Texas Gateway CMDS: Course Creation Guide

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1 Texas Gateway CMDS: Course Creation Guide About Gateway Courses The Gateway CMDS employs a COPE (Create Once, Publish Everywhere) model in which content is created once and is distributed to and repurposed for different learning applications. Courses are created in the Gateway CMDS, and then are exported and published in Gateway Courses, the customized Open edx course portal found at Courses in the Gateway CMDS are composed of a series of resources sequenced within course sections. You can think of resources within a course as lessons. Course sections contain several lessons, and can be thought of as units or modules. Each lesson should be created as a resource.

2 When you create a course, you pull in those resources to create a sequence of lessons, which can further be organized into course sections. Following is the schema (structure) of a typical Course. Course Section 1: Introduction or Overview section Course Section 2 Lesson 1 (CMDS Resource) Content Section 1 Content Section 2 Etc Lesson 2 (CMDS Resource) Course Section 3 etc... Final Course Assessment The image below shows how a Gateway course looks when it is brought into edx. 2

3 In the left hand navigation, you have your lessons, or Gateway resources, which are organized within course sections. Each lesson contains multiple pages of content, which are your content sections in Gateway resources. The user clicks on each lesson, and then progresses through the lesson content using the arrows in the top navigation. 3

4 Creating Gateway Content Introduction Content providers within the Texas Gateway CMDS have access to the Content Editor, which is the interface they use to create, edit, and manage their content. This guide will introduce you to the features and functionality available to content developers through this interface. Follow the steps below to begin. Logging In Log into the system through the Texas Gateway homepage at Click the Log in link located in the upper right corner of the page and enter your login credentials to sign in. Content Editor Library Once you sign in, you will enter your content library. This is where content providers view and manage the content they have created. Library search functions and filters allow providers to quickly find the content they need to work on. To view content, click on its title. To create new content, follow the steps below. Tip: If you navigate away from your content library, click Content Editor in the top page navigation to return. 4

5 Creating a Resource To create a new Resource, click the + Resource button. The Content Editor will walk you through each step of content creation. Step One: Add Overview Information Tip: Think of this first step as creating the shell for your Resource. In this step, you will add basic resource information and assign metadata that will be useful as teachers browse and search for content. You will also add related items, which can contain materials that supplement your content. Development of core content will be completed in Step Two. 1. Enter basic resource information, including title, ID number, subject, grade range, and a short description. 2. Tag content to search facets, including resource type and audience; add relevant keywords and tags; and align content to TEKS. 5

6 3. Add any necessary related media, such as videos, documents, and links. Note that these will be displayed to users as Related Items at the bottom of the Resource. This section is intended for supplemental materials and resources. Click Save and Advance at the bottom of the screen when you are finished. Step Two: Create and Edit Content Sections This is the primary step for creating and sequencing content. To begin, create your first content section by adding a Content Section Title. Then click on Add Content and select the type of content you would like to add. You can create HTML content, upload and integrate video and audio files, and even develop HTML5-compliant interactive assessments and activities directly within the resource. If the resources you are creating will be lessons in a course, you can add formal assessments and discussion questions. Easy-to-use tools guide you through creating each content type. 6

7 Tip: To learn more about how to use CMDS tools and create specific types of content, go to the CMDS Help Center at (this is also available from the top navigation of your account). The CMDS Help Center contains instructions on the HTML content WYSIWYG editor, adding images, uploading and linking to documents, creating interactive content, and more. You can add multiple types of content to a single section. To rearrange content within a section, use the crosshair icons to move content up or down. Remember to click the Save order button at the bottom of the page when you are finished moving content. To create a new section, simply click the Add Section button. The Content Sections menu to the left helps you to organize and sequence your resource content. To reorder sections, just drag the section title to the desired place in the sequence. You can use the trash icon to delete sections as needed. Step Three: Preview Content Once you have finished adding and saving all of your content, you can click the View tab to preview your content from a user s perspective. 7

8 If you need to edit any resource information or content, you can easily use the tabs at the top of the page to toggle back and forth between the previous steps. The final Comments tab allows you to view and respond to any edits made by TEA reviewers. Any resources you create will be saved to your Content Editor library. You can re-enter resources at any time to continue to edit, update, and maintain your content. 8

