SIMskills offers a built-in text reader that will read your lesson text without the need to download or install any additional software. Lesson content also have the added Translation feature.

Lessons

When you navigate to your Lesson assignment, the Text To Speech button is available in the upper right corner. You can click on the button directly or press the Tab key once to select it.

Controlling Text To Speech for the Page

Clicking on the button begins the audio at the top of the page, working through the entire page. When the audio player begins

1. The Pause/Resume button starts the text reader and pauses it, holding the current location on the screen.

2. The Stop button stops playing. Upon resuming text, the reader will begin at the top of the screen.

3. The Volume button controls the volume of the audio. Clicking the button brings up the Volume slider which you can click and drag to raise and lower the volume of the speech.
5. The Close Player button will stop speech and minimize the player to the top right corner of the page.

Controlling Text To Speech for A Selection

If you would only like to hear audio for an individual portion of the page, you can select the text you would like to conver to speech directly. Select the text you would like to hear by clicking and dragging across all of the desired text. Below the text you will see a mini player popup. Click the Listen to this selection text button in the middle of the player to hear the selected text. The reader will stop at the end of the highlighted selection.

Translating A Selection

You can use the Translate this selection button to translate the selected text in your SIMbook and Lesson. Select the text you would like to translate and click the Translate this selection button.

Select the language you would like to translate the selected text into. There are many different translation options. Once you have selected your desired language, review the note about automatically generated translations and select I Understand to dismiss the note.

Use the controls to Play, Stop, Increase text size, Decrease text size, Change volume of speech, and Change reading speed. You can also increase the size of the window to take up the entire screen and close the window using the controls in the upper right corner.

1. Badge Progress Meter

The badge progress meter tracks progress toward earning the badge.

The list of sections allows the ability to jump to the next section or lesson in the course.

Searching content can assist in quickly finding and opening skills within the selected course.

Click the Launch button in the upper right corner of the screen to open the SIMbook chapter from the beginning. You can also click on a page title to open the SIMbook directly to that page.

As required exercises are completed a green check will appear indicating completion.

SIMnet Lessons and SIMbooks are interactive ebooks that includes a glossary, key terms, bookmarks, highlights and notes, search, and print. Each Lesson and SIMbook also contains interactive Teach Me, Show Me, Guide Me, Let Me Try exercises.

Navigation

The courses shelf contains the SIMskills courses associated with your license.

Click the Table of Contents button to display the table of contents for the current book and chapter on the left side of the screen. Click any chapter to see the specific tasks that chapter covers. Click a task title in any chapter to navigate to that task.

The Glossary will appear on the left side of the page and contains all terms found in the current book. Click a term to display its definition as well as a link to view associated pages.

You can bookmark any page in the SIMbook so you can easily return to it at another time. You can tell which pages are bookmarked because the Bookmark button will appear with a solid blue background.

The title of the current SIMbook chapter or Lesson assignment will always appear in the top header of the SIMbook.

You can easily search for content in the SIMbook by clicking the Search button, typing the word or phrase you want to search for, and pressing Enter. The results will display all of the instances of your search criteria in the book. Click any of the results to navigate to that page.

Click the Accessibility options button to display a message box. Here, you can increase or decrease the font size as well as the line height. You can also enable or disable high contrast mode.

Print the current page by clicking the Print button. A message box will appear reminding you to select the correct print settings in your browser.

At any time, you can exit out of the SIMbook by clicking the Exit button.

The SIMbook Page

You can highlight important text in the SIMbook just like you would in a textbook with a highlighter. Simply click and drag your mouse to highlight the text and it will appear with a blue background. The highlight will be saved and every time you return to the SIMbook page, it will appear highlighted. You can click the highlighted text to delete it, convert it to a note, or convert it to a hyperlink.

The Note button appears next to most paragraphs and images on the SIMbook page. Click the button to type a note about the content. Once you have added a note, the button becomes darker and a number appears indicating how many notes have been added. Click the button at any time to review your notes.

Easily step back to the previous page in the SIMbook by clicking the arrow button on the left side of the screen. Or, you can advance to the next page in the SIMbook by clicking the arrow button on the right side of the screen. When you roll your mouse over either button, the title of the next or previous page displays.

The Show Me, Guide Me, and Let Me Try exercises can be found in Lessons. These three exercise types can be taken an unlimited number of times depending on the settings your instructor has enabled.

Show Me

The Show Me is a video that shows you the necessary steps to complete a task. Audio narration helps you follow along as you watch each step being completed in the application. This exercise is not interactive but you are able to pause and replay portions of the video.

