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Table of Contents
Roles and Permissions with Editing
Interactive Tutorials for Editing
Explore, Prototype, and Play with a Guided Course
Step 1: Creating and Editing your Course Information
Step 2: Adding to and Editing Your Course
- Copying, Pasting, and Moving Information
- Adding a Bundle or C-Layer Element
- Editing Bundles and C-Layer Elements
- Adding Learning Objectives (LOs)
- Orphaned LOs
- Duplicate LOs
Step 3: Learning and Assessment Activities
- About Mapping Sets
- Viewing Mappings
- Mapping Outcomes to Learning Objectives (LOs)
- Viewing Mappings to Outcome Scales
- Viewing Mappings and Activities Together
Introduction to Coursetune
Roles and Permissions with Editing
Depending on your institution’s (level 1) instructional design process in Coursetune, you will have one or more of the following roles on the Coursetune team:
- Course (level-4 object) editor
- Course commenter
- Course viewer
- Program (level-3 folder) editor
- Program commenter
- Program viewer
- Division (level-2 folder) editor
- Division viewer
If you are given the role of editor on your Coursetune team, you may have access to one or more courses where you are allowed to make changes. Typically, a course will have only one course manager, one or two editors, and several commenters or viewers.
Want to know more? Visit the Coursetune help site and learn more about roles and permissions.
Interactive Tutorials for Editing
This first step-by-step link is about the structural levels of Coursetune.
Click the link at the end of each clip to move through the following sequence:
- What are the structural levels in Coursetune?
- What are the two design layers in a course graph?
- How do I add course goals, competencies, or course outcomes?
- How do I add weeks, chapters, or modules to a course?
- How do I add learning objectives?
- How do I add activities and assessments?
The Two Design Layers
There are two sides to every course in your Coursetune. To learn more about the two course layers, read Why does Coursetune have two course design layers? You may be using one side or both. Check with your instructional design team first if you are unsure what is expected. You can flip the course over to either side using these two buttons in the bottom left navigation.
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These two sides provide different views of the course: view by competency or course goal (C-layer) and view by delivery (bundle of learning layer, “bundle” for short).
Utilizing both sides of the course produces unique views into the interleaving of concepts throughout the duration of the course. Your department may use different names for these layers, so be sure to reference your institution’s Coursetune Glossary Guide and if it does vary, make note in the guide what your department calls them. This will help maintain consistency in taxonomy and will help Coursetune support to better serve you. For example, here are some commonly used names:
To change the name of the Bundle layer on your course, read this article: Editors cannot change the name of the C-layer, only program managers and admins can. If you need it changed, contact your manager or admin.
Here are two interactive tutorials: Learn the two structural levels of Coursetune and Learn about the two design layers |
Explore, Prototype, and Play with a Guided Course
Every instance of Coursetune comes with a special area designated to explore, prototype, and play called Z- Examples and Play Space. Within this area, you can build, edit, and experiment with demo courses to learn how Coursetune works. This is a walled garden that won’t affect your other curriculum. This area includes mapping examples, tuning examples, and course sharing examples. Use the Create, Play, and Learn folder to find the Guided Course. Need a new Guided Course? Navigate to your desired program (level 3) and turn on Edit mode. Click the "+" next to the bottom bar to open the "Add Course" panel. Click on "Copy", and then select "Insert Guided Course". Here’s a help article for more step by step guidance.
Step 1: Creating and Editing your Course Information
Adding a Course
If you are starting from scratch, keep reading to learn how to add a course. If you already have a course ready for editing, jump to step 2.
Step 1: First, you need to make sure you are in the destination program (level-3 folder), and then turn on Edit mode. Click on the plus sign+
Step 2: In Add course (level-4 object) panel, you can:
- Add the name (required)
- Add description
- Add ID/course number
- Add credits
- Alphabetize the LOs on the c-layer
- Show repeated LOs
- Show bundle labels on the graph
- Add LO scale(s)
- Change bundle type
- Import, share, move or copy a course
Step 3: Click the Add button when you're finished.
Editing Course Information
How to Edit Course Information:
Step 1: As an editor or manager, you can edit your course information to do updates. First, start at the course level (level 4), turn on Edit mode, and select the center of your course. Then, click on the edit pencil.
Step 2: In the Edit Course (Level-4 Object) panel you can do the following:
- edit the course name, description, ID, or course credits
- add/edit course tags
- alphabetize LOs in C-layers
- show repeated LOs within each CM with red text
- set the bundle type for the course
- show bundle labels on circle graph
- add or change the LO scale on the course
- delete the course
Note: These are directions for editing a normal course without variations.
