Beginning at approximately 12:30 P.M. ET on 12/1/16 students would have experienced an issue saving answers in SIMnet exams. The symptoms of this issue would cause the exam to not advance to the next question and the exam timer would freeze. This issue was fully resolved as of 5:15 P.M. ET 12/1/16.

If a SIMnet exam or SIMpath Pre-Test or Post-Test was scheduled during this time we recommend considering the impact of this issue on the exam.

We appreciate your patience and apologize for the inconvenience. Should you or your students experience any other issues, please contact our Customer Experience Group.

Customer Experience Group (CXG) Hours of Operation:

Sun: 11am – 1am Mon-Thurs: 7am – 3am Fri: 7am – 8pm Sat: 9am – 7pm (All times Central)

By Phone you can reach us toll-free at 800-331-5094 (US Only).

Sincerely, SIMnet Product Team

Update Dec 15, 3:30 pm EST:We have switched to updating SIMnet Status Update for the latest information on this issue. While students and instructors should be able to access their content as desired going forward, please check the new post for the latest information.

Update Dec 14, 12:00 noonEST: The SIMnet system is up and running. It has been functioning properly since 11:30 pmEST yesterday evening, Dec 13. We are continuing to actively monitor the system for any ongoing issues. There remains a potential for short periods of intermittent slowness today as we continue working on final resolution. We will update this blog with more information as it becomes available.

Previous Updates: 11:30 pmEST: Conditions are improving and there remains potential for intermittent issues that we are working to fully resolve.10:30 pm EST: We continue to work around the clock to restore SIMnet to its full functionality. When we are able, we will share all of the details related to this issue.9:30 pm EST: The SIMnet outage is not resolved. We continue to work to make SIMnet fully available.8:30 pm EST:We have yet to resolve the SIMnet outage. We continue to work to make SIMnet fully available.7:20 pm EST:We have not yet resolved the outage. We will continue to work through the night to make SIMnet available.5:25 pm EST:We have not yet resolved the outage. We believe that we are close to having a solution and will continue to work through the night to make SIMnet available.1:30 pm EST: We know this is a critical time for instructors and students to finish final exams. We are working quickly and diligently with our team and vendors to get SIMnet up and running as quickly as possible. We apologize for the delay.

Original Post: Starting at approximately 10:00 amEST Dec 13th, students may have experienced difficulty loading SIMnet. At 11:45 am EST Dec 13th, it was determined that the fastest way to return SIMnet to optimal function was to restart the system. We will update this post with further details once the outage has been fully resolved. Once services have been fully restored, a root cause analysis RCA will be completed.

We appreciate your patience and apologize for the inconvenience. Should you or your students experience any other issues, please contact our Customer Experience Group.

Customer Experience Group (CXG) Hours of Operation:

• Sun: 11am – 1am

• Mon-Thurs: 7am – 3am

• Fri: 7am – 8pm

• Sat: 9am – 7pm

(All times Central)

By Phone, you can reach us toll-free at800-331-5094(US Only)​

**Update December 21, 3:30 pm EST:**As of 12:00 noon, December 15th the intermittent outage to SIMnet was fully resolved. We have been continuously monitoring the web site and there are noongoing issues related to this problem.

Original Post:SIMnet is fully operational, however, there continues to be intermittent slowness and the possibilityfor a short outage remains. We are monitoring the system 24×7 and continue to work with our hosting provider and database vendor with the highest priority available.

New SIMbook Chapters

• In Practice – Excel Chapter 8

• In Practice – Excel Chapter 9

• In Practice – Excel Chapter 10

• Skills Approach – Excel Chapter 9

New Projects

• Excel 2016 In Practice – Ch. 7 Guided Project 7-3

• Excel 2016 In Practice – Ch. 7 Independent Project 7-6

• Excel 2016 In Practice – Ch. 8 Guided Project 8-3

• Excel 2016 In Practice – Ch. 8 Independent Project 8-5

• Excel 2016 Skills Approach – Ch. 9 Skill Review 9.2

• Excel 2016 Skills Approach – Ch. 9 Skill Review 9.4

Bug Fixes and Project Improvements

Access

• 2016 Capstone Level 1 – improved grading of label width on a form

• 2016 In Practice – Project 3-7 – corrected start file name error

Excel

• 2016 Skills Approach – Challenge Yourself 5.3 – improved grading of PivotTable

• 201 6 In Practice – Project 4-4 – updated instruction text for step 11 to include worksheet name

• 2016 In Practice – Project 3-7 – Updated to match Microsoft changes to color sets for charts

• 2016 In Practice – Project 4-3 – Updated to match Microsoft changes to color sets for charts

• 2013 In Practice – Project 2-5 – updated note in instruction file regarding named ranges

• 2013 In Practice – Project 2-5 – Replaced grading feedback for step 8a with a different formula

• 2013 In Practice – Project 8-4 – Updated to match Microsoft changes to color sets for charts

• 2013 Skills Approach – Challenge Yourself 4.3 – Updated instruction 15 concerning width of a column

PowerPoint

• 2016 In Practice – Project 1-2 – updated instructions for Mac version for steps 6c, 11b and 12c

• 2016 In Practice – Project 1-5 – updated instruction text regarding inserting new slide

• 2016 In Practice – Project 2-3 – updated instructions for Mac version for steps 5c, 6c, 9c and 9d

• 2016 In Practice – Project 3-1 – added note to instruction regarding selecting text box versus text

