Creating course content

Course Content is available from your course navbar. From this area, you can create, add or edit content; link to course tools such as Dropboxes, Discussion Forums, Quizzes and Surveys.

Overview

The overview area is where you can add your course syllabus or outline.

  1. To add your file, click the Add Attachment link. If your browser supports drag and drop, you will see a box where you can drop your file.

Blank Overview page in Course Content
  • After you have successfully added your file you will see the content of the added document directly on the page. If the file format doesn’t allow the file to display inline you will see a link to the file instead. You may also notice that the Add a file message has changed to Change the attachment. This is because you are only able to add one file to the overview area. Adding a second file will overwrite the first.

  • To completely remove a file from the overview area, select the context arrow to the right of the overview title in the centre panel of your content page and choose to Remove attachment.

    Down arrow beside Overview title highlighted and arrow pointing at 'Remove attachment' from drop-down menu.

Bookmarks

Bookmarks allow users to bookmark course content to return to at a later date. By clicking the Bookmarks link you will see a list of content pages that you have bookmarked. These are personal and will not be flagged as bookmarked for any other users in your course.

Course Schedule

The Course Schedule listed in the course content is a compilation of due and end dates corresponding with course content and are due within the next 7 days. You can include content in the upcoming events by choosing an end and/or due date as well as selecting the Display in Calendar option for items. Dropboxes with an end or due date will automatically display in the upcoming events but Quizzes and Surveys require the Display in Calendar option to be selected for these items to display in the Upcoming events area.

Table of Contents

The Table of Contents (TOC) is where you will add the course content you want to make available to students in your course.

Adding Modules and Sub-modules

  1. Select Content from the course navbar.

  2. Select Table of Contents from the left-hand side if it is not selected by default.

  3. There is an Add a Module option on the left-hand side that will always be available when you are working in Content. The second add a module option will be available if the Table of Contents is selected on the left-hand side.

  4. Start typing the title of the module in the Add a Module box.

  5. After creating a module you will also see the option to create a sub-module. This option will only be available if you have already created a module and it is currently selected on the left-hand side.

  6. To add a sub-module, start typing the title of the sub-module in the Add a sub-module box.

Adding files to modules or sub-modules

  1. Select Content from the course navbar.

  2. Select the area on the left-hand side of the page.

  3. There are a number of ways to add content

    • you can drag and drop files if you are using a browser that supports this feature

    • you can select the Upload/Create button.

  4. Selecting the Upload/Create button on the content page will allow you to upload or create content and activities. There are a number of different files and activities that can be added or created.

  5. Choosing to upload files will take you to a window where you can select the location of the file (My Computer, or Course Offering Files).

  6. Click the Upload button to search the area previously selected on the left.

  7. Once you have selected the file you want to upload, you will see the file name listed below the Upload button, indicating the file has been successfully uploaded.

  8. Click the Add button to add the file to the course.

    • If you are adding a file that already exists in the course, you should see a Duplicate Files pop-up notifying you that the file is already in use in the course. You can decide to create a new file or overwrite the existing file.

  9. Returning to the course Content page will allow you to see the files that have been added to the course.

Adding Captions to Video Files

  1. Select Content from the course navbar.

  2. Click the down arrow next to the video file in your course Content and select Edit Video.

  3. Click Add Subtitles.

  4. Select the Subtitle Language and click Browse to search for your SRT file. 

  5. Select your file and click Open, and click Done.

  6. Click Save or Update.

To see the captions, click on the Settings cog in the video player. Select Captions and the language of the captions that were added.

Only SRT captions can be added to video files in LEARN. VVT captions will need to be converted to SRT format. Third-party software such as Subtitle Edit can be used to convert VVT files to SRT files.

To convert using Subtitle Edit:

  1. Open the .VVT file in Subtitle Edit.

  2. Select File > Save As, select a location and save as type: SubRip (SRT).

Adding course activities to content

If you have already created course activities that you want to include in the content section of your course you can add a course activity to the course content.

  1. Select Content from the course navbar.

  2. Select the module that you want to add the activity to.

  3. Click the Existing Activitities button and select the activity type from the drop-down menu.

  4. The list will open a window that contains all activities of that type that exist in the course. If you have not yet created the course activity you will be prompted to create a new one. For more information on creating course activities like quizzes, dropboxes etc. please see the corresponding help page for the specific activity.

 

Editing content

When editing content in LEARN, you have a couple of different options.

Bulk Edit

This allows you to bulk edit content access dates, restrictions, content item descriptions and completion method (Required: Automatic, Required: Manual, or Not Required).

  1. Select Content from the course navbar.

  2. Select the module whose content you want to edit.

  3. Click the Bulk Edit button.

  4. Make your desired changes and click Done Editing to save them.

     

Edit while in content

If you have created a file while in the content, you can add content to it and make changes as necessary.

  1. Select Content from the course navbar.

  2. Select the module whose content you want to edit.

  3. Select the down arrow next to the content item you wish to edit.

  4. Select Edit HTML. The Edit ______ option will always be the file type you are editing, e.g. Edit HTML, Edit Link etc.

  5. The Edit Properties In-place option will allow you to edit the same areas as the Bulk Edit option (e.g. dates, restrictions, descriptions etc).

Deleting content

Course content can be deleted by topic, module, sub-module, or all modules. 

  1. Select Content from the course navbar.

  2. To delete a topic:

    1. Select the module containing the topic you wish to delete.

    2. Select the down arrow next to the topic title and select Delete Topic to remove the file.

  3. To delete a module or sub-module:

    1. Select the module/sub-module

    2. Select the down arrow next to the module title and select Delete Module or Delete sub-module to remove the module or sub-module.

  4. To delete ALL modules:

    1. Select the Table of Contents.

    2. Select the down arrow next to the Table of Contents title and select Delete All Modules.

Re-ordering content

  1. Select Content from the course navbar.

  2. Click on the three lines (burger menu) to the left of the module or topic name and drag and drop it into the new location. Topics can be moved within a module or to another module using the drag and drop feature.

Completion Settings

Completion settings can be set by the instructor and applied to all users accessing content.

  1. Select Content from the course navbar.

  2. Select the Table of Contents from the left-hand side.

  3. Select the down arrow next to the Table of Contents title and select Set All Completion.

  4. From the pop-up window, select the completion method of your choice.

    • Required: Automatic, which will mark the content item as complete once a user clicks on the item.

    • Required: Manual requires the user to mark items as complete by checking the completion box to the right of the content topic.

    • Not Required option removes the ability for any content items to be marked complete.

  5. Click Update.

Need help?

Contact LEARNhelp at learnhelp@uwaterloo.ca or 519-888-4567 ext. 41744 for assistance.