Step 2: Adding to and Editing Your Course
Once inside your course, you will be able to edit via the Edit mode located in the lower right panel.
Copying, Pasting, and Moving Information
Coursetune allows copy / paste and cut / paste functionality to the following design elements:
- LO Details
- LOs
- Bundles
- C-layer elements
- Outcomes
You can make these copies within or between courses. The mappings, wherever possible, will also go with the pasted items. The general rule is that the mappings that are in common to both the source of the cut/copy and the destination of the paste, can be pasted with the item.
To access the copy/cut/paste menu, perform the equivalent action of a right-click on the item (the keyboard command Ctrl-click works on both PC and Mac).
You can also access these commands using the following keyboard strokes:
- Copy: Ctrl-C on PC, Cmd-C on Mac
- Cut: Ctrl-X on PC, Cmd-X on Mac
- Paste: Ctrl-V on PC, Cmd-V on Mac
With appropriate rights, elements can be copied or cut within a level-4 objects, between level-4 objects inside the same level-3 folder, between level-4 objects across level-3 folders and between level-4 objects across level-2 folders.
From edit mode, select the desired element (LO, LO detail, Bundle or C-layer). Right-click (or use ctrl/cmd C), and choose "Copy" or "Cut" from the menu.
Adding a Bundle or C-Layer Element
- Here’s an interactive tutorial for adding a C-Layer element.
- Here’s an interactive tutorial for adding a Bundle
From the course level, click the bundle layer and turn on “Edit” mode. You will see “+ New Bundle” appear in the top panel. From the “New Bundle” panel, you can add a title, description and ID. Only the title is required to create the design element.
You can also add multiple bundles or C-layers at a time using the Add Multiple Bundles/C-Layer elements menu. For more information, read these articles:
Editing Bundles and C-Layer Elements
You can edit existing bundles or C-layer elements by clicking on them. You will see a pencil editing icon. This brings up what we call the LO batch editor (LO stands for learning objective). This tool allows you to edit the design element and all the learning objectives inside.
Adding Learning Objectives (LOs)
Now that you have design elements (bundles and c-layers) on your course, you can begin populating it with learning objectives (LOs). Learning objectives are often defined as measurable goals for the learner. For more information about adding new learning objectives, you can read these articles:
Try the interactive tutorial for adding Learning Objectives.
The LOs are nested within the C-layer and Bundle layer elements. For this reason, many users prefer to add all of their first ring elements first before populating them with learning objectives. Start with just one side of the course and don’t worry about the other side until one side is complete. Often it is easiest to begin with the bundle layer because that is likely how your syllabus is already organized—by the Unit, Module, Week, or Session—and as faculty, this is how we often think through or visualize our course.
There are a few ways to add learning objectives. Use the way that feels most natural to you. The next section will outline these different ways one-by-one:
- Using “+ learning objective”
- Using the “Expanded Learning Objective” panel
- Adding an LO through the “LO batch editor”
Using “+ learning objective”Click on the desired Bundle or C-layer while in “Edit” mode to see “+learning objective” appear. Click on “+learning objective” to open the ‘New Learning Objective” panel. You can also choose two or three words to represent the learning objective on the course graph by clicking the box next to manual selection and then clicking on the words you want to show. If you don’t click that box, the software will automatically choose 2-3 words for you, which you can always change later in edit mode. If your course has an LO scale (such as IRMA or Blooms), you choose that level. You may also add an ID, if you choose. Click here to learn how to add or change the LO scale for your course. |
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Using the “Expanded Learning Objective” panelClick on the desired Bundle or C-layer while in “Edit” mode to see the long blue arrow appear. You can either click on that long arrow or click on the Bundle or C-layer again to open the “Expanded Learning Objective” panel. Here you can see your entire list of LOs for the Bundle. You can add one LO, or multiple LOs at once from this view. You can also choose two or three words (green) to represent the LO on the course graph by simply clicking on the words to select and deselect. You can drag and drop them to change their order. You may also add or edit the LO scale to all of your LOs at once by clicking on the circle to the right of each LO and then clicking on the appropriate scale. To edit an existing LO (for rewriting), click on the LO and you will see the pencil icon. That opens the “Edit Learning Objective” panel. Click on the magnifying glass to add details such as vocabulary lists and links to the content supporting the specific LO. |
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Adding an LO through the “LO batch editor”Click on the desired Bundle or C-layer while in “Edit” mode to see the “grid” icon appear. Click on the grid to open the batch editor. This is the best view for editing both the C-layer or Bundle and the LOs at the same time. Here you can add new LOs and edit existing ones. You can drag and drop them to change their order. You can delete them by clicking the trash can icon. You may also add or edit the LO scale to all of your LOs at once by clicking on the circle to the left of each LO and then clicking on the appropriate scale. |
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Orphaned LOs
When everything is in its place, it feels good, doesn't it? Orphaned LOs are Learning Objectives that need a home in a Bundle or a C-Layer element. The red Orphaned LOs want attention because they help complete the story of the course. On the Bundle Layer of a course, the Orphaned LOs want to be placed in a Bundle that they are taught in. On the C-Layer, they want to be placed in the C-Layer element, such as a course objective or competency, that they enable or support. When you give the orphans a home in each layer, you complete the connection between what students are learning, why (C-Layer), and when (Bundles). Everything has a place in Coursetune to help you tell the story of your curriculum. Here’s an article about Orphaned LOs.
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Here is an example of a course with learning objectives populating the C-layer side. You can see some orphaned LOs in the red category. |
Here is the bundle layer of the same course, filled with learning objectives. |
Duplicate LOs
Sometimes classes get bloated with repeated learning objectives or almost-the-same learning objectives spread throughout the course units. Now, why are duplicated LOs a problem? You might argue that the goal is to teach the concept multiple times in the course. True. However, you rarely reteach the concept at the same level or within the same context. Here’s an article on why you should consider fixing duplicate LOs and a blog about avoiding duplicate LOs for clear student pathways.
For example, consider this repeated LO, spread through 5 units of a course. In the old design, it would have been difficult to target learning resources or assessments at the general concept “Understand the digestive system” but in the new design, it is much clearer what the students should actually learn in each unit.
If we bring the old design into Coursetune, the repeated LOs would not be obvious until you see them all collected together on a CLO like “Digestive System” where there may be other LOs as well.
| Duplicates | New design (gradual increase in difficulty and targeted context) | |
| Unit 1: Meet the Human Body |
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| Unit 2: Functionality of Organs |
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| Unit 3: Processing Nutrients |
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| Unit 4: Nutrition and the body |
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| Unit 5: Diseases of the Body |
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You can do two things to streamline the finding and revising of LOs.
1) You can turn on “forced alphabetization” for the LOs in the C-layer.
Refer to this article: How do I turn on “forced alphabetization” for the LOs in the C-layer?
2) You can choose to show all the duplicate LOs in the C-layer elements with red text.
Refer to this article: How can I choose to show all duplicate LOs in red text?
Step 3: Learning and Assessment Activities
Viewing Activities
Learning and Assessment Activities are the designed lessons you provide your learners. Some examples of learning activities are lectures, discussions, readings, research, and projects. Assessment activities include things like papers, exams, and quizzes.
When viewing all learning activities and assessments together, the green arcs represent the learning activities and the brown arcs represent assessments.
These activities are designed on the bundle layer—the side of the course that shows what your students learn when, throughout the duration course. Each activity can span one or more learning objectives (LOs) and shows up as an arc outside the abbreviated LOs.
You can set the properties of each activity for use in viewing design strategies and alignments. These properties will also populate Coursetune reports at the course and program levels. Reports that provide insights to key accreditation and program development aspects such as modality of the course, type of engagement between learners and subject matter experts, type of grading, and the time estimated for the activity. The use of properties is optional.
Creating a Learning Activity or Assessment
To create a learning and assessment activity, you MUST have learning objectives first.
Try the interactive tutorial for adding an activity.
(1) First, find the desired course. If you can’t see the activities icon, check that you are on the bundle layer. Then click on the Activities icon on the right side to access the Activities Panel.
(2) While in “Edit” mode, click the “+” that appears. Choose the desired learning objectives and follow the prompts.
If the course contains learning activities and/or assessments already, you will see them listed by type in this panel. Click “View all activities” (3) to get an overview. You can also click an individual activity arc (4) to view the description of any activity (5). The activity will highlight in the right panel (6).
You can choose the engagement (in person, online), grading, points and more properties of each activity.
For more information, read this article: How do I create a learning activity or assessment?
Most people have learning objectives or assessment criteria already inside their course by the time they are ready to add activities. However, if you have activities or assessments but don’t know which learning objectives they are connected to yet, you can create a “placeholder” learning objective. You can connect the activities later to the correct LOs.
If you need to add activities without LOs, read these articles:
- How do I create an activity that isn't tied to any LOs?
- How do I connect an activity that is not tied to an LO, to a course?
Editing Activities
Maybe you added LOs that don’t pertain to an activity, or you want to change any of the properties and add missing details. You can edit your learning and assessment activities at any point in your continuous improvement process. For more information, you can read this article: How do I edit an Activity?
