eCompanion: Some technical guidance

To get an SMC email account:  https://accounts.smc.edu/

·         Even if you already have an email account, it’s a good idea to open an SMC student email account.  This account logon name and the password that they give you are necessary for you to access the SMC library’s electronic databases when you are off campus.  Also, you may wish to use your SMC account rather than your personal Yahoo, Hotmail, AOL, or other account for college-related business.  Finally, some of the computers on campus require you to log on with this name and password.

To check your email:  http://student.smc.edu/

·         To access your SMC email account, go to this address.  There is a link to it on the SMC homepage as well.

To log on to eCompanion/eCollege:  http://smconline.org/index.real?action=eCompanion

• Your name is your student identification number.  Your password is your date of birth in six digits (for example, June 14, 1987 would be 061487). 
• To check/change your email address on eCompanion, go to “Student User Profile.” 
• To go to your eCompanion class, click on the course name.
• If you are taking only online courses, you will NOT be able to access the course until the first day of classes. 
• Any courses that you take for which your instructor is using eCompanion will be listed.

This program is used by many instructors of onground courses to post grades, lecture notes, and announcements and to email their students.

eCollege is the version used by ONLINE and HYBRID courses.  In addition to the features used in eCompanion, your instructor may use threaded discussions, provide timed examinations, use the dropbox and/or document sharing, post daily assignments, provide links to other online sources, use the chatroom, post a calendar, etc.  To become familiar with these features, visit the demo course at the “student orientation tutorial” on the first page of eCompanion.