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General FAQ
- How do I get started?
- How do I purchase the SMARTHINKING service?
- Is my school a SMARTHINKING client institution?
- I received free online tutoring with SMARTHINKING with my textbook. How do I register?
- I have a textbook with SMARTHINKING. Why am I getting the account locked message?
- In what subjects do you offer academic assistance?
- What services does SMARTHINKING provide?
- Can I use all SMARTHINKING's online tutoring services, even
those not related to my specific class?
- How many questions or hours do I get? Is there a limit?
- How is time deducted from my account for tutoring sessions?
- What are your hours of operation?
- Who are your tutors?
- What kind of training and support do tutors receive?
- How does SMARTHINKING ensure quality?
- How does the Online Writing Lab work?
- How does SMARTHINKING handle privacy issues?
- What is SMARTHINKING's policy on advertising?
1. How do I get started?
First: Go to www.smarthinking.com
If your school gave you a username and password:
- Enter the username and password your school gave you and click "Login."
- Fill out the registration form (the red fields are required) and
click "Continue."
- Review the information you entered.
- Click "Continue" to go straight to SMARTHINKING.
- When you are returned to the SMARTHINKING homepage, enter your new
username and password and click "Login."
If you are a new individual user who would like to purchase online tutoring:
- Go to www.smarthinking.com
and click on "Individuals."
- Click on "Buy now! " on the left side. Study the available service
and pricing plans. When you know which plan you
would like to buy, click the "Click Here to Create Your Account! " button
- Fill out the registration form (the red fields are required); fill out
your credit card information; and your billing information. When you are
done, click "Continue."
- A confirmation page will appear. Make sure the information is correct
and choose "Continue."
- You are now at your personal homepage, ready to start using the service.
When you want to use SMARTHINKING again, use the new personal username and
password you chose to log in.
If you received a login with your Houghton Mifflin textbook:
The login information is on a card inserted in every new qualifying textbook.
If you did not see such card in your textbook, you should send an email to
Our Support Team. Include the complete
title of your textbook and the name of the school you're attending.
- Go to www.smarthinking.com/houghton.html
- Click on Create a student account.
- If you received just a password with your textbook, enter it in the password field under
Form 1 and click Submit. You should use Form 2
if you received both a username and password.
- Select a subject and a corresponding textbook.
- Click Continue.
- Fill out the registration form. All red fields are required.
- Click Continue.
- Review the information your entered.
- Click Continue to go straight to your SMARTHINKING account.
- When you are returned to the SMARTHINKING homepage, enter your new
username and password and click "Login."
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2. How do I purchase the SMARTHINKING service?
Click on "Individuals" from our home page, and then click on "Buy Now!"
to review our pricing and terms of service. When you are comfortable with the terms and
know which plan you would like to buy, use the "Click Here to Create Your Account!"
button to get started.
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3. Is my school a SMARTHINKING client institution?
To see partial list of SMARTHINKING client schools, click here.
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4. I received free online tutoring with SMARTHINKING with my textbook. How do I register?
1. Go to http://www.smarthinking.com/houghton.html.
If you don't already have a SMARTHINKING account:
- Click on "Create an Account"
- Enter the information included with your Houghton textbook.
- Fill out the registration form.
(HINT: Once you’ve selected your new username and password during the registration process, you won’t need the one that came in your textbook anymore.)
If you do already have a SMARTHINKING account:
- Log in to SMARTHINKING using your personal username and password
- Select "My Account" on the left navigation bar.
- Select the option for adding textbook service.
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5. I have a textbook with SMARTHINKING. Why am I getting the account locked message?
The login that comes with your textbook is for one-time use only to create your account. During the account registration process you choose a new username and password.
If you have already gone through the registration process and attempt to use the login from your textbook again, you will receive a message that the account is locked. Please use the login you created during the registration process to access tutoring.
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6. In what subjects do you offer academic assistance?
A complete and current listing of subjects in which SMARTHINKING offers academic assistance can be found here.
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7. What services does SMARTHINKING provide?
With SMARTHINKING, students can:
- Get live one-on-one online tutoring help from an experienced, trained E-structor® Certified tutor in Math, Math en Español, Writing, ESOL, Spanish, General Chemistry, Physics, Biology, Economics, Statistics and Accounting
- Submit an essay or paper in any subject or career writing to the Online
Writing Lab for review
- Submit grammar questions or brainstorm a writing assignment with an online tutor in our Live
Writing Center (Please note: our Live Writing Center is designed as a collaborative learning
space in which students and tutors work on grammar and brainstorming questions. If you want to submit and entire paragraph or essay for review, visit our Essay Center.)
