🔎Getting to Know SIMnet
Learn the essentials of how SIMnet works and what it offers for you and your students.
Courses and Sections
Each course in SIMnet has a unique course title. A section title may be added, as well as a campus if you use multiple campuses. It has its own set of assignments and schedule independent of the other courses. To ensure consistency for multiple courses, or multiple sections of the same course, a course may have already been created with assignments and exams for you to use as an instructor.
Course names in SIMnet should include the name of the course as it appears elsewhere at your school. For example, many schools use SIMnet as a part of their Computer Science intro course. Their course name at the registrar's office and in their LMS is CS 101. The SIMnet course name should match.
Section names in SIMnet should describe which section of the course it is, when the course is taking place, who is teaching it, or when the course is meeting. If there are 4 sections in the Spring of 2026 taught by different instructors meeting on different days, those section names may be:
Section 1 Spring 2026 Smith TH 12:15-1:10
Section 2 Spring 2026 Smith WF 3:15-4:10
Section 3 Spring 2026 Jones MW 9:15-10:10
Section 4 Spring 2026 Harris F 5:45-7:35
Create a master course 'template' and name the section to include 'template' or 'master' to indicate the the course should only be copied. Remember to close registration for your template course so students can't enroll into it.
Adding Students
Enrolling students to your course should be the last step in creating a new course. Once students are able to access your course it becomes more difficult to make changes as some students may attempt coursework as soon as they're able.
How students are added to courses depends on how your school or account is set up.
Students may log in through the LMS and automatically create their SIMnet account.
Students may purchase a code for SIMnet access online or through the bookstore and register and enter that code.
You may choose to import a list of students and create their accounts and enroll them into the appropriate course using codes available through inclusive access.
Assignment Types
In SIMnet, students can learn from SIMbooks, Lessons, Projects, Exams, SIMpaths, and Resources.
SIMbooks
SIMbooks are electronic versions of McGraw-Hill textbooks that include chapters with links to Show Me, Guide Me, and Let Me Try interactive, simulated exercises. These exercises directly correlate with the skills addressed in each chapter of the textbook. SIMbooks are assigned by chapter to a course. Completing a certain group of chapters in a SIMbook for each application allows students to earn Essential Skills and Advanced Skills badges showing their achievements.
Show Me – Animation with audio narration showing how to complete a task.
Guide Me – A click-by-click interactive practice exercise.
Let Me Try – Assesses comprehension of a skill within the same simulated application interface used in exams.
Lessons (Instructor Created)
Instructors can build or customize their own Lessons outside of the SIMbook. Instead of assigning an entire SIMbook chapter or series of chapters, instructors can tailor each lesson by omitting certain topics, rearranging skills, or pulling together specific concepts from multiple chapters. Each lesson includes the SIMbook page with the Show Me, Guide Me, and Let Me Try.
Projects (SIMbook Agnostic)
Projects require students to download a start file for an application, complete the project steps live in the application, then upload and submit their finished file for grading. SIMnet automatically grades projects based on a set rubric. Many different projects are included in SIMnet and they can be assigned to any course. There are also Intermediate Applied Skills projects for each application which allow students to earn a badge and certificate by demonstrating their proficiency in that application.
Exams (Instructor Created)
SIMnet exams come in two types:
SIMnet Exams use the simulated application environments in which students must complete appropriate steps to demonstrate practical knowledge of each application.
Test Bank Exams use objective questions (True/False, multiple choice, multiple answer, Fill in the blank) to demonstrate conceptual knowledge of each application.
SIMnet Exams can also include Test Bank questions to allow a mix of question types, but Test Bank Exams cannot include simulated questions.
There are also Applied Expert Skills exams for each application which allow students to earn a badge and certificate showing their proficiency in that application.
SIMpaths (Instructor Created)
A SIMpath is a three step learning and assessment path which follows these steps: Pre-test, Lesson and Post-test. The Pre-test can include questions from either SIMnet Exam Scenario A or B. The Lesson and Post-test are then customized based on the completion of the Pre-test. An instructor can configure each SIMpath to be adaptive based on the pre-test results, or static to contain prescribed content based on the pre-test.
Resources (Instructor Created)
Resources are URLs or files created and uploaded by instructors and assigned to students. A resource may be a syllabus, link to an online article, or a manually graded project.
Gradebook & Student Submissions
There are several methods of viewing student assignments, changing student grades, and tracking student progress in SIMnet.
SIMnet has a powerful gradebook that provides instructors with tools for viewing student grades, student assignment submissions, changing the ways in which grades are calculated and displayed, as well as means to change the grades manually or in bulk. There is one gradebook per course.
Instructors are able to override grades, bulk update grades, view individual submissions and more.
Student View
Student View allows instructors and administrators to login to the Student Portal directly from the instructor experience without requiring a separate student account or registration code. The link is located in several places in the platform.
You can access the Student View to view assignments from your students' perspective. This is useful when you are setting up your course or are new to SIMnet and want to see how the assignments work.
From the Courses List, Course card quick links:
From the Course Snapshot Student View widget:
From the Course Header anywhere in the course:
Clicking the link opens a new tab that brings you to that course's Assignments page so that you can access them as a student would. Simply close the browser tab when you are finished.
The SIMbooks Library is accessible through the left side navigation near the bottom or from the Course Snapshot Student View widget. This shows you all of the SIMbooks your students should be able to see. You can browse the SIMbook, use the e-Book tools and complete Show Me, Guide Me and Let Me Try exercises.
Reports
In SIMnet, reports are actually saved report queries that will automatically update each time you view the report. There is no need to recreate the report every time you want an update. There is a wide variety of reports available in SIMnet.
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