How to get the most out of SIMnet when you set up SIMnet, throughout the semester, and after each semester is complete
Loading...
Loading...
Loading...
Loading...
Keeping SIMnet neat to help students and instructors find the right materials
Archiving allows instructors to remove students, classes, lessons, exams and SIMpaths from their active lists and reports and store them in an archive list. This will not delete them but will help keep the account clean and organized, showing only current information. Whether you're archiving lessons, exams, SIMpaths, etc., the process and the archive screens are identical.
Click on the Archive link in the section you want to archive items on the Left Navigation.
Click on the item(s) in the active list and click the Add button.
The item now appears in the Archived list.
Items that have been archived can also be unarchived at any time, making the item active again. To unarchive:
Click the item(s) you want to unarchive.
Click the Remove button.
The item now appears in the Active list.
Archiving for students follows the same process but is a bit different. An archived student can still log in and use their self-study materials but their account will not be deleted. Once a student account has been archived, their unique username cannot be used by another user.
Deleting content in SIMnet is significantly more permanent than Archiving. Unlike Archiving, Deleting cannot be done in bulk from a list. You must select each thing to be deleted individually and select Delete from the Actions menu. Deleting cannot be undone within SIMnet. In some limited circumstances Deleted content can be restored by contacting SIMnet Support.
Note: Students who have purchased content within SIMnet cannot be deleted within SIMnet. Students who have purchased content but would still like their account deleted must contact SIMnet support.
Preparing for a new semester or term to get the most out of SIMnet
If you are going to re-use your current course structure, start by creating new courses based on the ones you already have with the Class Copy feature. Copying current content before you archive can avoid headaches based on trying to find the appropriate content later.
You can put off this step if you are using a Course Master to copy content into a new course since the Course Master does not get archived.
Once you have copied the course structure of your previous semester courses into your next semester courses, it is time to archive content that will not be used going forward. Old courses, students, and course materials can be archived to ensure that everyone is working from the same list of materials. Archiving also ensures that new students won't try to enroll in old courses.
Archiving keeps you lists clean and is completely reversible from within SIMnet. Review the archiving process Archiving.
Note: We do not recommend reusing the same course but archiving the students within a course. This becomes problematic when changing materials in the course. When previous students have completed assignments, even if they are archived, those assignments cannot be deleted from the course.
Copy course materials from previous semesters can be accomplished by using a date schedule or by shifting the course dates forward by a set number of days. This typically leaves a few changes that will be required before the start of the semester. See Class Copy for more details.
SIMnet requires a Start Date for your course. If you set that date in the future, you can limit student's enrollment in your course until the course is open. You can also set an end date for the course that will keep students from viewing or enrolling in old courses. See Class Settings for more details.
Note: Be sure to edit the course schedule before adding new students to the course. If your course materials are passed their Due Date when you add new students, those students will receive a 0 grade for all of those assignments. Once you move your assignment dates those 0s will still be there until your students attempt an assignment. This does not have an effect on the ability of students to complete their assignments, but this will create a headache when they contact you.
Ensure that everything in your new course is there and that your course does not need any new materials. If you have changed any course materials, ensure that the SIMbook Series you are using has not changed so you will not need to edit your licenses or eCommerce settings.
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.
You can Create Students
You can Import Users & Classes
You can allow students to enroll through your school's LMS through MH Campus - Classic or through MH Campus - Deep integration.
Products, textbooks, ecommerce for account level vs. class level
Setting up your SIMnet account for the first time will ensure that your instructors and students have the right materials available for their courses and that you don't have to do any mid-semester fixes to keep everything running smoothly.
SIMnet can provide access for different materials, courses, and options based on creating a separate campus. Campuses do not share textbooks, licensing options, gradebook settings, and course defaults. Setting up separate Campuses is a powerful tool when your school is going to use SIMnet very differently based on a separate campus, school section, or location.
Note: Setting up separate campuses means that you will need to edit many SIMnet settings by Campus. Setting up a campus should occur when the values of keeping textbooks and course offerings away from inappropriate users outweighs the hurdles of keeping each campus set up correctly.
