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What are blocks? Blocks are individual elements containing all the content you add to a post or page. They can be easily rearranged by dragging and dropping within the editor. Blocks include text such as paragraphs, lists, headings; individual images and image galleries; embeds from YouTube, Vimeo, Soundcloud, Prezi, Twitter, and more; and visual elements […]

In December 2018 with the release of WordPress 5.0, the Block editor (also known as Gutenberg) became the new default post and page editor, replacing the editor that has been around since the beginning, now called the “Classic” editor. The Classic editor will be officially supported by WordPress through the end of 2021, and while […]

The Course Site offers an easy and powerful way for students and faculty to add and share content. You might ask students to write posts, participate in discussions, share documents, and work collaboratively on projects. You can also use the site to display important course information, collect student work, and provide feedback and grades. If […]

These are just a few of the hundreds of courses running on the OpenLab, selected to illustrate some of the ways your colleagues are using the OpenLab for distance education. You can also check out the many courses we’ve featured In the Spotlight in the past, or explore the Courses directory for courses in your discipline. Questions? Contact us at openlab@citytech.cuny.edu. You can also join the conversation in the Open Pedagogy […]

You can provide students with grades and comments using two tools for grading on your Course Site, WP Grade Comments and OpenLab Gradebook. You can add these plugins to your site by going to your site Dashboard and clicking Plugins > Installed Plugins in the left-hand menu, following these instructions. If you are using the Course Profile […]

The OpenLab offers tools for adding quizzes or polls to your site. For specifics about grading see the Grading section. Gravity Forms Quiz Add-On You can use the Gravity Forms Quiz Add-On plugin to set up quizzes for your students. You can view the results in the Dashboard (only admins — students can’t view results), set up quizzes to be […]

There are many ways that students can submit work via the OpenLab, each with different advantages and levels of complexity. Whatever you decide, be sure to include instructions to submit work along with the assignment’s instructions. When choosing how you want students to submit assignments, consider the format you’ll need to evaluate any work. Do […]

Organizing student posts on an OpenLab Course Site can happen in a variety of ways. Student posts published to the Site’s blog page (usually the home page) are listed in reverse chronological order. If students are creating a lot of posts, the blog can quickly become unwieldy. Student work can be organized using categories […]

When working online, students need a good deal of support from you and interaction with their peers to feel a sense of connection, learn the material, and not fall behind. Fortunately, the OpenLab is designed for communication and collaboration. Regular communications There are several ways to communicate with students using the OpenLab: You can send a message directly to an individual student via […]

When preparing course materials for your students or providing guidelines for student work, consider the following suggestions and best practices. Copyright One of the great things about using the OpenLab is that it’s easy to share work, such as writing, images, video, and sound. This means that it’s also important to understand how to respect […]