Guide to Course About Page (Schedule & Details)#
The course About page, sometimes called the course summary page, provides information about your course to learners. Learners can see the About page before they enroll in the course.
You edit the contents of your course About page in Studio.
Course Pacing#
When you create an Open edX course, you can set the schedule of the course, including due dates for assignments or exams, or you can allow learners to work at their own pace. Courses that follow a schedule that you set are known as instructor- paced courses. Courses that offer suggested due dates for assignment or exams based on the learner’s enrollment date and the expected course duration are known as self-paced courses. These courses offer learners flexibility to modify the assignment dates as needed.
An indicator for the pacing for your course appears on the Course Outline page. By default, courses are instructor-paced.
Note
You cannot change the course pacing after the course start date has passed.
Instructor-Paced and Self-Paced Courses#
Instructor-paced courses progress at the pace that the course author sets. You set release dates for content and due dates for assignments, and assignment due dates are visible in the LMS. Learners cannot access course content before its release date, and learners must complete assignments by their due dates.
In self-paced courses, learners can access all course materials when the course begins, and assignment due dates follow a Personalized Learning Schedule (PLS) by default. You do not have the option to set release dates for course content. Learners can complete course material at any time before the course end date.
Note
If you set due dates for assignments or exams in an instructor-led course and later change the course to be self-paced, Studio stores the due dates that you previously set. If you change the course back to instructor- paced later, Studio restores the due dates.
Personalized Learning Schedule (PLS)#
Personalized Learning Schedule (PLS) is a feature in self-paced courses that creates a personalized schedule for learners by assigning suggested due dates to graded assignments.
A learner’s PLS is based on their enrollment date and can have two types of pacing:
PLS’ default pacing automatically assigns due dates to graded subsections evenly throughout the course duration based on the total number of sections in the course.
PLS’ custom pacing allows course authors to assign due dates to graded subsections manually throughout the course duration.
For example, if there are 4 sections, each of which has a graded assignment, in an 8-week course, default pacing would assign due dates for every 2 weeks.
Custom pacing allows for other relative due dates, such as setting an assignment to be due in 5 weeks instead of the 2 week interval.
Now, Personalized Learning Schedule can be adapted to have:
Default pacing
Custom pacing
A mix of default and custom pacing, where the user sets custom pacing to some, but not all, graded assignments in a course. The rest of the assignments that are not set have default pacing applied to them.
Course Schedule#
After you determine scheduling for your course run, you enter this information in Studio before the course run begins. For more information, see Edit the Course About Page.
Guidelines for Start and End Dates#
The start and end dates you set for your course are important for prospective and current learners. Current learners see your course start or end date on their dashboards. You should consider your course dates carefully.
Course Start Date and Time#
The course start date and time specify when learners can access published course content. By default, the course start date and time are set to 01/01/2030 at 00:00 UTC to ensure that your course does not start before you intend it to.
The following guidelines can help you determine a course start date.
Start on a Tuesday, Wednesday, or Thursday.
Avoid major public holidays.
Specify a month, day, and year. If you are unsure of the exact date, specify a day that is close to the estimated start date. For example, if your course will start near the end of March, specify March 31.
Set the start time of your course early in the day, generally 00:00 Coordinated Universal Time (UTC) or earlier. Learners often expect the course to be available on the start date in their own time zones and try to access course content during the day. If you do not specify a start time for your course, the course starts at 00:00 UTC.
Although learners cannot access any part of your course before the course start date, course team members who are enrolled in the course and who have the staff, admin, or beta tester role can see published content in the course before the course start date. For information about testing your course content before the course start date, see About Course Beta Testing.
Note
You can set a different advertised start date for your course. You might do this if the exact start date is uncertain. For example, you could advertise the start date as “Coming Soon”. For more information, see Advertise a Different Start Date.
Course End Date and Time#
The course end date and time specify when learners can no longer earn credit toward certificates. Learners can continue to complete available coursework, but cannot earn credit after the course ends. Learners who have earned certificates can view the certificates soon after the course end date.
In self-paced courses, course teams can make certain course components unavailable based on the course end date. For example, course teams can make a final exam unavailable after the end date for a self-paced course. For more details, see Hide a Subsection After its Due Date.
Important
If you do not set a course end date, learners cannot access earned certificates.
Enrollment Start Date and Time#
As soon as enrollment starts, prospective learners can see your course in the course catalog, view the course About page, and enroll in the course.
The enrollment start date and time specify when learners can start to enroll in the course. Ensure that the enrollment start date is early enough to allow learners to both enroll in and prepare for the course. The enrollment start date and time must be before the course start date and time.
Enrollment End Date and Time#
The enrollment end date and time specify when learners can no longer enroll in the course. Ensure that the enrollment end date is late enough to allow learners adequate time to enroll. The enrollment end date cannot be later than the course end date.
The Learner’s View of Course Start and End Dates#
When learners browse courses, the start date for each course is visible in the course catalog and in the course’s About page.
To find the URL of your course’s About page in Studio, select Settings, and then select Schedule & Details.
