Introduction
This guide walks you through essential SI Portal tips to streamline course management, grading, and student tracking. Each section is designed for quick references, with clear steps and purpose-driven explanations to help you work efficiently and maintain accurate records across your LMS integration.
Tip #1: Setting Lesson Completion Criteria (Complete When Control when a lesson is marked complete and displays a checkmark in the Gradebook.
Purpose:
The Complete When setting determines when a lesson is considered complete. Selecting Viewed All Sections marks a lesson complete once a student has opened every visible section. This ensures both instructors and students have a clear view of lesson progress and avoids confusion from hidden or unfinished questions.
Why This Matters:
- Prevents confusion caused by hidden questions that students cannot see or attempt
- Avoids incomplete status when students finish all visible work
- Gives students a clear progress indicator
- Keeps your Gradebook accurate
How to Set It:
1. Open the Lesson
- Log in to the SI Lab Portal
- From your Class Homepage, select Content Repository
- Open the Lessons and Assignments folder
- Click the lesson you want to edit
- Click the lesson title again, then select Edit
- In the Lesson Editor, click 2. Properties
2. Set Completion Criteria:
- In General Properties, go to Only Applicable to Lessons
- Under Complete When, select Viewed All Sections
3. Enable Submit Lesson (Optional)
- Still in General Properties, set Allow Submit to On
- This adds a Submit Lesson button that
- Generates a grade
- Resets all questions for the next attempt
4. Save
- Scroll down and click Save
Summary
Use Viewed All Sections to give students clear progress tracking and avoid false incomplete statuses in your Gradebook.
Need Help
Submit an Instructor Support Form and our team will assist you.
SI Lab Portal Top Tips
Tip #2: Turn the Submit Button On (Green Gradebook Status Icon)
Purpose:
Enable the Submit Lesson button to treat a lesson like an assignment. This ensures grades are generated automatically, questions reset for future attempts, and the green Gradebook icon accurately reflects completion.
Why This Matters:
- Automates grading and progress tracking
- Provides students a clear submit action
How to Turn on Submit:
Single Lesson
- Go to Content Repository, open the lesson, click Edit
- Click 2. Properties, toggle Allow Submit to On
- Click Save
Multiple Lessons
- Create a Policy Set and apply it to multiple lessons for consistent settings
Important
If Allow Submit is off, lessons will not submit automatically, and manual grading is required.
Summary
Turn Allow Submit on to automate grading, support repeated attempts, and ensure the green Gradebook status icon reflects completion.
Need Help
Submit an Instructor Support Form and our team will assist you.
SI Lab Portal Top Tips
Tip #3: Apply Due Dates for LTI Integrated Courses in the LMS and Use Force Grade
Purpose
For courses using LTI integration, set due dates directly in your LMS rather than in the SI Lab Portal. The LMS is the central hub for course information, and setting deadlines there ensures consistency across all integrated tools and prevents conflicts.
Why This Matters
- Ensures grades sync properly to the LMS Gradebook
- Required when editing lessons with active attempts
- Needed for lessons without a Submit button
Force Grading
Force grading automatically submits active attempts and updates the Gradebook.
How to Force Grade
- Go to Content Repository and select the lesson
- Click the lesson name, then Force Grade
- Check Force Grade All (Including Active Students) if needed
- Click Force Grade to complete
Summary
Use LMS due dates and force grading to ensure accurate grades and consistent progress tracking.
Need Help
Submit an Instructor Support Form and our team will assist you.
SI Lab Portal Top Tips
Tip #4: Gradebook Filtering for Efficient Review
Purpose
Use Gradebook filters to quickly identify and review student performance, focusing on the most relevant data.
Filter Criteria Explained
- All (Best): Displays all student attempts, sorted from highest to lowest score. Ideal for reviewing overall performance and identifying top students.
- To Be Reviewed: Shows only attempts that require manual grading, such as essay questions. This helps instructors focus on assessments needing attention.
Steps to Access and Filter the Gradebook
1. Access the Gradebook
- Log in to the SI Lab Portal.
- Navigate to the Gradebook section from the main menu.
- From the drop-down menu, select Class Grades.
- 3. Select the lesson and/or assignments you wish to grade.
2. Apply Filters
- In the Gradebook view, locate the filter options.
- Select the recommended filter criteria:
- All (Best): This view lets instructors see each student’s attempts sorted from highest to lowest score. It helps quickly identify top-performing students, spot patterns in performance, and prioritize feedback where needed.
- To Be Reviewed: This filter highlights attempts that require manual grading, such as essays or open-ended questions and data tables. It ensures instructors focus their time on submissions that need attention, avoiding unnecessary review of automatically graded items.
3. Adjust Rows Displayed
- To change the number of rows displayed per page, locate the row display settings at the bottom of the Gradebook.
- To ensure all student answers in a lesson appear on one page, set the number of rows to 50.
4. Select "Search” to view student results based on your filter. A class list will appear showing the lessons or sections you selected. From here, grade by student by clicking the student’s first or last name, or grade by lesson by clicking the lesson title.
Summary
Utilizing Gradebook filters allows for efficient management of student assessments, focusing on the most pertinent data and streamlining the grading process.
Need Help
Submit an Instructor Support Form and our team will assist you.
SI Lab Portal Top Tips
Tip #5: Using Proctor Tools to Manage Student Access
Purpose
Proctor Tools allows instructors to grant or restrict access to proctored assignments for individual students. This ensures students only access assignments according to course policies and accommodates exceptions efficiently.
Why This Matters
- Supports students with approved exceptions or accommodations
- Maintains exam security and integrity
- Provides control over submission timing and attempts
How to Use Proctor Tools
- From the homepage, click Proctor Tools in the navigation menu
- Search for a specific student or click the blue Search button to view all students. If you haven’t already selected a student, do so now.
1. Select the assignment you want to manage.
2. Choose the appropriate permissions for the student.
3. After selecting the student(s) and permissions, click Authorize to save changes
Permission Options
- Start/Re-Enter: Gives the student a fresh start on the lab portion, wiping out previous work. Required if extending access past the end date.
- Grade: Pushes the student’s work to the Gradebook, regardless of completion. Applies only to proctored exams.
- Re-Open if Already Graded: Preserves previous work while allowing the student to continue building on it. Progress updates from Completed to In Progress.
- Set End Date: Assign a new end date for one or multiple students using the calendar picker.
- Set Additional Time: Adds extra time for timed assignments. If combined with Set End Date, ensure the new time does not exceed the assignment’s end date.
Important Notes
- Some permissions may not appear depending on the assignment’s properties (e.g., Set Additional Time only appears for timed assignments).
- Verify permissions align with course policies before authorizing.
Summary
Use Proctor Tools to manage student access efficiently, maintain exam integrity, and accommodate exceptions while preserving or resetting student work as appropriate.
Need Help
Submit an Instructor Support Form and our team will assist you.