Run a course with student sites

A course shares an object collection with sites made by student groups. Each group works on its own exhibition; course staff can enter its site through the course screen.

Course creation appears only for accounts with course access. If the option is absent, you can still create a normal exhibition site.

Create the course collection

When creating a project, choose the course option. Add the objects the class will work with and review their titles, credits and source addresses.

Prepare a small sample narrative and the workshop quick guide before the session. Students need both a technical route and a question they can investigate with the materials.

Open the course’s management screen with its access password when prompted. Keep that password separate from the join codes you give students.

Give students a class code

Open Course, choose New code and select the class-code option. Add a label so you can distinguish sections and set an expiry where needed.

Students enter this code when creating their site. The convenor of an existing site can also enter it in that site’s settings. Joining attaches the site to the course and brings in its collection.

A student group should join with its site, rather than treating a staff code as a class code.

Add teaching staff

Create a separate staff code for instructors. Whoever enters it joins as an instructor, so share it only with the intended teaching team.

The course screen lists enrolled sites and their members. Open a site from that list to review its stories and help with authoring. Instructor access is tied to course membership.

Manage the course over time

Deactivate a code when it should admit no one else. Deactivation does not remove sites or staff who already joined.

Removing a site from a course lets the group continue independently. The site keeps the objects it received as ordinary objects, and course staff lose their course-derived membership in that site. Review the confirmation before removing it.

Understand what a code protects

A join code controls course membership. It does not restrict access to externally hosted images. Those images remain on the servers their manifests point to; a class code or story key does not make a public image private.

Check the material’s publication conditions before sharing it through a course.

Before the workshop: test the join process with a teaching example, confirm the object collection and give students the short guide link. Use planning an exhibition for the narrative exercise.