We have just uploaded the textbook mappings for the Microsoft Office Access 2010, A Lesson Approach, Complete textbook. If you have adopted this book, be sure to have your administrator add it to your SimNet account through the Administrator Settings > Textbooks page. Once this is done, all you need to do is filter by textbook when creating an exam or lesson and then choose your textbook.

Remember – not all SimNet content maps one-to-one back to the textbooks. In Access advanced, there are many skills that SimNet covers differently than ALA. For example, ALA teaches adding a background graphic in the chapter on advanced forms, but SimNet teaches it in advanced reports. The two skills, while similar, aren’t exactly the same, and so we don’t “map” the SimNet content to that chapter in ALA. If you are using the textbook filters to create lessons and exams, it is worth it to check out the “SimNet” textbook chapters and see if there are any additional tasks or questions you want to use.

There will be one more Access content upload and an update to the textbook mappings before mid-April. We’ll post a notice here when that content is available.

SimNet will be offline and unavailable Friday, August 17th from 2AM – 5AM Eastern and Sunday, August 19th from 4AM-6:30AM Eastern. We are performing routine maintenance. This maintenance is part of our continuous effort to improve SimNet performance, reliability, and security. Thank you for your patience and understanding.

Sincerely, SimNet Product Team

In preparation for the upcoming Fall term, we released a series of enhancements and fixes toSimNetearlier this week.

We reworked the end-of-exam question remediation significantly. Now, when remediation is enabled for an exam, it is even easier to know what actions the student performed to answer the question (including right-mouse clicks, keyboard shortcuts, and Ribbon and menu selections).

New multiple choice/true-false/fill-in test banks added for the Computing Now book

Assignment Due Date field is no longer pre-populated with a default date one year from the Start Date. Now the Due Date field is empty (but it is still required – so you will need to enter a Due Date for every assignment).

We made improvements to the following SimGrader projects:

• Fixed a grading problem with O’Leary Access 2010 Lab 3-1 project

• Modified instructions for ALA Access 4-26, Step 3 to correct typo

• Modified instructions for ALA Word 2010 12-13, Step 7 for clarification

• Updated feedback for ALA Word 2010 11-20, Step 7 for clarification

• Fixed a bug with PowerPoint projects that were returning a grade of over 100%. All student grades affected by this bug have been corrected and display correctly now.

Dear Instructors,

Our content delivery network provider has added a new range of IP addresses that our SimNet content can be delivered through. This means that there are more servers providing access to SimNet, further increasing reliability and service. Please have your IT administrator allow access to the new IP range highlighted below and verify that the existing ones are also in the system.

For access to the complete optimization guide, please click here.

Should you or your IT administrator have any questions or concerns, please contact our Customer Experience Team at http://mpss.mhhe.com/contact.php.

Thank you for your continued support,

The SimNet Team

Dear Instructor,

We would like to inform you that the SimNet team has successfully corrected an unexpected issue with the SimNet system that occurred earlier today.

The system experienced a performance degradation from 11:45AM until 3:50PM EDT on 9/19/2012 which caused you and your students to experience difficulty in accessing SimNet and completing assignments. Between 1:05PM-1:30PM EDT, SimNet was completely unavailable.

While SimNet boasts a 99.98% in up-time this year, we occasionally encounter unforeseen issues. As of 3:50PM EDT, the SimNet system is functioning normally again, and our team will continue to closely monitor the system to ensure its performance.

Should you or your students experience any issues, please contact our Customer Experience Team at .

We apologize for any inconvenience this caused you and your students today.

Thank you again for your patience and continued support,

The SimNet Team

As you set up your course for the new semester, you might find these items helpful:

Copying a Class

• If you have already created Class(es) in a previous semester, the Course Manager includes an option to copy the Class(es) so that you do not have to repeat setting up everything again. Note: You might have to change the assignment due dates to line up with your new semester.

• To review the instructions on how to copy a class, click on Classes in the navigation menu, click on Help, and select Copying Classes.

