Center for Distance Education
Using Key Action Items

What are Key Action Items

Key action items are invisible to students and are only visible to you, the editor of the page. We (the Instructional Design team in the Center for Distance Education) use them to tell you important information about the template pages that we made for you. These include things like why the page is included in the template, how the page helps the course meet a Quality Matters standard, and to remind you to update certain information on the page.

Screenshot of the green key action items button that you can find at the bottom of pages with key action items. A page has action items if you see this green checklist icon at the bottom of the page. You can see what the action item says by selecting that green button or by selecting the edit button at the top of the page. Action items are never visible to students.

There are several types of key action items that you should be aware of. While most that we currently use are merely informative, some allow interaction on your end. Review the tabs below to learn more about how we use different kinds of action items in the template.

Helpful Guides

These guides provide additional information that you may find helpful as you update your course.

Instructions

Description

Provides instructions that are only visible to people who have page editing access.

What It Looks Like

This is what instructions look like in a purple box

How We Use It

To provide directions for what to do on specific pages.

Editor Actions

Mark as complete

Remove

What To Do

Read the action item.

Note

Description

Provides notes that are only visible to people who have page editing access.

What It Looks Like

This is what a note looks like in an orangey-gold box

How We Use It

To add extra information that isn't directions, like the information about how certain parts of the page meet specific QM standards.

Editor Actions

remove

What To Do

Read the action item.

Checklist

Description

Provides a checklist that is only visible to people who have page editing access.

What It Looks Like

This is what a checklist looks like in a green box

How We Use It

To make a list of what instructors need to add, update, or edit on the page.

Editor Actions

Mark as complete

Check off completed list items

What To Do

Read the checklist and check off the items in the list as you complete them.

Input

Description

The yellow highlights on the page serve as placeholder information for you to add to the course. The yellow text provides a description of what you should include there.

What It Looks Like

How We Use It

We don't currently use this, but we plan to use it to indicate places where the instructor needs to add something.

Editor Actions

input your text here

What To Do

Above the "input prompt context" in the "editor action items", you can simply type in what you want it to say, and then click the "replace prompt" button to automatically update it on the page! If you want to make additional edits, you make those as you normally would.

Insertion

Description

The blue highlights on the page serve as placeholder boilerplate text for you to choose whether to accept or reject.

What It Looks Like

How We Use It

We don't currently use this, but we plan to use it when instructors need to choose to include a short piece of text.

Editor Actions

accept or reject

What To Do

Choose "accept" in the "editor action items" panel to add the entire phrase to the page. Or, choose "remove" to remove it from the page.

Suggestion

Description

Provides suggested text that is only visible to people who have page editing access.

What It Looks Like

This is what a suggestion looks like in a blue box.

How We Use It

We don't currently use this, but we plan to use it when instructors need to choose to include paragraphs or bullet points.

Editor Actions

accept or reject

What To Do

Choose "accept" in the "editor action items" panel to add the entire phrase to the page. Or, choose "remove" to remove it from the page.

Remove

Description

Shows text suggested for removal.

What It Looks Like

How We Use It

We don't currently use this one.

Editor Actions

remove or keep

What To Do

Choose whether you want to keep or remove the crossed-out text.

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