> ## Documentation Index
> Fetch the complete documentation index at: https://app.simcare.ai/docs/llms.txt
> Use this file to discover all available pages before exploring further.
# Creating assignments
> How instructors create simulation assignments, configure feedback, and manage grading.
Instructors use SimCare's assignment system to assign AI client cases to students, set deadlines, and track completion. Assignments live inside **Classes** — each class holds a roster of students and a set of assignments.
## Finding your classes
Go to **/classes** from the top navigation. You'll see all the classes you teach. Each class card shows the class image, the number of assignments and members, and a Canvas badge if it's connected to your LMS.
Click a class to open it. Inside a class you have four tabs:
| Tab | What's here |
| --------------- | ------------------------------------------------- |
| **Assignments** | All assignments in the class, with attempt counts |
| **Members** | Students and co-instructors |
| **Analytics** | Completion, grades, and competency performance |
| **Settings** | Class name, enrollment, LMS connection |
## Joining a class as a co-instructor
From `/classes`, click **Join class as teacher** in the top right and paste the join code from the class owner.
## Creating an assignment
From the **Assignments** tab inside a class, click **Create assignment** and choose what type:
* **Case** — an AI client simulation
* **Quiz** — multiple choice, true/false, and written-answer questions
* **Document** — a reading (PDF, DOCX, URL) students must review, or a file they must upload
* **Peer review** — students review a classmate's case submission. See [Peer review assignments](/docs/simulations/peer-review-assignments) for the full walkthrough.
The case assignment builder has six steps:
Browse and select the AI client. This includes built-in SimCare cases, faculty-created cases from your school, and any [custom clients](/docs/simulations/client-builder) you've built. Use **Find clients with AI** to describe what you want to practice and let the AI suggest matching clients.
Set the assignment title and any instructions students should see. Add **Learning Outcomes** — these power the competency reporting in your Analytics tab.
Configure the assignment behavior:
| Setting | What it does |
| -------------------------------------- | --------------------------------------------------------------------------- |
| **Publish Immediately** | Make the assignment visible to students now (or keep as draft) |
| **Require Camera** | Students must turn on their camera during the session |
| **Make Feedback Visible to Students** | Release AI feedback automatically (or hold for instructor review) |
| **Limit Assignment Attempts** | Cap how many times students can retry |
| **Allow Students to Archive Attempts** | Lets students hide attempts they don't want graded |
| **Set Time Limit** | Enforce a maximum session duration |
| **Require Student Upload** | Students must upload a file with the submission (with size and type limits) |
Pick written tasks students complete after the session, before they can see feedback:
* **Problem Statement**
* **Differential Diagnosis**
* **Safety Planning**
* **Risk Assessment**
* **Treatment Planning**
* **SOAP Note**
* **Reflection**
Choose how the AI scores the session. You have three mutually exclusive options:
* **General Counseling Skills Assessment** *(default)* — case-specific feedback generated for this client.
* **Microskills** — turn off the general assessment toggle to reveal a tiered list of counseling skills (for example, *Basic Attending & Empathy* → *Minimal Encouragers*). Pick the skills and individual microskills you want evaluated; each is scored against a shared rubric and checklist. Click **Preview** on any skill to see the rubric students will be graded against.
* **Custom evaluation template** — pick a saved rubric/checklist template from your program. Click **Preview** to open the template in a new tab before assigning. If none is selected, the default case-specific feedback format is used.
Microskills and custom templates can't be used together on the same assignment.
Choose how the AI scores student performance. Pick one of the modes below — they're mutually exclusive.
**General Counseling Skills Assessment (default)**
Leave the **General Counseling Skills Assessment** toggle on to use SimCare's default case-specific feedback. The AI evaluates the session against the standard counseling competencies tied to the client you picked.
**Microskills**
Turn the toggle off to scope feedback to specific microskills. You'll see SimCare's skill taxonomy organized as **Tier → Skill → Microskill**. Enable the skills you want assessed and, if you only care about a subset, toggle individual microskills underneath. Use this when an assignment targets a specific competency (for example, reflective listening or open-ended questions) and you want feedback to ignore the rest.
**Saved evaluation template**
Select a saved evaluation template to score students against your own **rubrics** and **checklists**:
* **Rubrics** — criteria scored on a column scale (for example, *Excellent / Good / Needs Work*). Each cell carries display text for students and hidden evaluation instructions for the AI.
* **Checklists** — pass/fail items each worth a fixed point value.
* **Theory analysis** — enabled per template; when on, the AI also analyzes the session through the theory tied to the template.
