Introduction to the Course Shell

When you first open your Learn course, you will find some links already in place to help you get started. The philosophy behind Learn is to create from the Course Menu. Create content pages from the course menu, then place links to files and course tools on those pages. You can customize the course menu to suit your syllabus and complement your style of providing content and experiences for your class.

Your New Learn Course Shell

You start with a shell, then add your content, publisher content, copy an existing course, etc.
Add tools to the menu or to content areas when you need them.

The Default Entry Point and a Possible Problem

The default entry point for your course out of the box is the "Course Dashboard". If you remove or hide that page, the entry point will change to the next visible page. If there is nothing on the Course Information page, it will be hidden. The next visible page will be "How to Use Learn", which will cause your course menu to be hidden from you. How to recover if you cannot see the course menu as a result of an external page as entry point:

Click the icon in the upper left corner that looks like a stack of pages
That will bring up the course menu in a separate window
Scroll way down and click Customization, then Teaching Style
Look for the menu to select a different course menu item; if you have no options, you must either add content to an existing hidden page or use the plus (+) sign at the top of the menu to add something that will be visible immediately, even temporarily, such as Announcements or the Calendar. If you choose "Content Area", you will still have to add content to that page.

If you would rather have a different entry point

Go to Course Management ==> Customization ==> Teaching Style and choose the entry point from the menu. Test what the students see with the "Student View" button in the upper right corner. The entry point can be any visible content area or tool.

The Course Menu & Course Management Menu

Course Menu

All Learn course shells will come to you with links in the Course Menu:

Instructor Tips: This is a help page for you; it is hidden from student view. Check this page for
- Aspects of your Learn course that you really need to pay attention to
- Faculty FAQ
- Links to documentation

Course Dashboard: a dynamic page of modules to help you and your students keep apprised of announcements, new additions, due dates and student progress. Some instructors will want to use this as the entry point for the course; you can have any page be the entry point!
Course Information: this is a link to an empty Content Area, a blank page for you to add links to anything you like; our intention is to give you at least one place to add your syllabus, schedule, or other information about your course. It is easy to Add More Content Areas.
How to Use Learn: Mostly for your students, how to get help, links to basic tool guides and technical support. For online courses, there's Web Conferencing & Media support.

Detailed help on the Course Menu

Course Management / Control Panel

All of the tools for managing your course are in this part of the left menu – for instructor eyes only.

The Tabs & Global Navigation Menu

The Support Tab contains links to Learn Support pages, who to contact for direct help, and a link to LoboAchieve.

The Global Navigation Menu is a tool to show these details at a glance - for students and instructors: calendar, new announcements, new discussion postings and grades (for students). Course messages will not appear here. One thing to note: if you click that button from within a course, you will be exited from the course; hit your back back to get to My Learn.

What is Next?

Once you have a content area page link in the course menu, you can turn the "Edit Mode" on in the upper right and start adding files or tools to that page. Here is a guide that may help: Getting Started in Learn.