How to Best Use McGraw-Hill ConnectEd

“Whatever you do, work at it with all your heart, as working for the Lord.” — Colossians 3:23.​

That’s the mindset we bring to everything we do. Giving our best in every detail with dedication and purpose that goes well beyond duty and represents something bigger than ourselves.

McGraw-Hill ConnectEd is a digital assessment and assignment platform that helps students better connect with their courses and teachers, eventually preparing them for success in the future.

You will be able to access interesting course-specific information and manage and submit assignments online through ConnectEd.

Each of your students can benefit from a personalized digital learning experience with ConnectEd that will help them manage their study time and improve their grades. 

SmartBook allows them to study well, and the free ReadAnywhere app lets them access their content at any time and from any location. Also, students can get access to reasonably priced course materials on or before the first day of class through the Inclusive Access. 

McGraw-Hill ConnectEd helps instructors create a complete and captivating online learning environment. Adaptable course design, digitally accepted 

Best-in-class online learning is made possible through the adaptable course design, digitally accepted content, and materials. User-friendly analytics benefits of ConnectEd and reporting solutions help to get a better idea of the progress of the course. 

Why ConnectEd? The Big Picture

When you’re running a totally online, hybrid, or in-person course, you need applications that make grading easier, improve the engagement of students, and make everything easier. This digital teaching and learning platform, simply called “ConnectEd,” manages your content, processes assessments, and lets you access from anywhere at any time. 

Keep in mind this set of anchor statistics:

• Students who used ConnectEd scored 10% higher on tests than their group members who did not, according to McGraw-Hill

• Using ConnectEd increased student engagement, claimed 79% of instructors

• Because of the platform’s 99.9% high availability rating, your students won’t be left behind during peak hours

• As of its 2019 press release, ConnectEd’s SmartBook’s adaptive engine was able to support interactions of more than 200 million students monthly, and probably the numbers are much more now

To put it briefly, when you use ConnectEd, you’re making a commitment to a strong digital infrastructure that permits a variety of services such as mobile access, analytics, assessment automation, and content delivery.

Quick-Start Workflow

1. Centralize Your Course Content

Bringing all of your teaching materials, such as readings, video links, slides, and quizzes, to one place in ConnectEd is an important first step. Why? Because:

• When there is a single “go-to” hub instead of searching several locations, students find it easier

• When assignments, content, and analytics all exist in one system, your administrative burden lessens

• You can only benefit from ConnectEd’s statistics if your content actually flows through rather than being scattered over other platforms 

How to do it:

• In ConnectEd, create your course shell and upload and distribute readings, lectures, chapters, and other materials

• Upload or link to your external materials, such as websites, videos, etc., using ConnectEd’s “Course Home” page

• To help students know where to go every week, establish an ongoing naming system. For instance, Week 1: Topic A, Week 2: Topic B, etc.

2. Build Auto-Graded Assignments with SmartBook

SmartBook 2.0, ConnectEd’s adaptable reading solution, is one of its best features. It is intended to encourage students to read, check what they understand, and make continuous adjustments.

Why SmartBook?

• It helps students concentrate on the particular ideas they find difficult 

• It allows teachers to give out readings with already constructed questions and auto-grading in a comparatively effortless manner

• You can learn which concepts students understood and which they didn’t from the reports

How to build a SmartBook assignment:

1. In the ConnectEd Dashboard, select SmartBook after adding an assignment.

2. Choose the chapter or chapters that you wish your students to read. 

3. Select the concepts or goals for learning you want to bring out. You can leave defaults or change them.

4. Establish the point value, start and due dates, and assign them. Questions will be generated automatically using the system and suited to each learner.

5. Use the SmartBook Reports dashboard to keep an eye on the progress of the students, recognize the challenging areas, and take appropriate action.

Instead of grouping everything at the end, schedule a SmartBook assignment for each week or a major topic. Students are kept interested and make a habit of reading consistently as a result, and you receive reports on a regular basis rather than at the last minute.

3. Enable Flexible Access with ReadAnywhere

Access for students is important. They might read at strange times, offline, on phones, or tablets. ConnectEd’s mobile and offline-friendly access solutions through the ReadAnywhere app help with this.

How to roll this out:

• Let your students know that you can use ReadAnywhere to access your e-book offline via mobile

• Upload a brief tutorial or video on “how to download and use the app” on the site of your course

• When assigning SmartBook reading tasks, indicate to the students that they can also review the chapter on ReadAnywhere for revision

• Students with unpredictable schedules or limited desktop access will find this very useful

4. Connect SSO & Grade Sync with Your LMS

Logistics are important. ConnectEd can be fully integrated with Learning Management Systems such as Moodle, Canvas, and others using Single-Sign-On and grade sync.