After learners enroll in courses, the courses appear on their course dashboards. To access the dashboard, learners select their usernames and then select Dashboard. For a course that is in progress or has not yet started, the start date is visible. For a course that has ended, the course end date is visible.
Language Guidelines#
You are required to specify a language or languages for the following content.
Course content, including text
Video transcripts
Optionally, you can also specify additional languages for course videos.
Course Description#
Descriptive course information includes information such as the course short and long descriptions, as well as information about what learners will learn, the subject, and the difficulty level.
Course Short Description Guidelines#
An effective short description follows these guidelines.
Contains 25–50 words.
Functions as a tagline.
Conveys compelling reasons to take the course.
Follows search engine optimization (SEO) guidelines.
Targets a global audience.
Example Short Description#
Course Name: The Science of Happiness
Course Description: The first MOOC to teach positive psychology. Learn science-based principles and practices for a happy, meaningful life.
Course Long Description Guidelines#
Given the diversity of online learners, be sure to review your course description to ensure that it clearly communicates the target audience, level, and prerequisites for your course. Use concrete, unambiguous phrasing, such as a prerequisite of “understand eigenvalue decomposition” rather than “intermediate linear algebra”.
An effective long description follows these guidelines.
Contains 150–300 words.
Is easy to skim.
Uses bullet points instead of dense text paragraphs.
Follows SEO guidelines.
Targets a global audience.
Example Long Descriptions#
The following long description is a content-based example.
Want to learn computer programming, but unsure where to begin? This is the course for you! Scratch is the computer programming language that makes it easy and fun to create interactive stories, games and animations and share them online.
This course is an introduction to computer science using the programming language Scratch, developed by MIT. Starting with the basics of using Scratch, the course will stretch your mind and challenge you. You will learn how to create amazing games, animated images and songs in just minutes with a simple “drag and drop” interface.
No previous programming knowledge needed. Join us as you start your computer science journey.
The following long description is a skills-based example.
Taught by instructors with decades of experience on Wall Street, this M&A course will equip analysts and associates with the skills they need to rise to employment in the M&A field. Additionally, directors and managers who have transitioned, or hope to transition, to M&A from other areas such as equities or fixed income can use this course to eliminate skill gaps.
Learning Outcome Guidelines#
It is good practice to include a list of learning outcomes describing the skills and knowledge learners will acquire in the course in an itemized list. It is recommended that you format each item as a short bullet item.
Example Learning Outcomes#
Write basic R scripts to manipulate and visualize data.
Apply linear and logistic regression techniques to analyze real-world datasets and interpret the results.
Apply text analytics techniques to extract insights from a given dataset and present their findings.
Formulate and solve linear and integer optimization problems
Images and Videos for a Course or Program#
The About page for a course or program includes both a representative image and a short About video. The course or program image also appears in places such as learner dashboards and search engine results.
For information about how to add your course title and number, see Creating a New Course.
Representative Image Guidelines#
A representative image is an eye-catching, colorful image that captures the essence of a course or program. These images are visible in the following locations.
The About page.
The learner dashboard.
Search engine results.
When you create a course or program image, keep the following guidelines in mind.
The image must not include text or headlines.
You must have permission to use the image. Possible image sources include Flickr Creative Commons, Stock Vault, Stock XCHNG, and iStock Photo.
Each course in a sequence or program must have a unique image.
Image Size Guidelines#
Images must follow specific size guidelines.
Course Image Size#
The course image that you add in Studio appears on the About page for the course and on the learner dashboard. It must be a minimum of 378 pixels in width by 225 pixels in height, and in .jpg or .png format. Make sure the image that you upload maintains the aspect ratio of those dimensions so that the image appears correctly on the dashboard.
Course About Video Guidelines#
The course About video should excite and entice potential learners to enroll, and reveal some of the personality that the course team brings to the course.
This video should answer these key questions.
Who is teaching the course?
What university or institution is the course affiliated with?
What topics and concepts are covered in your course?
Why should a learner enroll in your course?
This video should deliver your message as concisely as possible and have a run time of less than two minutes.
Before you upload a course About video, make sure that it follows the same video guidelines as your course content videos.
Note
If you upload both a course image and a course About video, the course image appears on learner dashboards with a play icon superimposed on it. If you upload only a course video, the first frame of the video file appears with the play icon.
The process for adding a course about video is different than the process for including videos as part of the content of your course. For more information about including video content, see Guide to Course Video.
For information about how to add an About video to your course About page, see Add an About Video.
Additional Course Information#
You can add these optional items to your course About page. For more information, see Edit the Course About Page.
Effort Guidelines#
Effort indicates the number of hours each week you expect learners to work on your course, rounded to the nearest whole number.
Skill and Knowledge Prerequisites#
You might want to make sure your learners have a specific set of skills and knowledge before they take your course. This information appears on the course About page.
Optionally, you can also require that learners complete a specific course before they enroll in your course, or that learners complete an entrance exam before they access course content. This information also appears on the About page, but you specify these prerequisites on the Schedule & Details page in Studio. For more information, see Require a Prerequisite Course and Require an Entrance Exam.
