This is a resource that covers all that our LDM team and instructors need to know about Blueprint courses. It will be updated as we learn more. This resource covers: 

• How and when to leverage Blueprint Course
• Important terms to know
• Creating a Blueprint Course
• The LDM Team will need to create the Blueprint course for you
• Managing Blueprint and Associated courses 
• How to manage the Blueprint (parent) course as a Blueprint course owner/instructor 
• How to manage an Associated (child) course as an instructor 

How and when to leverage Blueprint Course:

When: A Blueprint Course can be used to distribute material that is created and updated by the Blueprint Course Instructors to one or more courses. 

For example: if the College of Pharmacy wanted to implement a universal module about the ethical use of AI in all entry level GE classes, we could use a Blueprint Course to create the module, then upload the module into all the courses we wanted. This gives us the ability to lock the modules so that the only changes made to it can come from the instructors of the parent Blueprint Course. If changed needed to be made to the module that occur over a period of time (making updates one day at a time for a week), the changes will only go live in all the associated courses once synced. 

How: 

1. First you will create a Blueprint Course (following the steps below). 
2. Add/create the material you wish to push out to associated courses. Lock/unlock how you see fit. 
3. Associate other courses to the Blueprint course by importing the material to the courses. 
4. Update the material as needed.
5. Sync the updates

Important terms to know

Blueprint course ("parent course"): A Blueprint course can be used to distribute material that is created and updated by the Blueprint Course Instructors to one or more courses. This can also be referred to as the "parent course". The blueprint course instructor(s) is the only person who can make changes to the blueprint content. If changes are made to the content, they will sync it so that all associated courses are updated as well. 

Blueprint course instructors: A Blueprint course instructor is the person who manages the Blueprint course. 

Associated course ("child course"): An associated course is the course the blueprint course/materials is imported into. This can also be referred to as the "child course".

Associated course instructor: an associated course instructor is the instructor who is using the blueprint course/materials in their own personal course (that's you!).

Blueprint content: Blueprint content  is the content crated in the Blueprint course and associated to "child courses". This content can only be managed by the Blueprint course instructors. 

Creating a Blueprint Course

The LDM Team will need to create the Blueprint course for you

1. Submit a ticket to the Learning Design and Multimedia team through https://go.osu.edu/ldmhelp. 

2. Fill out the form and make sure to include the following details: desired course title (make sure to include a blueprint identifier i.e "PHR 1234 Blueprint"), desired short title, course instructors (this is who will manage the Blueprint course), the course numbers and sections you would like to be associated to this course. 

IMPORTANT: Make sure to make you make this to allow the LDM team a week or two to fulfil this request.

NOTE: Only an administrator (LDM Team member) can associate courses to a Blueprint course, so if there are any you'd like to add in the future, please submit a ticket as needed with the link to the Blueprint course, and the course number(s) and section(s) you'd like associated.   

Managing Blueprint and Associated courses 

Watch this video for an overview of how to use and manage a Blueprint course and its associated courses.

EMBED VIDEO HERE WHEN FINISHED

How to manage the Blueprint (parent) course as a Blueprint course owner/instructor 

Updating material

You can update the material as you would in any other course. The important thing to know is that it will not be updated in the associated course(s) until it is synced. 

Syncing material 

1. Make changes and updates to the material as you normally would. 

2. When you are ready to push those updates out to associated courses, click the blue boxes in the upper right hand corner of the course. 

3. You will see "Unsynced changes" with a number next to it to indicate how many changes you have to sync. 

a. Select if you want to include course settings in the sync (only do this if you want to copy over the course settings from the blueprint course to all the associated courses)

b. Select if you want to send a notification to the instructors of the associated courses

i. If you select this option, an option will open if you would like to send a message with the notification or not. If so, you can select that box and type in a message up to 140 characters.

c. Select if you want to Enable New Item Notifications to the instructors of the associated courses 

NOTE: View your Sync History in the blue Blueprint menu

Locking/unlocking material

If there is a lock icon on top of the boxes, that means it is locked by the Blueprint course and only the Blueprint course instructor can make changes to it. If there is not a lock icon on the boxes, it is open for you to make changes and edits. 

If material is locked, only instructors in the parent Blueprint course can make changes and updates to that material. If you unlock the material, that means instructors can make changes to the material once it is in their associated course. These changes will ONLY show up in their course. 

To lock/unlock

1. Navigate to the material you wish to lock or lock. 

2. Click on the boxes with the lock over it to unlock it

OR

2. Click on the grayed out boxes to lock it

3. Sync these changes by following the instructions above 

How to manage an Associated (child) course as an instructor 

Notifications 

Blueprint course instructors can send notifications when material is updated and synced. Manage notifications in the Home screen, under "view notifications" on the right hand side of the course. Under "Course activities" decide how you'd like to receive notifications: immediately, daily, weekly, or notifications off. 

Locked Material 

If there is a lock icon on top of the boxes, that means it is locked by the Blueprint course and only the Blueprint course instructor can make changes to it. If there is not a lock icon on the boxes, it is open for you to make changes and edits. 

If material is locked, only instructors in the parent Blueprint course can make changes and updates to that material. If material is unlocked, you can make changes to the material. These changes will ONLY show up in your course. 

NOTE: If material is locked but you need to make changes, reach out to the Blueprint course instructor. They will be able to unlock it for you, or make the changes themselves and sync the changes. 

Adding content

As an instructor of an associated Blueprint course, you can add material (pages, assignments, discussions, etc.) to the Blueprint content to fit your needs. You do this as your typically would in any other course (in the module view, click the "plus" sign in the upper right-hand corner of the module title, select the content you would like to add). 

NOTE: This does not change anything for the Blueprint course or any other courses it may be associated to. It only changes the content in your course. Only the Blueprint course instructor can update material for all associated courses.