Word

• 2016 In Practice – Project 5-6a – added note to instructions for Mac version clarifying import

• 2016 Skills Approach – Ch. 5 Fix it 5.6 – removed grading for page break on step 9

• 2013 GA State Standards – Work It Out 4A-E1 – improved grading tabs and text after line breaks

Integrated Projects

• 2016 Integrated Applications – Project 2 Word, Access, Excel – updated instruction for step 11k

The SIMnetcommunity.com blog wasbriefly forwarding users to another web site. Many WordPress.com powered sites experienced this issue. We have increased the site’s security to prevent this from occurring in the future. We do not anticipate that this had any effect on user’s computers however, a up-to-date antivirus program should reliably catch any resulting issues.​

New Projects

Excel 2016 In Practice – Guided Project 9-3 Excel 2016 In Practice – Independent Project 9-4 Word 2016 In Practice – Guided Project 7-3 Word 2016 In Practice – Independent Project 7-4

In Practice Excel Complete Simulated Exams and Custom Lessons

In Practice Excel Chapter 5 In Practice Excel Chapter 6 In Practice Excel Chapter 7 In Practice Excel Chapter 9

Bug Fixes and Project Improvements

Excel

Updated chart names changed by a Microsoft update for the Mac 2016 instructions:

• Excel 2016 Capstone – Level 1 Working with Sales Data VERSION: 1

• Excel 2016 Capstone – Level 2 Working with Sales Data VERSION: 1

• Excel 2013 Capstone – Level 2 Working with Sales Data (Mac Supported)

• Excel 2013 Capstone – Level 3 Working with Sales Data (Mac Supported)

• Excel 2013 Capstone – Level 3 Working with Sales Data Alternate with VLOOKUP (Mac Supported)

Word

Added improved grading for textbox and shapes in the following projects:

• Word 2016 Skills Approach – Skill Review 4.2

• Word 2013 In Practice – Independent Project 8-4

​Between approximately 6:30 P.M. Sep 29th and 4:30 P.M. EDT October 3rd, students may have had difficulty loading simulations for Microsoft Office 2013 content within SIMnet. This includes Let Me Try simulations and SIMpaths. This issue has been resolved and all access to simulations has been restored.

We appreciate your patience and apologize for the inconvenience. Should you or your students experience any other issues, please contact our Customer Experience Group.

Customer Experience Group (CXG) Hours of Operation:

• Sun: 11am – 1am

• Mon-Thurs: 7am – 3am

• Fri: 7am – 8pm

• Sat: 9am – 7pm

(All times Central)

By Phone, you can reach us toll-free at800-331-5094(US Only)​

NEW Advanced Microsoft Office Content

Newly released Advanced level content includes:

• A Skills Approach Word Chapter 7

• In Practice Excel Chapter 6

• In Practice Excel Chapter7

All currently released Advanced level chapters are:

• A Skills Approach Word Chapter6

• A Skills Approach Word Chapter7

• In Practice Word Chapter5

• In Practice Excel Chapter5

• In Practice Excel Chapter6

• In Practice Excel Chapter7

NEW Integrated Application Projects

Integrated Application Projects combine skills from multiple Microsoft Office Applications. For example, import data from an Access query into an Excel file, then generate a chart from the data in Word

Integrated Application Projects:

• Office 2016 Integrated Applications – Project 1 PowerPoint, Word, Access, Excel

• Office 2016 Integrated Applications – Project 2 Word, Access, Excel

• Office 2016 Integrated Applications – Project 3 PowerPoint, Word, Excel (Mac Supported)

NEW Projects

• Excel 2016 In Practice – Independent Project 6-5

• Excel 2016 In Practice – Independent Project 6-6

Beginning at approximately 7:00 A.M. EDT a small set of schools may have instructor’s login rights switched to student roles. We are currently in the process of restoring the affected accounts to their appropriate instructor roles.

We appreciate your patience and apologize for the inconvenience. Should you or your students experience any other issues, please contact our Customer Experience Group.

Customer Experience Group (CXG) Hours of Operation:

• Sun: 11am – 1am

• Mon-Thurs: 7am – 3am

• Fri: 7am – 8pm

• Sat: 9am – 7pm

(All times Central)

By Phone:

You can reach us toll-free at 800-331-5094 (US Only)

Between approximately 3:00 P.M. and 5:00 P.M. EDT students may have been unable to load Lesson assignments within SIMnet. This issue has been resolved and all access to Lesson assignments has been restored.

We appreciate your patience and apologize for the inconvenience. Should you or your students experience any other issues, please contact our Customer Experience Group.

Customer Experience Group (CXG) Hours of Operation:

• Sun: 11am – 1am

• Mon-Thurs: 7am – 3am

• Fri: 7am – 8pm

• Sat: 9am – 7pm

(All times Central)

By Phone:

You can reach us toll-free at 800-331-5094 (US Only)

SIMnet Administrators …

Did you know you can manage the SIMnet content that appears in your account?

In the Course Manager, go to Settings, click Products, and then add or remove products (SIMnet for Office 2013, SIMnet for Office 2016, etc.) as needed.

To control the eCommerce options available to your students, go to Settings, click eCommerce and then add or remove products as appropriate. The products available for eCommerce are controlled by the Products settings.

To manage the textbook filters available to instructors when creating lessons and exams, go to Settings, click Textbooks, and then add or remove textbooks as needed. If you use campuses, be sure to select the correct campus from the drop-down list at the top of the page.

