edx-platform/docs/course_authors/source/create_new_course.rst

.. _Setting up a New Course:

###########################
Setting up a New Course
###########################


*******************
Overview
*******************

This chapter describes how to create and set up your course:

#. :ref:`Create a New Course`
#. :ref:`Edit Your Course`
#. :ref:`Use the Course Checklist`
#. :ref:`Add Course Team Members`
#. :ref:`Set Important Dates for Your Course`
#. :ref:`Describe Your Course`
#. :ref:`Add a Course Image`
#. :ref:`Add a Course Video`
#. :ref:`Set Course Requirements`
#. :ref:`Add Files to a Course`
#. :ref:`Add Static Pages`
#. :ref:`Add a Course Update`
#. :ref:`Add Course Handouts`
#. :ref:`Add Textbooks`

Also see the chapters :ref:`Establish a Grading Policy`, :ref:`Organizing Your Course Content`, and :ref:`Guidelines for Creating Accessible Content`.



.. _Create a New Course:
  
*******************
Create a New Course
*******************

#. Log in to Studio.
#. Click **New Course**.
#. Enter course information as needed and click **Create**.

  .. image:: Images/new_course_info.png
     :width: 800

  .. note::  Enter new course information carefully. This information becomes part of the URL for your course. To change the URL after the course is created, you must contact edX through the Help site (http://help.edge.edx.org). Additionally, because this information becomes part of your course URL, the total number of characters in the following three fields must be 65 or fewer.

  * For **Course Name**, enter the title of your course. For example, the name may be “Sets, Maps and Symmetry Groups". Use title capitalization for the course title.

  * For **Organization**, enter the name of your university. Do not include whitespace or special characters.

  * For **Course Number**, enter both a subject abbreviation and a number. For example, for public health course number 207, enter **PH207**. For math course 101x, enter **Math101x**. Do not include whitespace or special characters in the course number.

    *Note: If your course will be open to the world, be sure to include the "x". If it is exclusively an on-campus offering, do not include the "x".* 

4. Click **Save.**

You then see the empty Course Outline.

.. _Edit Your Course:

************************
Edit Your Course
************************
When you create a new course, the course opens in Studio automatically and you can begin editing.

If you come back to Studio later, your courses are listed on the Studio login page. 

 .. image:: Images/open_course.png
  :width: 800
 
To open the course, click the course name. 

When you open a course, you go to the Course Outline. The next topic discusses working with your course outline.

The rest of this page discusses other tasks you must do to set up your course.

.. _Use the Course Checklist:

************************
Use the Course Checklist
************************

You can use a Course Checklist within Studio to help you work through the tasks of building a course.

Categories of tasks in the Course Checklist include:

* Getting Started with Studio
* Draft a Rough Course Outline
* Explore edX's Support Tools
* Draft Your Course About Page

From the **Tools** menu, select **Checklists**.

 .. image:: Images/checklist.png
  :width: 800
 

As shown above for the **Add Course Team Members** task, if you hover over a task, a button is displayed that takes you to the page to complete that task.

You can expand and collapse sections of this page as needed.

You can check tasks as you complete them. Studio saves your changes automatically. Other course staff can see your changes.

.. _Add Course Team Members:

************************
Add Course Team Members
************************

Course team members are users who help you build your course.

Only a team member with Admin access can add or remove course team members, or grant Admin access to other team members. 

Other course team members can edit the course and perform all tasks except adding and removing other new team members and granting Admin access.

.. note::  Any course team member can delete content created by other team members.

All course team members must be registered with Studio and have an active account. 

To add a course team member:

#. Ensure you have Admin access.
#. Ensure that the new team member has registered with Studio.
#. From the **Settings** menu, select **Course Team**.
#. Click **Add a New Team Member**.
#. Enter the new team member's email address, then click **ADD USER**.

.. _Set Important Dates for Your Course:

***********************************
Set Important Dates for Your Course
***********************************
You must set dates and times for enrollment and for the course.

From the **Settings** menu, select **Schedule and Details**.  

.. image:: Images/schedule.png

Follow the on-screen text to enter the course and enrollment schedule.

.. note::

    The Time fields on this page reflect the current time zone in your browser, depending on your geography. Course start times for students are shown as UTC.

.. _`Describe Your Course`:

************************
Describe Your Course
************************

The description of your course appears on the Course Summary page that students see, and includes a course summary, prerequisites, staff information and FAQs.

#. From the **Settings** menu, select **Schedule & Details**.
#. Scroll down to the **Introducing Your Course** section, then locate the **Course Overview** field.

.. image:: Images/course_overview.png
  :width: 800

3. Overwrite the content as needed for your course, following the directions in the boilerplate text. Do not edit HTML tags. For a template that includes placeholders, see :doc:`appendices/a`.

   .. note:: There is no save button. Studio automatically saves your changes.
 
4. Click **your course summary page** in the text beneath the field to test how the description will appear to students.

.. _`Add a Course Image`:

************************
Add a Course Image
************************

The course image appears on the Course Summary page that students see.

The course image should be a minimum of 660 pixels in width by 240 pixels in height, and in .JPG or .PNG format.

#. From the **Settings** menu, select **Schedule & Details**.
#. Scroll down to the **Course Image** section.
#. To select an image from your computer, click **Upload Course Image**, then follow the prompts to find and upload your image.
#. View your course summary page to test how the image will appear to students.

.. _`Add a Course Video`:

************************
Add a Course Video
************************
The course video appears on the Course Summary page that students see.


