Examples: managing cohorts and access

In SimChat, a few settings decide who can see and edit your scenarios. This article gives five common examples to follow. First, here is what each setting does:

Where to find each setting

• Scenario visibility - Key details step when creating or editing a scenario (under Who can access this scenario?), or Manage access on the scenario list
• Cohorts - Cohorts in the sidebar
• Cohort staff - open a cohort, then use Add staff in the Staff section
• Collections - Collections in the sidebar
• Invite links (including anonymous users and expiry options) - Users → Invites for learners, Staff → Invites for staff

Example 1: one course, three year groups

You run one course with three years - Year 1, Year 2 and Year 3. Each year should see its own scenarios in SimChat. You may also have a few scenarios that every year should do. One team looks after all the SimChat content.

How to set it up:

1. Create three cohorts: Year 1, Year 2 and Year 3.
2. Create an invite link for each year and set that year's cohort as its Linked cohort. When a learner uses the link, they are added to the cohort automatically. Share each link with the right year.
3. For year-specific scenarios, set visibility to Specific cohorts and pick the year it is for.
4. For scenarios every year should see, leave visibility on All users in this organisation.
5. (Optional) Make a collection for each year so the scenarios are easy to find.

With this setup, each year sees its own scenarios plus any shared ones.

You do not need to add staff to these cohorts, because one team looks after everything.

Example 2: three courses, each with their own staff

You run three courses - for example Medicine, Nursing and Pharmacy. Each course has its own authors, and they should only manage SimChat scenarios for their course. Learners should only see their own course's scenarios.

One cohort per course handles both sides: its learners see the right scenarios, and its staff only work on their own course's content.

How to set it up:

1. Create a cohort for each course: Medicine, Nursing and Pharmacy. Use an invite link for each course to add learners to the right cohort.
2. Add each course's authors as staff of their cohort (open the cohort, then Add staff). If they are not in your organisation yet, invite them as authors with the cohort pre-assigned using the Staff of cohorts option on a staff invite link.
3. When you make a scenario, set Who can access this scenario? to Specific cohorts and pick the course it is for.

Each course's authors now see and edit their own course's scenarios, and can review their own learners' sessions. Owners and administrators still see and manage every scenario in your SimChat organisation.

Example 3: a one-off event, alongside your course

Your normal SimChat setup runs as usual. You also want to run a one-off event, such as an open day, for a lot of people who should see only the event scenarios. They do not need long-term accounts in your SimChat organisation.

How to set it up:

1. Create a cohort for the event, such as Open day 2026. Turn on Restrict to assigned scenarios only, so these people see only the event scenarios and not your course content.
2. Set the event scenarios' visibility to Specific cohorts and pick the event cohort.
3. Create an invite link for the event with the event cohort as its Linked cohort. If people should join without making an account, turn on Anonymous users and set a maximum number of uses. To stop access after the event, set the link to expire after a number of days or on a set date.
4. Your existing SimChat setup keeps working as before.

Example 4: shared scenarios, plus extras for each cohort

Everyone does the same core SimChat scenarios, and each cohort also has a few extra scenarios that are just for them. For example, all students do the core communication scenarios, and each year also has its own extra cases.

How to set it up:

1. Create a cohort for each group that needs its own extra scenarios - for example Year 1 and Year 2.
2. Leave the shared scenarios set to All users in this organisation, so everyone can see them.
3. Set each extra scenario's visibility to Specific cohorts and pick the cohort it is for. You can pick more than one cohort if a scenario is shared by some cohorts but not everyone.
4. Do not turn on Restrict to assigned scenarios only for these cohorts. If you do, they will stop seeing the shared scenarios.

Example 5: let each cohort's tutor run their own cohort

You run one course split into several cohorts - for example a tutor group for each clinical placement - and you want each tutor to look after their own cohort without seeing everyone else's. You stay in overall control as the administrator.

This uses cohort staff: an author or assessor you add to a specific cohort.

How to set it up:

1. Create a cohort for each placement - for example Placement A and Placement B.
2. Make sure each tutor is an author in your organisation (or an assessor, if they only need to review sessions rather than write scenarios).
3. Open each cohort under Cohorts and add its tutor with Add staff.
4. Each tutor can now see their cohort's activity and sessions, and (as an author) write scenarios just for them - without touching other cohorts.

Owners and administrators still see and manage every cohort, user and scenario across the organisation.

Related articles

• Creating and managing cohorts
• How staff access to content works
• Organising scenarios using collections
• Previewing, publishing and managing scenarios
• Inviting staff members and users

Updated on: 11/07/2026