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Navigating Your Course

Navigating Your Course

Owned by alex.prince@umass.edu (Unlicensed)

The following image and table explain the standard template for online courses. 

Online instructors are provided with a basic template to start developing their course. There are several schools and departments that have specific templates for online courses. Instructors are asked to not deviate from their standard template. The image below shows a sample course menu that follows the standard template. The chart at the bottom of the page explains the purpose of each item on the course menu. 


Blackboard Course Menu
(Click on the image to enlarge)
 

ItemDescription
Welcome PageAn introductory page for the course for instructors to share the basic information about the course (i.e. syllabus, textbook information, netiquette, course description, etc.).

Weekly/Unit Content

A page that contains learning modules or content folders for each week or unit of course content.
MessagesAn internal mail solution for correspondence between instructors and students.
Tasks & AnnouncementsThis is a "module" page that contains modules for various things - Announcements, Due Dates, and more. The "To Do" module will automatically display due dates from the various items in your class (assuming that due dates were added).
DiscussionsA link to the Discussion Board where all discussions reside. Students can access this page from Weekly/Unit Content or via this link on the Course Menu.
AssignmentsA single page that contains any assignments created by instructors.
TestsA single page listing all tests deployed by your instructor.
My GradesA single page listing all grades that a student receives in the course. Instructors can hide or show grades seen by students in the Grade Center.
Help & ResourcesThe Help & Resources page provides a list of resources such as the W.E.B DuBois Library website, the University Without Walls (UWW) home page, UMass Amherst Disability Services, and the UMass Amherst OMBUDS office.


Note: If the Course Menu is not visible, it is merely temporarily hidden.

  1. Hover your cursor at the left edge of the Blackboard/browser window.
  2. Click the grey arrow icon or the thin bar to slide out the course menu panel.
  3. If you want to hide it again, hover over and click the arrow icon or the thin bar to slide aside the course menu.

A thin blue bar to the left of the browser window is highlighted.

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