Course Setup

Google Chrome is the recommended browser when using onQ. We strongly recommend that you use Google Chrome especially when taking a Quiz in onQ

AND

check that your browser and operating system are up to date.

Google Chrome is the browser that will give you the best possible user experience.   

Other Supported Browsers

More information on supported browsers from Brightspace. 

To find out if your Google Chrome is running the latest version, visit the WhatIsMyBrowser.com site.

Don't have Google Chrome on your computer?  No problem!  Visit the Google Chrome site to download it now.

Log in to onQ at https://onq.queensu.ca

There are two ways to access your course(s).

1. From the navbar, click Select a course, and choose a course from the list or search for it.
2. From the home page, click a course from the My Courses widget.

To easily access your current semester courses, you can pin them to the top of the Select a course list.

1. From the navbar, click Select a course.
   Type the name of the course that you want to pin or find it by searching in the Search for a course field.
2. Click the Pin icon beside the course.

Note: From the Select a course... menu you are able to "pin" courses to the top of the list by selecting the pin icon on the right side of each course.

All onQ courses follow the same navigation system with the exception of Arts and Science online.

• To access your course, click Select a course...  (#4 waffle icon on the top row). A list of your courses will be displayed.
• When you select a course you will land on the Course Home (#9 on bottom row).

1. onQ - this will take you back to the onQ homepage from anywhere in onQ.
2. Course Code 
3. Course Name 
4. Select a course... - navigate to any of your courses from this link.
5. Message Alerts - access the Email and Instant Messages tools.
6. Updates Alerts - view course updates to News, Discussions, Quizzes, etc.
7. Chatter Alerts - shows new Discussion tool messages.
8. Profile - access and edit your profile, customize notifications for activities in your courses, modify your account settings, and access the Logout link.
9. Admin Tools - access to course import/export/copy components, and other admin tools dependent on your role in onQ.
10. Course Home - the landing page of your course may contain the following widgets, Instructor contact information, calendar, resources, and news.
11. Content - access course materials in Content, these can include documents, images, media files, presentations, URL links, and existing course activities.
12. Communications - the following tools are found under this menu, Chat, Classlist, Discussions, Groups, Announcements, and Calendar.
13. Assessments - the following tools are found under this menu, Assignments, Grades, Quizzes, Self Assessments, Surveys, and User Progress.
14. Course Admin - is a central area for accessing tools related to setting up and managing your course.

The following video provides step-by-step instructions on how to change your course image:

Note: Any images that you include with the My Courses widget are available to include in the course components that you export, copy, or import.

In the My Courses widget on your homepage, the courses display a default image assigned from the curated image library. You can also select an image that is more representative of the course from the library provided by onQ, or add your own image for the course tile.

To change the default image, do the following:

1. Navigate to your the onQ homepage by clicking on the onQ Logo.
2. Hover over the course image and click the More Options menu, an ellipses button will appear that provides the option to pin the course or change the image.
3. Select Change Image or press Enter.

You now have the option to:

4. Search the list of available images.
5. or Upload an image of your choice.
6. Once you have selected the image you want to use, hover over the image and click Use this image.

The following video provides a guide for how to edit the course homepage and widgets in your onQ course:

The homepage is the first page you see when you enter a course. The default homepage is widget-based. Widgets are sections of content that provide information and links to tools, courses, and personal settings. You can create, edit, delete, customize, and preview the widgets.

There are two types of widgets available for your homepages:

• System Widgets
• Custom Widgets

Edit the Course Homepage

Note: To edit the course homepage you must first make a copy of the default onQ Course homepage. Once you have made a copy can add or remove widgets, customize their appearance, and create custom widgets to expand the functionality.

1. On the navbar, click Course Admin then click Homepages.
2. Locate the onQ Course Homepage and click the dropdown arrow located to the right of the name.
3. Click Copy.
4. To add or remove widgets click on the name of the new copy of the onQ Course Homepage.
5. You now have the option to:

• Enter a new name and description for your homepage.
• In the Type drop-down list, select from Widget-based (default), tool-based or External URL.
• To add a header to your homepage below the navbar, select Include homepage header.
• Enter the replace string of the information that you want it to display. Replace strings are placeholders that refer to information in the onQ Learning Environment; the system replaces these placeholders with the corresponding information when you apply them to a homepage header.
• To choose a layout for a widget-based homepage, click Change Layout.
• To add widgets to your homepage, click Add Widgets.
  Select widgets from the system or custom widget lists.
• Click Save and Close.
• You must now make the new homepage Active for your course.

Make the New Course Homepage Active

6. On the homepages tab, locate the Active Homepage drop-down.
7. Click on the drop-down arrow and select your new homepage.
8. Click Apply.

Removing a Widget from your Homepage

1. Select the Course Admin link in the navbar and choose the Homepages option.
2. Select the homepage that you wish to delete the widgets from the list at the bottom.
3. At the bottom under Widgets, a preview of the layout will be displayed.
4. Hover over the widget, and click the 'x' in the upper right corner of the widget to remove it from the homepage.