August 12th, 2016 – Release Notes

New SIMnet Content & Features

Upgraded Library View

The Library view for students has been updated to show each book in your library more clearly and efficiently.

Each book also includes search directly from the library view, without navigating inside of the book itself.

New Projects

• Word 2016 Capstone – Level 1 Formatting a Document

• Word 2016 Capstone – Level 2 Writing a Research Paper

• Word 2016 Capstone – Level 3 Writing a Research Paper

• Excel 2016 Capstone Project Level 3 Working with Sales Data

• Excel 2016 Capstone Project Level 3 Working with Sales Data with VLOOKUP

• PowerPoint 2016 Capstone – Level 3 Creating a Company’s Presentation

• Access 2016 Capstone – Level 3 Working with a Sales Database

New/Improved Grading Features

Access

• Improved grading of table field properties to include column width; field caption; field description; use of AutoFit on column; order of fields in a table; format of a field; input mask applied; and text alignment

• Improved grading for table data with variance and exact match

• Improved grading of controls and formatting in headers and footers in reports

• Improved grading of grouping and sorting in reports

• Improved grading of form control widths

• Determine table properties and values

• Determine if a record source for a form has the correct table

• Compare lookup field properties for a value list lookup field (type your own values)

• Compare lookup field properties for a lookup from a table field (get values from a table)

• Determine if a report has a Stepped, Block or Outline group layout.

• Determine if the correct properties have been applied to group total controls.

• Compare a query’s fields order.

Excel

• Improved grading for sheet names

• Improved grading for cell values

• Improved grading of multiple chart types in a sheet

• Improved grading of cell number formatting

• Improved grading of chart elements

• Determine if column is sized using AutoFit

• Determine data label position in a chart

PowerPoint

• Improved grading of Animations

Word

• Improved grading of bullets and number formatting

Use the Course Manager to View Your Student’s Licenses

The beginning of the semester a hectic time for SIMnet instructors. This is especially true when a new version of Microsoft Office has been released. With the release of the SIMnet Microsoft Office 2016 product, there are more options for instructors and students than ever – and more opportunity for a student to end up with the wrong materials to start class.

In response, we’ve made it easier than ever to ensure that your students have access to all of the content you have assigned for a particular class. Directly in the Course Manager you can view an individual student or browse an entire class to determine of you have any students who are missing the licenses they need.

When you view the students in your class, or search an individual student, you will be able to see the student’s ID, Last Name, and First Name as before, and now, in addition, you will be able to determine if they are missing any licenses through the Missing Licenses column.

If the student is missing any licenses, they will display a link in the Missing Licenses column that says Details.

Clicking on that link will display the following information. First, you will be able to determine the Licenses that the student has purchased. Then you will be able to determine all of the books currently available to the student in the Student Library.

Finally, the Missing License Modules (based on class assignments) will display any modules that the student requires to complete all of their class assignments.

Reviewing this information at the beginning of the semester can keep your students from missing critical deadlines down the road because they cannot access advanced content or have the wrong books entirely.

You can access this information for your entire class by clicking on the Manage link in the Classes section of the Course Manager. Select the desired class and click the Actions drop-down menu. Select Edit/Assign and then the Students tab. On the left, look at the Assigned Students section and determine if any students are missing licenses. If there are no links, your students are ready to learn!

You can also search individual students. Select the Students link in the Users section. Search for the desired student and select Snapshot from the Actions menu. Click on the Licenses tab to view the student’s information.

Test Bank questions can now be assigned to SIMnet exams for the Computer Concepts module.Instructors can now create a single exam that incorporates both Test Bank questions and SIMnet Exam questions at the same time.

To add Computer Concepts Test Bank questions to a SIMnet Exam:

1. Create a new exam using the 2016 content (or edit an existing exam).

2. In the Available Questions list box, select the Module radio button and select SIMnet 2016 – Computer Concepts Assessment Exams (or Practice Exams). You can also filter by Text Book and selectSIMnet 2016 – Computer Concepts.

3. In the Question Text filter box (at the top of the list of questions), type Test Bank.

4. You will see the available test bank questions that you can add to any simulation exam.

SIMnet will be unavailable Tuesday, July 26th, 2015 from 3:00AM – 5:00AM Central. We are performing routine maintenance to improve performance, reliability and security.

SIMnet will be unavailable Sunday, August 14th, 2015 from 4:00AM – 6:00AM Central. We are performing routine maintenance to improve performance, reliability and security.

Sincerely,

McGraw-Hill Product Team

Between 7:30 am and 1:30 pm EST, students may have experienced an issue accessing SIMpath assignments or uploading Project files. This issue has been resolved and both SIMpath and Project assignments are functioning properly.

During that time, students attempting to access a SIMpath assignment were able to navigate to the assignment page but were not able to access any of the materials on that page. The links for Pre-test, Lesson, and Post-test were not accessible.

Students attempting to complete a Project assignment were able to access all of the required resources to complete their project but were not able to upload their files or submit themfor grading. Any Project assignments completed during that time can be uploaded properly.

We appreciate your patience and apologize for the inconvenience. Should you or your students experience any other issues, please contact our Customer Experience Group.

Customer Experience Group (CXG) Hours of Operation: Sun:11am – 1am Mon-Thurs:7am – 3am Fri:7am – 8pm Sat:9am – 7pm (All times Central)

By Phone: You can reach us toll-free at 800-331-5094 (US Only)

SIMnet is announcing the release of its Microsoft Office 2016 content this week!