You add skill and knowledge prerequisites in Studio. For more information, see Edit the Course About Page.
Example Skill and Knowledge Prerequisites#
Secondary school (high school) algebra; basic mathematics concepts
Graduate-level understanding of Keynesian economics
Basic algebra
Familiarity with eigenvalue decomposition
Prerequisite Courses#
When you require your learners pass a particular course before they enroll in your course, learners see information about course prerequisites on the course About page.
If learners have not completed the prerequisite course, they can enroll in your course and then see your course on their learner dashboards. However, unlike with other courses, the dashboard does not provide a link to the course content. The dashboard includes a link to the About page for the prerequisite course. Learners can enroll in the prerequisite course from the About page.
You enter this information in Studio. For more information, see Require a Prerequisite Course.
Entrance Exam#
You can require your learners to pass an entrance exam before they access your course materials. If you include an entrance exam, learners who enroll in your course can access only the Entrance Exam page until they pass the exam. After learners pass the exam, they can access all released materials in your course.
You enter this information in Studio. For more information, see Require an Entrance Exam.
Best Practices for Entrance Exams#
We strongly recommend you follow several guidelines to help you and your learners have a positive experience with entrance exams.
Make sure your beta testers include the entrance exam when they test your other course content.
Make sure you mention the entrance exam in the course description on your course About page. Otherwise, learners will not know about the entrance exam before they enroll in your course and try to access course content.
Add an announcement to the Course Updates & News page that contains information and instructions for learners who need to take the exam. When learners first try to access content in a course that has an entrance exam, they see the Course Updates & News page. We suggest you include the following information.
To begin the course entrance exam, learners select Entrance Exam.
After learners complete the entrance exam, they must select Entrance Exam again or refresh the page in their browsers. After the page refreshes, learners can access all currently available course content.
Syllabus Guidelines#
A syllabus is a review of content covered in your course, organized by week or module. To create an effective syllabus, keep the following guidelines in mind.
Focus on topics and content.
Do not include detailed information about course logistics, such as grading, communication policies, and reading lists.
Format items as either paragraphs or a bulleted list.
You can add the syllabus to your course About page. For more information, see Edit the Course About Page.
You can also add a syllabus to your course in Studio by creating a custom page or a handout. For more information, see Add Page and Add Course Handouts.
Example Syllabus#
Week 1: From Calculator to Computer
Introduction to basic programming concepts, such as values and expressions, as well as making decisions when implementing algorithms and developing programs.
Week 2: State Transformation
Introduction to state transformation, including representation of data and programs as well as conditional repetition.
FAQ Guidelines#
To help prospective learners, you can add any frequently asked questions (FAQ) and the answers to those questions to your About page.
You can add the FAQ to your course About page. For more information, see Edit the Course About Page.
Example FAQ#
Q: Is the textbook required?
A: No, the textbook is not required. However, you will find that it more completely explains some of the concepts that we cover quickly in the course, and will add depth to your understanding.
Q: How much is the final exam worth?
A: The final exam is worth 30% of the total grade. You can find more information about the value of each assignment on your Progress page.
Learner Testimonial Guidelines#
A learner testimonial is a quote from a learner in the course, demonstrating the value of taking the course.
To be effective, a testimonial should contain no more than 25-50 words.
You can add the learner testimonial to your course About page. For more information, see Edit the Course About Page.
What You Will Learn Guidelines#
The “what you will learn” information describes the skills and knowledge learners will acquire in the course in an itemized list. Best practice is to format each item as a bullet with four to ten words.
Example “What You Will Learn”#
Basic R Programming
An applied understanding of linear and logistic regression
Application of text analytics
Linear and integer optimization
Subject Guidelines#
A primary subject is required. Optionally, you can select up to two subjects in addition to the primary subject. Only the primary subject appears on the About page.
Example Subject#
A particular course might specify the following subjects.
Primary subject: History
Additional subject: Architecture
Additional subject: Anthropology
Level Guidelines#
Use the following guidelines to select the level for your course.
Introductory - No prerequisites; a learner who has completed some or all secondary school could complete the course.
Intermediate - Basic prerequisites; learners need to complete secondary school or some university courses.
Advanced - Significant prerequisites; the course is geared to third or fourth year university students or master’s degree students.
Course Metadata#
You may need to be able to make certain custom information about your course available to entities such as customer relationship management (CRM) software, a marketing site, or other external systems. This information is not visible to learners.
For example, you might want to make the following information available.
The course difficulty
The course ID in an external system
Course prerequisites
You add this information as a JSON dictionary in Studio. For more information, see Add Course Metadata.
See also
Guide to Basic Course Details (reference)
Edit Basic Course Details (how-to)
Edit the Course About Page (how-to)
Set Course Pacing (how-to)
Set the Course Run Schedule (how-to)
Maintenance chart
Review Date |
Working Group Reviewer |
Release |
Test situation |