The Centre for Innovation and Excellence in Learning is currently reviewing Course Homepages in VIULearn. We have received feedback from various VIU stakeholders and are incorporating this feedback into a new course homepage design. We are hoping to update and refresh the course homepage look and feel for the Fall 2015 term.

The course homepage is the main page that you see when you enter a course. The typical course homepage is a page comprised of widgets (boxes) that provide information for both the instructor and the student.

The two things we have heard consistently from faculty and students are;

1.      The content browser is confusing and easy to become lost in.

2.      Instructors would like more room in the News widget.

Based on feedback, we have developed the following revised course homepage.

Here is a small summary of what has changed. We would love to know your thoughts!

News Items and Content Browser:

The news item has been moved to the larger area in the center of the course homepage and the content browser has been removed. Students access content by clicking on ‘Course Material’ and selecting content.

My Bookmarks:

There has been a student bookmark widget added to the course. This allows the students to access items that they bookmark within the course. They can access that content directly from the homepage without having to navigate through the course.

My Tasks:

The my tasks widget allows students and instructors to create their own to-do lists for their course. Tasks can be added and removed to the list as a student progresses through the course.

Staying the Same:

The updates bar and the course calendar will remain in the same spot they currently exist in.

If you are interested in taking up this change we would be happy to work with your program or department. The changes must be made at this level, as we cannot change individual course homepages. If you are interested you can book an appointment through learnsupport@viu.ca today!

Please fill out our survey and let us know your thoughts. The survey can be found here: