Uploading Course Updates and Handouts
Studio allows you to create course updates and handouts.
Learners receive course updates in the form of messages,
particularly welcome messages that appear at the top of the Course page.
The welcome messages learners receive help them feel personally greeted to the
course, while also providing them with necessary information for proper orientation,
and helping them in succeeding in the course.
On the one hand learners can dismiss the welcome message
themselves, once they have read it. On the other hand, if the learner does not
actively dismiss the message within seven days of viewing it, it is then automatically
dismissed. However, the Updates link available in the sidebar on the Course page provides access to the dismissed messages, and learners to view later.
In Studio, you can upload files, such as a PDF version of the
course syllabus or an article you want to include in the course for learners to
read. This is accessible via the handouts feature, which is a link that
redirects you to these files. The list of course handouts can be found under Handouts section within the course sidebar.
Implementing Updates to Course Materials
You can use Studio to create updates for your courses. When
learners enter the course, their Course page displays the latest updates
posted based on chronological order (this also includes future dates).
Once the learner has read and understood the update that appears
on their Course page, the update can be dismissed. It is possible for
learners to then access the dismissed message and any other updates contained
in the sidebar on the Course page after they have dismissed it, by
clicking on the Updates link in the sidebar.
In Studio, the Updates page displays a list of the posted updates,
which is sorted according to their creation date with the most recent updates
presented at the top of the page. It is worth noting that the learners will not
be able to see a new update on the Course page, unless the new version
has the most recent date of all the updates that have already been made, in
order.
Here are the steps you need to follow in order to add an update to
your course.
1. From
within the Content menu, in Studio, click on Updates.
2. Choose
the New Update option.
3. Doing
so launches a text editor in which you must create your update.
- When creating your course update,
you are able to add textual data, and format it using HTML tags. This is
because the Course Update editor is similar in nature to the Raw HTML editor used for the Text Components; likewise, it lacks a Visual Editor and is merely a text
editor.
Please note that if decide to make use of headings within an
announcement, it is best to only use level 6 headings (<h6>), as it is
the best way to ensure your announcements will be accessible to everyone. This
is because the Course page structure uses the 1-5 heading levels.
In case you import text from other sources using copy or paste, it
is essential that you proofread the result closely, as there are certain
applications that automatically replace “straight” quotations and apostrophes with
“smart” or “curly” ones; while the editor in Studio necessitates the use of
“straight” quotation marks and apostrophes in order to function accurately.
- Set a date for the update to take place. If you do not alter the settings, the default settings are set to today's date, so the current date is already filled as the Update date. In order to change the date, you can either use the calendar tool or enter another valid date in the text box.
Students will not be able to see the update on the Course page unless it has the most recent chronological date of all previous updates.
4. Click
on Post to publish the update.
Learners will be able to access your new update as soon as it is
released. If an update has the most recent date of publish, it will appear on
the Course page. Otherwise, previous
updates that chronologically came before are displayed on the Updates page.
How to Upload
Course Handouts
A course
handout is added by uploading a file to Studio, then defining an entry in an
HTML-formatted list of handouts. Hence, you specify the URL of your uploaded
file and enter an appropriate title for it.
This process
can be simplified by opening the Studio Files & Uploads page in
another browser window.
Please follow
these steps in order to add a course handout.
1. In
Studio, navigate to the Content menu and then click on Updates to open the Updates page. Once the Updates page has loaded, the Course
Updates panel and the Course Handouts panel are both visible.
2. From
within the Course Handouts panel, click on the Edit option.
3. Doing
so will launch the editor. Hence, you can add a link to the file you have
uploaded as well as setting a suitable heading for the handout, all using HTML
formatting. By default, an empty ordered list tag will be displayed if there
are no existing handouts.
The following example uses paragraph tags rather than a list.
<p><a href="/static/Syllabus_Fall2017.pdf"
target="_blank">Syllabus</a></p>
<p><a href="/static/Glossary_v3.pdf"
target="_blank">Glossary</a></p>
4. Click Save to finalize.
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