"How to" Guideline series is coordinated by Helen Mongan-Rallis of the Education Department at the University of Minnesota Duluth. If you have any questions, comments, or suggestions to improve these guidelines please me at e-mail hrallis@d.umn.edu.

Guidelines for Using UM Course Guide

by Helen Mongan Rallis. Last updated: November 6, 2008

Locating your course guide

1. Go to UM Course Guide home page
2. Login to the course guide (follow the link from the Course Guide home page)
3. Once you login, you will be taken to the "Select Term" page, where you should select the link for the term in which you want to create or edit a course guide.
4. From the list of classes that you are teaching, click on the link to the class for which you would like to create or edit a course guide. Wait patiently as it may take a while to load (you will see the word "processing" flashing at the top of the screen until your guide loads)

4 step process to create course guide

1. Description:
• Enter in a description of your course. While this does not need to be the same as the catalog description, you can certainly make it the same. Enter this in the box provided (3,000 character limit).
• If you have your course or elements of your course such as the syllabus online, provide the URL in the "course URL" box below.
  • Note: Students who are not yet enrolled in your course will not be able to see your online course materials until they are enrolled in your class if you are using a secure course management system.
  • If your course is in WebVista or Moodle, you can provide the main page link to WebVista or Moodle. Because these course management systems are password protected, when users link to this main page, if they are enrolled in your course they will see your course listed as one of the courses that is available for them to view. If they are not enrolled in your course (or you have not given them access to the course), they will not be able to see it.
• Once you have entered this information, you can save as a draft (the yellow button on the left) or click below to proceed to the next section of the course guide, namely 2. Class Time/Workload.
  
  
  
  
2. Class time/workload:
• Fill in the relevant percentages under the time and workload sections (you can give a general estimate here!)
• In the text boxes below, you can enter any other information that you consider relevant regarding other class time information and other workload information/
• Once you have entered this information, you can save as a draft (the yellow button on the left) or click below to proceed to the next section of the course guide, namely 3. Grading.
  
  
  
  
3. Grading:
   1. Enter percentages for each component of the course that contributes to the final grade.
   2. You may also enter other grading information and exam format in the text boxes below the grading box.
   3. Once you have entered this information, you can save as a draft (the yellow button on the left) or click below to proceed to the next section of the course guide, namely 4. Media Upload.
      
      
      
      
4. Media upload
   
   
1. From the Media Upload page you can upload
   1. syllabus
   2. biography
   3. photo of yourself
   4. a video clip: for example, you may have a video of you introducing yourself and providing brief information about the course. When you upload a video, it may take a while. A message in the Media Upload image next to the listing of the video will tel you, "Video is being processed for display on the Web Course Guide. Allow 15 minutes for processing then select Retrieve URLs." To retrieve the URLs click on the yellow "retrieve URLs" button displayed above the syllabus and media box.
   5. Video transcript: if you have a video, you should have a text transcript (for users who are not able to hear the audio accompanying the video)
2. Browse to locate each file --> click "submit" to upload the file.
3. When you are done uploading the files, they will not show up immediately (it may take more than 15 minutes, so don't wait for it to appear if you are in a hurry. You can save and return later)
4. You can save your Course Guide as a draft until you are finished working on it and ready to submit it (click on the "save as draft" button)
   

When you are ready to submit your Course Guide so that it is visible to students and other users, click on the "Submit to Course Guide" button. A message will appear near the top of the course guide page informing you, "Your course guide information has been submitted for publishing and will update the web course guide in 24 hours."

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