Introduction

This article guides instructors through the process of customizing course settings in Top Hat.

Accessing Course Settings

The course settings can be accessed through your course lobby or directly within the course itself.

Course Lobby: Select "Settings", located next to the "Enter" button.

In Course: Select the "Settings" icon located next to the Join Code.

Image: Course Settings Icons

General Settings

Within General Settings, the following information can be either added or updated: Course Name, Subject, Course Code, Course Start / End Date.

Delete a Course: Access "General Settings" to delete a course. Select "Delete" and confirm the action.

Course Password: Set a course password—this will be required by students to enroll into the course. The password is only required to enroll into the course. This information should be communicated to students ahead of the first day of class.

Course Availability:

• Open: Students can join via course link / URL, email invitation, or by searching for the course.
• Private: The course won't appear in the search. Students can join via course link / URL or email invitation.
• Unavailable: Course will be hidden for all students, even if enrolled.

When you have finished, select "Save Changes" for the new settings to take effect.

Image: General Settings Menu

People & Roles

Invite or add a member of your team to the course. There are three pre-set roles and the ability to create your own custom role within the course.

Note: Teaching Assistants must have a "Student" account to be able to be added.

If they have an Educator account, they must either sign up again with a new email address or request that their existing Educator account be deleted so the email address can be re-used to create the student account.

Add Educator / TA

To add an additional educator to the course, select "Add Educator". Provide an email address of the individual and choose the base role.

An email invitation will be sent to the individual if the email address is not associated with an active Top Hat account.

The email invitation will provide detailed instructions to accept the invitation as well as information on how to create a new account if accessing for the first time.

Image: People & Roles Menu

Successfully adding another user to the course will show "Educator successfully added"

Image: Success Pop-Up

Potential Errors

• Educator has a student account: To resolve: Create an educator account using a new email address (this assumes the school is not SSO enabled).
• Educator's course invitation is no longer valid: To resolve: Ask invitee to log in and review the course lobby. If the course is listed in their educator account, they have been successfully added.
• TA / GTA invitation could not be accepted: To resolve: Confirm the account is a student account. Accounts cannot be switched between student and educator profiles. If you'd like to use the same email address to create a new account, please contact Top Hat Support and request an account deletion to free up the email address.

Edit or Remove an Educator

Locate the individual(s) you would like to edit or remove, and update/remove as needed.

Create Custom Role

To create a new role, select "+ Create new role", provide a role name and Base Role Permissions to begin editing the available options. Select "Create role" to complete the process.

Image: Create Custom Role Menu

Grading

The Grading Menu contains the following Gradebook settings:

Gradebook Availability

• Enable Gradebook For Students: Enable or disable the Gradebook for students. By default, this option is turned on.
• Hide Top Hat Test Details from Students: When enabled, students will only see the point value. Question details and answers will be hidden from students. By default, this option is turned on.

Grade Display Options

• Only display grades of items for which the due date has passed or are not currently being presented: Turned on by default.
• Display grades for all items including those with a future due date or being presented: When selected, the grade as well as the student's response will be made available in their gradebook. If there are concerns about students sharing answers, leave this option off.

Default Question Grading Options

By default, Correctness and Participation points for Questions and Discussions are set to 0.5 / 0.5 respectively. Making changes here will not update any existing question point values. It will apply to new questions that are created after it is enabled.

Apply any changes made in this menu by selecting "Save Changes".

Image: Grading Menu

Timers

A Question Timer can be applied when asking questions in class.

The default timer is set to 60 seconds. To apply a timer to your questions or change the default time, select "Timers", enable the timer, and adjust the duration as required.

Image: Timers Menu

Attendance

Within the Attendance menu, the following settings can be configured:

Attendance & Security Options

• Use "secure" location-based attendance for in-person classes: Location-based attendance is only recommended for face-to-face classes. This requires students to enter a unique 4-digit attendance code displayed on screen in the classroom.
• Configure Attendance for Hybrid Classes: Enabling this option prompts students to identify if they are attending in person or remotely. The choice the student selects is reflected in the Gradebook.

Image: Attendance Menu

Note: Only one of these options can be applied at any one time. Secure Attendance will also display as "In-Person" due to the nature of the setting.

Image: Attendance Comments and Notes

Select "Save" to apply the changes.

Advanced / Miscellaneous

Additional options within the Course Settings include:

• Allow students to submit their response immediately when the question is presented (Default - Enabled): When this option is checked, questions will be presented in an active state and students will be able to start submitting responses as soon as the question is presented. Unchecking the box will cause questions to be presented in a paused state and will require activation, by pressing the play button, to allow for student submissions.
• When presenting, allow students to continue responding to questions when student answer reports are revealed (Default - Enabled): When checked, students will still be able to submit new answers while the response reports are displayed on the projected screen. You can still disable submissions at any point by clicking the pause button. If unchecked, students won’t be able to submit responses when the reports are shown, unless you reactivate submissions.
• Allow students to submit answers via text message (SMS) (Default - Enabled): We highly recommend keeping this setting enabled. If students encounter network or WiFi issues, they can text their answers as a backup submission method.
• When presenting, display a question introduction screen before starting the question activity (Default - Enabled): When enabled, each question will be preceded by an introductory screen. This gives students a heads-up and provides you a chance to give context before the question becomes active and the timer starts.
• If a question is presented multiple times, keep a record of all sessions instead of overwriting previous responses: When enabled, each re-presentation of a question creates a new session. This keeps responses separate so you can compare them in the question reports.
• Students cannot view the details of a presented question, they can only see the response options: When enabled, students won’t see the question text on their devices—only images and answer options. They will need to refer to the projected screen for full question context.
• Students cannot view question details within their gradebook: When enabled (default), students will only see the question title and their submitted response in the gradebook—no additional question details will be visible.
• Allow this course to receive minor updates for all content imported from the Catalog (Default - Enabled): Keeps imported content updated with minor revisions made in the Top Hat Catalog.
• When a presented question is closed, allow students to view all submitted responses and correct answers on their devices (Beta): When enabled, students using the web version (not mobile) will be able to view all submitted responses and correct answers. Only the most recent response will be graded and displayed.
• Enable Class Threads in this course: Class Threads allows students to ask questions and exchange ideas in the context of assigned content. Visit: Class Threads Article
• Enable ACE in this course (Default - Enabled): Top Hat ACE provides personalized, AI-powered study support integrated into course materials. Currently available in limited release. Visit: Top Hat ACE Article