How and why do I make my course Unavailable?
- Do this via Control Panel > Settings > Course Availability > No
- Courses should be available only when actually being taught. You should keep your courses unavailable while you are preparing them before a term, and when done with them after the term.
You should do this for several reasons:
Ease of Searching
- All available courses show up when searching in the courses tab. Students can be confused when seeing old courses listed. Only courses being taught in the current term should be marked available and be searchable by students.
My Courses Clutter
- Old but available courses still show up on the the students My Courses tab. This is a constant source of complaints by students, who should only see their current courses on the list.
Copyright Compliance
- Materials used under the fair-use clause of copyright can ONLY be available to students during the term of the course while the material is being used. Making a course unavailable to students at the end of term keeps you in compliance with copyright. Materials for which you have permissions also often have this proviso as well. (Vid. the ALA guidelines.)