9 Creating a New Course To create a new course, click on the + Course button from the main Content Editor screen. The Course Editor will guide you through the steps for assembling resources into a course. Step One: Add Course Information Enter the course overview information, including title, ID number, subject, number of CPE credits, intended audience, CPE provider name, and a short description. Add a featured course icon that will appear on the Gateway Courses homepage when the course is published. Note that the course link will be added by TEA after the course has been ported to the Gateway Courses system. 9

10 Step Two: Create Course Sections and Add Resources 1. Begin creating course sections by typing in the name of section titles. Course sections are units or modules that contain several resources, or lessons. To add more sections, click the Add Course Section button. 2. Within each course section, add resources by typing the title or ID for each resource into the designated field. You can think of resources within a course as lessons. 3. You can rearrange the sequence of course sections and lessons by dragging the titles to the desired positions. 10

11 Step Three: Add Formal Assessments and Assignments 1. Build any additional formal assessments or assignments required for earning CPEs or certifications. Courses can contain multiple graded quizzes throughout the resources, or they can contain a single final assessment. Assessments are added at the resource level of content creation - you can add assessments to a current resource if you want it to show up in a lesson you have already created, or you can create a new resource just for the final assessment. To add a test, select Formal Assessment from the content types and follow the steps to create a quiz. Note that Multiple Choice and Fill-in-the-Blank questions are most compatible with the assessment types in course platforms. 2. Upload any course handouts. Handouts can include the course syllabus or important documents that users may need to reference and return to throughout the course. 11

12 Step Four: Preview and Submit Your Course Click the View tab to preview your course information and outline. Once your course is complete, contact the TEA to submit your course for review and migration to the Gateway Courses platform. This is an example of how your course will display after it is migrated: 12

13 Content Requirements Adhering to the following requirements will help keep content portable, accessible, and consistent across multiple platforms and devices: 1. Use default values for text. HTML content should be allowed to flow based upon context or device. This will also make it easier to port content to other platforms. Do NOT add inline styles to change the size, style or any other attribute of HTML text. Do NOT use specialized CSS or Javascript formats. 2. Use Gateway interactives for activities and assessments. Gateway interactive libraries enable developers to create a wide variety of HTML5-compliant activities directly in the system: Board Game Course Presentation Dialog Cards Drag and Drop Drag Text Fill in the Blanks Flashcards Guess the Answer Image Hotspots Interactive Video Mark the Words Memory Game Multiple Choice Question Set Single Choice Set Summary Timeline Find the Hotspot Documentation Tool Accordion Chart Collage Do NOT use iframes or link out to external media. If you need to build advanced simulations or animations, please contact us to identify the best solution. 3. Store content in the Gateway CDN. Load images, videos, and related documents directly in the Gateway. Supported video file formats include mp4, webm, and ogv. Files should be less than 256 MB. If needed, you can embed videos from YouTube or Vimeo, which are both supported video providers. For images, the following attributes are not supported in HTML5 and not recommended for Gateway resources: border, hspace, longdesc, and vspace. If greater control is required for image placement, use the alignment options in the WYSIWYG. 13

14 Content Developer Resources and Support CMDS Help Center This knowledge base contains guides, help articles, and FAQs for Gateway content developers. You can access the CMDS Help Center through the link in the top navigation of your content creator account. Content developers should use the Submit a request feature (located in the CMDS Help Center beneath the Texas Gateway logo) to submit questions, report issues, and ask for assistance on using the Gateway development tools. Submitting your questions and requests through the help center will enable us to assist you more quickly, and help us to escalate tickets that require system fixes or updates as needed. CMDS Articles (this is not an exhaustive list, but it includes items most relevant to Course Creation) Developer Quick Start Guide Course Structure Course Overview Information Creating Formal Assessments Interactive tutorials and examples FAQs What if I only want my resources to be seen in the context of a course or binder? What if my course isn't divided into "course sections"? What will my course look like when it is ported to Gateway Courses (edx)? How do I add a document to my resource? 14