- Submit questions for our tutors to review in any of our subject areas, and
pick up the tutor's response and suggestions at your convenience
- Help yourself to a host of independent study resources, housed under Academic Resources
on your SMARTHINKING home page
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8. Can I use all SMARTHINKING's online tutoring services,
even those not related to my specific class?
Your access to SMARTHINKING tutoring services depends on the subjects provided to you by your school or book.
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9. How many questions or hours do I get? Is there a limit?
Most students use SMARTHINKING through their college or university,
which decides how many hours of online tutoring they can use. Check with your school to
find out if you have access to SMARTHINKING.
Many students and parents also purchase SMARTHINKING individually. SMARTHINKING
offers two simple monthly plans. Click here for more information.
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10. How is time deducted from my account for tutoring sessions?
A listing of time deductions is available here at the bottom of the page.
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11. What are SMARTHINKING's hours of operation?
You can submit questions and essays, access your File Cabinet, and use the
Academic Resources 24 hours a day, seven days a week. To see our live tutoring
hours,
click here.
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12. Who are your tutors?
SMARTHINKING's tutors are well prepared to facilitate
student learning. They are seasoned teaching professionals, almost all with
advanced degrees in their fields, and include college faculty, graduate students,
high school teachers and retired educators. Led by our subject-area academic
coordinators, tutors undergo E-structor® Certification -- a rigorous, real-time screening and training
program that develop their skills as online academic coaches. Tutors are
also regularly evaluated for quality and consistency of response. Click here
for more information about our tutors
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13. What kind of training and support do tutors receive?
After passing a rigorous online screening, tutors must complete E-Structor® Certification. This is an extensive online training
in effective teaching methods in an the online environment, including
student management, the SMARTHINKING technology and course-specific pedagogy.
SMARTHINKING tutors are trained to help students become better critical
thinkers and better writers, not to give answers or be a proofreading/editing
service.
SMARTHINKING also supports and provides its tutors with a comprehensive
set of searchable online resources for improving their tutoring services.
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14. How does SMARTHINKING ensure quality?
SMARTHINKING ensures that students receive consistently high-quality online tutoring
through rigorous screening, E-structor® Certification and dedication to tutors'
ongoing professional development.
All interactions between students and tutors are saved, which allows us
to review and monitor the quality of our tutors' work and provide additional
feedback for professional development.
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15. How does the Online Writing Lab (OWL) work?
The SMARTHINKING Online Writing Lab provides students with detailed feedback regarding
how to improve their writing and become better writers, from an E-structor® Certified writing tutor. Assistance is available with all types of academic
writing (for example, essays and science lab reports) as well as writing for professional
development (for example, job application essays and cover letters).
- SMARTHINKING offers advice based on principle-centered writing pedagogy
- SMARTHINKING does not correct, rewrite or proofread student writing
In the Online Writing Lab (OWL), students gain assistance at all stages of the writing
process.
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Essay Center: SMARTHINKING gives writers feedback from E-structor® Certified writing tutors. Students submit writing projects (essays, paragraphs, letters, reports, etc.)
and receive individualized detailed commentary. Additionally, students can submit "offline
questions" under the "ask a question" section of SMARTHINKING's home page and receive a
response from an tutor. SMARTHINKING strives to return essays and responses to
questions in 24 hours. However, during periods of heavy volume, essays may take 24-72 hours
to be returned. You will receive an email notification as soon as your essay is ready.
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Live Writing Center: Students meet with SMARTHINKING tutors in live sessions, during
which student and tutor work on brainstorming and grammar questions. Students seeking
feedback to paragraphs and essays should submit documents to Smarthinking's Essay Center.
For instructions on using the Online Writing Lab, click here.
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16. How will SMARTHINKING handle privacy issues?
SMARTHINKING ensures the privacy of all students using our service. While
we may from time to time disclose aggregate and trend data, we will never disclose
any information about an individual student to any outside party without notifying
you. For more information please see our full Privacy
Policy.
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17. What is SMARTHINKING's policy on advertising?
There will be no advertising on the educational and tutor pages of the SMARTHINKING
site. However, SMARTHINKING has content partners whose sites may contain advertising.
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