Item description visible to students and staff:
“Welcome to your module. In here you will find important information about your module, including the module guide, contact details for your lecturers, and the module reading and resource list.”

Required
The 'About this module' item should remain as the first item under Course Content. The item name, 'About this module', and item description should not be deleted or modified.

The ‘About this module’ section of the Course Content area in Ultra module-level courses should contain the following items:
• a written and/or video welcome to the module;
• the module guide;
• details of how to contact staff teaching on the module;
• the reading list for the module.

Recommended
Staff may like to include a ‘Module FAQs’ discussion. By encouraging students to post general or frequently asked questions, staff may be able to avoid the use of email to answer the same questions multiple times. Alternatively, staff may like to include a pre-written list of module FAQs.

To note
Contact information for all core University services is provided via the ‘Assist’ tab in the main NILE navigation menu, and is updated and maintained centrally, therefore this information does not need adding into individual Ultra courses. Staff may like to advise their students of this in their NILE courses. Additionally, the 'Assist' tab is promoted to NILE users on the NILE Institution Page (the NILE landing page).

Item description visible to students and staff:
“In here you will find the submission points for your module assessments, along with information related to the assessments for this module (e.g., assessment briefs, submission instructions, and deadlines).”

Required
The 'Assessment and submission' item should remain as the second item under Course Content. The item name, 'Assessment and submission', and item description should not be deleted or modified.

The ‘Assessment and submission’ section of the Course Content area in Ultra module-level courses should contain the following items:
• assessment brief(s), including information on acceptable file formats for submission, word count (or equivalent), assessment weighting, and which learning outcomes are being assessed;
• assessment submission and feedback dates, including re-sit dates;
• assessment arrangements for students with additional needs;
• assessment criteria, including a copy of, or link to, any assessment rubric (or similar) being used;
• any assessment-specific materials;
• guidance about the process by which the assessment item(s) should be submitted;
• the assessment submission point(s).

A link to the Learning Technology Team's NILE assignment submission guide for students will be available by default in this area.

Recommended
Staff may like to add a video introduction to assessments in addition to the formal assessment brief. Staff may also like to set up an assessment FAQs discussion, or may prefer to include a pre-written list of assessment FAQs. Staff may like to make use of sub-folders where there are multiple assessment items.

Item description visible to staff:
“This folder contains information for staff and external examiners about the grading, feedback and verification processes carried out for this module’s assessments. This folder and all items within it must always remain hidden from students.”

Required
The 'Grading, feedback, and verification' item should remain as the third item under Course Content, and must always remain hidden from students. The item name, 'Grading, feedback, and verification', and item description should not be deleted or modified.

Staff should use this area of their Ultra course to store materials relating to the grading, feedback and verification process, including internal moderation records, and any materials for the External Examiner.

GDPR information to note
This area is hidden from students and must always remain so, as should all items stored within this area. Should items stored in this area of the module be made available to students, it may constitute a data breach and will need to be reported to the University’s Records Management Office for further investigation.

Required
The teaching and learning content and activities should be placed in the Course Content section of the Ultra course, after the ‘About this module’, ‘Assessment and submission’, and the (hidden from students) ‘Grading, feedback and verification’ areas.

Use of top-level learning modules and folders (structured, for example, week-by-week or thematically) will be necessary to create a logical layout for students to be able to find materials, as this will be the area where students will spend most of their time.

Recommended
Use of learning modules is recommended for top-level course content items. Rather than displaying all course content at once, staff may like to use release conditions to automatically release course content. Alternatively, staff may prefer to manually hide course content at the start of the module, and release content each week.

Item description visible to students and staff:
“Welcome to your programme. In here you will find important information about your programme, including contact details for your programme leader.”

Required
The 'My programme' item should remain as the first item under Course Content. The item name, 'My programme', and item description should not be deleted or modified.

The ‘My programme’ section of the Course Content area in Ultra module-level courses should contain the following items as appropriate:
• a written and/or video welcome to the programme;
• the programme guide;
• details of how to contact key programme staff.

Recommended
Staff may like to promote the MyEngagement tool to students in their programme-level NILE course, so that students can find out who their personal tutor is, and can track their engagement with their studies. 
As the programme-level NILE course contains all students on all years of the programme, staff may like to make use of the groups tool to organise their programme-level NILE course (e.g., by creating groups for first, second, and third year students). While annoucements will be sent to all students, use of groups can allow messages to be sent to just one group of students, and can allow content items in the NILE course to be made available to specific groups, rather than to all students.
Staff may also like to include a ‘Programme FAQs’ discussion. By encouraging students to post general or frequently asked questions, staff may be able to avoid the use of email to answer the same questions multiple times. Alternatively, staff may like to include a pre-written list of programme FAQs.

To note
Contact information for all core University services is provided via the ‘Assist’ tab in the main NILE navigation menu, and is updated and maintained centrally, therefore this information does not need adding into individual Ultra courses. Staff may like to advise their students of this in their NILE courses. Additionally, the 'Assist' tab is promoted to NILE users on the NILE Institution Page (the NILE landing page).

Required
Other information, content and activities relating to the programme can be placed in the Course Content section of the Ultra course, after the ‘My programme’ item.

Use of top-level learning modules and folders will be necessary to create a logical layout for students to be able to find materials.

Recommended
Use of learning modules is recommended for top-level course content items. Rather than displaying all course content at once, staff may like to use release conditions to automatically release course content. Alternatively, staff may prefer to manually hide course content at the start of the module, and release content each week.

Staff can use Class Collaborate to set up, run, and manage synchronous online classroom sessions, meetings, tutorials, etc. Students use this tool to join these sessions, and access session recordings.