Permanently Deleting a Widget

Note: Only Primary Instructor, Instructor, and Instructor No SN roles have the ability to permanently delete a widget.

1. Select the Course Admin link in the navbar and choose the Widgets option.
2. Under the Custom Widgets tab, find the Widget you wish to delete. 
3. Next to the name of the widget, click the 'delete' icon. 
4. Confirm by clicking 'Delete'. 

We've created a Contact Information Widget on the course homepage for you. This is where you can insert your contact information as well as office hours and TA Information. Follow the steps below to edit the Contact Information Widget.

1. Select the drop down arrow beside Contact Information.
2. Select Edit this Widget.
3. Click on the Content Tab.
4. Insert your contact information using the HTML editor.
5. Click Save and Close to confirm.

The following video provides step-by-step instructions for how to create an announcement:

Note: Announcement items with availability restrictions will not appear until the specified date is reached.

1. Find the Announcements Widget on the course homepage by selecting Course Home in the navbar.
2. From the Announcements widget menu, click New Announcements Item.
3. Enter a headline and content for your Announcements item.
       If you want to hide your headline's date and time, clear the Always show start date check box. By default, an Announcements item start date and time appears below the headline when displayed in the Announcements widget.
4. In the Start Date and End Date fields, select the posting availability date. Announcements items publish immediately, unless you specify an alternate start date from Start Date.
       Note: Post-dated Announcements items do not display in the Announcements widget even if users have permission to see future Announcements items. They can be found within the list of Announcements items on the Announcements page.
5. You can remove an Announcements item on a specific date by selecting the Remove Announcements item based on end date check box. You and administrators can still see the Announcements item after its end date, but it does not appear in the Announcements widget.
6. In the Attachments section, add attachments, audio recordings, and video recordings as part of your Announcements item.
7. To include additional release conditions, click Attach Existing or Create and Attach.
8. To continue editing the Announcements item, click Save as Draft. Students cannot see draft Announcements items. To release Announcements item to users, click Publish.

The following video provides step-by-step instructions for how to add a calendar event:

Use the Calendar tool to arrange and visualize course events in multiple views and enable integration of course content and your Calendar.

1. Select the title of the calendar widget. You will be redirected to the Calendar Agenda View page.
2. Select the blue Create Event button. You will be redirected to the Create Event page.
3. Enter the title and description for the event.
4. Course content can be associated to the event by selecting the Add Content button.
5. Set the date, time, and duration for the event.
6. If you wish to make the event reoccurring, select Add Recurrence.
7. To add a location for the event, from the Location drop-down list, select the location.
8. Select the blue Create button to confirm.

The following videos provide step-by-step instructions for how to copy content to your course:

1. In the course offering that you want to copy components into, on the navbar, click Course Admin then Import/Export/Copy Components.
2. Select Copy Components from another Org Unit. Click Search for offering and locate the course offering containing the components you want to copy. Click Add Selected.
3. Do one of the following:

• To copy all course components, click Copy All Components. We recommend that you copy all components between courses to ensure you maintain all desired associations, and then delete any undesired material in the new course.
• To specify the components you want to copy, click Select Components. Select your components. To see details for course components, click the Show the current course components link, then click the View Detail icon beside a component to see existing items. For those course components that provide the option to include associated files, D2L recommends leaving the option turned on. Click Continue.
• Select the Offset all dates of copied components check box and specify the days and hours that the dates should be offset by or calculate the range between two dates.
• Click Finish.

4. Do one of the following:

• To copy another package, click Copy Another Package.
• To see the results of your copy, click View Content.
• To review and manage course dates, click Review and Manage Dates.

If your course is not active then your students will not see it in onQ!

If you have a Start and End Date set in your course, these dates determine when your course will become ‘active’ (Start Date), or visible to students, and when the course will return to being ‘inactive’ (End Date), or invisible to students.

If the Start and End dates are not set, you will manually need to activate the course. 

To check the Start and End dates in your Course:

1. In the navbar, select Course Admin.
2. Select Course Offering Information.
3. Under Active, check the box Course is active.
4. Under Start Date, check the box Course has start date. Enter the desired course start date and time.
5. Under End Date, check the box Course has end date. Enter the desired course end date and time.
6. Select Save to confirm changes.

If you do not have a Start Date set to activate your course, you can follow these steps to manually set your course to active:

1. In the navbar, select Course Admin.
2. Select Course Offering Information.
3. Under Active, check the box beside Course is Active.
4. Select Save to confirm changes.

Some tools in onQ are not enabled by default. To enable more tools:

1. On the navbar, click Course Admin.
2. Scroll down and under Administration, click on Tools. 
3. From this page, you can enable the tools you would like to use by toggling the button on the right of the tool to the blue checkmark. 
4. Once you have enabled all of the tools you would like to use, reload the page and you will find the new tool on the navbar under its respective dropdown menu.