To edit an existing activity, make sure you are on the bundle side of your course, and “Edit” mode is turned on (1), click on “Activities” in the right panel (2), and find the desired activity (3). Highlighting it will show the trash can and the pencil editing icons. Click the pencil (4) and follow the prompts.
Step 4: Mapping
About Mapping Sets
Your program (level-3 folder) or course (level-4 object) may contain mappings to course goals, program goals, or institution/organization (level 1) goals. These go by a large variety of names depending on the institution, but they are always housed in Coursetune in the right-side panel.
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Because the naming convention can vary wildly, Coursetune calls these goals “Outcome Sets,” but we are migrating soon to calling them simply “Mappings.” These reside in the right-side panel, which is revealed when the Map icon is selected. There are four mapping set types:
There is no limit to how many mappings you can have in the right-side panel. If you have several mappings, be mindful about how you structure them across the entire program and consider reviewing with your Coursetune team before adding to make sure you are taking full advantage of the four levels in a consistent way. |
The roles you have on a program and/or course will determine what you can do with these mapping sets. Everyone with at least viewer access can view these sets and how they map to learning objectives. Editors, managers, and admins can actually do the mapping.
To find out more about mapping permissions, read this article: Who can create, edit and map outcome sets?
Your program and courses will most likely have mapping sets already, but if you need help creating some, refer to this article:
Viewing Mappings
To see if mappings exist for your course, make sure you are viewing the course (1) and that the map icon is selected (2). The “Mappings” panel on the right will list all available mappings for the course. To see a mapping on the course, click on the item you want to select in the right-side panel (3). The LOs and either C-layer or Bundles in the course view that align with the item you selected will appear highlighted in blue (4) on the course graph.
Mapping Outcomes to Learning Objectives (LOs)
You can map on both the C-layer and bundle layer. You may want to read this article: How can I see how the c-layer and the bundle layer map to each other?
To create mappings to learning objectives on a course, make sure you are at the course level, and turn on “Edit” mode (1). Select the desired outcome set, and select the mapping icon next to the set (2). Select the desired outcome or suboutcome (3).
Next, choose the learning objectives you wish to map. Click on individual LOs or click on a C-layer or Bundle to map all of the LOs nested inside.
If you are working with a program or institution-level mapping, you can also click the magnifying glass next to the course to zoom out and view at the program level. At the program level, you can see how all of the courses map to the item across the program.
You can also map to LOs from inside the Mapping Grid Editor. Click on the desired outcome set while in Edit mode. Then, click on the grid icon. The icon looks like a 3x3 grid.
Grid Icon to launch grid view.
For more information, read these articles:
- How do I create mappings on a course (level-4 object)?
- How do I create mappings while in program (level 3) view?
Viewing Mappings to Outcome Scales
Outcome Scales are used in course design as an additional layer of information that helps describe some particular feature of that outcome and how it scaffolds across a course. For example, I,R,M stands for Introduce, Reinforce, Master and describes the progression of a student's mastery of a specific outcome it would be paired with. Each outcome scale allows you to add more information to the course design.
You can choose up to two outcome scales to turn on and map to the elements on your course circle graph. While only two are displayed on the circle graph at a time, you can have them all by switching scales in the Mapping Batch Editor. Each scale level has a unique color for easy identification at a glance.
For more information, take a look at this video: Using Outcome Scales to Shape Your Curriculum Mapping Journey- Video
Managers and Editors can turn on Outcome Scales for their outcome sets. For more information, check out this article: How do I turn on Outcome Scales?
Viewing Mappings and Activities Together
Now that you have created some activities and mappings, you can view them together at the same time.
Make sure you are not in mapping mode. Then check that you are viewing the course on the bundle layer (1). Select the desired outcome (2).
Click on the “Activities” icon in the right panel (3). “View all activities” will be the default view (4). You will now see the visualization on the circle graph.
If you want more information, read this article: How do I view activities on mappings?
We are here for you!
This guide is just one of many user resources.
- If you have Gold-Tier service, consider adding regular team trainings each month with Coursetune support. Email jonathan@coursetune.com for more information.
- Be sure to use the Coursetune help site. This customer portal offers many searchable articles and videos on how to use Coursetune. While you’re there, drop us a line in the live chat and one of our support staff will help you with anything you need.
- Watch these Coursetune 101 videos.
- You can also access our live support chat while you’re logged in Coursetune. Check out the chat window in the bottom left corner of the screen. (Make sure you’re using Chrome.)
- Email: support@coursetune.com
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