Archiving a Class

• Archive class(es) from previous semester(s) will remove the class(es) from displaying in any list or report within the Course Manager or Student Portal. The class(es) will not be deleted, but it will appear in the Archived Classes list under the Archive tab in the Classes section. This will make it easier for you to locate the class(es) and the related information in your current semester instead of going through a long list that include class(es) from previous semester(s). It will also reduce the possibility of students registering for the wrong class, because the archived classes from the previous semester(s) are not displayed on the list for them to select from.

• To review the instructions on how to archive a class, click on Classes in the navigation menu, click on Help, and select Archiving aClass.

ADA (Americans with Disabilities Act) Multiplier

• This feature allows the instructor to assign more time to complete an exam for a particular student.

• To review instructions on how to change the ADA multiplier, click on Students in the navigation menu, click on Help, and select Modifying an ADA Multiplier

Single Sign-On

• Through MHCampus, we offer the ability for single sign-on between SimNet and your learning management.

• To learn more, please or contact your McGraw-Hill sales rep.

Training

• Should you or any instructors need a refresher or additional training on SimNet, please talk to your McGraw-Hill sales rep. The sales rep can coordinate a WebEx training session with our Digital Success Team.

Technical Support

• Should you or your students experience issues with SimNet, please contact our technical support team at .

What does this mean for you?

Get to your SimNet course with one click from inside your LMS!

McGraw-Hill is proud to announce the availability ofSimNet single sign-on accessfrom within any learning management system through McGraw-Hill Campus digital content integration.

***What does this mean for you?***No more juggling multiple logins and passwords OR multiple websites to manage your course content

***What else do you get with McGraw-Hill Campus integration?***McGraw-Hill Campus is an institutional service that provides easy access to all McGraw-Hill digital content and resources. This includes: ·eBooks

·SimNet

·Connect

·ALEKS

·Unlimited instructional resources

***Ready to get started?***Great! Contact your McGraw-Hill sales rep today! Visitwww.mhcampus.comhttp://www.mhcampus.com for more information. Already have MH Campus installed? Clickhere for instructor documentation and herefor student documentation for SimNet Online single sign-on with MH Campus Integration.

MH Campus: Discover what’s possible!

SIMnet Administrators …

Did you know you can manage the SIMnet content that appears in your account?

In the Course Manager, go to Settings, click Products, and then add or remove products (SIMnet for Office 2010, SIMnet for Office 2013, etc.) as needed.

To control the eCommerce options available to your students, go to Settings, click eCommerce and then add or remove products as appropriate. The products available for eCommerce are controlled by the Products settings.

To manage the textbook filters available to instructors when creating lessons and exams, go to Settings, click Textbooks, and then add or remove textbooks as needed. If you use campuses, be sure to select the correct campus from the drop-down list at the top of the page. This option also controls what content is available to students via the Librarypage in the student portal. If you don’t use a textbook, consider adding the SIMnet textbook. That will give your students access to all the default SIMnet learning materials in their Library.

SimNet will be offline and unavailable Sunday August 12th, 2012 from 6AM Eastern – 6PM Eastern. We are performing routine maintenance. This maintenance is part of our continuous effort to improve SimNet performance, reliability, and security. Thank you for your patience and understanding.

By now, most of you already know about the ‘DNSChanger’ malware that infected more than half a million computers a few years ago. When the FBI arrested the culprits and shut down their servers, the FBI set up replacement servers so people with infected computers would still have Internet access. However, if your computer is still infected, you will lose Internet access on Monday when the FBI shuts down the replacement servers once and for all.

To check your computer, go here: http://www.dns-ok.us/

If you are infected, go here for instructions on how to remove the malware: http://www.dcwg.org/fix/

For more information, here’s the link to a recent Wired.com article: http://www.wired.com/threatlevel/2012/07/dns-changer-going-dark/

or the FBI’s page: http://www.fbi.gov/news/stories/2011/november/malware_110911

(yes — the FBI page looks like a fake Web site, but it’s real)

Update

Our Content DeliveryNetworkhas mitigated potential service impact from the excessive traffic and they are no longer seeing any network congestion or latency.They will continue to monitor theenvironmentto ensure network stability.

SimNet performance should be back to normal.

————————–

Some SimNet customers who are routed through our content delivery network servers in Dallas may be experiencing SimNet performance degradation.

