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VCEE SMG TROUBLESHOOTING GUIDE 2023

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DETAILED TROUBLE-SHOOTINGGUIDEMARKET GAME™THE STOCKBuilding an Understanding of Stocks, Bonds and Mutual FundsDiane Neylan, SMG Coordinator smg@vcu.edu

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TROUBLESHOOTING 1 of 4 Troubleshooting & FAQ Introduction When you experience difficulties accessing the online components of The Stock Market Game™, contact your SMG Coordinator to determine whether it is an issue specific to your computers or a national issue. If it is not a national issue, contact your school computer network for help. The SIFMA Foundation is proud of the reliable service it provides teachers and their students participating in its The Stock Market Game™ (SMG) program. This Troubleshooting & FAQ document was created to help you resolve common access issues. The Teacher Support Center Log in to the Teacher Support Center as soon as you receive your SMG Advisor ID and password. Browse its lessons, newsletters, and projects. Download the materials for use when you cannot access your class’ SMG trading portfolios. Create a binder of ideas to use when you and your students do not have access to the SMG website. To access the Teacher Support Center, visit www.stockmarketgame.org and enter the Advisor username and password you received when you registered your teams. Advisor usernames (or IDs) are distinguished with a capital “T” in its third part. For Example: NY4_14_T1234567.

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TROUBLESHOOTING 2 of 4 FAQ Why haven’t I received my IDs and passwords? Schools and districts have SPAM software to block fraudulent email messages from cluttering your inbox. As a result legitimate messages like the one containing your SMG teams IDs and passwords are blocked and automatically deleted. If you believe this is happening to you, please ask your school network administrator or computer technician to allow messages from 209.191.158.252 and 167.212.2.56 If this does not resolve the issue or if a resolution is too time consuming, please establish a web based email account (Gmail, Yahoo!, Hotmail, etc.) for use with SMG program. Why can’t my teams or I login? IDs and passwords for the SMG program are case sensitive and must be entered as they were assigned. If you or your students have changed your passwords and have forgotten what they are, contact your SMG Coordinator to request a current set of passwords. Why aren’t some pages of the SMG Site loading? Please check that you are running an up-to-date version. The SMG website was built to function in the most popular browsers (Chrome, Safari, Firefox, and Internet Explorer). However, it may be necessary to modify the browser’s settings for the best possible experience. Why are some pages of the SMG site displaying outdated information? The pages of the Teacher Support Center and the team portfolio are regularly updated. This is particularly true for the team portfolios. If you receive complaints from teams that their portfolios are displaying old or inaccurate information, please ask them to clear the browser’s cache. Instructions for clearing the cache can be found in Internet Explorer’s Help section. If the problem persists – especially with regard to pricing – please ask the team to check their Transaction Notes and Transaction History pages to confirm that the discrepancy isn’t the result of a rejected transaction or a corporate action. Contact your SMG Coordinator, if the problem persists. Why did I receive a message saying, “My session has timed out”? Both the SMG team portfolio and the Teacher Support Center automatically log users off after 15 minutes of inactivity. This means that the computers mouse has not been moved and nothing on the screen has been clicked. Why aren’t my students’ trades appearing in their portfolios Check the portfolio’s Transaction Notes section for descriptions of the trades entered. If a trade your students entered is not appearing in their portfolios, the Description column of Transaction Notes should provide an explanation of what occurred. Please also ask the team to clear their browser’s cache and try viewing the Account Holdings page of their portfolio afterwards. Teams should also check their portfolio’s Transaction History page for possible corporate actions (dividends, mergers, name changes, stock splits, etc.) that may have impacted their portfolio.

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TROUBLESHOOTING 3 of 4 I’ve logged into the Teacher Support Center but where do I begin? Start with the Teachers Guide in the Getting Started section of the Teacher Support Center. It will provide you instructions for implementing SMG. Afterwards, search “Lesson Sequence” section under In the Classroom for a suggested syllabus. Nothing happens when I click a link in the Teacher Support Center! The Teacher Support Center uses pop-ups to provide simultaneous access to teaching materials in different sections of the site. If you click a link and it seems that nothing is happening, try disabling your browser’s pop-up blocker or creating an exception in your browser’s security settings to allow pop-ups from The Stock Market Game. If you have multiple windows open, try looking underneath them. Where should my teams begin once they’ve logged onto their portfolios? Once teams are logged into their portfolios, they should first check the Account Info section of their Account Analyzer page to ensure their information is correct. Next, they should check their Account Summary to make sure the Cash Balance and values are correct. If you have just registered, it may be that their cash balance have not yet been set up. They should check back the following day. If they have confirmed that their team information and Account Summary are correct, encourage them to surf through the site to familiarize themselves with the pages. They should also be encouraged to spend some time in the Help sections for each of the pages in their portfolio. Is there a glossary for terms my students? SMG is an educational program. Learning investment terms like “Total Equity,” “Buy Margin Requirement,” and “Minimum Maintenance,” is among the factors we use to measure successful participation. The SMG team portfolios offer the same features as many commercial online brokerage sites. In addition to this functionality, the each of the SMG portfolio pages provides its own Help section and glossary. Please encourage your students to make full use of their portfolio Help sections. They may access the Help section by clicking on the yellow “glowing” question mark on their blue Trading tab of the online portfolio.

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TROUBLESHOOTING 4 of 4 Additional Resources The resources below are suggested third-party materials created by other financial education institutions. It is recommended you review the sites and select the materials that you feel would be most appropriate for your students. Econ Lowdown https://www.stlouisfed.org/education The Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis produces free, high quality classroom resources including lesson plans, children’s literature, data and document sources, SMART and Promethean applications, and online courses.. EconEd Link http://www.econedlink.org/ EconEdLink provides a premier source of classroom-tested, Internet-based economic and personal finance lesson materials for K-12 teachers and their students. Jump$tart Clearinghouse http://jumpstart.org/jump$tart-clearinghouse.html The Jump$tart Clearinghouse the premier online library of financial education resources, for teachers, parents, caregivers and anyone committed to financial smarts for students. Museum of American Finance http://www.moaf.org/education/curriculum/index The Museum of American Finance is the only brick-and-mortar museum dedicated to chronicling American financial achievement and development. Visit their Publications and Collections section for articles and glimpses at their collection. SEC Historical http://www.sechistorical.org/ In their own words, sechistorical.org is a virtual museum and archive of the history of Financial Regulation”. The site provides exclusive access to historical documents, videos, and audio recordings about market regulation. The Department of Justice aims to combat technology facilitated exploitation crimes against children. Please visit www.projectsafechildhood.gov for more.