UNM-LA Online Course Template User Guide, Version 2.0
Compiled by the UNM-LA 2017 eLearning Committee[1]; for further information, contact one of us:
Carol Furchner / / Ann Kaul /Susan Schauer / / Brian Stafford /
Irina Alvestad / / DeBray Bailey /
This User Guide deals with the UNM-LA Online Course Template. The online course template consists of two basic parts:
· A template that is added to a basic Learn course shell that is supplied by main campus. You use this template as a foundation for setting up and organizing your course.
· A set of documents and links regarding tools, resources, policies, and other information. Many of these documents are needed for most online courses, and each instructor normally creates their own. (Or does not.) Examples of these documents include Netiquette (online etiquette), setting up a computer, how to get help, tips for discussions, how to use Learn, links to campus resources such as the Academic Support Center and Libraries, etc. You may use several of these documents as is, or you may modify them to meet the needs of your course. Others need modification for your course prior to use.
Sections in this User Guide include:
Section 1. Step 1: Getting Started: Import the UNM-LA Online Course Template
Section 2. Setting up your course with the template
Section 3. Modifying template files for your course
Section 4. Other things to consider adding to your course
Section 5. Final checklist: Am I done?
Appendix A: Access course examples in CourseSites (being revised)
Appendix B: Some useful (and mostly free) software tools
Appendix C: Organization of Online Course Template Menus
Please report errors and suggestions to Carol Furchner ( )
Table of Contents:
Overview: UNM-LA Online Course Template User Guide 5
What is the UNM-LA Online Course Template? What does an instructor do with it? 6
If you use a publisher site as your primary teaching site: 6
Section 1: Getting Started: Import the UNM-LA Online Course Template into Your Course 6
BEFORE YOU BEGIN IMPORTING THE COURSE TEMPLATE: 6
Step 1.1 Import the UNM-LA Online Course Template into Learn 7
Figure 1.1: Summary of Steps for Getting Started 8
Figure 1.2: Brand new Learn course shell screen 11
Figure 1.4. Items to delete from the course menu. 14
Figure 1.5: Top of Course Menu after Deletions 15
Figures 1.6, 1.7, 1.8, and 1.9. Completed Sections of the Course Menu 15
Section 2: Setting up Your Course 16
BEFORE YOU BEGIN SETTING UP YOUR COURSE: 16
Overview of steps for setting up your course. You will: 17
Conventions used in the template 17
Examples using this Template [Planned] 18
Step 2.1: Examine the Template 18
Course Menu 18
Home Page 19
“Course Unit” Folders Template [on home page] 19
Course Information section 20
Course Orientation and Course Resources Content Areas– (under Course Information) 20
Syllabus (under Course Information) 20
Calendar (under Course Information) 21
Announcements (under Course Information) 21
Course Dashboard (under Course Information) 21
Communications and Tools section 21
Course Messages (under Communications and Tools) 21
My Grades (under Communications and Tools) 21
Discussion Board and Discussion Templates (under Communications and Tools) 21
[Other communications or tools – not in template] 22
Course Content section 22
Support and Resources section. 22
Instructor Resources section (not labeled) 22
Site Map 22
Step 2.2: Find and explore the UNM-LA TemplateBox 23
Step 2.3: Decide on course organization and folders vs learning modules 24
Step 2.4: Decide on course activities and tools 24
Step 2.5: Add your syllabus, schedule, and welcome letter to your course 25
2.5.1: Syllabus – how to add it 25
2.5.2 Schedule and Welcome Letter 26
Step 2.6: Course Orientation and Course Resources setup 26
TABLE 2.6: Course Orientation and Course Resources 29
Step 2.7: Set up Home Page and other Course Menu links 36
Home Page 36
Course Menu 36
TABLE 2.7: Home Page and Course Menu Contents 37
Step 2.8: Create course materials in Course Units 48
Create course unit folders/modules. 49
TABLE 2.8: Course Unit Folder Contents 50
Table 2.8a: Example of a Course Unit, as a Chapter Folder. 52
Section 3. Modifying template files for your course 55
Figure 3.1: Locations of and relationships among files in the TemplateBox, your computer, and your course in Learn. 56
Figure 3.2: Opening the Content Collection for your course in Learn. 59
Figure 3.3. Uploading a file in Content Collection. 59
Section 4. Other things to consider adding to your course 61
TABLE 4.1: Other Optional Items 61
Section 5. Final Checklist: Am I done? 61
Appendix A: Access Course Examples in CourseSites [Planned] 64
Appendix B: Some Useful (and mostly free) Software Tools 65
Appendix C: Organization of UNM-LA Online Course Template 68
Overview: UNM-LA Online Course Template User Guide
A diagram of the organization of the Online Course Template menus is provided in Appendix C. You may want to print out these two pages for reference as you read through this guide.This online course template for UNM-LA has been designed with the following objectives:
1. To make it easier for instructors to build online courses by providing a template and a structure.
2. To provide materials and templates for information, such as netiquette, computer set-up, where to get help, etc., that are included in most/all online courses and that many instructors have been re-inventing for their own courses; this will decrease the amount of work and reduce duplication of effort needed to build an online course.
3. To present a more consistent interface to online courses offered by UNM-LA; this should make it easier for students to move from one UNM-LA online course to another.
4. To help instructors get started on building courses that are compliant with the Quality Matters rubric and UNM Online Course Standards Rubric. Such rubrics are becoming standards as evaluation criteria for the design of online courses. Meeting QM or QM-like standards is increasingly a criterion for offering an online course. These standards are also being considered for accreditation standards. Contact members of the eLearning Committee to see a copy of the summary Quality Matters Rubric. The UNM Online Course Standards document is available here: https://goo.gl/HGKdRh
Regarding Quality Matters and UNM Online Course Standards Rubrics:
· This template, in combination with the UNM-LA online course syllabus template, will help your course to meet several of these standards, especially those regarding the information that is provided to students and some elements of course design. It does not, and cannot, address standards regarding course delivery and other elements of course design. The template does, however, provide some structural underpinnings for meeting these standards. Training is available that deals with these aspects of online course design and delivery.
· Recommendation: Read through the UNM Online Course Standards Rubric before and as you are building your course, and then use it as a checklist to self-evaluate your course. It’s probably fair to say that few if any courses meet 100% of these standards, but meeting them is still a goal towards which we can all work. The UNM rubric is available here: https://goo.gl/HGKdRh
What is the UNM-LA Online Course Template? What does an instructor do with it?
The UNM-LA Online Course Template itself is a course shell that was built in Learn. It embodies several elements of an online course, laid out in a particular organization. The template file is stored in the UNM-LA TemplateBox.
To use the UNM-LA Online Course Template, the instructor downloads the UNM-LA Online Course Template from the TemplateBox and then imports it into a new Learn course shell. After importing the template, the instructor then adds course materials to the template. Instructions for completing these steps are found below, in Step 1.
If you use a publisher site as your primary teaching site:
This Online Course Template will probably not fully meet your needs if your primary teaching vehicle is a publisher site. However, courses that use publisher materials still need to meet online course quality standards, and the elements contained in this template and User Guide should be of use in achieving that goal.
A detailed checklist with examples has been prepared to help instructors who use publisher sites to set up their courses in keeping with the design goals and materials supplied with this template. It is called “UNM-LA Online Course Template-Checklist for Publisher Materials”, and it is available in the Checklists folder of the UNMLA TemplateBox (see below).
Section 1: Getting Started: Import the UNM-LA Online Course Template into Your Course
BEFORE YOU BEGIN IMPORTING THE COURSE TEMPLATE:
à You must have a Learn course shell, which you will use to build your course. You may obtain a course shell in one of two ways [(a) is recommended]:
(a) Send an email to and request a Learn course development shell for your course. You will need to specify your course number, semester that you plan to teach it, and your UNM NetID. You may do this any time. You can copy everything that you do in your development shell into the “real” course after the “real” course becomes available.