Our content delivery network has advised us that they have identified an issue that is impacting network performance in their Dallas POP (point of presence). They are currently working to isolate the issue and resolve the problem.

We will update this space when we know more.

SimNet will be offline and unavailable Sunday June 10th, 2012 from 6AM Eastern – 6PM Eastern. We are performing routine maintenance and infrastructure code upgrades. This maintenance is part of our continuous effort to improve SimNet performance, reliability, and security.

If you are a GDP11 user or an MH Skillbuilding user, please note that this maintenance affects those products as well.

Thank you for your patience and understanding.

Sincerely, SimNet Product Team

As some of you may be aware, our file storage vendor had an issue this morning that prevented students from submitting SimGrader projects. Although all functionality is back to normal now, we wanted to share the details of this problem with you.

Here is the timeline provided to us by our vendor:

At approximately 6:30 AM CDT, File Storage Engineers identified an issue with the storage API. We are currently experiencing intermittent accessibility and some functionality may be degraded accross file services. Our Engineers are diligently working on the issue.

UPDATE: As of 07:30 AM CDT our engineers are still working on restoring storage API functionality. We greatly apologize for the inconvenience and we hope to have this resolved as quickly as possible.

UPDATE: As of about 08:45 AM CDT, our engineers have resolved the issues with the storage API.

Our April 6, 2012 release addressed a number of SimGrader issues. Please note that some of these fixes were released prior to the official release date.

We also updated the Best Practices Guide (the pop-up PDF that appears the first time a student goes to the Projects tab). To view the Best Practices Guide at any time:

1. Click the Assignments tab.

2. Expand the Selected Class drop-down menu and select your class.

3. Click the Projects tab under Assignments.

4. Click any assignment title to load the project.

5. Click the View Best Practices link in the Download Project section on the right side of the window.

Our March 2, 2012 release focused mostly on SimGrader improvements; however, there was one SimNet correction:

**Task id:**ex10_01_05

**Task title:**Inserting and Deleting Cells

Problem: An instructor reported that the Let Me Try was not replicating what is shown in the Show Me.

**Resolution:**There are formulas in the Excel spreadsheet used for the screenshots in the Let Me Try that automatically adjust the date from 5/1/2010 to 6/1/2010. This makes it seem as if nothing were moved. The background screenshot was updated by overriding the text change to give a stronger visual showing a cell being inserted and the cells being shifted down.

SimGrader Improvements

Based on field testing with students at the University of Alabama, we have been able to identify and correct a number of SimGrader project instructions that were causing confusion. Rather than trying to list everything here, we have attached a PDF listing the changes. Remember, when a SimGrader grading improvement or fix is made, you will need to regrade existing results by manually clicking the Regrade button. New submissions, however, will be graded using the new and improved grading functions.

Click here to open the SimGrader release details.

We’d like to thank Kathy Morris and her students at the University of Alabama for their assistance!

UPDATE: All student data in the Gradebook for projects with custom totals will be fixed before tomorrow (March 9) morning.

In the release today (March 8, 2012), we fixed a bug in the Gradebook that only affected project grades where the instructor used a custom rubric and modified points.

What was happening: The Gradebook was ignoring the updated point total, and instead calculated the grade based on the original, default points for the project.

How it works now: The Gradebook correctly calculates the grade based on the modified point total for the project.

**What this means for student results:**The Gradebook will still display incorrect calculations for results generated prior to this morning’s release (for projects that use a custom rubric).

We are working on a plan to update the existing data in the Gradebook as necessary and will post again as soon as all student data have been corrected.

During the past few days, some customers have reported unusually long response times in SimNet exams. We have optimized the part of the code that generates exam remediation and the problem has been resolved. Thank you for reporting these issues to McGraw-Hill Customer Care.

Release Notes for February 17, 2012 : Access content and bug fixes

On February 17, 2012, we added new content to Access 2010 to correlate to Chapter 6 Exploring Advanced Reportsin the upcoming Access 2010: A Skills Approach book.

