Building a Course Collection In Connexions, a course is a collection of modules that is organized and viewed as an online book. These modules may be ones created by you or created by other Connexions authors. You can build such a collection with the Course Composer tool. This tool allows you to identify and arrange modules to create an online book by performing the following tasks: Add a new course collection to your workspace or workgroup Enter the title and other identifying metadata Add section titles Add content to your course collection Rearrange the content Remove content Preview your course collection Publish your course collection in Connexions

Add a New Course Collection to Your Workspace or Workgroup Adding or creating a new course collection is similar to creating a new module. You access the Course Composer from your workspace or workgroup. 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. 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. 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.

Course Collection Composer editing screen

Enter the Title and Other Identifying Metadata for Your Course Collection Select the "Metadata" tab in the Course Collection Composer. 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. 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 Section Headings to Group Content A section is a grouping of related modules within a course collection. Each section has a heading that identifies its contents to the viewers. You may place sections within sections, creating subsections. Select the "Contents" tab in the Course Collection Composer. 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. Display the "Contents" tab, if it is not already displaying. 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. Enter the name of the new section in the "Title" field. 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 Content to Your Course Collection You can add a published module to your course collection from the Content Commons or from your workspace or workgroup. When adding a module, Connexions does not copy the module into your course collection. The module remains in the Content Commons and Connexions inserts a reference or a pointer to the module in your course collection. Any new or existing modules can be added to your course collection with the following considerations: A module cannot be inserted into a course collection more than once. A module must be published in Connexions before you can insert it into your course collection. Your search of the Content Commons for modules looks at titles, names, authors, keywords, and text strings. If no matches are found for your search string, Connexions displays some suggestioned 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 collection, use the following steps: Select the "Contents" tab in the Course Collection Composer, if it is not already displaying. 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 collection title, a section title, or a subsection title. Enter a word or text string related to the module in the search text box. Deselect the checkbox for "Courses". Leave the checkbox for "Modules" selected. 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. Select the checkbox for any module or modules you want to add as content. 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 course collection, use the following steps: Display the "Contents" tab for your workspace or workgroup that contains your course collection and the module. Select the checkbox for the desired module. You can add only modules that are in the "published" state. Click Copy. A message displays that the item was copied. 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. Click on the section title where you want to insert the module. Click Paste on the "Content" tab for the course. The title of the module appears in the course outline under the section you selected.

Rearrange the Contents The Course Collection 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 one location in your course to another location.

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: Select the "Contents" tab in the Course Composer. 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. 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.

"Title" and "Move" columns

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: Select the "Contents" tab in the Course Composer. 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. Select the checkbox to the left of the content item or items you want to move. Click Cut. Click on the title of the section in the course outline for the section in which you want to paste the content item. 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 Content Items To remove a content item from your course collection or from a section within your course collection, use the following steps: Select the "Contents" tab in the Course Collection Composer. 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. Select the checkbox for the object to be removed. Click Remove. The item is removed from the course or section.

Preview Your Course Collection Click the "Preview" tab in the Course Collection Composer to display your course collection online, just as a student would view the finished course collection. This preview allows you to verify that it displays as you intended.

Publish Your Course Collection A published course collection is available to anyone on the Internet who wants to view it. Once your course collection is complete, you will publish it in Connexions. Verify that the metadata entries, roles, and online version of the course collection are as you want them. Click the "Publish" tab in the Course Collection Composer. Type a brief explanation of this revision of the course collection in the "Description of Changes" field. This text displays on the revision history page for the course collection. Click Publish. Your course collection is published in Connexions. You may check it out at any time and revise it with the Course Collection Composer. Before Connexions will publish your course collection, it must have a person named to the Author, Maintainer, and Copyright Holder roles. In addition, your course collection can have no pending role requests. All role requests must be either accepted or rejected.

Additional Information about Building Course Collections For more information about using the Course Collection Composer tool, see the following material in the How to Use the Course Composer module. Add a subsection Heading Change the title of a module when it appears in your course collection Specify an earlier version of a module appear in your course collection Add or change the links that appear on the first page of your course collection Assign roles to collaborating authors, maintainers, or copyright holders Specify notation parameters for variables that appear in your course collection Edit your course after publication