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How to Use the Course Composer

Module by: Sarah Coppin, Mark Husband. E-mail the authors

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Summary: Instructions on how to use the Connexions Course Composer.

Note: You are viewing an old version of this document. The latest version is available here.

Create a New Course

Creating a new course is similar to creating a new module. You access the Course Composer from your workspace or workgroup.

  1. Select Course from the drop-down list next to the Create New Item button and click Create New Item. The "New Content: Licensing" screen displays.
  2. Select the check box at the bottom of the screen to signify that you agree to place the course under the Creative Commons Attribution license.
  3. Click Next. The "Metadata" tab displays with the message that a course has been created. The "Course Status" sidebar appears on the right side of the screen and lists the current state of the course and the last action taken, which was creation of the course along with the name of the person who created the course and when they created it.

Figure 1: Course Composer editing screen
Figure 1 (coursecomposerfig1x.png)

Enter Identifying Metadata for a New Course

  1. Select the "Metadata" tab in the Course Composer.
  2. Enter the appropriate information in the metadata fields, including:
    • course title (required)
    • institution name - institution where the course will be taught
    • course code - the catalog number, for example, BIO 201
    • instructor name - the person teaching the course
    • course home page - a full URL beginning with "http://". Examples are course announcement pages or the course syllabus
    • keywords - terms that aid Connexions users to search and find the course
    • abstract - a brief description of the course (required)
    If you do not make an entry in a required field, you will be prompted for an entry when you click Save to record the metadata.
  3. Click Save. The metadata entries are saved and the "Contents" tab displays with the title of the course. This tab is where you do the actual assembly of the course. It has two areas. The left side of the tab has a course outline display. The right side of the tab is where you add, arrange, or remove content objects in the course.

Add a New Section

A section is a grouping of related modules within a course. Each section has a heading that identifies its contents to the viewers. You may place sections within sections, creating subsections.

  1. Select the "Contents" tab in the Course Composer.
  2. Click on the title of the course in the course outline, if it is not already highlighted. It is the highest-level object in the course outline.
  3. Display the "Contents" tab, if it is not already displaying.
  4. Click Add New Section in the "Contents" tab. A new section is added to the course outline as the last object and the "Edit" tab displays with a blank field for the name of the new section.
  5. Enter the name of the new section in the "Title" field.
  6. Click Save.

The title you entered appears as the new section in the course outline. This section is highlighted, enabling you to add content to it in the form of a subsection or a module.

Add a Subsection

A subsection is a grouping of related modules within a section. Each subsection has a heading that identifies its contents to the viewers.

  1. Select the "Contents" tab in the Course Composer.
  2. Click on the section title in the course outline, if it is not already highlighted.
  3. Display the "Contents" tab, if it is not already displaying.
  4. Click Add New Section in the "Contents" tab. A new subsection is added to the course outline under the section that was highlighted. The "Edit" tab displays with a blank "Title" field for the name of the subsection.
  5. Enter the name of the subsection in the "Title" field.
  6. Click Save.

The title you entered appears as the new subsection in the course outline. This subsection is highlighted, enabling you to add content to it.

Add a Module

You can add a published module to the course from the Content Commons or from the course's own workspace or workgroup. When adding a module, Connexions does not copy the module into your course. The module remains in the Content Commons and Connexions inserts a reference or a pointer to the module in your course. Any new or existing modules can be added to a course with the following considerations:

  • A module cannot be inserted into a course more than once.
  • A module must be published in Connexions before you can insert it into a course.
  • Searches in the Content Commons for modules use titles, names, authors, keywords, or text strings.
If no matches are found for your search string, Connexions displays some suggestions about search entries.

Add a Module from the Content Commons

To search the Content Commons for a module and add it as content in your course, use the following steps:

  1. Select the "Contents" tab in the Course Composer, if it is not already displaying.
  2. Click on the item title in the course outline where you want to insert the module, if it is not already highlighted. This item could be the course title, a section title, or a subsection title.
  3. Enter a word or text string related to the module in the search text box.
  4. Deselect the checkbox for "Courses". Leave the checkbox for "Modules" selected.
  5. Click Search. A list of all the modules that match the search input displays. If more matches occurred than will fit on one page, then additional pages of matches are listed.
  6. Select the checkbox for any module or modules you want to add as content.
  7. Click Add selected content.
The titles of the selected modules appear in the course outline under the section you selected.

Add a Module from Your Workspace or Workgroup

To add a module from your workspace or workgroup as content in your ourse, use the following steps:

  1. Display the "Contents" tab for your workspace or workgroup that contains the course and the module.
  2. Select the checkbox for the desired module. You can add only modules that are in the "published" state.
  3. Click Copy. A message displays that the item was copied.
  4. Click on the course title to access the Course Composer. The Paste button now appears on the "Content" tab along with the Cut, Copy, and Remove buttons.
  5. Click on the section title where you want to insert the module.
  6. Click Paste on the "Content" tab for the course.
The title of the module appears in the course outline under the section you selected.

Note:

If you try to add a module that is not published, an error message displays. To verify that the module you want to add is published, look in the "State" column in the "Contents" tab of your work area.

Provide an Alternate Module Title

Modules in the Content Commons have titles given to them by their authors. These titles may not be appropriate for the module when it is used in your course. You can provide the module an alternate title that appears in the Roadmap courseview and in the printed versions of your course. The original author's title continues to display when you view the module text.

