Initial draft and images for LMS-2381

docs/en_us/course_authors/source/change_log.rst

@@ -11,14 +11,16 @@ Change Log
    * - Date
      - Change  
    * - 04/01/14 
-     - Update the :ref:`Establish a Grading Policy` chapter to emphasize that grading is applied to subsections only. 
+     - Update the :ref:`Establish a Grading Policy` chapter to emphasize that grading is applied to subsections only.   
+   * - 
+     - Updated the :ref:`Releasing Your Course Index` section to include :ref:`Launch`.
    * - 03/31/14 
      - Expanded the :ref:`Grades` chapter to include the new :ref:`Review_Answers` section.
    * - 03/27/14
      - Updated the :ref:`Add Pages` section to reflect feature changes.
-   * - 3/27/14
+   * - 03/27/14
      - Updated the section on :ref:`Beta_Testing` to include the new "batch add" feature.
-   * - 3/19/14
+   * - 03/19/14
      - Updated the sections on :ref:`Beta_Testing`, :ref:`Discussions`, :ref:`Grades`, and :ref:`Student Data` with changes to the new Instructor Dashboard.
    * - 03/17/14
      - Reorganized this document into major sections: 
@@ -57,7 +59,7 @@ Change Log
    * - 02/24/14
      - Created new chapter, :ref:`Getting Started with edX`.
    * -
-     - Updated :ref:`Add a Course Video` section
+     - Updated :ref:`Add a Course Video` section.
    * - 02/21/14
      - Added the :ref:`Beta_Testing` chapter. 
    * - 02/19/14

