Navigate your Vista Course
Demo: Navigate in WebCT Vista
Each online course may use different tools and display the
course content in various formats, but the basic navigational
structure will be the same in all of them. The following is
an introduction to basic course navigation.
Overview of the Vista
Interface
After you click the course title on your MyWebCT page, you
will enter your course home page. The Course Home
Page and Course Toolbar (Figure
1) provide the access points or links to all of the content
in the course. The specific tools displayed within the home
page area and toolbar will vary from course to course, depending
on the specific requirements of your course and the design
of the course by your instructor.
Figure 1: Course Home Page
What's on the Home Page
The Home Page is where the individual components
of your course are organized and presented. The home page
may contain components, such as a syllabus, learning modules,
individual content files, specific discussion topics, quizzes,
and assignments. Additionally, the home page may contain pages
that further group or organize related content together. Click
on the icon on the home page to access the content.
What's on the Course Toolbar
The Course Toolbar is the row of icons or
tool names that appears in the top frame of the page and contains
links to the main page of a tool (note figure 1 above). From
the main page of a tool, students can access any of the available
components released in that tool.
Some tools are only available as a link on the Course Toolbar.
For example, Announcements , Mail, and Calendar are only accessible
from the toolbar and not from the home page or other organizer
pages. This approach provides “always on” access
or visibility to commonly used tools, regardless of where
you are in the course. Each course may have a different set
of tools displayed on the course toolbar, depending on how
your instructor has set up his/her course.
Course Navigation
Students can navigate their course content in three ways:
- Use the icons or text links that are on the home page
or organizer page – to navigate organizer pages or
other content
- Use the Course Menu displayed in a drop-down list (Figure
2) to navigate to organizer pages only
- Use the Course Menu displayed in a left-frame (Figure
3) - to navigate organizer pages or other content. The left-frame
option can be turned off/on.
Figure 2: Navigate using Drop-Down Menu List
Figure 3: Navigate using Left Navigation Option
Note: To return to the home page from anywhere
in the course, students can click the home page icon that
appears at the far left of the course toolbar. To view the
path to a page or module, or back out from a page, you should
use the breadcrumbs (navigation path) located just below the
course toolbar and above the page content (figure 4).
Figure 4: Navigate using the Breadcrumbs
What is a
Learning Module?
A Learning Module is Vista's terminology for a collection
of related content grouped together in one module. Your instructor
may group or organize the course content by modules, units,
chapters, etc. and uses the Learning Module tool to present
the components of that unit of content to you. A learning
module might consist of lecture notes, internet resources,
assignments, quizzes, discussions, or chat sessions. Each
instructor may organize content differently depending on the
course requirements and learning objectives, so you may have
some, but not all of these course elements.
The Learning Module will typically be opened to a page with
two frames of information (figure 5). The left frame will
contain a table of contents - a list of hyperlinks to each
page or tool contained in the module. The right frame will
display the selected content. Above the content frame is a
toolbar that contains the Action Menu. You
may use the Action Menu for navigating forward and backward
through the pages of content using the left- and right-facing
arrows. The Action Menu may also have links to other tools,
such as the Discussion board or Chat room, depending on how
your instructor set up the course. Additionally, there are
two icons that will usually appear on every page of content
(located on the far right of the Action Menu):
- Bookmark
- to create a link to important pages within your learning
modules
- Notes
- to add your personal notes/comments to a learning module
page
Figure 5: Learning Module Page
To exit a Learning Module, click on the Home Page icon or
to a previous location on the breadcrumb path.
|
Prev