To set up your school's Campuses, review Campuses
In SIMnet, products are divided by versions of Microsoft Office and associated SIMnet content. In order to make any SIMnet materials available to instructors, you need to select a Product and add it to your school. For example, to assign any Office 365/2019 content you will need to add the SIMnet for Office 2019 product to your school. You may add multiple SIMnet products at the same time.
To set up your school's Products, review Products
Once you have added the desired Products to your school, you will need to add Textbooks to the Account and to each Campus. Selected textbooks determine which textbooks your instructors will be able to use to assign content to your courses. Adding the correct textbooks and removing old textbooks is a powerful tool to ensure that your instructors assign content that is intended by the school. Each Campus can have a separate set of assigned textbooks.
To set up your school's Textbooks, review Textbooks
Licenses determine how your students purchase access SIMnet content. SIMnet contains a number of textbook series that may be made available to students. Matching the appropriate license to the appropriate course with the appropriate materials ensures that students have timely access to all of their textbooks and assignments.
Working with your bookstore to provide physical licenses that may or may not accompany a physical textbook requires no additional setup within SIMnet. Work with your McGraw Hill representative on selecting the appropriate print activation code for your course.
ECommerce licenses are purchased by students as they enroll in SIMnet. These offerings are set by the school administrators at the Account level. Multiple eCommerce options may be selected at the same time. Individual courses may use only a subset of the selected eCommerce offers.
Account Level Inclusive Access licenses are provided by the school automatically to each student as they create a SIMnet account. Setting up Inclusive Access requires working with your McGraw Hill representative.
Note: Activating Inclusive Access requires turning off the Self-Registration setting and deactivates Courtesy Access. These settings should not be edited when using Inclusive Access.
Course Level Inclusive Access licenses are provided by the school automatically to each student when they are enrolled in a specific course. Course Level Inclusive Access is used when Account Level Inclusive Access will not work because a particular course uses separate materials from the rest of the school. Setting up Inclusive Access requires working with your McGraw Hill representative.
Note: Course Level Inclusive Access can only be set up at the beginning of the semester before courses have been created. Course Level Inclusive Access cannot be added retroactively to courses that have already been created.
To set up your school's eCommerce options, review eCommerce
To set up a course's eCommerce options, review Class eCommerce
Naming SIMnet content and courses consistently helps instructors and students
After a few semesters of using SIMnet, the amount of content and courses can build up. To find and use your materials efficiently; get accurate and timely support; and avoid that colleague who puts an asterisk in front of everything it is important to name your content with specific, repeated naming conventions.
The important thing is to select a convention and enforce it throughout SIMnet.
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 Canvas 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 2021 taught by different instructors meeting on different days. Those section names may be
Section 1 Spring 2020 Smith TTr 12:15-1:10
Section 2 Spring 2020 Smith WF 3:15-4:10
Section 3 Spring 2020 Ndebe MW 9:15-10:10
Section 4 Spring 2020 Ndebe F 5:45-7:35
Each semester there is at least one instructor who has a course archived or deleted and cannot tell SIMnet Support what their course is called, which makes recovering their course more difficult and slower than it would otherwise be.
Success: Create a class 'template' and name the section to include 'template' or 'main' to indiicate the the class should only be copied. Remeber to close your template class so students can't enroll into it!
SIMnet content is typically used across many courses and will be more context-dependent than course names are. Content may be used by all of the courses at a URL, all the sections of a single course, or for a single instructor.
SIMnet course content should mention the course name and the content covered in the assignment. It should also mention the version of the Office materials covered in the content. For example, simply naming the first quiz for an Access course Access Quiz 1 is hard to use when a school switches from 2016 to 365/2019 content. So the first quiz covering Access would be CS 101 365 Access Quiz 1.
Creating a master course can allow you to copy a course without any of the modifications that individual instructors make to the course. This course should be clearly labelled as a Master course and should not have any students added or any associated grades. Adding students and allowing them to complete coursework in the master class limits the long term flexibility of your master course.