  1. Click the module title in the course outline. The module level "Edit" tab appears on the right side of the screen.
  2. Type the new title for the module in the "Alternate Title" field.
  3. Click Save.
The module title in the course outline changes to the alternate title.

Select the Module Version

When a module is updated or edited, Connexions saves the previous version of the module in history and uses the latest version of the module for viewing. Each new version of a module is given its own version number. You can select which version of each module is used in your course.

  1. Click the module title in the course outline. The module level "Edit" tab appears on the right side of the screen.
  2. Select the Version radio button for the version of the module you want to use in the course. The default is "Always use newest version".
  3. Click Save.

Rearrange Contents

The Course Composer has two methods of rearranging the content items within a course. The first method uses up and down arrows to move items around within a course or within a section. The second method uses the Cut and Paste buttons to move items from course to section or from section to section.

Rearrange with the Up and Down Arrows

To move items around within a course or within a section with the up and down arrows, use the following steps:

  1. Select the "Contents" tab in the Course Composer.
  2. Click on the course title to rearrange the content items within the course, or click on a section title to rearrange the content items within that section. A listing of the contents of the course or selected section appears on the right side of the screen.
  3. Click the up or down arrows in the "Move" column to relocate a content item to a different location within the course or section. The outer two arrows move the content item to the first or last position. The inner two arrows move the content item up or down to the next position.

Figure 2: "Title" and "Move" columns
Figure 2 (coursecomposerfig2.png)

Rearrange with the Cut and Paste Buttons

To move items from course to section or from section to section with the Cut and Paste buttons, use the following steps:

  1. Select the "Contents" tab in the Course Composer.
  2. Click on the course title in the course outline to cut and paste content items within the course, or click on a section title in the course outline to cut and paste content items within that section. A listing of the contents of the course or selected section appears on the right side of the screen.
  3. Select the checkbox to the left of the content item or items you want to move.
  4. Click Cut.
  5. Click on the title of the section in the course outline for the section in which you want to paste the content item.
  6. Click Paste. The content item or items appear in the course outline under the selected section title and disappear from under the originating course or section title.

Remove Course Contents

To remove a content item from a course or from a section within a course, use the following steps:

  1. Select the "Contents" tab in the Course Composer.
  2. Click on the course title to remove a content item from within the course, or click on a section title to remove a content item from within that section. A listing of the contents of that section appears on the right side of the screen.
  3. Select the checkbox for the object to be removed.
  4. Click Remove. The item is removed from the course or section.

Assign Roles to Collaborating Authors

To assign roles to your collaborating authors, use the following steps:

  1. Click the "Roles" tab in the Course Composer.
  2. Type the name for a person who you want to give author, maintainer, or copyright holder role access in the search text box. This person must have a Connexions account.
  3. Click Search. A list of those account holders who matched the search string appears.
  4. Select the checkbox for the desired collaborator(s).
  5. Click Add People. The "Roles Pending Approval" box appears on the bottom of the screen.
  6. Select or deselect the appropriate role checkbox for the person.
  7. Repeat steps 2 through 5 for all the people you want to collaborate on the course with you.
  8. Click Update Roles.

Connexions notifies the new authors the next time they log in that a role request is pending. Once the requests are accepted, the roles are granted and the appropriate access permissions are applied.

Set Notation Parameters

Modules in different courses may use different ways of presenting the same items, such as vectors and imaginary numbers. You can select the presentation of these items in your course with the display parameters. To set these parameters for your course, use the following steps:

  1. Click the "Parameters" tab in the Course Composer.
  2. Select the radio buttons for the desired notations. The defaults appear in the first column.
  3. Click Update Properties.

Connexions applies the specified notations to the parameter displays of all the modules in the course.

Preview the Course

Click the "Preview" tab in the Course Composer to display the course on-line, just as a student would view the finished course. This preview allows you to verify that the course displays as you intended.

Publish the Course

A published course is available to anyone on the Internet who wants to view it. Once the course is complete, you will publish it in Connexions.

  1. Verify that the metadata entries, roles, and on-line version of the course are as you want them.
  2. Click the "Publish" tab in the Course Composer.
  3. Type a brief explanation of this revision of the course in the "Description of Changes" field. This text displays on the revision history page for the course.
  4. Click Publish.
The course is published in Connexions. You may check out the course at any time and revise it with the Course Composer.

note:

Before Connexions will publish a course, the course must have a person named to the Author, Maintainer, and Copyright Holder roles. In addition, the course can have no pending role requests. All role requests must be either accepted or rejected.

Edit an Existing Course

You can edit an existing course with the Course Composer in the same way you create a new course. You can edit only courses for which you have a maintainer role. To use the Course Composer on an existing course, begin in your workspace or workgroup and use the following steps:

  1. Click Search for Published Content. The "Search the Connexions repository" screen displays.
  2. Enter a word or text string related to the course in the search text box.
  3. Deselect the checkbox for "Modules". Leave the checkbox for "Courses" selected.
  4. Click Search. A list of the objects that match the search string displays.
  5. Select the checkbox for the desired course
  6. Select the workspace or workgroup where the course will be placed from the "Add selected content to" drop-down list
  7. Click Add. The course is added to the specified workspace or workgroup.
  8. Open the course in the Course Composer and edit as described under the Create a New Course heading earlier in this section.

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