This release includes Office-level content for all four applications: All Office-level SIMbook chapters for both the A Skills Approach and In Practice book series, brand new projects, and new simulations built with HTML5 and JavaScript.

Additional content to round out the SIMnet Office-level offerings will be released on a weekly basis throughout the summer. Instructors can begin creating their classes immediately after the release of 2016 content. Any Show Me, Guide Me, or Let Me Try content marked Coming Soon will automatically slot right in to created courses as soon as it is released.

Once the content has been released, administrators can add the new textbook to their campus by logging in to the SIMnet Course Manager and clicking on the Settings link at the bottom of the left-hand menu. Then click Productsfrom the Settings menu. On the left menu select SIMnet for Office 2016 and click Add.Then click on the Textbooks option in the Settings menu. Select the series of your choice in the left menu and click the Add button to add the textbook to your campus.

Stay tuned to the SIMnet blog for more information in the coming days including a complete rundown of the new 2016 content and a look at our brand-new 2016 simulation technology.

SIMnet is pleased to announce that Microsoft Office 2016 Office-level content has been released! New lessons, simulated exams, SIMbook chapters, and Projects are available today. The new content is for SIMnet Core Content, theA Skills Approachbook series and theIn Practicebook series. Take a look below to see all of the content out now!

SIMnet Core Office-level Content

This release includes lessons (including Show Me, Guide Me, and Let Me Try exercises) and simulated exams (both assessment and practice scenarios) unless otherwise noted:

• Overview – Chapter 1 – Essential Skills for Office 2016

• Word – Chapter 1 – Getting Started with Word 2016

• Word – Chapter 2 – Formatting Text and Paragraphs

• Word – Chapter 3 – Formatting Documents

• Word – Chapter 4 – Working with Pictures, Tables, and Charts

• Word – Chapter 5 – Working with Reports, References, and Mailings

• Excel – Chapter 1 – Getting Started with Excel 2016

• Excel – Chapter 2 – Formatting Cells

• Excel – Chapter 3 – Using Formulas and Functions

• Excel – Chapter 4 – Formatting Worksheets and Managing the Workbook

• Excel – Chapter 5 – Adding Charts and Analyzing Data

• Access – Chapter 1 – Getting Started with Access 2016

• Access – Chapter 2 – Working with Tables

• Access – Chapter 3 – Working with Forms and Reports

• Access – Chapter 4 – Using Queries and Organizing Information

• PowerPoint – Chapter 1 – Getting Started with PowerPoint 2016

• PowerPoint – Chapter 2 – Adding Content to Slides

• PowerPoint – Chapter 3 – Formatting Presentations

• PowerPoint – Chapter 4 – Managing and Delivering Presentations

• Windows 10: An Overview (Show Me, Guide Me, and Let Me Try interactivities coming soon)

• File Management Basics (Show Me, Guide Me, and Let Me Try interactivities coming soon)

• Using OneDrive (Show Me, Guide Me, and Let Me Try interactivities coming soon)

Microsoft Office 2016: A Skills Approach Office-level Content

This release includes the SIMbook chapters (with Show Me, Guide Me, and Let Me Try exercises), Projects, and “By Textbook” option for creating custom lessons and simulated exams (both assessment and practice scenarios) unless otherwise noted:

• Overview – Chapter 1 – Essential Skills for Office 2016

• Word – Chapter 1 – Getting Started with Word 2016

• Word – Chapter 2 – Formatting Text and Paragraphs

• Word – Chapter 3 – Formatting Documents

• Word – Chapter 4 – Working with Pictures, Tables, and Charts

• Word – Chapter 5 – Working with Reports, References, and Mailings

• Excel – Chapter 1 – Getting Started with Excel 2016

• Excel – Chapter 2 – Formatting Cells

• Excel – Chapter 3 – Using Formulas and Functions

• Excel – Chapter 4 – Formatting Worksheets and Managing the Workbook

• Excel – Chapter 5 – Adding Charts and Analyzing Data

• Access – Chapter 1 – Getting Started with Access 2016

• Access – Chapter 2 – Working with Tables

• Access – Chapter 3 – Working with Forms and Reports

• Access – Chapter 4 – Using Queries and Organizing Information

• PowerPoint – Chapter 1 – Getting Started with PowerPoint 2016

• PowerPoint – Chapter 2 – Adding Content to Slides

• PowerPoint – Chapter 3 – Formatting Presentations

• PowerPoint – Chapter 4 – Managing and Delivering Presentations

• Windows 10: An Overview (Show Me, Guide Me, and Let Me Try interactivities coming soon)

• File Management Basics (Show Me, Guide Me, and Let Me Try interactivities coming soon)

• Using OneDrive (Show Me, Guide Me, and Let Me Try interactivities coming soon)

Microsoft Office 2016: In Practice Office-level Content

This release includes the SIMbook chapters (with Show Me, Guide Me, and Let Me Try exercises), Projects, and “By Textbook” option for creating custom lessons and simulated exams (both assessment and practice scenarios) unless otherwise noted:

• Intro Chapter: Windows 10, Office 2016, and File Management (Show Me, Guide Me, and Let Me Try interactivities coming soon)

• Word – Chapter 1 – Creating and Editing Documents

• Word – Chapter 2 – Formatting and Customizing Documents (Show Me, Guide Me, and Let Me Try interactivities coming soon)

• Word – Chapter 3 – Collaborating with Others and Working with Reports (Show Me, Guide Me, and Let Me Try interactivities coming soon)

