What are course management tools?

Overall, a Learning Management System (LMS) such as DC Connect includes a variety of tools for supporting course administration, delivery, documentation, teaching, and learning. Course management tools are those tools that serve to support the more administrative or managerial tasks of a course. The focus of this page is upon course management tools specific to DC Connect.

What is the purpose of course management tools?

Course management tools serve a variety of functions ranging from communicating course structure to supporting course schedules, engagement, time management, etc. The purpose of such tools is to support instructors and students alike in understanding and meeting course expectations, accessing course information, meeting deadlines, and/or tracking one’s engagement in course activities.

How to use course management tools

Overall, course management tools are designed to support instructors in organizing and sharing course-related information with their students. In DC Connect, each course management tool serves slightly different functionality. When choosing a tool for managing some aspect of your course, make sure that the tool you’ve selected adequately meets your intended goals. Some ‘best practices’ of course management tools include:

  • Uploading the approved Course Outline to the Overview page of the course Content.
  • Organize Content Modules by course week, using each Module description as an overview of weekly activities, to do lists, links to readings, etc.
  • Outline expectations for all assignments in the Assignments Tool so that students have quick access to details, due dates, and resources such as rubrics
  • Use the Calendar Tool to communicate important course dates or broadcast changes to scheduled dates