We also fixed three reported issues with SimNet questions:

SimNet Bug Fixes

• Fixed an issue in Excel 2010 where the correct actions were causing an “incorrect” response: Question id: ep10226 Question text: Add the image background to this worksheet as a background. Hint:On the Page Layout tab, in the Page Setup group, click the Background button. Click the background file, and then click Insert.Question id: ex10226 Question text: Add the image profits to this worksheet as a background. **Hint:**On the Page Layout tab, in the Page Setup group, click the Background button. Click the profits file, and then click Insert.

• Fixed a Word 2010 question where the correct actions were causing an “incorrect” response: Question id: wd10087 Question text: Check the document to see if there are any conflicts with earlier versions of Microsoft Word. Question hint: Click the File tab. Click the Check for Issues button and then click Check Compatibility. Click the Select versions to show button and select Word 97-2003. Click OK.**Question id:**wp10087 Question text: Run the Compatibility Checker. Question hint: Click the File tab. Click the Check for Issues button, and then click Check Compatibility. Click the Select versions to show button and select Word 97-2003. Click OK.

• Added an alternate method to the Excel 2010 GetPivotData function Let Me Try and questions: User can now use the Tab key and the Enter Function button to complete the formula in the cell or formula bar. Question id: ex10266 **Question text:**Enter a formula to display the value of the Sum Of Salaryfield for the employee named Anne Coll (cell B4) from the PivotTable located on the Compensation worksheet.Question id: ep10266 Question text: Enter a formula to display the value of the Sum Of Price field for the State with the abbreviation CA (cell B6) from the PivotTable located on the Appointments PivotTable worksheet. Task id: ex10_07_22 Task title: Using GetPivotData

Release Notes for March 8, 2012 (new Access 2010 Content)

On March 8, 2012, we added new content to Access 2010 to correlate toChapter 8 Finalizing the Databasein the upcomingAccess 2010: A Skills Approachbook.

SimNet Fixes

Fixed the Show Me animation so it places the formula with the IF function in the correct cell. **Task id:**ex10_03_09 **Task title:**Using Logical Functions

Fixed Excel importing data question so correct answer is accepted as correct.

**Question id:**ex10253 **Question text:**Import data from the text file Employees into cell A1 in the current worksheet. Data in the file are delimited by a comma character only. Do not modify any of the column data formats. **Question hint:**On the Data tab, in the Get External Data group, click the Get External Data From Text button. In the Import Text File dialog, click Employees, and click the Import button. Click Next. Click the Tab check box to uncheck it. Click the Comma check box to check it. Click Next. Click Finish. Click OK.

Gradebook Fixes

There were two problems reported related to gradebook display when changing custom project rubrics:

1. When the project instructions were updated, the gradebook label was not updating appropriately. This has been fixed.

2. Overriding instruction points was not properly adjusting the gradebook score for custom rubrics. This has been fixed. The gradebook now accounts for the # of points in the original rubric and adjusts accordingly.

The textbook mappings for the Computing Now book have just been uploaded to SimNet. Computing Now offers students of today an engaging resource designed to provide current, intriguing information about computing concepts. With society’s ever-changing technology, isolating need-to-know information is imperative so that only accurate, realistic concepts are emphasized. Computing Now provides a fresh new design via its magazine-style approach to enhance student learning and bring these important concepts to life! Computing Now – today’s Computing Concepts for today’s students.

If you are using this textbook, be sure to have your administrator add it to your SimNet account through the Administrator Settings > Textbooks page. Once this is done, all you need to do is filter by textbook when creating an exam or lesson and choose Computing Now from the menu.

If you are interested in adopting this book, please contact your McGraw-Hill sales representative for more information.

The textbook mappings for the Using Information Technology 10thedition books (both Introductory and Complete) have just been uploaded to SimNet. If you are using one of these textbooks, be sure to have your administrator add it to your SimNet account through the Administrator Settings > Textbooks page. Once this is done, all you need to do is filter by textbook when creating an exam or lesson and then choose your textbook.

Release Notes for February 3, 2012

Our February 3, 2012 release included both SimNet and SimGrader fixes and improvements. Please note that some of these fixes were released prior to the official release date.

The next planned maintenancerelease is March 2.

SimNet

• Fixed an issue with Dashboard: Current Assignments list with multiple pages now loads better (and more consistently).

