Title: Orientation to the Build Your Course Activities (BYCA)
Course: Dev_TOPKIT_SAMPLE_COURSE_Bauer_S_67 > Section: Week 0 - Getting Started

Now that you are oriented to <Replace - Course Title> as a student, it is time to complete a brief orientation to the Build Your Course Activities that you will complete throughout <Replace - Course Title>. This orientation will explain the overall purpose, goals, and structure of the Build Your Course Activities and identifies how the <Replace -  Department Name>will support you throughout this process. You are going to complete several activities to begin building your course, the most important is scheduling a consultation with your instructional designer.

Development Course

At the beginning of <Replace - Course Title>, you have been assigned an instructional designer, who will create an online course development section for you in <Replace - Your LMS>. This online course section, which is independent of the <Replace - Course Title> course section, is where you will complete the Build Your Course Activities. Think of this as a “sandbox area” where you can begin to develop your actual course. Doing this helps you to gain proficiency with <Replace - Your LMS> tools and implement best practices such as properly formatting pages, giving you a chance to experiment with the features before going “live” (teaching your course to actual students). Remember that these activities are not simply meant to keep you busy in <Replace - Course Title> , but to prepare you for the unique online teaching and learning experiences that await you.

Goals and Structure

The overall goal of the Build Your Course Activities is for you to complete, at a minimum:

- Syllabus
- Course Expectations
- Course Orientation/Instructor/Course Introduction
- Schedule
- One module of content (including objectives, interaction, activities, and assessment)

In the <Replace - Course Title> course, content and activities are completely online. You will have Build Your Course Activities for most online weeks. Activities include tasks such as exploring communication and collaboration tools, creating and editing content, creating assignments, building modules, and managing your course.

This may sound like an overwhelming prospect, but these activities are deliberately structured and sequenced throughout the weeks in this course. Upon completion of<Replace - Course Title> , you will walk away with an online course that is already in development, which gives you a head start in teaching your future course.<Replace - Course Title> ends with the Showcase, in which you will show off your burgeoning online course to peers.

The Role of the <Replace -  Department Name>

As you build your course, there are several teams in <Replace -  Department Name> that will support you. You have been assigned an instructional designer, who will guide you throughout<Replace - Course Title> . You will be prompted at key milestones in the course to schedule a consultation with your instructional designer to review your progress. Keep in mind that the Build Your Course Activities will be assessed by your instructional designer, rather than the<Replace - Course Title> facilitator. You can always contact your instructional designer between consultations with questions as well. This relationship will continue after you have successfully completed<Replace - Course Title> .

Our technical support team, <Replace - Name and link to your Online Support web site>, is also here to help you with any questions you have related to <Replace - Your LMS> or difficulty completing Build Your Course Activities. Optional to list your department services here>>>> In addition, <Replace -  Department Name and update services accordingly> offers graphic designers, a video production team, and multimedia specialists to enhance your development course and beyond. You will learn more about these teams and the support they provide to you during Week 5.

TOPKit Sample Course was prepared by the University of Central Florida (UCF). This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International License.