ANGEL Tip #7: Customizing Your Course Home Page

As you navigate your ANGEL course shells, do you ever think, “Boy, I wish I could do …..?” Sometimes you want to rearrange the course home page to better appeal to your particular students.  You may see some components you would like to take off the page and some you would like to add to the page.  I, personally, like the course home page to highlight any announcement I make.  I do this by  having only the announcement component on my course home page.  A Math instructor, however, may want to have a calculator on his/her course home page or a Composition instructor may want to include a dictionary.

You can add and remove components on your course home page very easily.  Right under the title of your course, you should see an “Edit Page” link.  If you click on that link, it will open up the editing page.

To delete a component, just hover your cursor over the shaded area of the component title and click the "X" button on the right hand side.  

If you want to add a component to the home page, just click the “Add Component” button and check the box in front of the title of the component  you would like to add.  Click the “Add Selected” button and the "Save" button.  And it’s done!

You can also have a color theme for your course.  This will also provide a background image to the course that you can relate to your subject matter.  For instance, if you teach History, you may want to add a globe or, if you teach Early Childhood, you many want to add a theme of little hands.  This is also very easy to add.

1. Go to the "Manage" tab in your course.
2. Under Course Settings, click the "Course Theme Selector" link.

You should see available themes under the drop down arrow. You can look at how your course will appear by clicking on each theme.  However, your course theme won't change until you select the "Apply" button and then the "OK" button.

If you have any questions please contact angel@northshore.edu.

Let us know what themes you are using and what components you use on your home page for your courses.