Suggestions on how create one course shell for an 8-week course and a 16-week course

Kay.H.645

An instructor asked me the following question: "I need one reusable course shell for both 8-week and 16-week sections. Almost all content is the same, but Week 1’s Menu & Recipes needs two different versions. I want to store both versions in the shell, show students only the version appropriate to that section, and avoid duplicating the rest of Week 1. I also want the Content layout to remain clean and easy to manage." What recommendations can I make?

Course Design.jpg

Carolina.A.4286

Hi @Kay.H.645

Thank you for reaching out to the Brightspace Community!

One option the instructor may consider is using Release Conditions in combination with Sections.

The instructor could keep both versions of the Week 1 Menu & Recipes content within the same course shell and then apply release conditions based on Section Enrollment so that learners only see the version intended for their section.

For example:

• Create a section for the 8-week offering and a section for the 16-week offering.
• Create two versions of the Week 1 Menu & Recipes content.
• Apply a Classlist > Section Enrollment release condition to each version:
  • The 8-week version is visible only to learners enrolled in the 8-week section.
  • The 16-week version is visible only to learners enrolled in the 16-week section.

This approach allows the instructor to maintain a single course shell, avoid duplicating the rest of Week 1 and the remaining course content, and provide learners with only the content intended for their specific section.

For more information on Release Conditions, please see: https://community.d2l.com/brightspace/kb/articles/3432-about-release-conditions

If the differences between the 8-week and 16-week offerings expand beyond a few topics, the instructor may also consider placing the section-specific materials into separate modules and applying the release conditions at the module level. This can make the course easier to manage over time.

I hope this helps!

Carolina