ARCHIVED: Oncourse CourseNetworking CN (Beta): Overview

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Important:
Oncourse is retired. For details, see ARCHIVED: About the Oncourse retirement.

What it does

CourseNetworking, or the CN, is an academic social networking site that connects teachers and students from Indiana University with others around the world based on shared interests and class subjects. The CourseNetworking CN (Beta) tool in Oncourse links Oncourse site participants to a corresponding course site in the CN, which is automatically activated when the first participant clicks the CourseNetworking CN (Beta) tool from the Oncourse site menu. Instructors can edit the settings of a CN site and hide tools they don't want to use. Each participant's CN account is created when he or she clicks the tool in Oncourse.

Key concepts

Courses: Anyone, student or instructor, can create a course site in CourseNetworking to invite other individuals to learn about a subject. Typically, these will be subjects similar to those you might study in a formal instructional setting. Courses can be available to everyone, to individuals invited via email, or to individuals with a PIN you create and provide.

Tools and features: Each CN course site contains the following tools and features:

  • Social engagement: Posts, Polls, badges, automatically created hashtags (based on instructor input), email, and Classcast
  • Global learning: Global Posts and a built-in translation tool
  • Learning management: Tasks, Syllabus, GradeBook, DropBox, activity and engagement analytics, and post controls
    Note:
    CourseNetworking's learning management tools are separate from the corresponding tools in Oncourse.

Conexus: A Conexus is a discussion group on any topic you choose or assign. Anyone, student or instructor, can create a Conexus site to invite others to participate in team collaboration, group networking, and other activities. A Conexus has fewer tools than a course site, most of which are for communication and social networking.

Anar seeds: Anar seeds (pomegranate seeds) are the symbols used to reward CN members for various activities. You'll see the total number of seeds you've earned throughout the system on your Homepage screen. In each course or Conexus, you'll see the number you've earned in that site. Instructors can use Anar seeds to monitor students' activity and encourage participation. They can adjust the course Anar table, and use Anar seeds in assigning course grades or bonus points.

Global Posts: The CN connects learners studying similar subjects from all over the world. Each CN course belongs to a category (e.g., biology or English). Global posts are created in CN courses from within the same category. In a CN course, members can create posts and make them visible to global classmates, or view and reflect on posts from global classmates and global instructors.

CN Social Portfolio: All CN users obtain a life-long Social Portfolio on the CN after their accounts are created. Built on the user profile page, this Social Portfolio has a unique URL, which can be easily distributed through email signature, resumes, and other social media sites for others to view. To protect personal privacy, users are able to select visibility settings for each piece of information on this page. The CN Social Portfolio displays your basic information, past experience logos, badges, social network on the CN, and posts. Users can also add self-defined sections to showcase their work samples, resumes, achievements, and other personal materials.

Things to consider

  • CourseNetworking CN (Beta) is a default tool in all Oncourse sites. Instructors can remove the tool if they don't plan to use it within a course. For instructions, see ARCHIVED: Adding, removing, hiding, or reordering tools.
  • You'll receive a welcome email message with the CN ID and password of your new account after clicking the tool in Oncourse for the first time. You can use this password to access your account directly from thecn.com or the CN mobile app. When you access your account from within Oncourse, you won't need to log in separately, and you'll go directly to your course site; when you go directly to the CN, you'll start from your Homepage, and will need to go to your course to participate in course activities.
  • To change the default password you were issued (or to change your password later), in the right corner of the black navigation bar, click the gear icon, and select Change Password.
  • Everyone affiliated with IU is automatically placed in the IU Next Conexus.
  • You can control who can see most information about you, or information you post, in the CN. However, your full name is automatically entered when your account is created through Oncourse, and is always visible to all CN members. Since anyone can create a CN account, this becomes essentially public information.

Help documentation

For help documentation about CourseNetworking CN (Beta), see ARCHIVED: CourseNetworking CN (Beta).

This is document bclm in the Knowledge Base.
Last modified on 2018-01-18 17:16:14.