Professor Ruiz Rosique needed to provide her students with additional practice through activities completed outside of class. The assignments in Connect® Spanish presented a wide variety of additional skills practice to serve this purpose. Being able to assign unique learning tools outside of class, such as the Mundo Interactivo and Tema activities, allowed her to effectively cover more course material while engaging students to interact more fully in the course content. As a result, homework activity increased significantly and the average quiz grade jumped ten points, from 76% to 86%. She also saw significant improvement in grade distribution. Read this CASE STUDY to learn more about her experience with Connect.

Professor Ruiz Rosique is pleased with how Connect Spanish has both saved her time and improved student performance. She plans to continue using Connect, integrating even more assignments and assignment types, and including modules from LearnSmart, the adaptive learning system available within Connect. “The great thing about Connect is that it lets students see their results immediately,” she says. “This keeps students informed about their performance and helps me, as a teacher, to reinforce that feedback and talk to students in person about what they are doing right and which problems they should work on.”

Faculty and students in higher education institutions today face a number of instructional and learning challenges. Adaptive learning tools – like McGraw-Hill’s LearnSmart, now used by thousands of students across the country – are being implemented to increase teaching effectiveness and learning efficiency. These tools improve student engagement, grades, and retention, thereby enabling students to be more successful in their college experience and ultimately more career-ready. Seven independent studies conducted at schools across the country have found that McGraw-Hill LearnSmart leads to:

• ● Significant improvements in pass rates (average of 12.5 percentage points) and in retention rates (average of 10.5 percentage points)
• ● More B students improving their learning and earning A’s; and more C students getting B’s
• ● Students, on average, performing 10.24 points higher on all exams as compared to those who did not use LearnSmart

Faculty at these institutions love the way LearnSmart engages their students and improves outcomes.

“Connect with LearnSmart has helped engage the learner in a way I didn’t think was possible. It has also helped me to be a more reflective teacher and pinpoint class issues with a topic.” 
        -Professor Frank Wray, University of Cincinnati

Read the full report here, or visit www.mhlearnsmart.com to learn more!

Professor Thomas Norman teaches an online Management Theory course at California State University. He recognized that students who had read and studied chapter assignments before scheduled class meetings were generally more successful in the course than students who had not, so he searched for a comprehensive course solution to improve the level of student preparation, and as a result, student academic success in the course. Upon implementing Connect® Management, Professor Norman saw dramatic improvement. Previously, only two or three of his students had read the material before class meetings, but with Connect, he found that only two or three students had not read the material! He also saw a significant improvement in student success, with pass rates increasing from 73% to 80%. For more details about Professor Norman’s experience, read this CASE STUDY.

Professor Norman says, “Connect Management will improve student learning and save you time. Students need the instant feedback that Connect provides.”  He plans to continue to expand the use of Connect within his courses and recommends it to other faculty.

Professor Bill Hoover wanted to standardize course content across multiple sections being taught by various instructors to deliver effective content regardless of learning styles. Connect® Anatomy and Physiology allowed him to synchronize assignments and assessments, minimize start-up time for new instructors, and offer engaging student materials. Read this CASE STUDY to learn how implementing Connect yielded dramatic 10-15% increases in student performance.

Professor Hoover’s students are also required to complete the LearnSmart adaptive learning modules before lecture, and are encouraged to view recorded lectures through Tegrity, an automated lecture capture service in Connect. He reports that his students love using LearnSmart and say that it makes it easy to come to class prepared, allowing for more discussion and participation during class.

Professor Hoover says, “I had students who were consistently scoring in the low 60’s on each of the weekly quizzes. Once I started assigning homework through Connect, those same students started earning scores in the high 70’s! On average, my students’ performance has risen by 10-15%.”

A team of digital faculty consultants recently met to discuss how McGraw-Hill’s LearnSmart, an adaptive study tool within Connect, personalizes learning to help students build their retention. LearnSmart has helped to dramatically improve student grades! Learn how instructors like you are incorporating Connect’s LearnSmart feature to help students succeed in their course:

Visit the McGraw-Hill Higher Education YouTube Channel for more videos on McGraw-Hill Connect, McGraw-Hill LearnSmart, and more!