The latest updates in Nexus!
On This Page:
Course Index
Settings Bar
New Content Notifications
Clearer Activity Requirements
Assignment Timers
This book appears in the self-paced course for learners, and has been provided here as a reference.
Course Index
Though this can vary depending on which theme your site is using, you probably used the Navigation Drawer to find links to different parts of your courses. This was a collapsible panel on the left side of your site. It used to be the location of:
- Course Area Links, including Participants and Grades
- Course Content Links, including all section/topic headings you could see
- Site Area Links, including Dashboard, Calendar, and Private Files
The Site Area links have now been moved to the Navigation Bar at the very top of your site. The Course Area links have been moved to the Settings Bar at the top of your course (some options are in the More menu located there). That leaves just course content. The image below is a visual demonstration of where things were, and where they are now.
With the extra navigational links shifted to other areas of the page, the Navigation Drawer has evolved into the Course Index. This collapsible column now exclusively contains links to all of your course content, not just the section/topic headings. Each section can be collapsed or expanded for easier navigation.
Course Index for Learners
If your instructor has assigned activity completion requirements to your course activities and resources, you will see a visual indication of whether or not you've met your completion requirements. Activities that are complete will have a small green circle preceding them. Activities that still need to be completed will have a hollow gray circle instead.
Settings Bar
Links to the Participants and Grades page have now been moved to the Settings Bar at the top of your course.
Instructor Notifications for New or Updated Content
Your instructor(s) can now optionally choose to notify you when they create or update course content.
This feature generates an email and system notification to you. If the content is hidden from you in the course, you will not receive the message. The generated email includes a link to both the updated content, and your course.
The Notification, activated by clicking the Bell icon in the Navigation Bar at the top of the page, will also include a link to the course and the content.
Clearer Activity Requirements
In previous releases, an activity or resource with activity completion requirements would have a checkbox icon next to it on your course home page. The activity completion indicators are now a series of labels that more clearly communicate your instructor's expectations and requirements. For example, a Quiz can be configured to be marked complete once you:
- View the activity
- Receive a grade for the activity
- Receive a passing grade for the activity
All three requirements must be met for that Quiz to be marked as complete.
Note:: You'd need both "Receive a grade" and "Receive a passing grade" because having a passing grade is dependent on a grade being received.
These requirements will change from "To Do" to "Done" for you as you complete them. Keep in mind that it's possible for you to complete some, but not all requirements. For example, viewing the Quiz referenced above would update the view requirement from "To Do: View" to "Done: View". But you will still need to both receive a grade, and receive a passing grade for the Quiz to actually be marked as complete.
These requirements now appear inside the activity or resource as well, and will be listed at the top of the page. If you're viewing an activity with a due date, such as an Assignment or Quiz, that date will also appear at the top of the activity page.
Activity Completion Improvements
The descriptive Activity Completion labels have moved from a line beneath the name of the activity or resource to a list on the right side of the page.
Activity Completion Labels in Previous Versions
Activity Completion Labels Now
Require a Passing Grade for Completion
Your instructor can now set a passing grade as an activity completion requirement for any graded activity in your course. This includes (but is not limited to) Assignment, Database, Forum, Glossary, H5P, Lesson, Quiz, Wiki, and Workshop.
Assignment Timers
Your instructor may opt to add a time limit to an assignment in your course. The process of creating an assignment submission will remain the same for you whether they use a timer or not.
Things to Know About Timed Assignments
If your instructor has added a time limit to a course assignment, the following will be true:
- The Grading Summary page will display the time limit (this is the page you see before you create a submission).
- You can submit their assignment after the time limit expires, assuming the assignment's cut-off date (if enabled) has not been reached.
- BUT submissions created after the time limit expires will be visually marked as late for the instructor when they grade your work.
- The "Add Submission" button in the assignment will change to the "Begin Assignment button", though the process for creating and submitting an assignment submission remains the same.
- When you click the Begin Assignment button, a confirmation prompt will remind you of the time limit.
- The time limit begins counting down once you click the Begin Assignment button in the confirmation prompt. It cannot be paused once it has started.
- If your instructor has added Activity Instructions, you will not see these instructions until you click the Begin Assignment button in the confirmation prompt.
If you are having difficulty or you have unanswered questions, please contact the Help Desk through the ITS Service Catalog or call (518) 388-6400.
Content attributed to Open LMS