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The Course Homepage is your front page. The various boxes in the main viewing area of the course homepage are called widgets. The arrangement of the widgets is controlled at the system level, meaning you can't rearrange them. You can add content to certain widgets, such as Announcements, Calendar, and User Links.
Announcements
Announcements are typically used to communicate course information rather than content. Use Announcements to alert students to changes in the course schedule, updates to Office Hours, or other relevant information. Course content related information, such as links to assigned readings or videos explaining concepts, should be placed in the Content section rather than the Announcements section.
Calendar
The eLearn Calendar is a useful organization tool for instructors and students. When you create activities in eLearn (e.g., a quiz or dropbox folder), you will have the option of entering the due date for that item in the calendar. To do so, you'll check the "display in calendar" box when you define the date range(s) for that item. If you wish to create a calendar item that does not correlate to an eLearn activity, such as a date a proctored exam is due, you can enter that date manually into the Calendar.
User Links
The User Links tool allows the instructor to provide useful links to students. These are general in scope and not specific to any one topic in Content: e.g., an APA style guide that supports all writing assignments, but not instructions for a specific assignment. Students will expect to find specific content in the Content section of eLearn. So, again to prevent confusion, it is important that User Links contain only generally applicable links. For example, a philosophy class might include a link to the Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy in User Links as a useful resource, but not a link to a required reading for a specific assignment.
User Links can also contain any links that you want to personally keep close at hand. These will appear in the User Links widget in ANY course you are in, and only you will see them. How to create these links varies from the class user links, so be sure to notice the differences in the "how-to" reference page provided.