#. Upload the course video to YouTube. Make note of the code that appears between **watch?v =** and **&feature** in the URL. This code appears in the green box below.

  .. image:: Images/image127.png
    :width: 800
    
2. From the **Settings** menu, select **Schedule & Details**.
#. Scroll down to the **Course Introduction Video** section.
#. In the field below the video box, enter the YouTube video ID. When you add the code, the video automatically loads in the video box. Studio automatically saves your changes.
#. View your course summary page to test how the video will appear to students.

.. _`Set Course Requirements`:

************************
Set Course Requirements
************************
The estimated Effort per Week appears on the Course Summary page that students see.

#. From the **Settings** menu, select **Schedule & Details**.
#. Scroll down to the **Requirments** section.
#. In the **Hours of Effort per Week** field, enter the number of hours you expect students to work on this course each week.
#. View your course summary page to test how the video will appear to students.

.. _`Add Files to a Course`:

**********************
Add Files to a Course
**********************

You can add files that you want students to access in the course. After you add a file,
you must link to it from a course component, update, or in the course handouts. A file 
is only visible to students if you create a link to it.
 
.. note:: Because the file name becomes part of the URL, students can see the name of the file when they open it. Avoid using file names such as AnswerKey.pdf.
  
.. warning:: If you upload a file with the same name as an existing course file, the original file is overwritten without warning.

To add a file:
 
#. From the **Content** menu, select **Files & Uploads**.
#. Click **Upload New File**.
#. In the **Upload New File** dialog box, click **Choose File**.
#. In the **Open** dialog box, locate the file that you want, and then click **Open**.
#. To add another file, click **Load Another File**. 
#. To close the dialog box, click the **x** in the top right corner. 

When you close the dialog box, the new files appear on the **Files & Uploads** page.
  
==================
Get the File URL
==================
To link to the file from a course component, update, or the course handout list, you must get the file URL.

In the **Files & Uploads** page, locate the file. The **URL** column shows the value to use in links.

You can double click a value in the **URL** column to select the value, then copy it.
 
==================
Lock a file
==================
By default, anyone can access a file you upload if they know the URL, even people not enrolled in your class.

To ensure that those not in your class cannot view the file, click the lock icon.
 
==================
Delete a file
==================
To delete a file, click the **x** icon next to the file.  You are prompted to confirm the deletion.

.. warning:: If you have links to a file you delete, those links will be broken. Ensure you change those links before deleting the file.
 
.. _`Add Static Pages`:

****************
Add Static Pages
****************
You can add static pages to your course. Each static page appears in your courses navigation bar. 
For example, the following navigation bar includes a
**Syllabus** and **Projects** static pages.

.. image:: Images/image157.png

You can use static pages for a syllabus, grading policy, course handouts, or any other purpose.

.. note:: The Course Info, Discussion, Wiki, and Progress pages are displayed to students by default. You cannot delete these pages.   

To create a static page:

#. From the **Content** menu, select **Static Pages**.
#. Click **New Page**. The following screen opens:

  .. image:: Images/image161.png
   :width: 800

3. Click **Edit**. 

#. Enter text for your page. You can switch to HTML mode if needed.
#. To edit the Display Name, click **Settings**.
#. Click **Save**.

To delete a static page, click **Delete** in the row for the page.  Confirm the deletion.


==================
Add a Calendar
==================
You can also use a static page to show a course calendar.

You can embed a Google calendar. Paste the embed code for the calendar in the static page. 

You can also create a dynamic HTML calendar. See :ref:`Appendix B`. 

.. _`Add a Course Update`:

**********************
Add a Course Update
**********************

You add updates to notify students of exams, changes in the course schedule, or anything else of a more urgent nature.

Students see course updates in **Course Info** tab when they log in to the course:

.. image:: Images/course_info.png
 :width: 800

To add a course update:

#. From the **Content** menu, select **Updates**. 
#. Click **New Update**.
#. Enter your update as as HTML.

  .. note::  You must enter the update in HTML. For a template that includes placeholders, see :ref:`Appendix A`.

4. Click **Save**.

.. _`Add Course Handouts`:

**********************
Add Course Handouts
**********************
You can add course handouts that are visible to students on the **Course Info** page.

.. note::  You must :ref:`Add Files to a Course` before you can add them as course handouts.

#. From the **Content** menu, select **Updates**. 
#. In the **Course Handouts** page, click **Edit**.
#. Edit the HTML to add links to the files you uploaded. See :ref:`Add a Link in an HTML Component` for more information.
#. Click **Save**.

.. _`Add Textbooks`:

****************
Add Textbooks
****************
You can add textbooks for your course as PDF files.  

Each textbook that you add is displayed to students as a tab in the course navigation bar.

It's recommended that you upload a separate PDF file for each chapter of your textbook.

When students open the textbook tab in the course, they can navigate the textbook by chapter:

.. image:: Images/textbook_chapters.png
 :width: 800

To add a textbook:

#. From the **Content** menu, select **Textbooks**.
#. Click **New Textbook**. The following screen opens:

  .. image:: Images/textbook_new.png
   :width: 800

3. Enter the **Textbook Name**.
#. Enter the first **Chapter Name**.
#. To upload a PDF file from your computer, click **Upload PDF**.  Follow the prompts to upload your file.
#. To add addition chapters, click **+Add a Chapter** and repeat steps 3 and 4.
#. Click **Save**.