The instruction text appears at the top of the window and is just the text version of what the narrator is saying. This text will update throughout the duration of the Show Me.

The title of the task always appears in the heading of the Show Me window for reference.

You can play or pause the video at any time during the Show Me. Once you click the Pause button, the icon will change to the play option. Click the Play button to resume the video.

You can easily start the Show Me from the beginning at any time by clicking the Restart button.

Several round circles, or checkpoints, appear on the timeline at the bottom of each Show Me. Each checkpoint is filled in with a solid blue color as the timeline progresses throughout the video. Click a checkpoint anywhere on the timeline to skip to that portion of the Show Me.

A counter appears below the timeline that shows the time that has passed since the beginning of the Show Me.

Click the Mute button to mute the audio narration but continue watching the video. If you choose not to listen to the audio, the instruction text will still appear at the top of the window and reflect what the narrator is saying.

Guide Me

The Guide Me is an interactive exercise that guides you through each task step-by-step. Each step gives you one specific instruction that you must complete correctly to advance and you have an unlimited number of attempts for each step. Continue answering each step until you've reached the end of the Guide Me.

As you progress through each step of the Guide Me, the box in the upper left corner will indicate which step you're currently on and how many total steps there are in the Guide Me.

The instruction text appears at the top of the window and tells you what action is expected.

The title of the task always appears in the heading of the Guide Me window for reference.

If, after reading the instruction text, you are still unclear what action to take, click the Show Hint button. The hint text will appear alongside the instruction text and the item of note will be highlighted on screen.

Let Me Try

The Let Me Try uses the same simulated interface as an exam question and requires you to recall what you learned in the Show Me and Guide Me to complete it.

The box in the upper left corner will indicate which step you're currently on and how many total steps there are in the Let Me Try.

The instruction text appears at the top of the window and tells you what action to take to answer each step correctly.

The title of the task always appears in the heading of the Guide Me window for reference.

Click the Show Hint button to display the hint text, which will appear alongside the instruction text.

1. Start your 2-day free trial

To activate your 1-time free trial click the Start Your Free Trial button and click the Start button in the popup dialog.

Click the Buy Now button on the bunldle option or an individual course to enter the purchase process.

1. Login to your LMS

To login to SIMskills from your LMS visit your LMS section and open the McGraw Hill LTIA tool or click the navigation section level launch.

2. Assignment Page

Click the Connect Section Home button to vist the Connect Section home.

To open SIMskills find the Boost Your Excel Skills header anc click the Get Started link.

1. Login to McGraw Hill Connect

To login directly to Connect visit https://connect.mheducation.com

From the left navigation menu select your section to visit the Connect Section Home.

To open SIMskills find the Boost Your Excel Skills header anc click the Get Started link.

1. Login to your LMS

To login to SIMskills from your LMS visit your LMS section and open the McGraw Hill LTIA tool or click the navigation section level launch.

From McGraw Hill Connect click the Student View button.

To open SIMskills find the Boost Your Excel Skills header anc click the Get Started link.

Accessing your SIMskills account starts with the SIMnet Home Page. On the Home Page you can sign in to your account, reset your password, and get help.

Country Specific URL

Each country or region has a different SIMskills URL. Depending on where your McGraw Hill Connect school is located, please visit your country or region specific URL below:

Enable high-contrast mode

To enable high-contrast mode click your name in the top navigation bar to access your profile. In the left pane, click the Enable high-contrast slider.

Enable SIMskills Option

To enable the Guide Me or Show Me to qualify for badge completion instead of the Let Me Try click your name in the top navigation bar to access your profile. In the left page, click the SIMskills Options dropdown and select either he Guide Me (guided) or Show Me (video) option.

This will enable the ability to earn a badge based on completion of the Guide Me or Show Me instead of the Let Met Try.

The Accessibility Guide for Students with Disabilities is intended for blind and visually impaired students and others who use assistive technology. SIMskills has been carefully designed to support students with disabilities, including the physically impaired, deaf or hard of hearing, those with learning or cognitive disabilities, and the blind and visually impaired. This guide offers tips for using SIMskills with a disability.

What browser should I use?

SIMskills supports the latest version of the following browsers: Firefox, Edge Chromium, Chrome, and Safari. We recommend reviewing the list of supported browsers published by your screen reader. Each screen reader supports a different set of browsers and browser versions. It’s very important that your screen reader supports your browser.

How do I turn on high contrast mode?

