The homepage is the first page students see when they enter a course. The typical default homepage is widget-based. Widgets are sections of content that provide information and links to tools, courses, and personal settings. The most commonly used widgets are Announcements, Calendar, Content Navigator, Instructor Profile, etc.
The interviews showed that most students are looking for course announcements, course schedules, instructor’s contact information, syllabus, textbook requirements, group project requirements (if applicable), and synchronous meeting requirements (if applicable) when they enter a course for the first time.
The reason why I like this homepage layout is that It is very easy to navigate making my classes 100 % better
The homepage is easy to read, contains all information; I can see the progress of my work quickly.
Easy to read and find pertinent information needed to complete my assignments. Assignment calendar is visible. Highlighted assignments that I can click on that brings me directly to the task instead of navigating around the content folders to find it. Really like this aspect!!!
After conducting design analyses, our team recommends adopting a two-column widget-based layout for the homepage design. The screenshot provided below shows an example of the recommended layout.
Additional recommendations:
- Include the links to Course Home, Content, WebEx (if applicable), Assessments, and Grades on the navigation bar for more straightforward navigation.
- Placing Announcements and Calendar widgets at the top of the page ensures that students can quickly access the most up-to-date and important information for their course completion.
- Instructor Profile and iCollege Support widgets will help students quickly access resources when needed.
- Content Navigator is optional and preferred by a small percentage of students.
Announcements
As per the input received from our students, we highly recommend posting a welcome announcement to cover all the essential course particulars to provide students with a clear vision of the course. See Communication Tools for more guidance on welcome announcements.
Instructor Profile
Based on student feedback, it was noted that in addition to the instructor’s contact details, providing the time and meeting link for office hours would be beneficial. It would also be helpful to include information about the TAs’ office hours on the homepage, if applicable.