Course Design Templates
Blackboard Course Templates
Distance Learning offers an online course template, providing a unique standard for design and format. When course instructors adopt this template, it supports the
effort to ensure distance learning courses at WCCCD will be accessible to all learners.
Getting Started
Course Design Template
Start by exploring the preview of “The Basic Template”. You will be required to login in order to access
the course template. Once you're inside the course, you can press the "Join this Course" button to enroll
in the course and proceed to explore the template as a student. Keep in mind that you are previewing
these templates from the student perspective.
For full instructor access to a template, you will need to submit a request to distance learning at
distnacelearning@wcccd.edu to have one copied to your personal course shell.
Caution: Requesting to have the template copied into a course that already contains other content could
result in that content being overwritten or deleted.
How do I modify these course templates?
Now that you have a course template, you may be wondering how to customize the template to fit your
specific course. You can also find a wealth of information on everything Blackboard, including
instructions for modifying a course, in the Blackboard Guides. In addition, Distance Learning
recommends that faculty enroll in the Blackboard Basics course to learn more about using Blackboard.
Template A: The Basic Template
This Distance Learning Basic template uses modules to structure the course, which is ideal for a course
that follows the flipped-course model. Each module can represent a week’s work, a broad topic, or even
one day of class. The discrete module model works well for students who respond to organized
structure. The Basic Template has a condensed home page, inline viewing of the course syllabus and
schedule, and less writing on each content page for easy viewing on mobile devices. The module content
is chunked into weekly modules. This model is designed to limit the amount of content on a single page,
chunking the information in smaller digestible bites.
Explore Live Preview
Getting Started
Start by exploring the preview of “The Basic Template”. You will be required to log in to access
the course template. Once you're inside the course, you can press the "Join this Course" button to enroll in the course and proceed to explore the template as a student. Keep in mind that you are previewing these templates from the student perspective.
For full instructor access to a template, you will need to submit a request to distance learning at
distnacelearning@wcccd.edu to have one copied to your personal course shell.
Caution: Requesting to have the template copied into a course that already contains other content could result in that content being overwritten or deleted.
Now that you have a course template, you may be wondering how to customize the template to fit your specific course. You can also find a wealth of information on everything Blackboard, including
instructions for modifying a course, in the Blackboard Guides. In addition, Distance Learning
recommends that faculty enroll in the Blackboard Basics course to learn more about using Blackboard.
This Distance Learning Basic template uses modules to structure the course, which is ideal for a course that follows the flipped-course model. Each module can represent a week’s work, a broad topic, or even one day of class. The discrete module model works well for students who respond to organized structure. The Basic Template has a condensed home page, inline viewing of the course syllabus and schedule, and less writing on each content page for easy viewing on mobile devices. The module content is chunked into weekly modules. This model is designed to limit the amount of content on a single page, chunking the information in smaller digestible bites.
