Ultra Course View Frequently Asked Questions

Folders and Learning Modules are both great ways to organize your course materials so that it is easier for students to find what they are looking for. Learning Modules offer additional benefits over folders, however.

Benefits of Folders and Learning Modules

• Both present content in an organized manner for easy navigation
• Both collapse for a streamlined view of materials
• Both include a sub-folder (i.e., a folder inside of a folder or a folder inside of a learning module; you can not nest a learning module inside a learning module, nest a learning module inside of a folder, or nest beyond 2 levels)
• Both can be used to set overall release conditions to control access to content, such as releasing content on a specific date or to a specific group of students
• Both can be copied from past courses as a block of materials with all of the contents inside

Benefits of Learning Modules

• Students can navigate from one item to the next via forward and back arrows
• You can enable sequential viewing to require that students view content or complete an assessment before moving to the next item
• With sequential viewing enabled, the learning module displays checkmarks to show students what they have completed

Limitations of Learning Modules

• Contents of folders can be copied granularly from one course to another (e.g., you can copy a single file from within a folder)
• Learning Modules must be copied in their entirety from one course to another (e.g., you must copy the entire learning module and its contents, as opposed to a single item inside of the learning module)

You can drop one or more grades from a category in the Overall Grade calculation. To do so, you must be calculating the overall grade by categories as opposed to individual items.

To drop one or more grades:

1. Go to the Gradebook and edit the Overall Grade calculation. If you have not previously set up the Overall Grade, you will find the option to set it up at the bottom of the list view.
2. Under Overall Settings to the right, select Grade category weights from the drop down menu.
3. Set the appropriate weights for each category.
4. Click the Add Rule link for the category from which you wish to drop a grade. 
5. In the panel on the right, click to Enable the rule, click the radio button to Drop Scores, and enter how many of the highest or lowest scores you wish to drop.
6. Click Continue at the bottom of the side panel.
7. Click Save at the bottom of the page.

In Ultra Course View, the Overall Grade only offers a weighted calculation at this time. There are 2 potential workarounds that you can use so that your overall grade is calculated based on points.

Convert Points to a Weight and Use the Overall Grade Column

Set up the Overall Grade using individual item weights instead of category weights. For each assessment in your course, divide the points possible for that assessment by the total points possible for the course and multiply by 100 to convert to a percentage. Then, use that for the weight for that assessment. For example, if you have a 50 point assignment and there are 500 total points in the course, 50/500 = .05, or 5%. Repeat this step for each assessment, and make sure the total of all the weights is 100%.

Create a Calculated Total Column and Set the Overall Grade Column to Only Be Based On That Total

In the Gradebook, hover your mouse over the existing items and click the plus (+) sign. From the drop down menu, click Add Calculation. Provide a Name for this calculation (like "Total"). In the Functions and Variables area, click Total. Click Total again on the right side of the screen, and select all of the categories or individual assessments to include in the total. Click the Savebutton.

Then, you can set up your Overall Grade using individual item weights, but with 100% as the weight on the Total you just created. Click the Exempt symbol (circle with a slash) to remove all other items from the calculation and then click the Save button.

The Ultra Course View only permits 2 levels of course folders. However, when you convert a course from Original to Ultra Course View, the content areas from your course menu become top level folders in the Ultra Course View. If you had more than a single level of folder within a content area, you can end up with three folders nested in the course in the Ultra Course View. This makes it difficult or impossible for you to create new content or move content in the course.

For example, if you had a content area named "Course Modules", with a folder for each module, and a folder for the activities within that module, that is 3 levels of folder: Course Modules > Module 1 > Activities. 

To make it easier to move and create content in your Ultra course, we recommend moving the second level (e.g., Module 1) out of the top level (Course Modules) folder. Once you have moved them, everything should work as expected. 

If you are still having difficulty moving content with only 2 levels of folders, try moving content with your keyboard instead of drag and drop.

In order to convert your course from the Original Course View to the Ultra Course View, the course has to be completely private/unavailable. If you left the check box selected to automatically open your course to students on a specific date, your course is technically available, even though students won't be able to access it until that date. You will need to first make your course unavailable by clicking the lock icon in the upper right corner of your course.

Once your course is completely private/unavailable, you will be able to convert your course from Original to Ultra Course View using the pencil icon in the upper right.