Course Menu - Share out!

[wboswell]

Share a course homepage with the menu! Does your institution all have the same course menu or does everyone do something different? If you do have the same, what lessons learned do you have getting there?  

We have everyone doing their own thing, but here is one of them. 

[lph]

Hi

Here is a portion of the left course menu for one “large course.”. This navigation has been the most direct for the majority of students. The site content is heavy and students prefer the left navigation to easy get to what they want in one click. It’s the third version— and includes changes based on student feedback. In fact, students were discussing it today and how it’s better than courses with a front page that they need to return to in order to get somewhere. 

[gailc]

Having a constant visible menu seems logical. Are you using the redirect link to create/add? Are links broken for new cohorts? Best to list in alphabetical order/other? 

[lph]

Hi

Yes. The menu was built using the redirect tool. 

Yes. The menu is broken when the course is copied and it's important to rebuild the menu. It's painful this way but the students love the menu. 

[wboswell]

Thank you for sharing! That is a long menu. Who has to rebuild the menu when it's copied? How often does it get copied? Oooh, and how do you put in the dividers? 

[lph]

The teacher or designer account can rebuild the course. My TAs can modify the menu, too. 

[lph]

Dividers are the redirect tool, but using the symbols for the name and I redirect to the front page or another page close to the divider. 

[gouldt]

We use master courses, and all of our online courses have the same format. We use modules as the home page rather than have things linked in a content page. This makes things more accessible on the mobile apps

We only make the necessary links available to students. Instructors also have access to the grade posting and roster certification lti link that our ITS has created to link with our SIS. It seems to work well, we've been using this format for over four years. Students taking multiple online courses expect this structure. We also have the same Get Started module in every online course. We have made all of our online courses so that the most recent three announcements appear on the course home page as well. And finally, we have set the modules so that students must complete three things in the Get Started module, one of which is to look at the course schedule, before they can open any of the following modules. This helps guide students to the home page for instruction.

[wboswell]

Thank you for sharing! I love this, how do you get the recent announcements to show above the first module after making that your homepage? 

I appreciate the start module being required before the other content, do you ever get push back from students after they've done a few courses that they don't need to do it anymore? 

[gouldt]

Whitney Boswell,

To get the recent announcements on the course home page you will go to settings, and more options at the bottom of the course details page. There you will see a box you can check that says "Show recent announcements on the Course home page". You can choose how many of the announcements you would like to be visible, and my team agreed that 3 seemed like a good number. 

What students are required to do in the Get Started module is- view course schedule, complete orientation quiz, and participate in the Introduce Yourself discussion. Viewing the course schedule ensures that students are aware of the amount of work that will be required throughout the semester. I think students appreciate that knowledge for the most part. We have gotten some grumbles about students needing to take the Orientation quiz, but that is mostly due to students not understanding that they don't have to reread all of the information if they already know it, we have the exact same  quiz in every online course. So if they know the answers they can fly through it. I think students enjoy sharing information about themselves in the Introduce Yourself discussion. In some of the online courses they are asked why they are taking the class, or what they hope to get from it. So, no, we really haven't gotten any push back. We started making the requirements when we realized that students weren't going into the course, and reading instructions, they were just doing assignments without knowing what they should have done to prepare for those assignments. Anyway, I think that issue was resolved:)

[wboswell]

Excellent, thank you so much!!!!! I really don't like the fact that you can't make the announcements page the home page. 

Ah, ok - that makes sense. 2/3 items they do are unique to the class at least in content. How do you know that they viewed the course schedule? And would you mind sharing your orientation quiz questions? 

[gouldt]

Whitney Boswell,

When you go and edit the module setting using the three dots, you will add a requirement. The requirement for the course schedule is view. Students must click on that course schedule in the module one time before that module is considered complete. The next 2-3 modules have a prerequisite set that the Get Started module must be completed before they can access any content in them. We didn't want to lock the whole course down, and usually students will be in contact with their instructor if they can't access the first few assignments. It seems to work.
Sure, I'd be happy to share our Orientation quiz questions.

1. If you want to drop your online class, you should

tell some friends

send a message to the instructor

use the self drop feature in DragonZone (our student portal)-Correct answer

send a message to the President of the college

ask your mother to call the college and drop you

2. How much time are you expected to spend "in class" if you're taking a 3 credit hour online course?

10-20 hours per week

at least 3 hours per week, 45 hours throughout the semester

30 minutes to an hour per week, or between 7-15 hours for the semester

just long enough to participate in discussions

3. One of the primary reasons students fail online courses is that they've fallen behind in their coursework.

True

False

4. Which of these are important guidelines to follow when participating in a discussion board? Select all that apply.

Use ALL CAPS if you want to make a point

Each instructor will set guidelines regarding the number of posts required for that course

Participation in discussion boards is required

Submit your posts and replies over a period of days, rather than all at once, to remain engaged in the discussion

Use correct spelling and grammar

5. Of a classmate violates the discussion guidelines, you should:

notify your instructor by sending an email with pertinent information

explain to him/her what's wrong with the post

write a rude reply post to embarass him/her

6. When you have a question about a due date or an assignment in the course, you should contact:

your most tech-savvy friend

Information Technology Services

The Instructor

no one, and just hope someone notices

OnlineEducation

7. How do you get help with each of the following problems? (the students have a drop down menu with the following choices-Contact your Instructor, Contact Online Education using the Help button in Canvas, Contact Tech Support, Contact your Advisor)

The page length wasn't specified on one of my writing assignments

I need to enroll in an online course

I need help with my computer

Something is not working with the content in my course

8. Match the following questions with the appropriate answers,(These are drop downs listing informational items located in the Get Started module, Student Orientation Course, Syllabus, and Instructor Sheet, or Help and Resources course)

Where can you find information about the HutchCC Campus Store refund policy?

Where can you find contact information for ITS (tech support)?

Where can you find the grading scale used in my course?

Where can I find writing Resources?

How do I view my grades in course?

How do I send a private message to my instructor within Canvas?

Where can I find the refund and withdrawal dates for this course?

9. I can update my LearningZone profile by clicking "Account"

true 

false

As you can see, the Orientation Quiz questions direct students to better understand what they can do to help themselves. All of the answers are either within the Get Started module or one of the support links available in the course. We created a Help and Resources course and linked it to every online course in the navigation using the redirect, which has a lot of valuable information for students about where to find help.

[wboswell]

Thank you, Tracey!