How to Navigate Learning Materials

Action Menu

The Action Menu offers links to learning tools the instructor has made available for a particular page of content and appears above each page in a Course Content Module (learning pathway, course path, course notes path). The Action Menu lets you navigate forward and backwards through the pages (the Previous and Next buttons). You will see Previous, Next, Contents, Retrace, and Refresh on every course content page. Additional tools will follow as links after these four.

• Previous: Displays the previous content page in the ordered sequence of topics. The sequence of topics is defined by the order in the Table of Contents.

• Next: Displays the next content page in the ordered sequence of topics.

• Contents: Takes you to a Table of Contents, listing all pages in the module.

• Retrace: Takes you back through the steps you followed if you viewed content pages out of sequence. If you jump to a different spot in the course by following a hyper-link, pressing retrace will take you back.

• Refresh: Reloads the last page you were looking at if you are temporarily taken away from the page.

More About the Action Menu

The Action Menu shown above contains extra links to the right of the navigation links. There are links to other tools such as Glossary, Search, and Discussions. These items can vary depending on the tools provided by your instructor for each page.

Hints:

• Use the WebCT navigation tools whenever possible.

• Use ‘breadcrumbs’ to return to a previous section.

• Use the Action Menu to navigate through a Content Module.

• If you are still lost after trying the above hints, use the Back button on your browser or go back to the homepage or contents and reselect a page.

Table of Contents

When you click on the Contents link in the Action Menu you will see a listing of all the files in the content module. The files are organized in different levels. Note the small triangles next to some items. This means that the item can be expanded. For example, clicking on the triangle next to item (2) will expand the section to show sub-sections. Clicking on any of the links will take you directly to the page.

The Table of Contents will sometimes be displayed at the start of your learning materials, and can be accessed from every page. In some courses, you will find the table of contents displayed in a frame on the left side of every screen.

Tip: Note the small triangles next to some items. This means that the item can be expanded.

Course Glossary

The Glossary link on the Action Menu accesses the searchable glossary. The lower frame displays the glossary tool and allows you to access the glossary:

• Click on one of the letters from A-Z to view only those glossary keywords beginning with that letter.

• Click on the words View All to show the complete glossary in alphabetical order.

• Click on Search to bring up a text-entry field into which a search-word can be typed. Both the glossary keywords and definitions are searched to find a match for the word.

Text Search: The Search tool allows you to search the whole course content for a particular keyword.

My Notes: The My Notes tool allows you to make personal notes on a particular topic.

Goals: Clicking on the Goals link displays the learning goals for the current topic. If no learning goals exist for the current topic, the icon will not appear in the Action Menu.

Self Test: The Self Test tool allows you to test your knowledge on the current topic. If no self-test questions exist for the current topic, the icon will not appear in the Action Menu.

References: The References tool allows you to view an article, URL, or book reference that may be relevant to the current topic. If the instructor has not added references to the current page, the icon will not appear in the Action Menu.

Audio: Clicking on the Audio link lists the audio files the instructor has associated with the current topic. If there are none, this icon will not appear in the Action Menu.

Video: Clicking on the Video link lists the video files the instructor has associated with the current topic. If there are none, this icon will not appear in the Action Menu.

Hyper-linked Words and Icons within the Body of a Text

• The hyper-linked words in the body of a text usually take you to a glossary definition of the word. Clicking on the word will pop up a small window with the glossary definition.

• The little icons throughout the text will take you either to an example, additional information, a diagram, or an interactive exercise.

• In general, clicking on these icons brings up a new browser window. The new window will be divided into two frames, with the top frame containing Close, Back and Forward buttons.

• To close the browser window and return to the page of content, press the Close button. The Back and Forward buttons navigate through the bottom frame of the new browser window