• Word – Chapter 4 – Using Tables, Columns, and Graphics (Show Me, Guide Me, and Let Me Try interactivities coming soon)

• Excel – Chapter 1 – Creating and Editing Workbooks (Show Me, Guide Me, and Let Me Try interactivities coming soon)

• Excel – Chapter 2 – Working with Formulas and Functions (Show Me, Guide Me, and Let Me Try interactivities coming soon)

• Excel – Chapter 3 – Creating and Editing Charts (Show Me, Guide Me, and Let Me Try interactivities coming soon)

• Excel – Chapter 4 – Formatting, Organizing, and Getting Data (Show Me, Guide Me, and Let Me Try interactivities coming soon)

• Access – Chapter 1 – Creating a Database and Tables (Show Me, Guide Me, and Let Me Try interactivities coming soon)

• Access – Chapter 2 – Using Design View, Data Validation, and Relationships (Show Me, Guide Me, and Let Me Try interactivities coming soon)

• Access – Chapter 3 – Creating and Using Queries (Show Me, Guide Me, and Let Me Try interactivities and Projects coming soon)

• Access – Chapter 4 – Creating and Using Forms and Reports (Show Me, Guide Me, and Let Me Try interactivities and Projects coming soon)

• PowerPoint – Chapter 1 – Creating and Editing Presentations (Show Me, Guide Me, and Let Me Try interactivities and Projects coming soon)

• PowerPoint – Chapter 2 – Illustrating with Pictures and Information Graphics (Show Me, Guide Me, and Let Me Try interactivities and Projects coming soon)

• PowerPoint – Chapter 3 – Preparing for Delivery and Using a Slide Presentation (Show Me, Guide Me, and Let Me Try interactivities and Projects coming soon)

To access SIMnet 2016 content at your school, your administrator needs to add the new textbook to your campus. Log in to the SIMnet Course Manager and clicking on the Settingslink at the bottom of the left-hand menu. Then click Products and from the Settingsmenu. On the left menu select SIMnet for Office 2016 and click Add, Then click on the Textbooks option in the Settings menu. Select the series of your choice in the left menu and click the Addbutton to add the textbook to your campus.

SIMnet now hosts Resource files for 2016 content directly in the Library.

Instructors have access to Instructor-only files, like the Instructor Manual, as well as the student files, like project data files. To access resource files for 2016 content, instructors should view thelibraryby clicking on the SIMstudent link onthe top bar of the Course Manager and select the Library link.

In the library, select the desired book. Book level resources, like the Capstone Projects are available from the Resources tab next to the book title.

Chapter level resources, such as the chapterInstructor Manualor InstructorPowerPointpresentations are available by chapter. To access them, select the 2016 book, such asIn Practice – Office 2016 then select the desired application, such asWord from the drop-down list then select the desired chapter. Once you have selected the desired chapter, click theResources tab.

This update applies to 2016 content. Previous OLC files are still available through the previous methods. If a book does not have OLC files available through SIMnet the Resources tab will not be visible.

SIMnet will be unavailable Sunday, June 12th, 2016 from 4:00AM – 2:00PM Eastern. We are performing database upgrades. This maintenance is part of our continuous effort to improve performance, reliability, and security.

Note: The maintenance “rain date” will be Saturday, June 18th 2016 if unforeseen issues arise.

Sincerely,

McGraw-Hill Product Team

What’s New to SIMnet?

The left-hand navigation of the Course Manager has been changed in two ways. First, theClassessub-heading, formerly underUsershas been movedto its own heading to better house the newOrganizerfeature. Second, theLearningsub-heading has been split to displayLessonsandSIMbooks.

The Classes section has the Manage sub-heading which contains all of the previous Classes options: Search, Create, Import, and Archive. In addition to these options there is the new Class Organizer feature.

The Class Organizer feature allows you to manage the way your students see class materials. Many instructors elect to organize their course around dates – like midterms or breaks – or around modules – like Word or Access. The Class Organizer allows you to manage your class by creating groups of similar materials. Once you have grouped desired materials together you can control how that group is presented to your students.

For example, one option would be to group the Office level books by module. If all of the Word assignments – SIMbooks, Lessons, Exams, SIMpaths, and Projects – are grouped together, you can control how that group is displayed all at once. You can elect to hide the entire group from students if they should be focusing elsewhere, or show students assignments that aren’t yet available so that they can plan their study calendar.

The Class Organizer also allows you to make changes to each assignment individually, changing the Scheduling, Gradebook Options and Restrictions as you would from the individual content sub-headings all on one screen!

How do I use this feature?

After you have used the Create sub-heading to add your assignments to a new class, navigate to the Organize sub-heading under Classes to access the Class Organizer. Once you have navigated to the Class Organizer, you will see a screen like the following. This class has been created as an example class named SIMnet Blog Class:

On the left you will see all of the assignments for the class, and, shortly, all the groups for the class. On the right, you will see a Settings menu. This menu changes based on what you have selected on the left. Currently, the entire SIMnet Blog Class has been selected. You can make changes to the group description, sorting, and whether or not students will be able to see unavailable assignments. At this point, students will see the same view that they do today – all of the available assignments based on start and end date on their Assignments page.

Now it’s time to create a group! Click the Create Group button in the lower right corner of the Groups box. The following dialog opens:

Type the name of the desired group and click Save. In this case, the new group is named Word Module. It’s highlighted on the left. The group title and settings are visible on the right.

