Types of Courses in SLATE

Academic Course

Academic sections represent your assigned courses for instruction. Each section is identified by a unique course code that follows a systematic format. The code structure includes: first digit (century), followed by the year (e.g., 24 for 2024), and term indicator (1 for January, 5 for May, 9 for September).

Course access is time-bound for students, corresponding to the academic term dates. While students’ access expires after the course ends, faculty retain access throughout their employment at Sheridan.

Workbench

Each faculty member is assigned a personal workbench, with the option to create additional workbench spaces as needed. These environments serve as development and testing areas for course materials. Faculty can collaborate within workbench spaces, where additional instructors may be granted secondary instructor privileges.

Commons

Course Commons are centralized spaces organized by course code (e.g., BIOL14108). These collaborative environments enable all instructors teaching the same course to:

  • Share educational resources
  • Maintain master course templates
  • Coordinate course delivery strategies

Faculty teaching the same course collaborate within these spaces to establish optimal usage protocols and ensure consistency across sections.

Virtual Community

Virtual Communities (VCs) facilitate institution-wide collaboration through specialized group spaces.

These environments support:

  • Program-specific collaboration (e.g., Art Fundamentals student community)
  • Faculty department groups (e.g., Faculty of Applied Science and Technology)
  • Professional development initiatives
  • Information sharing and networking

Owners are primary administrators with the authority to assign roles, including other owners, secondary instructors, and student roles.

Important Note: Virtual Communities are designed for collaborative purposes and should not be utilized as primary course delivery platforms. Their function is to support broader institutional and departmental initiatives rather than individual course instruction.