Recommended
Where Collaborate is used, in advance of their first session it is useful to provide students with clear instructions about how to find the session, and the need to access Collaborate via an up-to-date browser with a good Internet connection. At the start of their first session, it is worthwhile spending time with students explaining the functionality of Collaborate, including how to participate in the chat, draw on whiteboards, take part in polls, etc.

Staff using a virtual classroom for the first time are advised to meet with their learning technologist, to find out how to use and get the best from virtual classrooms.

Visible to staff only. Staff can use this tool to see how their course will look and function to students.

Recommended
Use of Student Preview to check through courses is highly recommended, especially where course content has been set up with complex release conditions.

Required
This area will be used to welcome students to the module and outline the key content. Important information relating to the module, not covered elsewhere in the course, should be in this area (e.g. learning outcomes, timetables and deadlines). 

Recommended
Information on induction may also be provided within this area along with an introductory video from the tutor or the team. If there is a downloadable module guide, then it should be in this area and kept consistent with the rest of the courses.

*About this module is the default entry point for the module, and should normally be used for the first few weeks of term. Once the module is underway, academic staff may choose to switch the entry point to ‘Announcements’.

Required
Full contact information for the key people who may need to be contacted by students enrolled onto the module, along with how to make an appointment and guidance on how soon students can expect a reply - it doesn’t have to be straight away, as long as they know what to expect. Some questions may be easily answered by peers, so encourage students to post general or frequently asked questions to a discussion forum, to which staff should also contribute. Avoid the use of email to answer general questions multiple times.

Other useful contacts are available via the ‘My Support Network’ link in the course, and the ‘Assist’ link in the main NILE navigation menu.

Recommended
Ideally, there should be a photo along with the key contacts to assist with identification.

Required
This is an area for material and activities relating directly to the module. Digital resources – (such as presentations, lecture recordings, hand-outs, etc.): tasks for sense-making (activities etc.): - linked to blogs, discussion forums, and other appropriate tools, a place for online discussion, analysis and reflection are essential in an ABL context. 

Learning activities, including those that students are expected to complete outside the classroom (activities, etc), provide a structure or scaffold for learners to make meaningful use of the content. Remember it is what students do with content that is important to support the achievement the learning outcomes.

Sensible use of folders (e.g., week by week or topic by topic) is necessary to create a logical layout for students to be able to find materials, as this will be the area where students will spend most of their time. Most recent resources should be clearly labelled or near the top to avoid scrolling.

Recommended
Adaptive release may be used to display content selectively as needed. Consider using ‘bite sized’ chunks of material (video, audio or text) rather than overly long content.

Required
Where Collaborate is used, it is important to provide students with clear instructions about how to access and use it in advance of their first session.

Recommended
Staff using a virtual classroom for the first time are advised to attend a training session, or to meet with their learning technologist, to find out how to use and get the best from virtual classrooms.

Required
The key reading material for the module with links to the source location. The University's online reading list software should be used as the standard tool for creating and accessing reading lists.  

Recommended
This area may include video guides, subject specific resource sites, and other useful links.

Required
Assessment briefs and assessment-specific materials will be uploaded here. This area should note the assignment deadlines for the module (submission and feedback dates) including re-sit dates. 
Where there is more than one assessment, then a folder should be created for each assessment, with the assessment code at the start of the title e.g. ES1. Details on the procedure for feedback on assessment should be clearly displayed. Assessment arrangements for students with identified additional needs should be included here. The following prompts will be included in this area where appropriate: a guide on word count, weighting, deadline and return date. It should be made clear which learning outcomes the assessments refer to. There should be a link to the University grade criteria. If you are using rubrics then it should be clear where students may access these prior to submission.

Assignment submission points should not be included in this section.

Required
A clear location for students to go to in order to submit assignments. Assignment submission points should be included here.

A link to the Learning Technology Team's NILE assignment submission guide for students will be available by default in this area.

Required
This link points students to the academic and non-academic support available to them at the University.

Required
This area is used to welcome students to the programme and to outline the key features of the programme.

Recommended
An introductory video from the programme leader or the team is also encouraged.

Required
Full contact information for the key people who may need to be contacted by students enrolled onto the programme (programme leader, personal tutors and module tutors), along with how to make an appointment and guidance on how soon students can expect a reply - it doesn’t have to be straight away, as long as they know what to expect. Some questions may be easily answered by peers, so encourage students to post general or frequently asked questions to a discussion forum, to which staff should also contribute. Avoid the use of email to answer general questions multiple times.

Recommended
Ideally, there should be a photo along with the key contacts to assist with identification.

• Introductions (unavailable by default - an area for students to introduce themselves)
• Student Advocates (unavailable by default – allows students to interact with their course advocate)
• FAQs (unavailable by default - an area for students to post questions regarding the programme)

Required
Programme Leaders will upload lists of Personal Tutors for students on this programme.

Either of the following is acceptable:

• A list of students' names along with the name of their personal tutor;
• A list of students' ID numbers along with the name of their personal tutor.

In no circumstances should the students' names and their ID numbers be listed. Such a list would constitute a data breach and would need reporting to recordsmanager@northampton.ac.uk.

To note
From September 2022 students will be able to find out who their personal tutor is using MyEngagement, a link for which can be found in the Assist tab in NILE. 

Required
Link to the relevant External Examiner report for that programme and the teams’ response and actions.

To note
External Examiner reports will be made available centrally from September 2022, and can be accessed by UON staff and students via the Assist tab in NILE.

Required
Materials must be created with accessibility in mind. For example, Word documents must be formatted using styles and headers to ensure compatibility with screen readers and easy conversion to PDF. Tutors must ensure that all content being used is accessible in all countries where students are based.

Staff must use the Ally report tool in their sites to identify any content which is not accessible and then resolve this prior to release to students.