SIMskills has a special color theme to increase the color contrast that many low vision students need to differentiate colors. Be sure to enable this setting prior to getting started by visiting the Student Profile link located on the upper right hand corner of the website after signing in. The setting can also be turned on from within a SIMbook or Lesson using the Accessibility Options dialog. High Contrast mode will only need to be enabled one time, and will remain in place for all subsequent website visits. View the 👉 Enabling Accessibility Features section for details.

How do I set the required exercise to be accessible?

By default SIMskills tracks completion of the Let Me Try exercise for badge qualification. Students who require a screen reader can override the default setting and use the Guide Me as the required exercise instead of the Let Me Try. View the 👉 Enabling Accessibility Features section for details.

How do I use browser zoom and OS zoom and magnification?

Students who would like to zoom their screen are advised to use their OS display scale settings to increase the size of the information on screen. However, zooming past a certain magnification threshold may make the window too small to display all information on simulated questions without scrolling.Text size and line-spacing can also be adjusted from within SIMbooks and Lessons using the Accessibility Options dialog. Similarly, in the Let Me Try and Exam windows, the text size can be changed without altering the size of other controls on the page.

How does SIMskills handle double- and triple-clicking?

For SIMskills exercises requiring the user double-click or triple-click a control, the standard click commands can be pressed multiple times to register the action. Also, when keyboard input is detected, the default Windows double-click delay is slowed by 50%. In addition, while most screen readers allow the use of both Enter and Space for activating controls, often doing the same thing as a mouse click, some of them only support both for certain control types or have a separate keybinding for click. For example, in NVDA spacebar will click buttons but not links and in VoiceOver Enter will activate most controls but clicking requires Control+Option+Space. In general, if you find the control activation key you typically use doesn’t click, try the alternate activation key.

How does SIMskills handle right-clicking?

For SIMskills GuideMe activities that ask the user to right-click a certain control, the standard context menu shortcut can be used by keyboard users.

How should screen readers be used to navigate SIMskills?

Tabbing is a common way of navigating using a screen reader, however, it is limited. By default, using the Tab key allows access to Links and Buttons, but other elements such as headers, cannot be accessed by pressing Tab.. We recommend using native screen reader methods for quick access to certain elements on the page. For example, with JAWS, hitting the R key cycles through Landmarks/Regions and hitting the H key cycles through available headers.In general, throughout SIMskills, buttons will correspond with an action and links will be used to navigate to different pages and views. For this reason, it helps to use native screen reader keybindings to cycle through links or buttons, depending on what you want to do. For example, when using NVDA in a SIMbook, the K key can quickly focus the Exit link at the end of the navigation region or the Previous/Next Page links at the bottom of each page. Most components that shift focus, such as menus and dialogs, can be exited in multiple ways, like exit/dismiss buttons or the Esc key. Certain dialogs are designed to not be dismissible by any student, however, such as those that prevent access to a SIMbook during a closed-book exam. In these situations, exit/dismiss buttons will be missing, shortcuts like Esc will not work, and students must select one of the options provided in order to proceed.

Where can I find additional information regarding accessibility?

Most schools have dedicated accessibility teams and resources. We recommend that you first seek additional help or information directly from your schools accessibility team.

If there is an issue with your credentials when you log in, you will get a notification in red that there was a problem with your Username or Password. Make sure you entered your Username correctly. Then review your password by clicking the eye icon if you are comfortable displaying your password in your current location.

To recover your password, click the Forgot my password link on the sign-in page.

You can recover your password using your Username, Email or Student ID. Click the drop-down arrow next to in the text box with Username and select the desired option. Any selection will work, depending on what information you have access to. Enter your account information. Here, HelpStudent remembered their Username and entered it successfully.

Once you have successfully entered your information, check the email address associated with your SIMnet account to find an email from SIMnet Account Services with the subject line [SIMnet] Username and password recovery.

Click the Reset Password button to reset your password. You will receivean email that can only be used for 24 hours and can only be used once. If you have to recover your password again, you will need to restart this process.

Enter your new password in the New Password text box. Your new password must be 8 characters long and contain at least a letter and a number. Enter the same password again in the Confirm Password text box. Click the Change Password button.

Once you have successfully added the same password twice you will get a confirmation that you have updated your password. Click the Return to the Sign In page link to return to your school's sign in page and enter your account information.

Returns for Online Purchase

If you purchased SIMskills from the Buy Now links within SIMnet, and you have not used SIMskills, you may be eligible for a refund. Visit the following website to initiate the return process:

Returns website

If you need help with a SIMnet issue please contact the McGraw Hill Customer Support Team.

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