Now you can populate the group. Simply click and drag all of the desired items into the group.

Once that’s completed, you’ll note that all of the assignments under the Word Module have been indented to show that they are under the Word Module group.

Let’s take a look at what students are seeing at this point. We’ve created a single group and added assignments to that group.

We can see the new type of tile: the gray Group tile, displaying the title Word Module and all of the other tiles with assignments that are not part of a group. If you click on the group, you can see what’s in it:

Also of note in this view is the bread crumb bar atop the tiles, in yellow. You can see that the student has navigated from the class home to the Word Module group. This can be useful if the instructor has created a number of nested groups. For example, we could create a group for all of the SIMbook assignments in the Word Module.

Back on the instructor side, if we make changes to the Word Module group settings, we can see what they do to the student view. First, let’s add a group description to the Word Module. An example of a group description is below. Click Save when you are finished making changes.

On the student side, that change occurs under the breadcrumbs for the group:

The Settings area for groups also includes options to sort assignments. You can sort by Title, Start Date, Due Date, End Date, and Custom. Each of these sort options changes the way that assignments are sorted on the left and the way that those assignments are sorted in the student’s view. If you elect one of the date-based options on the sort, the date will show on the left in front of each assignment (but won’t show on the student’s view).

You can also change Student Visibility settings for entire groups. You can elect to Show Unavailable Assignments which displays assignments that have not met their start date, are past their end date, or have used up all of their attempts. This option only displays the assignment but does not allow the student to take the assignment when these requirements have not been met. You can also toggle the Show Group option which you can use to hide groups and their assignments entirely. If you elect to hide a group, the group and all assignments on the left become gray.

The final product is to create a group for all of the available assignments. Here it has been done by module:

Now the student will see the module groupings instead of the entire list of assignments for the class:

If we hide the other modules that the students aren’t focusing on yet, we can see them grayed out on the left side of the Class Organizerscreen.

And those same groups will be removed from the student’s view.

Why was this change made?

The Class Organizer feature allows instructors to organize the assignments in their class all from one screen. This can be in the form of grouping similar assignments by type, content, or date (or other!) or by making changes to the assignments within any group.

This change will be particularly important in those inevitable moments when a class schedule changes. Instructors will easily be able to see that all of the assignments in a module have been effectively changed and grouped and that all subsequent assignments have been updated as well.

When will this feature be available?

The Class Organizer and the changes to the navigation on the left side of the Course Manager will be available in the next week or two.

March 25th, 2016 – Release Notes

Bug Fixes and Project Improvements

Excel 2013

• In Practice – Independent Project 6-5 (Mac Supported) – Added alternate acceptable answers for the nested IF function.

• In Practice – Independent Project 7-5 – Improved grading to ignore blank spaces after the text in the Data Validation function.

Word 2013

• O’Leary – Lab 1-2 Promoting Celebrate Bikes Sunday – Improved grading for deleting text.

What’s New to SIMnet?

SIMnet will no longer support Internet Explorer 9, Internet Explorer 10, Safari 6, or Safari 7.SIMnet requires using Chrome version 47 or newer; Firefox version 46 or newer; Internet Explorer 11 or newer; or Safari version 8.0 or newer. For the best browsing experience, SIMnet recommends using Google’s Chrome browser.

The SIMnet team will be evaluating support for Microsoft Edge browser in July, 2016.

How do I use this feature?

To get the latest version of Google Chrome go to https://www.google.com/chrome/browser/desktop/index.html and click the blue Download Chrome button.

To get the latest version of Firefox, go to https://www.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/new/ and click the green Free Download button.

Why was this change made?

In January of 2016, Microsoft announced that they willno longer be supporting versions of Internet Explorer 9 and 10. This means that Microsoft will no longer fix security issues with the browsers. SIMnet is committed to providing its users with a secure learning environment. Since IE9 and IE10 no longer provide a secure learning environment the decision was made to discontinue support for these browsers.

Also, in order to support a consistent and reliable test taking experience using advanced features of HTML5 it’s important to be using a secure, modern browser.

When will this feature be available?

SIMnet will no longer support Internet Explorer 9 or 10 or Safari 6 or 7 starting May 2016.

TechRepublic has gone and created what basically amounts to a “Microsoft Office 365 For Dummies.” It’s an article that goes deep into what the service is, what it costs, what apps it gets you access to, and a whole lot more. If you have any lingering questions about the somewhat unintuitive service, it’s likely that this article has the answers.

From TechRepublic:

• **What is it?**Microsoft Office 365 provides users with the basic productivity applications necessary to get work done in the modern enterprise. It includes applications like Word, Excel, Outlook, PowerPoint, OneNote, and OneDrive, just to name a few.

• **Why does it matter?**As the standard for productivity suites, competing products are generally measured against applications from the Office 365 suite.

• **Who does it affect?**In the modern mobile-centric enterprise, Office 365 provides the tools used to get work done. This makes Office 365 important to just about every working individual.

• **When is it available?**The latest version of Microsoft Office 365 is available right now. The current subscription includes Office 2016 applications.

• **How do you get it?**Enterprises can purchase a subscription to Office 365 via the Microsoft website. Subscriptions range from $8/user/month to $35/user/month.

For all Office 365 subscribers with the latest version of Excel installed and updated, the CONCATENATE function has been replaced by CONCAT.

