Types of Course Shells

A course shell (also called a "course offering" or just a "course") is a web page inside of eConestoga where a user with editing access (usually an instructor) can post materials for users with viewing access (usually students) to view and interact with.

There are two main types of course shells that exist in eConestoga.

Live Courses

Live courses are the shells that students interact with. Live course shells are created automatically, and each is associated with a specific section of a course. Live course titles look like this:

COMM1085-24F-Sec3-College Reading & Writing Skills

Live course titles feature three primary identifiers:

Course Code
Semester (identified by the year and season-- e.g., Winter 2024 is abbreviated to 24W)
Section (a numbered class of students)

Students registered in a section are automatically enrolled in the associated live course shell, and that is the course where they will view content, complete assessments, and receive their grades.

Live course shells for any given semester are usually created about six weeks before the start of classes, though the timeline occasionally varies. By default, live courses become visible to students 3 days before the official start of the course, but instructors can change this date manually if they wish.

Model Courses

A Model course is a clean copy of a course's content that is prepared in advance by one or more appointed instructors. Those instructors will actively maintain and update the course's content so that it is ready to copy into new live courses each semester. Students never have access to model courses.

Model course titles look like this:

COMM1085-101-Model-ON-S-15-College Reading & Wr. Skills

Each model course is designed for a specific method of delivery, with a title featuring four primary identifiers, or delivery criteria:

Course Code
Version (a number that corresponds with a major revision of the course outline)
Delivery Mode (in-person, hybrid, online-synchronous, etc.)
Number of Weeks

When an instructor is assigned to teach a section of a course, they should copy content into their live course from a model course whose delivery criteria match their section's method of delivery.

Creating & Managing Model Courses

Model courses are created centrally by Chairs (and other employees they appoint to assist with that task). There should be exactly one model course in eConestoga for each unique combination of delivery criteria. E.g., if a course is delivered as 15-week In-Person, 15-week Online Synchronous, and compressed 7-week In-Person, one model course would be created for each of those three delivery methods, and each would have its content adapted for that delivery method.

Other Types of Courses

There are a few other types of shells that also exist in eConestoga.

Sandboxes

Each instructor is automatically given a Sandbox course that they can use to experiment with eConestoga's tools and features. If you need additional sandbox shells, you can create them using the Request Custom Shells tool in the Employee Portal.

Community Groups

A Community Group is a shell connected to a school, program, or campus, usually used to post announcements and link students to relevant policies and resources. Relevant full-time students are automatically enrolled in the group as long as they are currently enrolled in an ongoing course in that school, program, or campus. If you would like to request a new community group, instructions can be found here.

A few useful notes about community groups:

Only full-time students are enrolled in community groups. Part-time students never have access to them.
Students are un-enrolled from community groups during break semesters. They will be re-enrolled in the group a few weeks before they resume their next active semester.
Employee access to community groups is not automatic. If you don't have access to the community group for your school, department, or campus, contact your Coordinator, Program Manager, Chair, or any other person in charge of that group, and they can add you to it manually.

Utility Courses

A catch-all term that describes various shells that instructors are given access to in eConestoga. Examples of utility courses include:

eConestoga Instructor Tools - A variety of tools that instructors can use to manage their course and create custom content.
Teach Online - An informational course detailing best practices for teaching courses online.
Copyright Training for Faculty - Provided by the library, this course advises instructors on what types of materials they can bring into their course.
Etc.

Utility courses will generally be located on the "Permanent Courses" tab of the My Courses tileset on the eConestoga homepage.