your available results will be shown
in this tab. Here, you can access details for each assignment
attempt by clicking the link below the assignment title.

NOTE: Scores/feedback will only be available after an

assignment is submitted and based on the instructor’s
assignment policies.

McGraw-Hill The Student Guide to Using Connect 9

 Insight™
Connect Insight™ reports allow you to quickly assess your
progress within a course, with visual data providing at-a-
glance information about how you are performing. You can
easily switch between Connect courses to view your results
for that course, or filter by assignment type and date range
to customize your view.

How am I Progressing?
This view displays your completed assignments for an
overall look at how your scores stack up over the duration
of your course.

10 The Student Guide to Using Connect McGraw-Hill

 How am I Doing?
This view offers a snapshot of all your assignments, across
all courses in a quadrant graph that compares scores vs. time
spent on assignment. Data can be filtered by time spent or
score to see how your study time in Connect impacts results.

Click on any assignment to see details on your exact

score and the time spent. Check out the “Do” sec-
tion, which gives you suggestions on improving your
performance.

McGraw-Hill The Student Guide to Using Connect 11

 Let’s take a closer look
SMARTBOOK is a digital copy of your
at SmartBook
course textbook, except smarter. Using
adaptive learning technology, SmartBook To access SmartBook, login to Connect and proceed to your
is able to tailor the content of the text to course. Next, click on the SmartBook adaptive assignment
suit your specific learning needs. For every within your Connect course’s homepage. A sidebar will load
on the right-hand side of your screen with details of the
minute you study, it helps make that minute
SmartBook assignment. Click Begin to load SmartBook and
the most high impact and productive sixty start your assignment.
seconds as possible. Let’s be honest:
when studying, we don’t have time to waste!

When SmartBook loads, you will be prompted to either

Start with Reading or Start with Questions - it’s up to you,
depending on how familiar you are with the material
assigned.

12 The Student Guide to Using Connect McGraw-Hill

 Reading in SmartBook
If you select Start With Reading, you will be taken directly
to the section of the text that your instructor has assigned.
In the Reading Stage, SmartBook creates a dynamic reading
experience where the most important concepts for the
chapter have already been highlighted for you in yellow.
These highlights help you prioritize your study time to ensure
you’re being super-efficient.
You can navigate through the highlighted concepts using the
arrows in the upper left-hand corner of the screen. Navigate
through the sections of your SmartBook with the arrows
directly below the Concepts arrows.

McGraw-Hill The Student Guide to Using Connect 13

 If you use the Concepts arrows to navigate through the Read-
ing Stage, SmartBook will highlight the current concept you
are focused on in blue. Once you move on to the next con-
cept, that highlight will return to yellow.

14 The Student Guide to Using Connect McGraw-Hill

 Completing Questions in
SmartBook
Based on what you read in the Reading Stage, SmartBook
will present questions that will help you master the content
and identify areas where you are struggling. This helps to
transform what you’ve read from short-term memory to long-
term memory.

Let’s take a closer look at how this happens

While you’re reading, you can click on the To Questions

button at any time to start working through questions and
practice the content you’ve read.
After you click To Questions, the Question Stage will open
and SmartBook will present your first practice question. You’ll
notice that SmartBook asks you how confident you are in
your answer.
It’s extremely important that you answer all parts of these
questions honestly. This helps SmartBook’s algorithm learn
what you know, what you don’t know and how confident
you are in your answers. All of these factors and more help
SmartBook tailor the learning experience to your unique
needs – helping you achieve better results in less time.

McGraw-Hill The Student Guide to Using Connect 15

 SmartBook will continue to ask you questions until
you’ve demonstrated mastery of each concept within the
assignment. However, if SmartBook learns from your answers
that you’re struggling with certain topics, it will prompt
you to jump back into the Reading Stage to learn more by
highlighting the Concept Resources icon in the top right
corner.

In order to proceed with questions, you must return to the

Reading Stage by clicking on the icon. SmartBook will take
you directly to the highlighted concept so you can review the
material. Once you’ve reviewed, click Back to Questions to
return.

Progress Bar
As you work through the Question Stage, the Progress bar
breaks down your assignment progress into three categories:
concepts not started, concepts in progress and concepts
completed. You’ll need to successfully answer at least two
questions related to a concept before that concept is marked
complete in the Progress bar.

16 The Student Guide to Using Connect McGraw-Hill

 Recharge
SmartBook allows you to recharge certain chapters and
assignments to help with long-term retention of concepts.
The data that SmartBook has collected about you helps it
determine what you are likely to forget, and allows it to create
a personalized review experience. The recharge stage lets
you practice areas that you’ve struggled with, helping you to
further prioritize your study sessions.
To access the Recharge Stage, you will need to click on a
completed assignment marked with “Recharge” from your
course home page. You will be redirected to SmartBook and
can begin recharging your knowledge.

REMEMBER: Recharging assignments won’t change your

original grade, but can help you study for future tests.

McGraw-Hill The Student Guide to Using Connect 17

 Reports

To see reports in SmartBook, visit your course home page and

click on See Report beside any completed assignment. From
the following screen, you can select an individual assignment
and which attempt you’d like to view.

This will display a dashboard of your results for the assignment,

including the time spent, how confident you were in your
answers, and which concepts were most challenging for you.

18 The Student Guide to Using Connect McGraw-Hill

 Don’t contact your instructor for technical help –
that’s what our Customer Experience Team is for!

Need More Help?

We all need more help sometimes.

Learn More Technical Support Talk to Us

You can find great support materials If you need technical support with Con- Give us a call:
like tutorial videos and content in our nect or have some questions, you can
1-800-565-5758
knowledge base on our support site: also contact our Customer Experience
Team on our support site:
http://www.connectstudentsuccess.com
www.mheducation.ca/support-contact