Lesson Planning Guide
Welcome to our updated Lesson Plan creation feature! This guide provides a detailed walkthrough of the Lesson Planning process, enabling you to efficiently create and customize assignments for your students utilizing our extensive content library of Tutorials, Mastery Lesson Categories, and Simulations.
Access the Lesson Planning Feature
Start by logging in to the User Portal and locating the Lesson Planning entry in the sidebar. Selecting this option will direct you to the assignment creation page. Alternatively, you can go directly to https://portal.simvana.com/lesson-planning.
Getting to Know the Layout
The Lesson Planning page consists of 3 main elements you will interact with: the Cohort Selector, the Assignments Panel, and the Learning Content Panel. Let's break each of those down a little bit before getting into the process of creating a Lesson Plan.
If you need to reference this tutorial at any point during your Lesson Planning, click the "?" icon in the bottom right of the page to immediately open this page in a new tab.
The Cohort Selector
The dropdown menu in the top right of the page will contain a list of all cohorts in your institution, and defaults to the first one alphabetically. The students in the cohort selected here are who the Lesson Plan will be assigned to when it is saved. Whenever the selected cohort is changed, the Assignments Panel will be updated to display the Lesson Plan for that cohort, and will be empty if a Lesson Plan does not exist for that cohort yet.
The Assignments Panel
This panel is where your Lesson Plan data is displayed. Lesson Plans are divided into multiple groups of content, which can be referred to as Sections. Each Section inside your Lesson Plan will contain a title, a due date, and a selection of content from the Learning Content panel.
The Assignments Panel has a row of buttons in its header to assist you in the creation of your lesson plan:
- Sort Sections by due date
- Undo
- Redo
- Add Section
- Copy Lesson Plan to a different cohort
- Save Lesson Plan
These buttons will become enabled and/or disabled as you take actions to create your Lesson Plan, and if you ever forget what a button does or wonder why it is disabled, just hover over it for an explanatory tooltip!
The Learning Content Panel
Opposite the Assignments Panel is the Learning Content Panel which contains all of the content in SIMVANA. Content is grouped by Module, starting with Tutorials and Simulations. Modules can be clicked which will expand them and show the Categories the Module consists of. The search bar in the Learning Content Panel header will allow you to search for any assignable content.
Anything in the Learning Content Panel with the 
symbol next to it is content that you can drag into a Section of your Lesson Plan.
Creating an Assignment
Now that you are familiar with the page layout, let's walk through creating a new Section in your Lesson Plan.
Adding a New Section
Start by clicking the "+" icon at the top of the Assignments Panel. This will open the Edit Section Dialog.
After you give the Section a title and a due date, you can click the "Save" button on the bottom right of the dialog to finish creating your section. That will cause the Section to now appear in the Assignments Panel. Expand the Section by clicking on it, and then drag any assignable content from the Learning Content panel into the Section.
Removing Content From a Section
If there is content in the Section that you wish to remove, drag it out of the Section and drop it back into the Learning Content Panel. Alternatively, you can open the Edit Section Dialog by clicking the "Edit Section" button on the top of the card, and then click the delete icon next to the content you wish to remove.
Deleting a Section
To delete a Section, simply click the delete icon in the Section header. This will open a deletion confirmation menu which requires you to select delete again so that no Sections are accidentally deleted. If you delete a Section and then realize that it was a mistake, click the "Undo" icon in the Assignments Panel header to bring your Section right back.
Saving a Lesson Plan
You may save your Lesson Plan via the Save icon on the Assignments Panel header. If the icon is disabled, hover it with your mouse for a tooltip explaining why it is disabled and what you need to do to enable it. Once you click the Save icon, it will show a progress spinner while your Lesson Plan is saving and then turn into a green checkmark informing you that the Lesson Plan saved successfully.
Copying a Lesson Plan
Copying a Lesson Plan works just like saving one. You may copy your Lesson Plan via the Copy icon on the Assignments Panel header. If the icon is disabled, hover it with your mouse for a tooltip explaining why it is disabled and what you need to do to enable it. Once you click the Copy icon, it will open a dialog that allows you to select which cohort to copy this Lesson Plan to.
