Publishing a Syllabus
I published a syllabus and it is not showing up on Forum. What should I do?
If you do not receive any errors when publishing syllabi and are still not seeing the course appear on Forum, here are a few things you can check:
Republish the syllabus to make sure all details have gone through
Make sure that the syllabus in Course Builder is associated with the correct semester and that the same semester also exists in Forum
If you're using assessment-type grading (i.e. weighting assignments and class scores with % weights), make sure the Course Score Calculation section of the course page totals 100%
Allow extra time for publishing to go through. Sometimes Course Builder needs extra time to make sure larger syllabi to render
If any of these solutions fail, please reach out to your program administrator for assistance. Please also file a bug report.
Publishing a Lesson Plan or Assignment
I published a lesson plan and it is not showing up on Forum. What should I do?
Republish the lesson plan to make sure all details have gone through
Republish the syllabus so any syllabus-level changes are reflected in the lesson plan
Allow extra time for publishing to go through. Sometimes Course Builder needs extra time for larger lesson plans, activities, and changes to render
I have verified the lesson plan and there are no errors, but when I select “Publish,” I get an error. How do I resolve this?
Refresh your browser page
If an error exists but isn't being highlighted correctly, please check the following:
On the Basic Class Information page, make sure that there are no empty outcomes
On breakout steps, ensure that there are breakout resources set for each group
On the Resources tab, check for any broken/empty links or files
If any of these solutions fail, please reach out to your program administrator for assistance. Please also file a bug report.
I received an error about section start times when publishing a lesson plan. What should I do?
If you get an error about section start times, make sure the syllabus was published and the course was set up correctly on Forum. Lesson plans can only be published when the syllabus has been published and the course has been set up on Forum with a start date and weekly meeting times. If the course has several sections on Forum, make sure all the sections are set up correctly.
I received an error about learning outcomes when publishing a lesson plan. What should I do?
If you get an error about learning outcomes, check the syllabus and lesson plan to make sure the learning outcomes tagged are compatible with the course type. If the course type is compatible with GLOs but includes course-specific LOs (or vice versa), remove the incompatible learning outcomes and publish the lesson plan again.
I received an error about classes having already begun when publishing a lesson plan. What should I do?
Check the dates of the existing lesson plans. If the lesson plan is set for a date in the past or has already occurred, then it will not publish. Make sure to check that the class meeting number for a lesson plan on Forum is sometime in the future to be able to publish.
I received an error when publishing an assignment. What should I do?
If an assignment is not publishing correctly, make sure to check for any issues with the assignment details:
Check the LOs tagged in the assignment for any missing or empty LOs where nothing was selected from the dropdown menu. Delete the missing or empty LO or make a selection before republishing
If the assignment title is too long, try shortening the title and republish
Make sure the release date of the assignment is set correctly for the course. The date should be set for the future (i.e. not yesterday)
I published the syllabus, but I don’t see the lesson plans or assignments in Forum, what should I do?
Publishing a syllabus will not publish its associated lesson plans or assignments. Make sure you open each individual lesson plan and assignment and publish each to Forum.
General FAQ
Why can't I publish a course, lesson plan or assignment?
If you don't see the publish button at all, make sure you have the correct role on the course. You'll need to be a Reviewer role on the course or an admin for your organization to publish courses. See more info here for how to check your course role
If you see the publish button and can click it, but the publish fails, check to see if there are any highlighted errors in the syllabus or lesson plan. You'll see highlighted errors marked with a red warning sign. See the other articles for troubleshooting specific issues with publishing
Why aren't my course's lesson plans showing up on the correct date in the Forum section?
Make sure that the lesson plans are numbered correctly on the Course Builder course page, meaning:
There are no repeats of the same number (e.g. Session 1, Session 1, Session 2)
There are no skipped numbers (e.g. Session 1, Session 3, Session 4)
If you see any numbering issues, be sure to resolve them by clicking on the edit icon next to the lesson plan title:
Can I create different versions of the same course in Course Builder that correspond to different sections in Forum?
No; since Course Builder has no notion of sections (see here), it does not support creating variations of the same course that correspond to different Forum sections.
If your program requires that the same course has content variations for different sections, the best solution would be to set them up as different courses in Course Builder. However, talk to your Academic Program Manager to understand the best option.
Why can't I access the PDFs when I click on the Review Syllabus or Lesson Plan buttons in Forum?
Make sure that you're able to access Course Builder. You can check this by clicking on the Course Builder button on the section page in Forum, or by reaching out to your administrator
Check that you have been added to the course as (at least) an Instructor role by reaching out to your administrator or course manager
If you've verified you have access to Course Builder and have been correctly added to the course, then try republishing the course and/or lesson plan. If you don't have access to republish, contact your administrator or course manager to ask them to publish
How do I report a bug in Course Builder?
To file a bug, click on the question mark icon at the top right of the Course Builder page:
If you are still having trouble with any of your publishing attempts or Course Builder in general, please reach out to your program administrator or contact helpdesk@minervaproject.com.