Course Revisions

Term Shell Updates

Term Shell updates are completed in the Term Shell by the instructor without Development Team involvement.

Prior to course start, instructors receive a checklist from their Program Associate, identifying various items that need to be updated in their Term Shell before the course start date. These typically include:

• customizing the Welcome announcement

• updating the Detailed Course Schedule

• updating quiz, assignment, and discussion availability dates

• creating groups

• preparing for live sessions, etc.

These updates must be completed each time a course runs. Information on how to complete these updates can be found within the Instructor Guides located in each course shell.

Instructors may choose to personalize their Term Shells with video notes, supplementary resources, announcements, etc. Term Shell updates (i.e. checklist items sent by the Program Associate) and instructor personalization will not be reflected in the Master Shell or subsequent course offerings, and therefore should not be recorded in the Tracking Sheet.

Tracking Sheets and Master Shell Updates

Tracking Sheets are used by instructors to record any changes or updates that need to be reflected in the Master Shell, and therefore, future course offerings. Examples of updates or changes to be recorded in the Tracking Sheet for implementation in the Master Shell are:

• identifying broken links and providing replacement links

• updating references

• reporting any issues with the term shell (e.g. outdate content, group tool setup, etc.)

Instructors should only submit one Tracking Sheet per course, except in extenuating circumstances. See the Tracking Sheet Information page for more details.

Instructors should submit completed Tracking Sheets to their Program Manager by the course end date to ensure all necessary changes can be reviewed, approved, and implemented in advance of the next course offering.

Other Master Shell Updates require Development Team support and are scheduled based on team member availability. Development Team support is required to determine the scope of the updates, as many changes will include subsequent updates to the related documents and tools within the course. For example, a change to an assignment weight requires grade items in the Grades too to be updated, as well as the assignment document in the Evaluations module, and potentially the assignment fold and associated rubric in the Assignments tool and Rubrics tool respectively.

Examples of Master Shell changes requiring Development Team involvement, include, but are not limited to:

• updating course documents (e.g. PDFs of course readings)

• changes to grade items/weights

• changes to evaluation structure (e.g. assignments, discussions, quizzes)

• changes to quiz questions and answers

• textbook edition updates and changes

• podcast/video updates (Multimedia Specialist involvement)

• content changes (e.g. updating content in module pages)