Workbook
Overview
The Workbook Tool provides learners with a digital space to complete optional exercises related to what they’re learning in an online course. Using a rich text editor, learners can format their responses, add images, and insert links. If the instructor has enabled the gallery feature, learners can also choose to make their work visible to others in the course. Their responses will remain private if they decide not to share them. At any time, learners can also export the contents of their Workbook to a downloadable PDF.
Student-Facing Features
Rich Text Editor - When completing an activity, learners can add headings, bold text, italic text, numbered and bulleted lists, images, and links.
Export to PDF - At any time, learners can create a downloadable PDF of their Workbook contents. Incomplete activities appear display the prompt and a fill-in-the-blank area.
Browsable Gallery - If the instructor has enabled the gallery feature, learners can use the gallery page to see their classmates' activity responses and engage in discussion via threaded comments. They can search the gallery by learner name, filter by section name, and sort by the number of views, comments, and publish date.
Response Sharing - If the instructor has enabled the gallery feature, learners can contribute to the gallery by sharing their own responses. They can choose to share their work anonymously or with their name attached, or forgo sharing their work altogether.
Instructor-Facing Features
Gallery Feature - Instructors can enable or disable the gallery feature, which allows learners to share their work with each other and engage in discussion via threaded comments. Learners can share anonymously, disclose their name, or opt out of sharing entirely.
Content Management - The Workbook provides a set of administrative pages for managing Workbook sections and activities. A section is a way of organizing and introducing content, and can consist of one or more activities. An activity consists of a prompt, to which learners respond, and an optional example response. Both sections and activities can be created, edited, deleted, reordered, published, and unpublished. Learners will only see sections that include published activities.
Featured Responses - If the gallery feature is enabled, instructors can choose a subset of shared responses to feature as exemplars, which learners will see while creating their own work.
Response Viewing & Management - The tool provides instructors with a tabular list of learner responses, showing information such as who submitted a response, the corresponding activity name, the date submitted, whether or not they shared their response in the gallery, and whether or not the response is currently featured in the tool. Instructors can view and delete responses.
How It's Been Used
Resilient Teaching Through Times of Crisis and Change
In this Coursera-based MOOC, participants (namely, instructional designers) used the Workbook to complete additional reflective writing exercises, take notes, and exchange ideas/observations related to the course material.
FAQs
I want to use this tool in my course. How do I get started?
Thank you for your interest in the tool! Before you set it up, we suggest thinking about the following points:
What prompts or activities do you want to provide learners? Are these activities best suited for more public visibility and discussion? If so, that prompt might be better left as a discussion forum topic in the LMS (Coursera, edX, or FutureLearn). The Workbook is best for more private exercises, or exercises that have multiple pieces/prompts that build on each other.
Think about how you want to structure the Workbook contents.
How many sections will you have? What will you title these sections? You can optionally include an introductory paragraph for each section.
How many activities will each section have?
Is there a recommended workflow for creating a Workbook?
You can follow a few different approaches to constructing a Workbook.
The recommended option is to start by creating a launch points from your LMS and, after entering the Workbook, building out all sections and activities. This way you can easily reorder sections and activities. Once you are satisfied with the section order, return to the LMS and create any additional launch points. Enter the tool from each new launch point and choose the specific section you want associated with that launch point.
Another way to go about it is to create each launch point first, then enter the tool from each one and choose to create a new section (rather than linking to an existing one, as the first approach described). This option is equally valid, but if you ever choose to reorder a section inside the workbook you'll also have to move the external launch point around to the appropriate place as well (since the association between a launch point and a section can't be changed once it's set). For this reason, the first approach is recommended.
Can I use this tool for graded assignments?
No, unfortunately the Workbook does not support graded assignments right now.
Can the tool be accessed from outside an LMS?
No, in order for anyone to authenticate into the tool they must come from an LTI item within an LMS. For that reason, there is no public-facing component to any Gamut Tool.
How do I set up the tool in Canvas?
Inside your Canvas course, choose or create the module that will contain the link to the tool.
Add a new “item”, and choose the “External Tool” type.
Scroll through the list of tools until you see Gamut Workbook and click the link.
In the Page Name field, enter your desired name for the workbook.
For the best tool experience, check the box “Load in a new tab”.
Add/save the item.
How do I set up the tool in Coursera?
Please submit a request for the LTI Credentials to receive your key and secret, and someone from our team will respond shortly with that information.
Inside the course shell, add a new LTI item (found under “More”)
Inside the new LTI item, provide a title and description.
In the Launch URL field, enter: https://workbook.ai.umich.edu/workbooklaunch/
Enter the provided values provided by our team for the consumer key and secret fields.
In the Learner Privacy field, select “Share learner ID, full name, and email address”
Launch the tool as an instructor and continue populating it with content in one of two ways. You can either:
Add all of your content from this first launch point, then go back later to the course shell to add subsequent launch points, launch the tool each time, and choose the desired section. OR:
Create one section for this first launch point. Then return to the course shell and create another LTI item/launch, launch the tool as an instructor again and choose to "create a new section for this launch", continuing in this pattern until all launch points and sections are created.
How do I set up the tool in FutureLearn?
Step 1: Complete FutureLearn's "Exercise Step Submission Form" ASAP
FutureLearn's setup process requires more time than the other platforms' (they request advanced notice of 30 days prior to launch), due to their review/QA process. If you know you want to use a Gamut tool in a FutureLearn course, we recommend taking the following steps as soon as possible.
Create a new "exercise step". Customize the title and body text to meet the needs of your use case. For the "URL" field, enter: "https://workbook.ai.umich.edu/workbook/launch/".
Next, FutureLearn must review the tool and enable LTI for your course. Begin this process by visiting this help article. Scroll down to the Exercise Step Submission Form and provide the requested information. Below are answers to the security and accessibility questions:
Is all content served over SSL/HTTPS? Yes
Can you navigate through all of the content using only the keyboard? Yes
Is the currently focussed element clearly highlighted? Yes
Can you view or scroll to all of the content on: Check all
Are all hit areas on mobile larger than 7-10mm? Yes
Is all text presented at a font-size of 14px or above? Yes
Have you provided a text-only or other fallback measure for unsupported browsers? No, unless your course team creates a hardcopy equivalent of the workbook for learners to complete.
Have you explained any fallback measures in the step content?(e.g., if JavaScript or a modern browser is required it must be stated up front) Yes (assuming that when creating the instructions for the step in FutureLearn you prompt users to use Chrome, Firefox, or Edge. Safari is less well-supported and Internet Explorer is NOT supported.)
Have you implemented scrolling if you need it? Not applicable
Have you made sure not to use any framebusting code? Yes
Submit the form and notify your FL course representative that you have done so. Share with them that the tool will only work properly once it has been launched and configured by someone with instructor permissions. When testing it, they MUST launch the tool as an instructor first and set it up before anyone can launch it as a learner.
Step 2: Request that LTI Be Enabled and Get Your Credentials from Gamut
Once the tool has been approved, also be sure to request that LTI be enabled for the course by emailing partnersupport@futurelearn.com. Provide them with a link to the exercise and ask them to enable LTI. Once they have done so, request LTI credential access for the Gallery Tool if you don't already have it.
After you receive the LTI key and secret, enter those pieces of information into the corresponding LTI launch option fields in the exercise step (which will be visible once LTI is enabled by FL).
Step 3: Launch as an Instructor and Complete the Internal Configuration Steps
Launch the tool as an instructor and complete the configuration steps inside the tool.
Who do I contact if I have a problem with the tool?
We’re sorry to hear you’re encountering issues with the tool. Please submit a support request and we'll be with as soon as possible.