Click **Preview** next to the selected template to open the student-facing view in a new tab.
Templates can be marked **public** (available to every program) or scoped to specific programs via program access. Only templates your program has access to appear in the picker.
Selecting a saved template hides the microskills picker and replaces the default per-case feedback in the next step.
Choose which feedback components appear on student Case Reviews:
* **Annotated Transcript**
* **Basic Skills** (Evaluation Checklist)
* **Theory Analysis** *(auto-selected if you chose a theory)*
* **Checklist**
* **Advanced Skills**
Pick a **therapy theory** for Theory Analysis — over 30 are supported across Beginner, Intermediate, and Difficult tiers (Motivational Interviewing, CBT, Narrative, Gestalt, Adlerian, Bowen Family Systems, Strategic, Structural, Solution-Focused, DBT, Psychoanalytic, and more).
When a saved evaluation template is selected in the previous step, this step is reduced to the theory picker — the template controls the rubric and checklist sections automatically.
## Previewing as a student
Open any assignment URL with `?preview=true&assignment=` (or use the **Preview** action) to run the case yourself without affecting student data. A purple **Teacher Preview** banner appears throughout the session.
## Follow-up / longitudinal cases
Follow-ups let students return to the same client across multiple sessions. Each follow-up is tied to a **parent assignment** (the earlier session) and a **scenario** (the clinical situation the client is in when they come back).
### Turning on follow-up mode
In the case assignment builder's **Avatar** step, toggle **This is a follow-up** after selecting a case. Two new fields appear:
* **Parent assignment** — the previous assignment in this class that students must complete first.
* **Follow-up scenario** — the storyline for this session.
The assignment is automatically labeled **Follow Up #N** in the class assignment table for both teachers and students, so the order is clear at a glance.
### Picking a scenario
Each case template ships with a set of numbered scenarios (1, 2, 3…) plus any custom scenarios your school has built (shown as C1, C2…). The picker shows a short summary and a one-line clinical goal for each.
* Scenarios already used by another follow-up in the same class show a **Used** badge so you don't accidentally duplicate them.
* Scenario 6 is reserved as a termination session — selecting it auto-sets the session type to **Termination**.
* The session type defaults to **Intervention** on follow-ups (since intake has already happened).
### Creating a custom scenario
If none of the built-in scenarios fit, select **Not a fit? Create your own** under the scenario picker. The **Follow-up builder** opens in a new tab.
Write 20–3,000 characters describing what has changed for the client since the previous session — life events, symptom changes, relationship updates, anything the AI client should be aware of.
Select **Generate scenario**. SimCare uses AI to structure your free-text into the three fields a scenario needs:
* A 3–5 word summary
* A one-sentence clinical goal
* A 100–120 word vignette that primes the AI client
Your draft is saved to your school library so any teacher creating a follow-up on the same case can reuse it.
Close the tab to return to the assignment builder. Your new scenario appears in the picker tagged **C1**, **C2**, and so on.
Each case template can hold up to 10 custom scenarios. Delete ones you no longer need from the Follow-up builder.
## Viewing submissions
Each student row on the Assignments tab shows a status badge:
| Badge | Meaning |
| --------------------- | -------------------------------------------------- |
| **Not Started** | Student hasn't opened the assignment |
| **In Progress** | Session started but not submitted |
| **Submitted** | Completed and awaiting review |
| **Graded** | Instructor has reviewed and saved a grade |
| **Feedback Released** | AI + instructor feedback is visible to the student |
| **Past Due** | Due date passed without submission |
Click a student row to open their submission. You'll see the session recording, the AI feedback, and a grading panel.
## Grading
Grading runs through the same Case Review you see as a student, with an extra **Grading** step:
* Add **instructor comments** anywhere on the annotated transcript — they coexist with AI comments and are saved as a draft until you publish
* Enter a **numeric grade** (0–100) and a written feedback summary
* Click **Publish** to release everything to the student
For high-volume grading use **Bulk Grading** at `/grading/bulk-case` (or `/grading/bulk-quiz` for quizzes) — review and publish many submissions in one pass.
## Releasing feedback to the whole class
If you held feedback for instructor review, you can release it for all students at once using the **Bulk Release** option on the assignment.
## Class analytics
The **Analytics** tab on your class shows:
* Completion rates by assignment
* Grade distribution
* Per-student progress view
* Competency performance (if learning outcomes are tagged)
Use the period filter to focus on a specific date range. Export the full dataset as CSV or generate a PDF report for individual students or the whole class.