Final Step!

The Model Course contains lots of content that you will use and add to over the semester. It is displayed fully published in order for faculty and others to view it in its entirety. However, once cloned, you will want to set the content you are not using in the first week to Draft. Or if you are particularly organized you can schedule the posts and pages to the dates on which you want them to appear.

For example:

  • Your Class 1 Agenda should have a publish date prior to your Class 2 Agenda and so on.
  • The newest assignment appears at the top of the Assignments menu archive or home page.
  • It’s good practice to set your class agendas to appear a day or two before the next class meeting so students can be prepared.
  • Set your Assignments, Discussions, and Homework posts to “Draft” until the point in the semester when you are ready to share them. At that time you will reset the publish date.

To set the publish date

Posts and pages will appear in the category archives and on the Home page in reverse chronological order with the most recent at the top.

  • Open a post.
  • If you don’t see the Settings menu, click the gear icon on the top right. In Settings menu, make sure “Document” is selected. Then click on the link next to Publish and click Reset to set the current date. Now click Update (or Publish, if you are creating a new post or page.)

To set your Posts or Pages to draft

You may want to switch all of your posts and pages to Draft until you are ready to publish them.

There are a few ways to do this from the Posts or Pages menu.

  • Beneath a Post or Page, choose “Quick Edit” to quickly change the publish status to Draft.
  • Use the checkboxes next to each Post or Page and then choose Bulk Actions > Edit to change multiple posts or pages all at once!

You can also “Switch to Draft” from within the Page or Post editor.

  • In the upper right, click the “Switch to Draft” link.

To schedule a Post or Page

Schedule your posts for dates/times in the future when you’d like them to be visible to your students.

  • Open a post.
  • If you don’t see the Settings menu, click the gear icon on the top right. In Settings menu, make sure Document is selected. Then click on the link next to Publish and choose a date from the calendar or click Reset to set the current date. Now click Schedule.
  • You can also schedule a post from the Posts menu. Choose “Quick Edit” below each post and set the date/time.

Congratulations!

You’ve set up your Course Site!

Complete the Working with a Model Course Checklist after you’ve reviewed this guide and cloned your model course.

There’s much more you can do with your Course Site to facilitate student learning and collaboration.  Visit “Teach Your Course” on the Teaching With The OpenLab guide to find out more about best practices for preparing course materials, working with your students, and more.

Questions?

You and your students can reach the OpenLab’s friendly Community Team anytime at openlab@citytech.cuny.edu or check out the next section: Getting Help

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