WebCT

Navigate your Course

Demo: Navigate in WebCT

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 WebCT Interface
• Course Home Page and Course Toolbar
• Course Navigation
• What is a Learning Module

Overview of the WebCT 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

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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.

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Course Navigation

Students can navigate their course content in three ways:

1. Use the icons or text links that are on the home page or organizer page – to navigate organizer pages or other content
2. Use the Course Menu displayed in a drop-down list (Figure 2) to navigate to organizer pages only
3. 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

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What is a Learning Module?

A Learning Module is WebCT'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.

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Content Developer: Beverley Hoerig