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User Types: Who Has Access to What?

For SimUTexts with multiple instructors/TAs, four different levels of access ("User Types") can be set by SimBio to increase security and decrease the chances of instructors stepping on each other's toes. These are described in the table below.

Permissions for each User Type

The table below outlines the four User Types in SimUText, in order of decreasing permissions. You can specify the User Type you would like assigned for each instructor/TA who will be given access to the SimUText when you first place your order, or you can ask our support staff to make changes once the SimUText has been built.

Admin Access

Admin Access is typically given to the Primary Instructor(s) administering materials for the course.

CAN:

  • Access all Instructor Portal features, including the ability to set up the SimUText and view/download student data.
  • Set up Course Sections for the SimUText, if necessary.
  • Create SimUText Assignments.
  • Create new Instructor Accounts for your school, to be used by co-instructors and TAs.
  • Attach instructors to your SimUText.
  • Add and remove instructors from Course Sections.
  • Switch User Types for other instructors between Admin Access and Co-Instructor Access.
  • Set release and due dates, points, and late work penalties for SimUText Assignments.

Co-Instructor Access

Co-Instructor Access is typically given to co-instructor(s) who need to see data for all students who have registered for the SimUText, but are not involved in setting up the SimUText.

CAN:

  • Access all 'course sections' by default.
  • Change Release and Due Dates for all assignments, in all Course Sections if they are set up for the SimUText.
  • Access student data without restrictions.
  • Override late-work penalties for selected students.
  • Access Supplemental Materials.

CAN'T:

  • Access the Publish Scores feature. Only instructors with Admin Access can decide when scores are published for an Assignment.
  • Change setup information such as creating, adding, removing, or otherwise editing Instructors, Sections, Assignments, or points. This prevents multiple instructors from overwriting each other's work setting up the SimUText.

Section-level Access

Section-level Access is typically given to graduate-level Teaching Assistants who need to see all data for students in their Course Sections, and need control over the points awarded to those students.

CAN:

  • Change Release and Due Dates for Assignments. If Course Sections are set up for the SimUText, can only change Release and Due Dates for Course Sections to which they are attached.
  • Access student data, but ONLY for students in Course Sections to which they are attached.
  • Override late work penalties for selected students.

CAN'T:

  • Change setup information such as creating, adding, removing, or changing Instructors, Sections, Assignments, or points.
  • Access the Publish Scores feature.
  • Access Supplemental Materials.

Read-Only Access

Read-Only Access is typically given to undergraduate-level Teaching Assistants who should have very limited data access and should not have control over student information.

CAN:

  • View student data, but ONLY for students in Course Sections to which they are attached.

CAN'T:

  • Make any changes to the SimUText or to student data.
  • Override late-work penalties for selected students.

Student Access

Student Access is given to all students subscribed to the SimUText. All instructors assigned to the SimUText also have Student Access.

CAN:

  • Use the SimUText application to complete assignments and submit their work.
  • Access the SimUText Student Portal to change personal administrative information (login / pwd / student ID).

CAN'T

  • Access the SimUText Instructor Portal. 

Default permissions

  • SimBio typically designates one person as the SimUText's Administrator. This is generally the professor who placed the order (or on whose behalf the order was placed). That individual has unrestricted Administrative access to the SimUText, and this cannot be changed.
  • When instructors have been added to the SimUText by SimBio, they are assigned the default "Co-instructor" User Type, which has some access limitations (as explained above). When creating instructor accounts in the instructor portal, the administrator will be able to assign their user type.
  • When TAs are added to the SimUText by SimBio, they are assigned the default "Read-Only" User Type.

Changing User Types

Users with Admin Access can make limited changes to the User Type of other instructors assigned to the SimUText. Any instructor assigned to the SimUText who has the Co-Instructor User Type can be changed to the Admin User Type, and vice versa. This is accomplished on the Instructors Section of the Instructor Portal.

At this time, the Instructor Portal does not provide tools to change permission levels of Users with the Section-Level or Read-Only User Types. If you need to change a TA's User Type (for example, a lead TA who is setting up a SimUText may require Administrative Access), please submit a Suport Request describing your situation and our support team can make this change for you. Keep in mind that instructors/TAs are assigned the same User Type throughout the SimUText System. This could have implications for individuals who are associated with multiple SimUTexts.

WARNING: Changing the User Type of an instructor/TA between Read-Only, Section-Level, and Admin / Co-Instructor will remove that individual from ALL SimUTexts to which they currently have access, thus they will have to be re-added using the Instructors section of the Instructor Portal. For example, if you have a TA who currently has Read-Only access to your SimUText and you would like to provide them with Co-Instructor access, SimBio can switch their User Type. After we do so, you will need to re-add them as an instructor to your SimUText. If that individual is also a TA in another course using SimUText, they will need to be re-added as an instructor to that SimUText as well, and they will automatically be assigned the Co-Instructor User Type. This does not apply to switching between Admin Access and Co-Instructor Access - flipping between those two will not have any side effects.

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