Section instructor course privileges

Updated 14 Feb 2024

Section instructors and teaching assistants are automatically able to do some things in your course, like see correct answers.

Mastering course creators (or a section instructor with Section Instructor privilege) can add or remove privileges for section instructors in the course. For example, giving the Assignments privilege lets a section instructor or teaching assistant create or edit assignments.

Actions section instructors and teaching assistants can automatically take

Activity or course area	Educator or Section Instructor (Account type used to register with a section instructor access code)	Teaching Assistant (Registered student promoted to assistant)
Gradebook Open the Gradebook to see student grades and drill down to student work details Other grading activities included with the Gradebook privilege Adjust student scores and other settings, which include changing student grades; awarding assignment exemptions and extensions (including time limits for timed assignments); and resetting an assignment for one or more students to allow them to redo it for a different score Edit Gradebook settings, which include display preferences; assignment categories and weighting; offline activities; and export Gradebook data. Examine diagnostic charts with student score data for an assignment		If the assistant could access a course Gradebook before 7/9/21 they will keep this access. If the assistant didn’t have the Gradebook privilege before this date, they will no longer see the Gradebook unless they receive this privilege.
See correct answers Applies to all assignable items in the Item Library and on the Print View with Answers page
Copy assignments All section instructors and teaching assistants require the Assignments privilege to copy assignments within a course. For related details, see the next columns To add the Assignment privilege, see the “Add/remove privileges...” section below.	Section instructors with educator accounts can always copy assignments from courses in which they are a section instructor into a course they own, regardless of whether their Assignment privilege has been removed as a section instructor Section instructors with section instructor accounts The Assignment privilege is also needed for the course into which you want to copy assignments	Assignment privilege is needed to copy assignments within the course or for the courses you want to copy assignments into.
Roster type activities Change student enrollment status — Change status to active or inactive using the Roles & Enrollment Status roster To add, give privileges to, or delete other section instructors… Requires the Section Instructors privilege. To add this, see the “Add/remove privileges...” section below. Export the roster — From Student IDs & Groups, export roster details
Course maintenance activities Create a new course — Only educator accounts can create new courses. Copy or delete the course — Only educator accounts can copy this course or another instructor’s course or delete a course. Edit course details — Only educator accounts can edit the course details for their courses.	Educator account = Section instructor account =
Dynamic Study Module reports See student progress reports on the Dynamic Study Modules for your course, if any
See Instructor Resources Access Instructor Resources available in your course, if any		(Teaching Assistants can never access Instructor Resources)
Learning Outcomes See, print, and export the Learning Outcomes Summary

Add/ remove privileges for section instructors or teaching assistants

Open the (Manage) Section Instructors list.
Both section instructors and teaching assistants can appear in this list. Teaching assistants also appear in the student roster.
- From an open Mastering course:
  Select Manage Course, then Additional Course Settings. Select Manage Section Instructors from the Section Instructors area.
- From the My Courses page:
  Select the enrolled number for the course on the My Courses page then select Section Instructors. Or select Details for the course, choose Open rosterthen Section Instructors.
Select or clear check marks for the privileges you want to select or remove for each section instructor. See below for details about the capabilities that each privilege type provides.
The Remove option lets you remove a section instructor from the course.
Select Save Privileges.

Privileges you can add/remove for a section instructor or teaching assistant

For how to add or remove these privileges, see the instructions above.

Privilege	Activities
Course Settings	Update Additional Course Settings, like to set the country and time zone that applies to the due date for Mastering assignments.
Student IDs & Groups	Edit Student IDs and assign students to groups. Add and remove groups into which students are placed. Adding, removing, or changing groups does not affect the enrollment of students in those groups.
Announcements	Add, edit, and delete any Course Home page announcement, which can also be sent as an email.
Section Instructors	Add, give privileges to, or delete other section instructors. Section instructors with this privilege cannot modify their own privileges.
Assignments	Create and edit course assignments, including editing assignment settings, selecting and organizing items for assignments, associating items with learning outcomes, and setting assignment dates. This includes any custom items ( My Items) that an instructor author has included in a course assignment. Copy assignments within the course. Important: Removing the Assignments privilege does NOT prevent a section instructor from seeing correct answers for assignment items.
Gradebook	Adjust student scores and other settings, which include changing student grades; awarding assignment exemptions and extensions (including time limits for timed assignments); and resetting an assignment for one or more students to allow them to redo it for a different score. Gradebook Setting tasks, which include editing categories and weighting; creating and scoring offline (non-Mastering) activities; exporting Gradebook data; and setting preferences for your own Gradebook view. Examine diagnostic charts with student score data for an assignment Important: Removing the Gradebook privilege does NOT prevent a section instructor or teaching assistant from seeing the correct answers for items.
Essays	Grade and regrade essays and other free-form text. Also requires the Gradebook privilege (see above).
Learning Catalytics	Complete all instructor tasks in Learning Catalytics courses, modules, and sessions.