Manage course preferences

Updated 19 Feb 2024

Preferences pages let you customize the look and feel, behavior, and functionality of the course. The many options on these pages let you customize the student and instructor experience.

Only instructors have access to Preferences pages; they are never available to teaching assistants.(MyLab Languages only)

Preferences are divided into Basic Preferences and Advanced Preferences. Basic Preferences show a summary of the most commonly-used settings. To change them, select Change on the right. This will take you to the Advanced Preferences. All Instructor Preferences described below are Advanced Preferences.

Available options depend on the type of course in which you are enrolled: master course or derived course. Preferences are set by the course author at the master course level, and any derived courses inherit the value of the preferences from the master course.

Video: Setting up preferences for a MyLab IT course

  1. Click Instructor Notifications, Manage Course Materials, or Today's View
  2. Click the preferences icon .
  3. Close the Basic Preferences dialog box that appears.

Instructor preferences

You may see some or all of the following preference pages depending on the design of your course:

  • General: Enable or disable various features that control course appearance such as font size and calendar location.
  • Activity or Activities: Create new activity types, rename activities, and define global activity preferences.
  • Grading: Create or edit grading options including grade schemas, gradebook display and filter options, and passing score thresholds.
  • Roster: Enable the roster page in your course. (MyLab Languages only)
  • Permissions: Grant or deny permission to perform different tasks in the application.
  • MyTest: Define the testbank question details, upgrade settings, and print settings. (MyLab Languages only)
  • Manage Locations: Create locations and associate individual computers to a specific location, which you can use to restrict exam access.
  • Copy Content: Specify whether and how other authors or instructors can copy content to and from the current course.
  • Shared Libraries: View the shared libraries that are linked to your course as supplemental material. (MyLab IT only)
  • LMS Toolbar: Determine which page tabs and menus are available to instructors and students.
  • Study Plan: Define global readiness check or study plan preferences, sequencing, instructor review alerts, and information available for student review.
  • Time Zone and Localization: Select the default course locale, on-screen language, and online Help display language.
  • Course Channels: Define the information areas, or "channels" that appear on the instructor and student Today's View pages. (MyLab Languages only)
  • Themes and Design: This option appears but is not used.