Community Template - Create/Edit

A community template contains default content, including a banner, an HTML widget, topics, and postings. A community template is created in order to be used with a cohort learning object (LO), and when a cohort LO is created using a community template, a cohort community is created with all of the default content from the community template. This enables administrators to quickly create new cohort communities for each new cohort, allowing each cohort to have their own unique experience.

When a cohort community is created, the cohort community has the same title as the cohort. All users on the cohort's roster are automatically members of the cohort community. The cohort instructors are designated as experts for the cohort community, and the cohort owners are designated as moderators for the cohort community.

  • To create a new community template, click the Create New Template button on the Manage Community Templates page.
  • To edit a community template, click the Edit Template button on the Manage Community Templates page, or click the Edit Details button on the Administrator View of the Community Template.

Details

Enter the following information for the community template:

  • Title - Enter a title for the community template, up to 70 characters. This title will appear at the top of the community template.
  • Description - Enter the community template description up to 3000 characters. This field includes rich text editing options.
  • Banner - The banner image appears at the top of the community template and at the top of each community template posting. Add a banner file by dragging and dropping a file into the Attachment area. You can also attach a file by clicking the Select a file button and select a file from your computer. Note: The drag-and-drop functionality is not supported by Internet Explorer browsers. For best results, the banner image should be 1004 x 150 pixels. The Image Restrictions section below provides a complete list of image attachment restrictions.

Custom HTML Widget

The default custom HTML widget will be included in all communities that are created using the community template.

The Custom HTML Widget section is only available if enabled by a backend setting. This section enables administrators to upload an HTML file (.htm or .html), up to 5 MB in size. Once the community template is saved, the HTML data is rendered and displayed in the upper-left corner of communities created using the community template.

Add an HTML file by dragging and dropping the file into the Attachment area. You can also attach a file by clicking the Select a file button and select a file from your computer. Note: The drag-and-drop functionality is not supported by Internet Explorer browsers. Once the file is selected, a preview of the HTML widget is displayed in the section. If an empty file or no file is selected, then the HTML widget does not appear on the community template homepage.

Important: All HTML tags are accepted by the Custom HTML widget. Because malicious HTML files may be uploaded, this is a potential security risk and organizations may choose to disable this functionality.

Done or Cancel

After populating the necessary fields, click Done to create the community template. Otherwise, click Cancel to cancel the community template creation.

Image Restrictions

The following file types are allowed:

File Type Extension
Image
  • bmp
  • gif
  • jpeg/jpg
  • png