Tutorial - Working In The Course Builder – Technical Support Home

If you haven't already done so, it is recommended that you view the tutorial on how to create & modify course designs before reviewing this tutorial.

While this article covers most course builder features, it does not cover setting up automated communication plans. Please refer to this article for those instructions.

10/31/23: Event types have been separated into "Automatic" events and "Moderated" events. Automatic events automatically mark as completed once the end date/time of the event is reached. Moderated events require an administrator to set the completion status, which can act as a method of recording attendance or successfully completion of live events. See below for more information.

Course Builder Introduction

Review the video below as an introduction to the course builder. You'll get an overview of general features and navigation.

Course Builder Activities

The course builder's Activities section serves as the main experience of the course. The video below will show you how to structure your content and add new content.

Automatic/Moderated Events

Two different event types for face-to-face, virtual, and teleconference events are listed in the course builder:

Automatic: These events will automatically mark as completed once the end date/time of the event is reached.
Moderated: These events require an administrator to set the completion status.

The completion of events using either event type can be joined with other course builder rules, such as the conditional features of modules that are locked until completion of events, or the triggering of automated communications based on completion of the events. Additionally, moderated events can be used to record attendance directly in Blanchard Exchange.

Courses provided by Blanchard use the automatic event types. However, administrators can replace these events in custom course templates and/or projects with moderated events. To do so:

Edit the course
Select the Activities tab, followed by selecting the activity containing the automatic event
Select the "+" icon on the activity to add new content
Select the appropriate event type under the Moderated heading
Re-add the same title or description from the automatic event
Delete the original automatic event*
- *Important:If your course contains conditional rules, relative deadlines, or automated communication rules connected to your original automated event, you will need to re-connect those rules to the new moderated event.
Repeat the above steps for all events in the course that require a moderated event type

See this article for details on how to record completion of events for learners using moderated events. Completion details will be listed in both the Project Status Report and the Detailed Project Status Report.

Adding Images Using Unsplash

Unsplash is an image repository filled with user-submitted images that are free to use for commercial purposes, with no attribution required.

To add images from Unsplash, navigate to an activity in the course builder where the image will be added, followed by selecting the "+" icon on the page. Next:

Select the "Image" option on the left.
Select the "From Unsplash" tab.
Use the search feature to find and locate images. Once you have identified an image, mouse over the image, and you'll see two icons appear:
1. - The "square" icon will allow you to crop the image before adding to the activity.
  - The "+" icon will allow you to add the image without modification.
Once the image is on the page/activity, you can modify the image further by hovering over the image with your mouse. The pencil icon will allow you to re-crop the image, while the square icon will allow you to adjust the image zoom level as well as image alignment. The icons for copying, deleting, and moving the images are also present.

Assignment Upload

The assignment upload feature allows course builders to add assignment submissions to courses. For example, learners may have an interactive PDF that must be completed as an assignment. The assignment upload feature makes it possible to have the learner upload their completed PDF into Blanchard Exchange. This can be a simple submission for the purposes of tracking completion, or can be configured to run through an evaluation process where the submitted content is reviewed by a facilitator or administrator before the assignment is considered complete.

To add the Assignment Upload feature to a course, enter the course builder, locate or add an activity, and select the "+" sign listed on the activity. On the left-hand side, select "Assignment Upload".

Figure 1

Once the assignment upload feature is listed on the page, you can insert both a title and a description (Figure 1-1 and Figure 1-2). Additionally, note the Evaluation check mark (Figure 1-3). Selecting this check mark enables the review process so that an administrator or instructor must review the file submission and grade it in order for the learner to achieve completion.

Once learners start submitting their assignments, the submissions can be reviewed under the Assessments tab of the project. Locate the assignment upload activity, and you'll see a series of stats indicating the number of submissions and their status. You can select any of the totals listed for additional information.

To review the submitted files, select the total for "All", "For Review" or "Reevaluate" (if applicable). One the participant list loads, select the check box(es) for the appropriate learners, followed by selecting the Download button (Figure 2-1). You'll be prompted to download a ZIP file containing the file submissions.

Figure 2

In addition, if you've using the evaluation feature, you can begin the grading process by selecting one or more users, followed by selecting the Evaluate button (Figure 2-2). Selecting one individual allows you to apply a unique evaluation, while selecting multiple users allows you to bulk evaluate using the same grading and optional comments.

On the evaluation screen, you have the following options in the drop-down menu:

Not Started: Reset the assignment submission status for the learner(s)
For Review: Applied once the learner has submitted their assignment.
Resubmit: Allows the assignment to be sent back to the learner, allowing them to submit a new file. This can be used if the assignment was not completed correctly and the learner should have an additional chance for submission.
Not passed: Indicates that the learner did not pass the assignment.
Passed: The learner successfully completed the assignment.

Additionally, a comments field is included to supply additional information to the learner(s) regarding the grading.

Post On Wall (Social File Sharing)

An activity can be added to the course builder allowing learners to share files with others in their project/cohort. For example, this could be an icebreaker activity where all learners share an image that they feel best-represents them.

Figure 3

Figure 4

To add this feature to a course, open the course builder, locate or add an activity, followed by selecting the "+" sign on the page. On the left-hand side, select the Post on Wall option. The feature can include both a title (Figure 3-1) as well as a description (Figure 3-2).

An example of how this activity appears on the Learner Portal can be seen under Figure 4.

Selected Components (Optional Assignments)

If you have an activity/page with multiple assignments, it is possible to mark specific assignments as optional. This allows to to provide one or more required assignments, while separately introducing supporting materials that are optional for the learner to download or complete.

To set specific assignments as optional, open the course builder, locate the activity, followed by mousing over the activity on the left-hand side. Select the "three dots", followed by selecting Settings:

Figure 5

Change the "Completion Criteria" drop-down to Selected Components (Figure 5-1).
All of the individual assignments on the activity will now be listed with a selected checkbox, indicating that the assignment is required.
Locate the individual assignment(s) that should be marked optional, and select the checkbox to the left of the assignment(s) (Figure 5-2). The assignment(s) will no longer count towards both the activity completion as well as the course completion.

Course Builder Resources

Resources are generally optional or supporting materials that do not require completion. For details on adding resources, see the video below.

Course Builder Segments

Segments act as digital table groups, allowing a project roster to be divided into smaller subsets of learners. Segments allow unique assignments and live events to be provided to these subsets of learners while maintaining administration under a single project.