Courses

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Courses are structured programs of instruction centered on a specific subject and grade level. Beacon links standard sets to each course, which then houses curriculum components related to the standards.

Courses List

The Courses screen lists your courses, any courses that were shared with you, and all of the courses created for your district. You can sort, filter, and search the course list to locate the one you want to view. Selecting a course allows you to view and edit the course. You can also add a new course by creating one from scratch or by importing materials into Beacon. Once you have created a course, teachers can link their plans to the corresponding course.

Table of courses with filters for subjects, grade levels, and access levels.

#

Field

Description

1

New

Opens a drop-down menu to create a new course using any of the following options:

  • Create Courses – Create one or multiple courses at once.

  • Import from Computer – Create a new course by importing one or more files from your device.

  • Import from Drive – Create a new course by importing one or more files from a connected Google Drive account.

2

Subject

Filters the table by subject.

3

Grade Level

Filters the table by grade level.

4

Access Level

Filters the table to show only private courses to which you have access or to show only district-level courses.

5

Search by Title

Filters the table to show only courses with titles that match the search criteria.

6

Reset Filters

Clears all filters.

7

List

Displays all of the courses that you have access to, according to the applied filters. Columns include:

  • Title – The name of the course.

  • Access – Whether the course is private (belonging to or shared with you) or available district-wide.

  • Subjects – Lists the subjects that the course is tagged with, if any.

  • Grade Levels – Lists the grade levels that the course is tagged with, if any.

  • Delete – Allows you to delete the course.

When you select a course from the list, it opens in the Hub, Editor, or Attachment Viewer. The sections below provide more information about these views.

Hub

The Hub view presents a high-level overview of the course, including the standard sets, units, lessons, resources, and other attachments linked to the course.

Overview of a course hub, showing learning standards, resources. and attachments.

#

Field

Description

1

More Actions

Opens a drop-down menu that contains the following options:

  • Edit – Allows you to change the name of the course.

  • Delete – Deletes the course.

2

Share Settings

Opens a window where you can view and edit current permissions, share with more users, or remove access for users who no longer need it. For more information, see Sharing Curriculum Components.

3

Standard Sets

Displays standard sets and standards linked to the course. Standards linked to units, lessons, and resources in the course appear in blue.

4

View

Opens a drop-down menu where you can select the following views:

  • Hub – Opens the hub, where you can view standards coverage as well as linked units and lessons.

  • Editor – Takes you to the built-in word processor.

  • Attachment – Opens the selected file in the Attachment Viewer.

Select the Star icon to mark a file as the primary file. The primary file opens as the default when a user accesses the curriculum component.

The Editor option exists by default and cannot be removed.

5

Relationships

Lists the units, resources, attachments, and standard sets linked to the course. Select the Add icon to link a new item. When you hover over an item in the list, the Unlink icon appears, allowing you to remove it if it was added accidentally or is no longer needed.

6

Units

Lists units in the course. In this section, you can:

  • Add a New Unit.

  • Move a unit to a different position in the list.

  • Open the unit in Preview mode.

  • Open a unit in a new tab.

Selecting a unit opens the list of lessons linked to the unit. In this section, you can:

  • Add Lesson.

  • Open the lesson in Preview mode.

Editor

The Editor is Beacon’s built-in word processor. You can use this handy tool to create documents such as templates, course syllabi, unit outlines, lessons, activities, and so on. To learn how to use features in the Editor, see Using the Editor.

Attachment Viewer

The Attachment Viewer shows any document you have uploaded as an attachment to the course. Select the file name from the View drop-down to open it in the left panel. The fields and controls available in the viewer depend on the file type. For an explanation of common icons, see Common Icons in Beacon.