To accommodate students with Office 365 subscriptions, all SIMnet for Office 2013 projects now accept the CONCAT function in all places where the CONCATENATE function is used.This change affects the following projects:

• Excel 2013 Skills Approach – Ch 3 Skill Review 3.1

• Excel 2013 Skills Approach – Ch 3 Fix It 3.6 (Mac Supported)

• Excel 2013 In Practice – Ch 6 Independent Project 6-5 (Mac Supported)

The CONCATENATE function is still available in Excel 2016, but it has been moved to the Compatibility category (Formulas tab, Function Library group, More Functions button, Compatibility).

Custom Rubric Updates

Instructors now have the option to make any shared custom rubric the default rubric for a course, even if that custom rubric is owned by someone else. However, the custom rubric is still controlled by the owner. If you use a custom rubric and you are not the owner you will not be able to edit it. Here is how to set up and share a custom rubric.

Course Manager Updates

We’ve made the following usability improvements and fixes to the Course Manager:

• Improved the file upload process for Resource files and Supplemental Resources. Validation rules such file size less than 10MB and file name length less than 120 characters now occur prior to waiting for the file to be uploaded to the server.

• Improved the Academic Integrity Violation Report – If a student copies a PowerPoint slide from another student’s file, the Academic Integrity Violation Report now displays a message that the slide was copied rather than listing the elements on the slide.

• Fixed a problem with the count of available questions not updating correctly when questions were added or removed from an Exam, SimPath, or Test Bank.

Bug Fixes and Project Improvements

Access 2013

Improved error handling and feedback message when a report has been deleted.

Excel 2013

• Skills Approach – Ch. 2 Fix It 2.6 – updated with improved grading of borders

• Skills Approach – Ch. 2 Skill Review 2.1 – updated with improved grading of conditional formatting

• Project Learn Ch 3 Work It Out 3B-E1 – Corrected the label for a figure in the instruction file.

• In Practice – Ch 3 Guided Project 3-3 – Added the following note to the instruction file: IMPORTANT: Be sure to select the Chart Area when completing the following steps, and not the smaller Plot Area.

• In Practice – Ch 6 Independent Project 6-4 – Additional acceptable formulas for steps 9.b and 10.c.

Improved grading of number formats in the following projects:

• Capstone – Level 1 Working with Sales Data (Mac Supported)

• Capstone – Level 2 Working with Sales Data (Mac Supported)

Improved grading of number formats and updated instructions clarifying step 15 in the following projects:

• Capstone – Level 3 Working with Sales Data (Mac Supported)

• Capstone – Level 3 Working with Sales Data Alternate with VLOOKUP (Mac Supported)

Improved grading of number formats and updated instructions clarifying steps 3 and 5 in these projects:

• GA State Standards – Ch. 1 Work It Out 1B-E1

• Project Learn – Ch. 1 Work It Out 1B-E1

Improved grading of absolute references in the following projects:

• Skills Approach – Ch. 1 Skill Review 1.1

• Skills Approach – Ch. 1 Challenge Yourself 1.3

PowerPoint 2013

When searching for text, applied a standard variance amount of 10% (i.e. 1 in 10 characters may be incorrect).

Updated the following projects with improved grading of chart data:

• In Practice – Ch. 2 Guided Project 2-3

• GA State Standards – Ch. 3 Work It Out 3A-E3

• Capstone – Level 2 Creating a Company’s Presentation (Mac Supported)

• Capstone – Level 3 Creating a Company’s Presentation (Mac Supported)

Improved grading for numbered lists styles.

• Capstone – Level 2 Creating a Company’s Presentation (Mac Supported)

• Capstone – Level 3 Creating a Company’s Presentation (Mac Supported)

Word 2013

Updated the following projects with improved grading of hyperlinks:

• Skills Approach – Ch. 3 Challenge Yourself 3.4 (Mac Supported)

• In Practice – Ch. 2 Independent Project 2-6 (Mac Supported)

• In Practice – Ch. 3 Independent Project 3-4

• In Practice – Ch. 3 Improve It Project 3-7 (Mac Supported)

Added a note regarding spell check to the following project instructions:

• Capstone – Level 1 Formatting a Document (Mac Supported)

• Capstone – Level 2 Formatting a Document (Mac Supported)

• Capstone – Level 3 Formatting a Document (Mac Supported)

Improved grading of watermarks to check for layout options such as horizontal or diagonal.

• O’Leary – Lab 1-1 Asking For Input Flyer

• Skills Approach – Ch. 3 Challenge Yourself 3.4 (Mac Supported)

• Skills Approach – Ch. 3 Fix It 3.6

Students are beginning to come to class with Microsoft Office 2016 installed on their Macs and PCs. SIMnet is currently hard at work creating new educational content for Microsoft Office 2016. The good news: right now, students with the newest version of Office can work seamlessly with SIMnet for Office 2013.

If your students are unsure whether or not they are using Office 2016, the Best Practices document, available in SIMnet Instant Help and at the beginning of each project, outlines the best way to tell which software they are using.

Microsoft Office 2016 Projects on PC for Office 2013

Every 2013 project will work with Office 2016 on PC. A limited number of projects, like Word 2013 In Practice Guided Project 1-2 or Word 2013 A Skills Approach Challenge Yourself 7.3 have extra instructions where menu names have changed or small changes like theme names require a different selection. If a student with Office 2016 follows these notes they can get every project 100% correct.

Microsoft Office 2016 Mac Projects in SIMnet for Office 2013

All SIMnet for Office 2013 Mac Projects are fully compatible with Microsoft Office 2013 and 2016 Mac versions. Mac projects have been released through blogs and release notes previously. Below is the comprehensive list of Mac supported projects, in one place, for your convenience.