(b) Use the Learn course shell that is automatically set up for your online course. Course shells are set up for the semester in which that course will be taught, usually within 2-3 days after registration opens for that semester. This is the “real” course shell from which you will deliver your course.
à You need to have a working familiarity with Learn. At a minimum, you will need to know how to:
· Upload files and link them into Learn items and folders
· Modify the course menu
· Add items, web links, and Learn’s tools to a folder
· Modify the text describing items in a folder
· How to hide or unhide items and folders from students
· How to set item availability dates
· How to use Announcements and Course Messages or Email from Learn to communicate with your students.
· How to use Grade Center or a password-protected alternative that meets FERPA standards, for communicating grades to students.
You may acquire this information in several ways, by taking the “Getting Started with Learn” workshop that is offered periodically at UNM-LA, by taking a similar workshop at UNM, or by using training materials supplied by UNM ( https://online.unm.edu/help/learn/faculty/index.html ). Contact Carol Furchner for information about the UNM-LA workshop.
à Use a laptop or a desktop computer to set up your course. Steps in this guide have not been tested using a tablet.
Step 1.1 Import the UNM-LA Online Course Template into Learn
If you are very familiar with using Learn already, you can follow the simplified, brief instructions in Figure 1.1: Getting Started. More detailed instructions are given below, and these also refer to Figure 1.1. You may want to print out Figure 1.1 and refer to it as you work through the detailed instructions.
In this section you will
· Obtain a copy of the UNM-LA Online Course Template (“the template”) and store it on your computer.
· Import the template into your new Learn course shell.
· Make a few changes to the course menu and Grade Center that couldn’t be included in the template.
In these instructions for importing the template, numbers in blue refer to steps in Figure 1.1: Summary of Steps for Getting Started.
Figure 1.1: Summary of Steps for Getting Started
(see below)
Numbers in the following five steps correspond to blue numbers in Figure 1.1. Figure 1.1 is in Figure 1.1f.pptx
1. Download the Template to your computer
You will find the template in the UNM-LA TemplateBox.
The link to TemplateBox is https://tinyurl.com/templatebox
Click on this link, or type it into your browser’s address bar. When it opens, you will see a list of UNMLA folders. One will be called “Template Package.”
Click on Template Package
· You will see a heading called Online Course Template - FULL. Under this heading is a single link to a folder, called https://www.unm.edu/~itc/UNMLA/UNMLA_Template/Template_Package-Full. Click on that link. This will open or download a folder (directory) that will contain one file whose name begins with Online-Template-Full and ends in .zip.
à Click on the file whose name begins with Online-Template-Full and ends in .zip .
· What you see next will depend on which browser you are using. Take the necessary steps to save this file on your computer in a location that you will remember, e.g., on your desktop or in your Downloads folder. DO NOT OPEN THIS FILE. (You will upload this file into Learn, but you will not need to keep this file after you complete this section.)
2. Login to Learn
· From your browser, login to Learn at https://learn.unm.edu using your NetID and password. This will open the Learn portal page.
· Find your new course shell or the temporary shell that you are using to build your course in the center column of the Learn portal page, and à click on the course name. This will open the nearly empty course shell for your course. It should look like Figure 1.2.
Figure 1.2: Brand new Learn course shell screen
· Go to the bottom of the course menu, into the COURSE MANAGEMENT section, and
1. Click on Packages and Utilities /2. Click on Import Package / View Logs
3. Import the Template into your course
· This will open a window called “Import Package / View Logs”. Find the red button called “Import Package” and click on it:
à Click on
· This will take you to the “Import Package” form. In this form, begin with “SELECT A PACKAGE.” Here, you will specify the file you just downloaded, whose name begins with “Online-Template-Full”.
à Click on the “Browse My Computer” button.
· This will bring up a form that allows you to navigate to where you saved the file whose name begins with Online-Template-Full on your computer (e.g., Desktop). After you find it, select that file, and complete the action in the form to upload the file into Learn. (What this looks like depends on your browser.) When this upload has completed, back in the Import Package form you will see the name of the file beginning with Online-Template-Full.