Module: Getting started on the OpenLab with Math Model Courses
Part 1: Before you begin
Part 2: Cloning a model course
Part 3: Customizing your course
Part 4: Updating Posts
Part 5: Updating other elements of your course

Model Courses have been peer reviewed to meet recommended Distance Education and Continuity Best Practices and are considered an open education resource (OER) that lets others use, edit, and remix the material. You need an account on the OpenLab before you begin, and you should be logged in to your account (Join the OpenLab).

Note that an abbreviated version of the steps below, along with general information about Model Courses at the college, can be found in Working with Model Courses.

1: Select a model course from the list on the previous page and click on it (you may wish to right-click and open the link in a new tab, so you can continue to refer to these instructions).

2: In the model course, scroll down the page until you see the heading “Sharing” in the right hand sidebar (about halfway down the page). Click the link “Clone this Course” to start the cloning process.

3: Complete the page, titled “Create/Clone a Course, Step One: Create Profile and site” by filling in information as follows:

• Create New or Clone Existing? In this box, the second option “Clone an Existing Course” should already be selected, and “MAT XXXX Model Course” should appear in the box next to it. If so, leave this area alone.
• Course Name (required). Type in a name for your course. You can use any name you like but bear in mind that students will be using the name to identify your section – we suggest including the course number, section number, semester, year, and faculty name. For example “MAT1375 D011 Precalculus Fa2020 Reitz”
• Course Description (required). Replace the description (which is about the Model Course, and is aimed at faculty) with a description of the course you are teaching. You can use the description from Course Catalog if you wish.
• Sharing Settings. Click the box if you’d like other people to be able to clone your course, once you have created it.
• Faculty/Primary Faculty. You OpenLab name should already appear here, below the box. No need to make changes.
• School (required). The boxes for Arts & Sciences and Mathematics should already be checked. No need to make changes.
• Course Information. Fill in the Course Code, Section Code, Semester, and Year.
• Site Details. The checkbox “Set up a site” should already be checked. The option “Name your cloned site” should be selected.
• Name your cloned site: This can be a short version of your Course Name (above), but remove spaces and change to lowercase: “mat1375d011fa2020reitz”
• Scroll to the bottom of the page (past the copyright note) and click “Create Course and Continue”

4: Complete the next page, titled “Create/Clone a Course, Step Two: Privacy & Member Role Settings” by filling in information as follows:

• Privacy Settings: Course Profile. Use this box to choose privacy settings for your Course Profile (Public is selected by default).
• Privacy Settings: Course Site. Use this box to choose privacy settings for your Course Site (“Public/Allow search engines” is selected by default – this setting makes it easiest for students to find your site and for you to share work that you and your students are doing with the world.)
• Member Role Settings:
  • You will need to change first setting, “Course members have the following role on the Course site”, to “Author” (select “Author” from the dropdown).
  • The other two settings can be left alone.
• Scroll down and click “Next Step” to continue.

5: Complete the next page, titled “Create/Clone a Course, Step Three: Avatar” as follows:

• The avatar is a visual image that represents your course on the OpenLab. You can skip this step (or come back and make changes later), but we highly recommend changing your avatar to help students identify your section.
• Click “Choose File” to select an image from your hard drive, then “Upload Image”.
• After the image uploads, you will have a chance to “Crop”, or select a portion of the image to display. Drag the corners and edges of the box to change the selection, then click “Crop Image”.
• Click “Next Step” to continue

6: Complete the next page, titled “Create/Clone a Course, Step Four: Invite Members” as follows:

• If you wish, you can search for your students names and invite them to the course. Alternatively, when you are done setting up your course you can simply send your students an email with a link to your course (you will need to get their email addresses from CUNYFirst).
• Click “Finish” to continue.

Congratulations – you have cloned a model course! Right now, you are looking at the Course Profile page – you may not use this page much, unless you want to change any of the settings that you selected in the process above (to change the settings, click “Settings” in the menu on the right). Most of the action during the semester will be in the Course Site – you can reach the Course Site by clicking the link “Visit Course Site” on the right. Go and explore!