A Skills Approach

Excel

• Fix It 1.6 (Mac Supported)

• Challenge Yourself 2.3 (Mac Supported)

• Fix It 3.6 (Mac Supported)

• Challenge Yourself 4.4 (Mac Supported)

• Skill Review 5.2 (Mac Supported)

• Skill Review 6.1 (Mac Supported)

• Challenge Yourself 7.4 (Mac Supported)

• Challenge Yourself 8.4 (Mac Supported)

• Challenge Yourself 9.4 (Mac Supported)

• Skill Review 10.2 (Mac Supported)

PowerPoint

• Challenge Yourself 1.4 (Mac Supported)

• Fix It 2.6 (Mac Supported)

• Fix It 3.6 (Mac Supported)

• Fix It 4.6 (Mac Supported)

• Challenge Yourself 5.4 (Mac Supported)

• Challenge Yourself 6.3 (Mac Supported)

• Skill Review 7.1 (Mac Supported)

Word

• Skill Review 1.1 (Mac Supported)

• Fix It 2.6 (Mac Supported)

• Challenge Yourself 3.4 (Mac Supported)

• Fix It 4.6 (Mac Supported)

• Fix it 5.6 (Mac Supported)

• Skill Review 6.2 (Mac Supported)

• Challenge Yourself 7.3 (Mac Supported)

• Skill Review 8.1 (Mac 2016 Supported)

• Skill Review 9.1 (Mac 2016 Supported)

In Practice

Excel

• Independent Project 1-5 (Mac Supported)

• Independent Project 2-4 (Mac Supported)

• Independent Project 3-4 (Mac Supported)

• Independent Project 4-5 (Mac Supported)

• Independent Project 5-4 (Mac Supported)

• Independent Project 6-5 (Mac Supported)

• Independent Project 7-4 (Mac Supported)

• Independent Project 8-4 (Mac Supported)

• Independent Project 9-6 (Mac Supported)

PowerPoint

• Independent Project 1-6 (Mac Supported)

• Independent Project 2-5 (Mac Supported)

• Guided Project 3-1 Part A (Mac Supported)

• Guided Project 3-1 Part B (Mac Supported)

• Guided Project 4-2 (Mac Supported)

• Independent Project 5-5 (Mac Supported)

• Independent Project 6-4 (Mac Supported)

Word

• Independent Project 1-6 (Mac Supported)

• Independent Project 2-6 (Mac Supported)

• Improve It Project 3-7 (Mac Supported)

• Independent Project 4-5 (Mac Supported)

• Guided Project 6-1 (Mac Supported)

• Guided Project 7-3 (Mac Supported)

• Independent Project 8-4 (Mac Supported)

• Independent Project 9-4 (Mac Supported)

• Independent Project 10-6 (Mac Supported)

Capstones

Excel

• Level 1 – Working with Sales Data (Mac Supported)

• Level 2 – Working with Sales Data (Mac Supported)

PowerPoint

• Level 1 – Creating a Company’s Presentation (Mac Supported)

• Level 2 – Creating a Company’s Presentation (Mac Supported)

• Level 3 – Creating a Company’s Presentation (Mac Supported)

Word

• Level 1 – Formatting a Document (Mac Supported)

• Level 2 – Formatting a Document (Mac Supported)

• Level 3 – Formatting a Document (Mac Supported)

What’s New to SIMnet?

The Project Results page now includes an image of the correct complete project along with indicators to show where each step is visible in the file. This view is the same as the view that students have after they submit their project for grading. Note that the image file on the right is an image of the correct solution file and not the student’s file.

In addition to providing only scored steps, instructors can use the View Options button on the right to refine your search further. You can select Expand All which shows all scored steps within an instruction; Collapse All which hides all steps within an instruction; and Toggle Map which hides the image on the right.

Once you have refined the view as you like, you can refine it even further, showing only Correct, Incorrect or Partial steps. Partial steps are those in which the student has gotten some parts of the step correct and other parts of the step incorrect.

As in the past, you can use this screen to edit student grades by editing the number of points that a student receives for a scored step. Simply click on the pencil icon under the score for a single step.

The number in front of the score will change to an editable field where you can enter the new grade. You can only change a grade by half points up to the max value for a grade. For the step below you can edit the grade to be a half point or a full point, for example. Click the green check to accept the change or the red X to reject it.

After editing a student’s score, an additional icon of a person holding a pencil appears to indicate the grade change.

How do I use this feature?

There are a number of different ways to use the Project Results page. This feature is available through the Reports section under Results in the Course Manager. Select the course you would like to see and select View from the drop down menu. Select the Projects tab and search by student or project title and click on the link in the Title column.

You can also navigate to the Project Results page through the Projects section under Content or the Students section under Users.

Once you’ve opened the Project Results page, change the view as you see fit and then view any individual steps either by finding the bubble on the image or finding the step on the left. You can download the student’s submitted file by using the View Submission link at the top left of the page to compare the student file to the results page. Click on the pencil icon to make any changes to the student grade as you see fit.

Why was this change made?

This change allows instructors to see the same thing that their students see, facilitating instruction and remediation. In addition, this change optimizes the grade editing process for the instructor. Navigating through the project instructions and making edits will happen more fluidly.

When will this feature be available?

This update to the Project Results page will be available Monday, May 16th 2016.