Manage Access lets you open a course to your class a unit or a section at a time. Students still see the whole course outline, so they know what's coming, but they can only open the parts you've opened. It's the tool to reach for when you want a class to move together, keep a test unit closed until test day, or teach only a few chapters of a long textbook.
Available on: Intertwined Solo and school plans. On the Free plan, the tab shows what Course access does and a See plans button. See Intertwined plans explained: Free, Solo, and school licenses.
Before you start: the course needs to be on the class. See Adding a course to your classroom.
Open the Manage Access tab
Click Classrooms in the sidebar and open the class.
Click the Coursework tab, then Manage Access (the first sub-tab). You can also click Manage access on a course's card under Assigned Courses, which opens this tab on that course.
If the class has more than one course, pick one in the COURSE menu at the top right.
You'll see every unit of the course as a row, with a line such as "3 of 8 sections open" and a button showing its state: Open, Locked or Partly open. Until you change anything, everything is open.
Choose what's open
To open or lock a whole unit, click its Open or Locked button. It switches state.
To work section by section, click the unit's name to expand it, then click the button beside any section.
For bigger changes, use the buttons at the top:
Open all opens the whole course.
Lock all locks the whole course.
Open through: pick a unit, then click Apply. That unit and every unit before it open, and everything after it locks.Check the bar at the bottom of the page. It counts your unsaved changes ("4 unsaved changes"). Nothing reaches students until you save.
Click Save. A message confirms "Saved. Students see the change right away." Click Discard instead to throw away your changes.
A common setup: one unit at a time
At the start of the course, choose Unit 1 in Open through, click Apply, then Save.
When the class is ready to move on, click Locked on the next unit to open it, and Save.
Students who finish early see that they're caught up rather than drifting into material you haven't introduced.
What students see
The whole outline, with locks. On the course page, locked units and sections stay in the list, grayed out with a lock and the label "Locked" (or "Opens" and a date, see below). Hovering explains "Your teacher hasn't opened this section yet". Locked items have no Start button and can't be opened.
A clear message if they follow a link. If a student reaches locked content another way (an old bookmark, for example), they see "Your teacher hasn't opened this yet" and a Back to course link instead of the lesson.
No dead ends. When a student finishes the last open section of a unit, they're taken back to the course page with the note "That's everything your teacher has opened in this unit so far." Once they've finished everything you've opened, their course page says ALL CAUGHT UP: "You've finished everything your teacher has opened so far. New sections show up here as they open."
Your own preview of the course ignores these locks, so use this tab to check what's open. See Previewing a course as your students see it.
Assigning a section that's locked
If you create an assignment for a section that's still locked, Create Assignment warns you: "This section is locked for this class. Students will see the assignment but can't open it until you do." Below the warning, a checkbox (on by default) offers to open it to students on the assignment's publish date. Leave it on, and the section opens by itself that day. In Manage Access it shows a small "Opens" label with the date until then.
If you later click that section's button yourself, the date is cleared and your choice (open or locked) takes over.
Good to know
Settings are per class and per course. Period 1 can be on Unit 4 while Period 3 is on Unit 2.
Students in two of your classes with the same course can open anything that's open in either class.
Finished work stays finished. Locking a section a student already completed doesn't undo their progress or scores.
Progress is measured against the whole course. A student who has done everything you've opened can still show less than 100% course progress.
Removing a course keeps its settings. They come back if you add the course again. See Removing a course from your classroom.
Settings depend on the class teacher's plan. If the plan of the teacher who owns the class no longer includes course access, your settings are saved but not in effect, and this tab says so: "These settings are saved but not in effect: this class's teacher isn't on a plan that includes course access, so students can open the whole course." They apply again when the plan does.
Tips
Teaching a few chapters of a long OpenStax book? Use Lock all, then open only the units you'll cover. Students see a short, focused course instead of twenty chapters.
Keep a review or test section locked until the day you want students in it.
Make several changes, then save once. The unsaved-changes counter lets you double-check before anything reaches students.
Common questions
Can I lock content for one student only?
No. Access settings apply to the whole class. To give one student something different, use an assignment for that student. See Assigning work to the whole class, a group, or individual students.
Can I schedule a section to open on a future date?
Yes, through an assignment. Assign the locked section with a future publish date and leave "open on the publish date" checked. The section opens itself that day. Manage Access itself only switches sections open or locked.
Do students see a locked unit's name?
Yes. Locked units and sections are visible but can't be opened. That's deliberate: students can see the road ahead.
I locked a unit but a student can still open it.
Check three things: that you clicked Save; whether the student is also in another of your classes where that unit is open; and whether the warning about the class teacher's plan appears at the top of the tab.
Does my co-teacher see my settings?
Yes. Settings belong to the class, so anyone who teaches it sees and can change the same settings.