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Desire2Learn 9.0

The Course Builder Environment

The Course Builder allows you to create and manage much of your course in one place. Instead of going separately to Discussions, Quizzes, Content, and Dropbox, you can create and organize objects for all those tools in the Course Builder. This document explains the Course Builder environment. For instructions on working with the Course Builder, see Using the Course Builder.

return to topAccessing the Course Builder

The Course Builder can be found under the Course Administration Tools.

  1. Access the Course Home page

  2. On the Navigation bar, click EDIT COURSE

  3. In the Design section, click COURSE BUILDER
    The Course Builder welcome page appears. Click the links for more information.Course Builder welcome page

  4. To see the Course Builder Toolbox, click START
    The Course Builder Canvas and the Toolbox appear.

return to topCourse Builder Canvas

The Course Builder Canvas is divided into two sections. The section on the left displays the modules in your course and the objects in each module. This allows you to reorder objects and modules. The section on the right displays more information about the module or object selected in the section on the left.

return to topCourse Builder Toolbox

The Toolbox pane contains the tools that are used to set up your course structure. There are three sections within the Toolbox:Build Structure, Create Objects, and Browse Objects.

Return to Course Builder ToolboxBuild Structure

The Build Structure section allows you to create modules and placeholders. You can divide your course into modules, or units. This is a way of organizing your course. Within a module, you can put placeholders. If you know that you want an object (e.g., a discussion) in a module, but do not want to create the object yet, you can put a placeholder where it will be. You can come back to the placeholder later to set up the actual object (e.g., discussion, dropbox, etc.). The table below describes each button in the Build Structure section of the Toolbox.

Create a Module button Opens the Select a location and Create Module dialog boxes, allowing you to create a module in the location of your choice.
Create a Link Placeholder button Opens the Select a location and Create Placeholder dialog boxes, allowing you to place a link placeholder in the module of your choice.
Create a File Placeholder button Opens the Select a location and Create Placeholder dialog boxes, allowing you to create a file placeholder in the module of your choice.
Create a Discussion Placeholder button Opens the Select a location and Create Placeholder dialog boxes, allowing you to create a discussion placeholder in the module of your choice.
Create a Dropbox Placeholder button Opens the Select a location and Create Placeholder dialog boxes, allowing you to create a dropbox placeholder in the module of your choice.
Create a Quiz Placeholder button Opens the Select a location and Create Placeholder dialog boxes, allowing you to create a quiz placeholder in the module of your choice.

Return to Course Builder ToolboxCreate Objects

You can create objects to fill placeholders, or skip placeholders altogether, and put objects directly into modules. The table below describes each button in the Build Structure section of the Toolbox.

Button Description
Create a Link button Opens the Select a location and New Quicklink dialog boxes, allowing you to create a quicklink in the module of your choice.See Creating Topics with Quicklink for more information.
Create an HTML File button Opens the Select a location and New Html File dialog boxes, allowing you to create an HTML file in the module of your choice. See Creating a Topic: Creating a New File for more information.
Create a Discussion button Opens the Select a location and New Discussion dialog boxes, allowing you to create a discussion in the module of your choice. See Setting up Discussions for more information.
Create a Dropbox button Opens the Select a location and New Dropbox dialog boxes, allowing you to create a dropbox in the module of your choice. See Organizing the Dropbox for more information.
Create a Quiz button Opens the Select a location and New Quiz dialog boxes, allowing you to create a quiz in the module of your choice. See Creating a Quiz for more information.
Create and Associate a New Grade Item button Opens the Select a location and New Grade Item dialog boxes, allowing you to create a grade item in the module of your choice. See Working with Grade Items for more information.
Create and Associate a New Learning Objective button Opens the Select a location and New Learning Objective dialog boxes, allowing you to create a learning objective in the module of your choice.See Using the Competency Wizard for more information.

Return to Course Builder ToolboxBrowse Objects

The Browse Objects section can be used to view any objects in the course, including those that have not been associated with a module in the Course Builder. If you have created objects and want to include them in the Course Builder, you can find objects in the Browse Objects section and use them to fill placeholders, or skip placeholders altogether and put the objects directly into modules.

Button Description
Browse Course Files button Opens the Course Files pane, displaying a list of modules and course files that are not associated with a module. Click on a file or folder for more information.
Browse Discussions button Opens the Discussions pane, displaying a list of discussions. Click on a discussion for more information.
Browse Dropboxes button Opens the Dropboxes pane, displaying a list of dropboxes. Click on a dropbox for more information.
Browse Quizzes button Opens the Quizzes pane, displaying a list of quizzes. Click on a quiz for more information.
Browse Grade Items button Opens the Grade Items pane, displaying a list of grade items. Click on a grade item for more information.
Browse Learning Objectives button Opens the Learning Objectives pane, displaying a list of learning objectives. Click on a learning objective for more information.

 

 

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