How to Organize and Manage Course Topics for Easy Student Access (Full Transcript)

Speaker 1: One of the ways to organize course materials is Topics. Topics are frames that include different elements like documents, quizzes, etc. They are situated at the course homepage and provide easy access to materials for students. To create a topic, please click Add Topic at the course homepage. Enter the name and specify if the topic should be published, that is, available for students. To create several topics, select the number from the drop-down menu. If there are already some topics created, select the ordering for the new topic. If you wish the topic to be available for a certain period, select the starting and ending dates using the drop-down menus or calendar icons. If you wish the topic to become published in a certain period of time after the student's enrollment in the course, specify the period after which topics become available in days, hours, or minutes. Enter the description if necessary. Click Save to save the changes and the topic will appear at the course homepage. Now after a user enters the course, he or she will see the topic at once. You can publish and unpublish the topic by clicking the Published Unpublished icon. Please note that if the topic is unpublished then students won't be able to see it.

Speaker 2: If the topic is published, the students will be able to see it at the course homepage.

Speaker 1: Topics are created to provide easy access to course materials. All the course materials, documents, links, etc. are created and uploaded to their sections. For more info, please see respective tutorials. To add a new element to the topic, please click Add Elements at the bottom of the topic. You will see all available course materials. Please note that under Learning Paths, you see SCORMS as well as Learning Paths. To add one element to topic, please select it and click Save. You will see the element included to the topic. It will not be removed from its original section, however.

Speaker 2: You can add all the existing course materials to the topic if necessary.

Speaker 1: To publish the added elements, click the icon near their names or select the element and click Publish Unpublished at the bottom of the topic.

Speaker 2: Please note that only published elements will be seen to students.

Speaker 1: To remove an element from the topic, please select it and click Delete Element at the bottom of the topic. To select all elements, check the box near the Element Name column. You may add whole Learning Path as an element to the topic. Thus, you can organize the elements in necessary succession and then add the whole succession of steps to the topic for students' convenience.

Speaker 2: For more info on Learning Paths, please see the Learning Paths Tutorial.

Speaker 1: To edit the topic, click Edit at the bottom of it. Specify the necessary changes and click Save to apply them.

Speaker 2: To delete the topic, delete the topic at the bottom of it.

Speaker 1: Confirm the deletion and the topic will be removed from the course home page.