Introduction for Faculty and Staff

This page shows instructions and tips on how to add, remove, and manage content in your course or organization site in My.Seneca.

My.Seneca sites are course or organization shells that have been created for a faculty or staff in order to make use of its different tools and features to facilitate content to different students or users. Organizations and Courses are closely related, the biggest difference is that Organizations are managed by the Organization Leader who is responsible for the enrolment/removal of users for the site, while Courses are managed by Instructors.

 

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Accessing Site

To access a course or organization you must first login to My.Seneca. From there you can select the course or organization you would like to access by referring to one of the Modules in the Portal.

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My.Seneca - Subjects Module

The My.Seneca Subjects module allows you to access course sites that you are enrolled in. The module will automatically organize your courses based on courses you are part of or that you are teaching.

Quick Tip Available

 

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My Organizations Plus Module

The My Organization Plus module allows you to access organizations that you are part of.

 

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Course Availability

Note: setting course availability does NOT enable Students to see the course before the start date set in the registration system.

Before students can access a course or organization, you must make it available. Follow these steps to set course availability:

  1. Locate the Control Panel menu, expand the Customization section and click on Properties.

  2. On the new page locate the Set availability area, set the option Make Course Available to Yes to make the course visible to Students or set the value to No to disable access.

    availability-1

    Note: All new courses are set to Not available.

  3. Click Submit.

Quick Tip Available

 

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My.Seneca Course Planning

Here are some suggestions about what should go where when planning your course site.

Area/Button/Link Description Possible Resources
Announcements Announcements post timely information critical to course success. Announcements occupy the Main Frame upon entry to a course Web site and can also appear on the My.Seneca Homepage in the My.Seneca Announcements module. • Welcome Message.
• Weekly Announcements.
• Due Date Reminders.
• Class Cancellations.
• Notification of information added to the course site.
• Links to specific areas of the course.
• Homework Reminders.
Course Information Course Information may display descriptive materials about the course. This is a good place to post documents related to administrative functions of the course. • Link to the official College course outline.
• Weekly schedule/timeline.
• Due Dates.
• Course Introduction / Overview.
• Seneca’s Acceptable Use Policy.
• FAQ’s or general Help files.
• General Instructions e.g. guidelines for group.
Faculty Information Faculty Information provides background and contact information on the person teaching the course. It may also contain key contact information. • Faculty information including name, email, office location, extension, office hours.
• Name and contact information for the coordinator or Chair.
• Link to school or program website.
Course Documents Course Documents include learning materials and lesson aids. • Course Notes.
• Reading List.
• Articles to supplement topics.
• Reference Documents.
• Case studies.
• Access to textbook resources.
• Course cartridge information.
• Review Questions. • Provide information on learning skills such as report writing, time management skills etc.
Assignments List of the due dates, descriptions of assignments and criteria for submission may be posted here. This is also a place to place links to tests/quizzes created in blackboard. • Assignments criteria, descriptions.
• Submission criteria.
• Post examples of excellence for student reference.
• Marking schemes.
• Due dates.
• Quizzes and Surveys.
Discussion Board The Discussion Board is a communication medium for posting and responding to messages. Conversations are logged, organized and grouped in threads that contain a main posting and all related replies. • Place to share information and ideas online.
• Students can post and describe web resources that they have found which support a course topic.
• Debate a topic.
• Explore an issue.
• Evaluation of web resources.
• Extend the class discussion.
External Links External Links connect course users to outside learning materials. Here, hyperlinks and brief descriptions for each external source may be posted. • General websites .
• Links to career related sites.
• Link to the Learning Commons.
• Post web resources to supplement a topic.
Tools Tools that can be used in the course Web site. Tools include: Journals, Team site, Edit Home Page, Personal Information, Course Calendar, View Grades, Student Manual, Tasks...
To create a link to the Tools Area:
  1. Enable Edit Mode ON.
  2. On the select Create Tool Link.
  3. Provide the name Tools, from the type list select Tools Area and place a check mark for Available to Users.
  4. Click Submit.
 • Set up the online grade book and post grades.
• Invite students to post a personal web page.
• Send email to individual students, groups of students or the whole class.
• Meet with students online in the Virtual Classroom or Lightweight Chat areas.
• Post all important dates in the course calendar.
• Student access to the Blackboard Manual.
Course Map Allows course Web site navigation through a collapsible tree directory.  
Control Panel Menu Accesses the Course Control Panel. This area is used to set up and administer a course Web site.