docs/en_us/course_authors/source/releasing_course/course_launching.rst

@@ -0,0 +1,202 @@
+.. _Launch:
+
+##############################
+Course Launching Activities 
+##############################
+
+To launch a course, you prepare the course itself, the staff, and the
+students. This chapter includes a :ref:`Course Launch Checklist` to use as a
+model for your schedule of activities.
+
+To help you communicate to the staff and to all course participants when you
+are launching the course, and also while the course runs, you can send email
+messages from the Instructor Dashboard. See :ref:`Bulk Email` and :ref:`Email
+Task History Report`.
+
+.. _Course Launch Checklist:
+
+****************************
+Course Launch Checklist
+****************************
+
+As the start date for your course approaches, a checklist or timeline of
+activities can help you make sure that your course, and your students, are
+ready to begin. Suggestions for activities to complete before your course
+starts follow.
+
+**Verify Course Settings**
+
+* Check the course start date and time in Studio. See :ref:`Set Important
+  Dates for Your Course`.
+* Review the grading policy, and set a grace period for homework assignment
+  due dates. See :ref:`Establish a Grading Policy`.
+
+
+**Review First Week Content**
+
+* Verify that all units are present and published. See :ref:`Units`.
+* Check all assignments for completeness and verify their due dates. See
+  :ref:`Working with Problem Components`.
+* Verify that videos, transcripts, and download links are in place and
+  working.
+* Review feedback from the course team and beta testers to be sure that the
+  content has been thoroughly reviewed and tested.
+
+**Welcome Students**
+
+* Two months before the course start date, prepare and send a welcome email
+  message to currently enrolled students. See :ref:`Send_Bulk_Email`.
+* Compose a welcome message and add it to the **Course Info** page. See :ref:`Add
+  a Course Update`.
+* Verify that a syllabus and other references are available on the **Course
+  Handouts** page. See :ref:`Add Course Handouts`.
+* One month before the course start date, prepare and send a welcome email
+  message to currently enrolled students.
+* One week before the course start date, prepare and send a welcome email
+  message to currently enrolled students.
+* Start an "Introduce Yourself" topic in a discussion thread. For a MOOC, you
+  may want to manage the size of the thread by distributing student responses
+  across multiple threads. For example, you can start different threads for
+  introductions based on geographical location, such as "Introduce Yourself:
+  Europe", "Introduce Yourself: North America", etc. See
+  :ref:`Running_discussions`.
+* On the course start date, prepare and send a launch email message to
+  currently enrolled students.
+
+**Prepare Staff**
+
+* Define communication methods for all course contributors, including staff,
+  instructors, and the discussion team. For example, set up a course-specific
+  email address.
+* Verify that all course contributors know how to record their work, report
+  issues, and collaborate on tasks.
+* Verify that the instructors and course staff selected for your course
+  have the correct role assignments in the LMS. See :ref:`Course_Staffing`.
+* Verify that discussion admins, discussion moderators, and community TAs have
+  registered and activated their user accounts, enrolled in the course, and been
+  assigned their roles. See :ref:`Assigning_discussion_roles`.
+* Define methods for managing discussions and guidance for discussion
+  moderators, and distribute to the discussion team. See
+  :ref:`Moderating_discussions` and :ref:`Guidance for Discussion Moderators`.
+
+.. _Bulk Email:
+
+*************************
+Bulk Email 
+*************************
+
+With the bulk email feature, you can send email messages to course
+participants directly from the Instructor Dashboard. Messages can use HTML
+styling, and can include links to videos, social media pages for the course,
+and other material. All course contributors who are assigned the course staff
+or instructor role can use this feature to communicate with course
+participants before, during, and after the course run.
+
+.. note:: The bulk email feature is currently in limited release, and is enabled for new courses only. A gradual rollout of this feature is planned for 2014.
+
+===========================
+Message Addressing
+===========================
+
+When you send an email message from the Instructor Dashboard, you choose its
+recipients by selecting one of these predefined groups:
+
+* **Myself**, to test out a message before sending it to a larger group.
+* **Staff and Instructors**, to contact other members of the administrative
+  team.
+* **All (students, staff and instructors)**, to communicate with all currently
+  enrolled students and the administrative team.
+
+When you use the bulk email feature, consider that messages **cannot be
+cancelled** after they are sent. Before you send a message to all course
+participants, be sure to review each draft carefully, and send the message to
+yourself for thorough testing.
+
+.. _Send_Bulk_Email:
+
+======================================================
+Send Email Messages to Course Participants
+======================================================
+
+To send an email message to course participants:
+
+#. View the live version of your course.
+
+#. Click **Instructor** > **Try New Beta Dashboard**.
+
+#. Click **Email**.
+
+#. Select who you want to send the message to from the **Send to** dropdown
+   list. You can select:
+
+  * **Myself**
+  * **Staff and Instructors**
+  * **All (students, staff and instructors)**
+
+5. Enter a **Subject** for the message. A subject is required.
+
+#. Enter the the text for the message. Messages can use HTML styling,
+   including text formatting and links. The email message editor offers the
+   same formatting options as the HTML component editor in Studio. See
+   :ref:`Working with HTML Components`.
+
+#. Click **Send Email**.  The status of the message displays in the **Pending
+   Instructor Tasks** section of the page.
+
+======================================================
+Message Queueing and Delivery
+======================================================
+
+When you send a message, it is queued for processing as a bulk email task.
+Multiple courses use the same queue to complete these tasks, so it can take
+some time for your message to be delivered to its recipients. If your course
+is a MOOC, consider limiting the number of messages that you send to all
+course participants to no more than one per week.
+
+On the **Email** page, the **Pending Instructor Tasks** section shows the
+status of queued messages.
+
+.. image:: ../Images/Bulk_email_pending.png
+       :width: 800
+       :alt: Information about an email message, including who submitted it and when, in tabular format
+
+You can perform other tasks on the Instructor Dashboard or navigate to other
+pages while you wait for your message to be sent.
+
+.. _Email Task History Report:
+
+********************************
+Email Task History Report
+********************************
+
+You can produce a report of all of the bulk email tasks sent for your course.
+For each message sent, the report includes the username of the requester, the
+date and time it was submitted, the duration and state of the entire 
+task, the task status, and the task progress.
+
+You can use this history to investigate questions relating to the bulk email
+message that have been sent, such as:
+
+* How frequently students are sent course-related email messages.
+* Whether a message was sent successfully.
+* The number of people who were sent course-related messages over time.
+
+======================================
+Review the Email Task History
+======================================
+
+To produce the Email Task History report:
+
+#. View the live version of your course.
+
+#. Click **Instructor** > **Try New Beta Dashboard**.
+
+#. Click **Email**. 
+
+#. In the **Email Task History** section of the page, click **Show Email Task
+   History**. A report like the following example displays on the Instructor
+   Dashboard.
+
+.. image:: ../Images/Bulk_email_history.png
+       :width: 800
+       :alt: A tabular report with a row for each message sent and columns for requester, date and time submitted, duration, state, task status, and task progress.

docs/en_us/course_authors/source/releasing_course/index.rst

@@ -7,9 +7,10 @@ Releasing Your Course
 .. toctree::
    :maxdepth: 2
    
-   beta_testing
    view_course_content
    set_content_releasedates
+   beta_testing
+   course_launching
    staff_debug_info
    d
 

docs/en_us/course_authors/source/running_course/course_staffing.rst

@@ -36,6 +36,8 @@ To provide access to features on the LMS Instructor Dashboard you assign the Cou
 
 * See course HTML errors.
 
+* Send email messages to course participants.
+
 **Instructors** have access to all of the same options for running the course as the course staff. They can also:
 
 * Add and remove course staff.