• Fixed an issue with Drop Box: Item drop-down menu will now show assignments greyed out and italics if that assignment is no longer enabled for student submissions.

• Show Me videos for Word 2010 tasks Saving an E-mail Draft and Using Tracking Options for Messageswere showing a “Coming Soon” message. These videos have been uploaded and are now available.

• Show Me video for Computer Concepts task Monitors was missing audio. This has been corrected.

• Two Excel 2010 Let Me Try exercises were not accepting the correct answer – Importing Data from a Text File and Importing Data from Access. Both have been fixed.

• Fixed an issue in Word 2010 where an instructor reported an unusually long lag time between answering the question and being marked correct/incorrect. Question id: wd10083 Question text: Create a new document from the Event Marketing brochure (Accessory Design). and Question id: wd10125 Question text: Print three copies of the document

• Improved Computer Concepts questions that referred to Windows Server 2008. We removed the Server 2008 reference in the hint, and changed the hint text to: Windows Server and Linux are popular network operating systems. Question id: co10060 Assessment question text: Which piece(s) of software includes tools to manage users on a network server? Click your answer(s), then click Done. Assessment question hint: Windows Server 2008 and Linux are popular network operating systems. and Question id:cp10060Practice question text: Click the image(s) of the operating systems that are not appropriate for managing a network. Practice question hint: Windows Server 2008 and Linux are popular network operating systems.

SimGrader

There were two general improvements to SimGrader in this release:

1. We improved the Excel scoring engine to allow for more variations when grading formulas. The projects grading engine now allows for extra spaces, extra or lack of parenthesis, and transposed arguments when the result of the formula (the cell value) is correct and the formula references the same cells as the solution. (If the student types the correct value in the cell instead of using a formula, the grader will still judge that as incorrect.)

2. Excel does not allow for brackets [ ] in file names. Some students found the file naming instructions in the Excel Skills book projects confusing, so we removed the brackets from the [your initials] part of the file naming instructions.

The list of fixes and improvements to specific SimGrader projects in this release is attached:SimGrader Release 02062012

We have madea number of improvements to SimGrader since the end of December including specific fixes to more than 30 projects. Rather than trying to list everything here, we have attached a PDF listing the changes: SimGrader ReleasesDec2011_Jan2012. Remember, when a SimGrader grading improvement or fix is made, you will need to regrade existing results by manually clicking the Regrade button. New submissions, however, will be graded using the new and improved grading functions.

With the December 20, 2011, January 6, 2012, and January 20, 2012 releases, we fixed a handful of SimNet question bugs and a minor Gradebook display bug as detailed below.

Issue: Students are being marked incorrect when they select the correct item in the dialog box, click the Delete button and then click the OK button.|Fixed|1/6/2012| |Excel 2010|Assessment question ID: ex10201 Question text: In cell C2, enter a formula using COUNTIFS to count the number of rows where values in the range named Expenses have a value greater than 200 and cells in the range named Billable display “yes”. Issue: Typing the formula in the formula bar was resulting in an “incorrect”.|A text entry bug was fixed and the student will no longer be marked incorrect when entering text in the formula bar.|12/20/2011| |Excel 2010|Assessment question ID: ex10074The question says to apply the default percent format to cells D6:D21, however the background document has D5:D21 selected.|Original question text: Apply the default percent format to cells D6:D21. Updated question text: Apply the default percent format to cells D5:D21. The question text was changed match the background cell selection.|12/20/2011| |Word 2010|The print files for wd10_06_20- Creating a Table of Figures and wd10_07_10 – Cropping Graphics return a “File Not Found” error.|Print files for wd10_06_20- Creating a Table of Figures and wd10_07_10 – Cropping Graphics were created and uploaded. The print files can now be downloaded.|12/20/2011| |Word 2010|Practice question ID: wp10058 Question text: *Mark the selected text for use in the index.*Issue: The text displayed in the Mark Entrydialog box is “therapists” when the selected text in the background document is “Sedona”.|The Mark Entry dialog box text was fixed to match the background document.|12/20/2011| |Gradebook|In the grade details popup, grades were displayed as (number of points earned)/1 instead of (number of points earned)/(total possible points)|fixed|12/20/2011|