How do I navigate a course on OpenLearning?
This article will guide you on the best way to navigate the various parts of your course.
How do I find my course?
Please make sure you are logged into the platform by entering your username and password.
To find a course you are enrolled in, click on the Courses tab on the top bar. On the drop-down you can now choose between Recent and All courses, or click on Search to search by keyword.
Which sections do you see in the course?
Home
Clicking Home will take you to the course’s home page.
This is usually the first page you see when you log in and visit the course URL.
Course banner
While in the course, you will see a course banner on top. Usually, the course name will be displayed there. Wherever in the course you are, clicking on the course banner will take you back to the homepage. If set up, clicking on the right side of the banner will take you to the institution landing page.
Left-hand navigation menu
Most of the links you are going to use to navigate your course are located on the left-hand navigation menu.
Please note, not all of these tabs will be visible in every course. Some courses might have additional items in this space, some may have been removed.
The default tabs are:
- Home
- Announcements
- Learning Activities
- Course Feed
- Groups
- Gallery
Please note, you will need to be logged in using the account registered for that particular course in order to see these links.
Announcements
Whenever your course facilitator wants to announce something all learners in a particular class, those announcements will appear here.
Learning Activities
Clicking this link will expand a list of your course’s modules. Each module will indicate how many of its pages are complete.
Clicking on each module will expand its module pages. A completed page will be marked as completed, while the pages you have not yet started will be marked as ready to start.
Course Feed
Course Feed shows you the latest interactions in your class community. This includes posts, comments, and replies made in the course.
You can also use this to share something such as relevant factoids, videos, and images with your class.
Groups
Groups is a feature that allows you to collaborate and study together with other participants in your class.
If your course facilitator has created and placed you in groups, you will find them here.
You will also be able to manage and create groups if your course facilitator has enabled this function.
Comment section
On most pages on OpenLearning you will see a comment section at the bottom. It comment is a place reserved for giving your thoughts or asking questions on a page. In some cases, the course staff will create an assignment to be shared in the comment section and that's when you might be required to post one in order to get full completion.
You can also use this feature to communicate directly with your course facilitator.
Type the @ symbol and start typing someone’s name and choose from the dropdown list in order to tag them in a comment.
Next and back buttons
You will find Next and Back links that will either take you to the next or previous page respectively.
These links can be found at the bottom of each page after the comments section.
Please note, some courses are set to only give you access to the next page when you finish the page before it. This means you might not see the Next page link until all activities on the current page are complete.
If you cannot see the next page even after completing the current one, try refreshing the page.
Walkthrough
If your course facilitator has enabled Walkthrough, you will see orange dots appear on some course features when you join the course.
Use these dots to guide you.
Here's an example of what you might see:
The progress bar
Wherever in the course you are, you will see the progress bar on the top-right. It gives you a quick overview of how far along in the course you are.
Progress page
Clicking on the progress bar at the top of the page will bring you to a page where you can view all the pages that count towards course completion in detail..
This page will help you figure out which pages are complete, and which ones are not yet complete.
Each module will show you how many pages from that module are complete. Each page will have the number of outstanding items next to it.
Please refer to Progress page to learn more.
Interacting with other learners
How do I like and subscribe to a page
You can show your appreciation of the course content by pressing the Like button at the bottom of the page.
Pushing the Subscribe button will result in you getting notifications every time changes are made to the page. Changes can include comments made on the page.
How do I comment and like a post
Just like you can comment and like other comments, posts and pages.
How do I send a chat message
When you see someone's name anywhere in the course, clicking on their name will send you to their profile page. If they enabled chat, you'll be able to send them a message from there.
Alternatively, you can find them in the chat box in the right lower corner.
How do I continue with the course where I stopped last time?
Click on Learning Activities to expand the modules menu.
The page you last worked on will be marked Last visited page.
Help, I am not able to attain 100% completion in my course
Follow these guidelines if you are struggling to gain 100% completion.