Big Decisions in Achieve: Section Manager or Not?

[becky_anderson]

Now that you've figured out your Achieve course delivery method, you need to determine how you want to manager you sections. A Section Manager with sections is the easiest way to manage the content of multiple sections from one place-- the Section Manager. It’s also the easiest way to manage course sections of the same course taught by multiple different TAs/instructors. However, Section Managers do have certain limitations.

In Achieve, you can create course sections under a Section Manager. All of the sections are copies of the Section Manager course, and depending on settings you choose, they may inherit changes from the Section Manager. 

How does a Section Manager work?

Section Managers do not allow the following actions. These actions would instead be taken in each course section.

• Enrolling students
• Viewing assignment scores or completion information in the assignment list, gradebook, and reports
• Creating due date exceptions or student-specific assignments
• Creating groups of students
• Performing LMS integration

How do the sections work?

The course sections under the Section Manager have two different permission sets: Restricted Access and Full Access. In general, Restricted Access is used when you want changes in the Section Manager to flow down into the sections. Restricted Access instructors have limitations on the changes they can make within the course, while Full Access instructors have complete control over the content. The differences between these section types will be covered in more and more detail throughout this article.

Is a Section Manager with sections the right set up for me?

A Section Manager with sections is the easiest way to manage the content of multiple sections from one place-- the Section Manager. It’s also the easiest way to manage course sections of the same course taught by multiple different TAs/instructors. However, Section Managers do have certain limitations.

• You will not be able to integrate your Section Manager with an LMS or enroll students in it. You will only be able to set up integration with the section courses under the Section Manager once those have been created.
• You will not be able to customize the name, course code, or course start/end dates for each section. This information will be inherited from the Section Manager.
• You will not be able to edit Diagnostic activities once sections are created.

The alternative to creating a Section Manager with sections would be to create copies of a single course (not tied to a Section Manager). Functionally, this is almost exactly the same as creating Full Access sections. The only benefit of creating single course copies is that they can have unique course names and start/end dates, while Full Access sections can only inherit this information from the Section Manager. There are also drawbacks to using single course copies. A course coordinator can quickly add an instructor or TA to a Full Access section, but this is not possible for a single course copy. This would have to be done through Macmillan Learning Customer Support. Also, this setup only allows you to add content items you create to a single course, rather than all of your sections. See the table below for further comparison.

Comparison of section/course types

Below is a table with a brief comparison of the different section types under a Section Manager (Restricted Access and Full Access) vs. course copies that are not tied to a Section Manager. We'll cover the differences between Restricted and Full Access sections in more detail later in this article.

	Restricted Access section	Full Access section	Course Copy (not tied to a Section Manager)
Who controls how content is organized in the section course?	Section Manager instructor	Full Access section instructor	Course Copy instructor
Who controls who has instructor access to the section courses?	Section Manager instructor	Section Manager instructor	Macmillan Customer Support
Can I customize the course info such as the course name, course code, start and end dates?	No, it’s inherited from the Section Manager	No, it’s inherited from the Section Manager	Yes
Newly created Files and Links from the Section Manager are automatically added to the section course	Yes	Yes	No, but you can add these manually
Newly created Assessments and Writing assignments from the Section Manager are automatically added to the section course	Yes	Yes	No, you can only add these to one course
Receives changes to the content of Assessments from the Section Manager	Yes	No	No
Receives changes to the content of Writing Assignments from the Section Manager	Yes	No	No
Receives changes to the Target Score and Topics for LearningCurve Adaptive Quizzes and Read & Practice assignments from the Section Manager	Yes	No*	No
Receives changes to Diagnostic assignments from the Section Manager	No	No	No
Receives changes to the content of the course from the Section Manager	Yes	No	No
Section instructor can change the content in the section course or assignments	No	Yes	Yes
Section instructor can change assignment settings such as due date and points	Yes	Yes	Yes

*Full Access sections will receive changes to LearningCurve Adaptive Quizzes and Read & Practice assignments from the section manager only if the assignment has never been opened in that Full Access section.

For more instructions, go here to create a Section Manager and see how to manage those sections as well. (And, as always, talk to your local representative, specialist, or sign up for a training if you want more information about how these choices apply to you and your course goals.)