Case Study: St. Charles Community College achieves improved student engagement and course relevance in Essentials of Biology with McGraw Hill

St. Charles Community College - Customer Case Study

St. Charles Community College faced falling engagement and poor outcomes in its Essentials of Biology course: non–science majors found the material intimidating, irrelevant, and were disengaging — hurting grades and increasing dropouts. The college turned to McGraw-Hill for a solution and piloted their digital program Connect Master: Why Biology? to address these issues.

McGraw-Hill’s Connect Master: Why Biology? introduced a theme-based, digital pedagogy that begins with real-life topics (cancer, climate change, vaccines, etc.), uses pre-class prep assignments, adaptive learning, interactive visuals, and just-in-time feedback. After implementation, instructors reported higher participation and lower dropouts, average class grades rising to about 91–92.3%, and online participation increasing from roughly 70% to above 90%, along with overall improvements in homework, exams, and classroom engagement.

St. Charles Community College

Margaret S. Johnson

Biology Instructor