If you intend to use CourseSites to teach this semester, here are a few suggestions we would like to share with you to help you get ready.
1. Set up your course shell, if you haven’t done so already. We would also recommend you set up a sandbox shell to test things out as you develop your course or teach them.
2. Enroll your students. Use the “invite” function under “users and groups” to invite users. To get the list of student emails, go to “myACU”, click on the icon for the class roster, click on “email”, and then, copy the email addresses from students. CourseSites email requires the use of commas to separate email addresses. You can copy all email addresses from myACU to a blank Word document, use Word’s “find and replace” function to replace all “edu” with “edu,”. And then copy and paste the new list to CourseSites email.
3. Create content for your CourseSites. You will notice the LMS has a whole variety of functions you can use to post and organize your content. Let the instructional design team know if you need any assistance in this area.
4. Create assessments using CourseSites. Check if your textbook publisher has some tests you can readily use. Many have pools you can import directly into CourseSites. If you want to build some yourself, consider building them in Word first. It is possible to convert some to Bb format using Respondus. Let us know if you need any help in this area.
5. Set up your gradebook. You can add your content in the Grade Center as you teach, but it may be a good idea to set it up now if you know what you will include throughout the semester. Please also know that if you create a graded test or assignment with CourseSites, a column will be created in the Grade Center automatically.
6. Check if your course is available to students. Here is the path to set the availability: Control panel –> Customization –> Properties –> Check beside “yes” to make the course available. Check beside “no” if you want to hide the course while you are still developing it, or after you have finished teaching it.
7. Explain the resources for help. CourseSites support for your students comes from CourseSites itself, not Team 55. You might want to share the support resources with students at the beginning to set the expectations. Once you are in your course, you will notice there is a “resource” button on the top right corner of the course, you and the students can click on that to find help information for getting help.
We have a Google Group set up for CourseSites users. Please send an email to anyone on the instructional design team if you would like to be added.