Module: Getting started on the OpenLab with Math Model Courses
Part 1: Before you begin
Part 2: Cloning a model course
Part 3: Customizing your course
Part 4: Updating Posts
Part 5: Updating other elements of your course

Most of the remaining items are updated through the Dashboard. You can access the Dashboard (if you are logged in) by clicking on the name of your course where it appears in the black bar at the very top of the screen. The Dashboard is like a behind-the-scenes control panel for your site. Feel free to explore – the main Dashboard Menu appears on the left side of the screen.

• Site Header. This is the image that appears at the top of your site (currently just a plain solid color with the Course Name in a black box). You can use the same image that you used for your Avatar (while cloning the course), or choose another one.
  • From the Dashboard, go to “Appearance > Header”
  • Look for Current Header displayed on the left – click the button “Add new image” underneath it.
  • On the following screen, select “Upload Files” (just underneath “Choose Image”)
  • Click “Select Files” and find the image on your computer (or drag-and-drop onto the page) to upload the file.
  • Click the green “Select and Crop” button at the bottom right.
  • Crop the header image however you like by dragging the corners and edges of the rectangle, then click “Crop Image”
  • Finally, click the green “Publish” button at the top-left to save your changes.
  • Then click the small “X” to the left of the “Publish” button to return to the Dashboard.
• Site tag line. The tag line appears under the Course Name in the black box in the header area of your site. It currently reads “Faculty Name | Section | Semester” – we suggest you replace it with your own Name, Section and Semester information.
  • From the Dashboard, go to “Appearance > Customize”.
  • Select “Site Identity” from the menu on the left.
  • Here, you can change your site Title and Tagline.
  • Finally, click the green “Publish” button at the top-left to save your changes.
  • Then click the small “X” to the left of the “Publish” button to return to the Dashboard.
• ABOUT statement (sidebar). This is the text that appears on the main page of your site, on the top of the right sidebar. Right now it reads “Faculty: Use this widget to share your name, office hours, contact information, and a brief paragraph about this Course.”
  • From the Dashboard go to “Appearance > widgets.”
  • On the right side of the screen, click the box labeled “Sidebar” (it should expand).
  • Inside the Sidebar, click the first box “Text: About.” The box should expand to show you the text of the ABOUT statement. Go ahead and replace the message with a message of your choice.
  • Click the green “Save” button to save changes.

Congratulations – your Course Site is ready!

As you make your final preparations for the semester, please keep in mind the following resources. Good luck!

• Teaching with the OpenLab
• Math Instructors Resource Site

Module: Getting started on the OpenLab with Math Model Courses
Part 1: Before you begin
Part 2: Cloning a model course
Part 3: Customizing your course
Part 4: Updating Posts
Part 5: Updating other elements of your course

Posts are similar to pages, but are for used for posting new information throughout the semester (like discussions, assignments, class agendas, and so on). Posts appear in “blog” format (newest posts at the top) on the Home page of your site. You will be creating many posts throughout the semester, but we have included a few posts to get you started.

Click “Home” in the menu to see all posts together. You can use the “Course Activities” menu to view certain categories of posts – for example, selecting “Course Activities > Discussions” will show you all the Discussion assignments that have been posted.

To make changes to a post, click the light grey “Edit” button just underneath the post’s title (the Edit button will only appear if you are logged in). This will take you to the Edit screen. You can make changes by typing directly in the page. When you are finished, be sure to click the purple “Update” button in the upper right to save your changes.

List of Posts to update:

List of posts to update (while all of these posts appear on the “Home” page, this list is designed to follow the “Course Activities” dropdown menu):

• Course Activities > Class Agendas > Class 1 Agenda (Example)
• Course Activities > Announcements > Welcome Students
• Course Activities > Discussions > Discussion: Introductions & Mathography
• Course Activities > OpenLab Assignments > Assignment Instructions > Assignment: Crowd-Sourced Exam Review
• Course Activities > OpenLab Assignments > Student Work > Student Post (Example)
• Course Activities > Surveys & Quizzes > Student Survey