Case Study: Virginia Tech achieves higher student engagement and improved exam scores with McGraw Hill Connect® Marketing

Virginia Tech - Customer Case Study

Virginia Tech faced large, often distracted Introduction to Marketing classes (roughly 600 students per section) and needed a way to engage students, track individual performance, and identify at‑risk learners—challenges made more urgent when COVID‑19 forced an abrupt move to remote learning. Instructor Donna Wertalik adopted McGraw Hill’s Connect Marketing (including SmartBook and Application‑Based Activities/Marketing Mini Sims) to provide adaptive assignments, analytics, and synchronous/asynchronous engagement tools.

McGraw Hill’s Connect Marketing, integrated with Canvas, delivered adaptive SmartBook homework, simulations, and robust reporting that smoothed the transition online and enabled targeted outreach. Measurable results included final exam averages rising from 88% to 95%, second exam averages from 89.03% to 95.19%, overall section scores from 91.47% to 98.25%, students classified as “safe” by the At‑Risk report increasing from 44.3% to 96.3%, and Mini Sim first‑attempt scores improving (e.g., Market Research 71.6% → 79.8%).

Virginia Tech

Donna Wertalik

Director of Marketing Strategy & Analytics for the Pamplin College of Business