• Unit 3: Navigating your Course

    By this point, you probably feel reasonably comfortable navigating a Saylor Academy course. Hopefully, that means we have made the structure and formatting logical and have done our part to explain everything. The main purpose of this unit, then, is to provide you with some tips and information about the supplementary tools that can be used to help you make your way through a Saylor course. We will start with a brief overview of what we expect you to know so far, then introduce you to some of these other navigational aids that you may have seen but not yet used.


    Completing this unit should take you approximately 40 minutes.

    • 3.1 Recap of What You Already Know

      • Recap of Primary Navigation Page

        Watch this short video that is meant to provide an overview of the basic course structure and navigation, which at this point you will be somewhat familiar with.

    • 3.2 Activity Completion

      • About Activity Completion Page

        Watch this short video to learn about how we have set up completion tracking and how you can use this feature to help you work your way through a course.

        Note: Not specifically mentioned in this video, but of importance, is the fact that using the manually checked activity completion boxes is not required to earn a certificate of completion. As you should be aware from having read a course syllabus, the only requirement for completing a course is taking and passing the final exam. We do encourage you to use this completion tracking feature however, as it will help you in tracking your progress through a course.

      • Marking Activities as Complete URL

        If you have not already done so, go back through the course and check off all of the activities that you have successfully completed. The link provided will take you back to Unit 1 of the course.

        You should notice that if you attempted and submitted answers for the Unit 2 Assessment, you will already have some sort of activity completion indicated, showing that you have either attempted and passed the quiz, or have attempted it but did not score a "passing" grade. Even though scores on unit assessments don't count towards your overall course grade, as previously mentioned, we do still generally use a 70% cut off score to indicate "successful completion," when activities can be automatically graded (note: our ability to tie activity completion to a specific score is a recent feature. In setting up some previous courses activity completion may have been triggered by getting any score on a quiz. Likewise, some activities in other courses may be automatically marked as complete after viewing them, rather than based on manually marking them. Our goal is to standardize all courses in time.)

    • 3.3 Using the Navigation Block

      • About the Navigation Block Page

        Watch this video, which will explain how to use the Navigation pane found on the left side of all course pages to move through course units and activities.

      • Navigate using Navigation Block URL

        Use the link to go back to the course homepage. From there, use the navigation block to jump around to various sections and resources in the course. End this activity by navigating to the video resource found in subunit 3.4.

    • 3.4 Using Progress Bars

      • About the Progress Bars Page
        Watch this brief video explaining how Progress Bars found in courses can be used as a course navigation tool (in addition to their primary function as a visual display of a student's course completion).

        Note: It should be mentioned that it is not required that progress bars be 100% filled out for you to complete a course. These are a tool to help you remember where you've progressed in a course, but do not directly impact whether or not you will earn a certificate. That being said, if you notice that your progress bar is not being updated, please let us know, and we will look into that for you.
      • Review Previously Completed Work Page

        Using the course Progress Bar, navigate to sections of the course that you have already completed. Complete this activity by using the progress bar to advance to the video in Subunit 3.5.

    • 3.5 Using Activities Block

      • About the Activities Block Page

        Watch this short video demonstrating how to use the Activities Block to identify and navigate to the various resources and activities found within a course.

      • Navigate Using Activity Block Page

        From the course homepage, locate the Activities block. Review some of the previous videos and activities listed under the "Resources" page. Then, use the link to the "Quizzes" page found on this block to review the previous and upcoming assessments for this course. 

        Take some notes about how the various methods for navigating through the course functioned, and why a particular way may be useful for your own purposes. End this activity by clicking on the "Unit 3 Assessment" link.

    • Unit 3 Assessment