The New Course Template

A new look for new courses!

We’ve just introduced a new template for courses on the OpenLab. The OpenLab course template determines how courses appear when they’re first created; existing courses won’t be affected.

Check out the new course template on the Course Template demo site.

Included in the new version:

• A fresh new look (using the Hemingway theme);
• A structured menu to help faculty and students find and organize their work using categories;
• Built-in help and resources for students;
• A set of recommended plugins and widgets, automatically enabled to make working in the course site easier;
• An optional discussion post (introductions) to help faculty and students get to know one another;
• An optional student survey that faculty can use to understand how their students are situated regarding technology, working space, etc.
• Suggested templates for your syllabus, schedule, class agendas, and assignments.

Why now?

The template is designed to support best practices for teaching online and for using the OpenLab platform, such as using categories to organize course content. It’s also designed to provide a more consistent experience for students using courses on the OpenLab.

Want to make changes?

Please do! As always, you can change your course however you like so that it suits you and your students.

Need help?

We have a Course Template Tour and OpenLab Help overview available now, with a faculty training module coming very soon. In the meantime, as always, you can reach the  friendly OpenLab team at openlab@citytech.cuny.edu.

Feedback?

If you have thoughts about the new look for courses, let us know in the comments below or contact us anytime. All feedback – positive or negative – is very welcome!