Why this matters:

• After a single authentication, students enter ConnectEd without having to remember their passwords

• Your LMS gradebook receives grades via ConnectEd, removing the need for manual entry

• From the statistics page: In the last 12 months, 75,000 teachers have connected ConnectEd to their LMS

• Helps avoid mistakes, frustration, and unnecessary labor

Action steps:

• Communicate with your institution’s IT or e-learning staff to prepare ConnectEd’s integration credentials (LTI or SAML)

• Turn on ConnectEd as an external tool and allow grade pass-back in your LMS course settings

• Before the first day, test it both with a sample student account and yourself as the teacher

• Make sure students understand that they have to log in via ‘your LMS’, then to ‘your class’, after this, ConnectEd appears under ‘External Tools’.

5. Ongoing Monitoring and Adjustments

After the system becomes live, you’ll need to monitor and make adjustments rather than start from scratch.

What to watch:

• On the dashboard of ConnectEd: Do students log in? Are they finishing their homework on the SmartBook?

• Use analytics to recognize “at-risk” students who have not started or who are unable to understand a certain concept. SmartBook reports are useful in this situation

• To cross-check grade distribution and find subjects that need revision, use your LMS gradebook via grade sync

• After a few weeks, use student feedback to ask, “How is reading using a SmartBook or ReadAnywhere going for you? Any problems using a mobile device to access?

• Change the time of assignments, send out reminders, and think about including optional SmartBook review tasks to get more credit

FAQs

Q: Does SmartBook automatically grade everything?

A: Yes, assignments in SmartBooks are automatically graded. The system distributes the questions and instantly collects scores when you specify the point value, start date, and deadline. You can always manually cancel or change ratings in ConnectEd.

Q: Can I customize which concepts students engage with in SmartBook?

A: Of course. You can choose particular ideas or goals for learning from the chapters when creating a SmartBook assignment.

Q: What if students don’t have internet access all the time?

A: ConnectEd can be used offline with the ReadAnywhere app. Materials for reading can also be downloaded by students, who can work offline and then sync when they return to the internet. 

Q: How do I make sure the grades in ConnectEd appear in my LMS gradebook?

A: The LTI or SSO connection between your LMS and ConnectEd has to be set up. Once properly configured, “grade pass-back” is activated, letting assignment results enter your LMS grade center. For this integration, work with your e-learning or IT staff.

Q: Is it possible to reuse information between terms?

A: Indeed. Because ConnectEd uses an “Evergreen” distribution approach, you can duplicate your course casing from term to term, and upgrades happen on the platform without needing you to move between editions. Verify that all dates, start dates, due dates, and percentages match your current term before reusing.

Q: What happens if students feel frustrated about the SmartBook’s features that adapt “too many questions,” etc.?

A: SmartBook will adjust to your pace and can ask extra questions until you understand the concept. When creating assignments, keep an eye on the “time estimate” slider to change the amount of time you want students to spend. Arrange an optional clear-up session for students who are feeling stuck.

Here’s What EdTech Solutions Can Do

When creating assignments, keep an eye on the “time estimate” option to change the amount of time you want students to spend.

• Allowing students who are feeling stuck or frustrated to take part in optional clear-up sessions

• We will help you create SmartBook assignments, set up your course shell, and connect it with your learning management system

• To keep you moving forward with the least amount of administrative burden, we help you create a successful weekly process

• To cut down on friction, we’ll give students simple instructions on how to log in, access ReadAnywhere, and plan their reading

• Learn the skills necessary for understanding ConnectEd’s dashboards, recognizing at-risk learners early, and taking steps to avoid problems

• For SSO or LTI, or grade-sync, we communicate with your IT or e-learning team and do end-to-end testing

Would you want a customized consultation or a demo? Reach out to us right now at edtechsolutions.com/. There is no commitment; we will schedule a 30-minute initial call to determine your needs.

Final Takeaway

Using a platform like ConnectEd means redefining your process for flexibility, adaptability, and intelligence, not just “going digital.” You can turn your course from a “here’s the textbook and good luck” experience into an exciting, information-based, student-friendly one through organizing material, managing assessments, supporting mobile and offline access, and connecting easily with your learning management system.

EdTech Solutions is here to help make ConnectEd an easy, simple, and successful option if you’re ready to improve your instruction, engage students more fully, and spend less time on paperwork.

Together, we can make your course more intelligent, quicker, and more beneficial for both you and your students.