---
title: "Course Settings"
canonical: "https://helpcentre.macewan.ca/space/ETS/2612133901/Course%20Settings"
format: markdown
---
**AUDIENCE: ****FACULTY**** | ****STAFF**
This tutorial will go through how to customize the appearance of the course and determine the format for displaying the content within it.
# Access course editing settings
With **Edit mode** turned on, go to the top of the page and click **Settings**.
# General settings and course visibility
Under the **General **section, the areas for **Course full name** and **Course short name **can be edited. The **Course visibility** can be set to “show” or “hide.” If set to “hide,” students cannot access or search for courses. Under **Course start date** and **Course end date**, the parameters for the duration of the course can be edited.
## Description
In the description editor, provide a course summary that will be displayed in the list of courses. A course search will also search text in the summary.
**Add a Course Image**: The course image is displayed in the course overview on the dashboard. Upload an image using the file picker in the **Course Image Editor** box.
## Course format
For all new courses, the default format is set to **Custom sections**. This choice organizes the course page into sections or topics, and it is a common format for most courses at MacEwan.
The other options are:
**Single activity format **- has only a single activity in a course (This option is used often when a SCORM package is imported into a course.)
**Social format** - centers the course around a single main forum that will appear on the main page
**Weekly sections format** - organizes the course into weekly sections using dates as headings
**Edwiser course format **- centers around responsive design using collapsible lists or cards
Next, select the number of topics in the drop-down box adjacent to the **Number of sections**.
Choose whether the sections should be visible to the students by selecting one of the options in the drop-down menu adjacent to **Hidden sections**.
If you want students to be aware of the other sections in the course, choose **Hidden sections that are shown as not available**. This selection lets the student know that other information is available, but they cannot see the content until it is made available. Choosing **Hidden sections that are completely invisible** prevents the student from knowing these sections even exist.
## Appearance settings
**Force language**: *Do not force* is the default setting.
**Number of announcements**:** **An **Announcements** forum is created automatically in every new course shell. This is a special forum that only instructors can post in and appears at the top of the main course page. The *Number of announcements* setting determines how many recent announcements will appear in the announcements block. If you are not planning to use the announcements tool, leave the value set to 0.
**Show gradebook to students**: To enable gradebook visibility, select **Yes** from the drop-down menu adjacent to **Show gradebook to students**. This will provide the students with a link to the grades area in the course navigation.
**Show activity reports**: Selecting **Yes** for this setting will allow students to track their course activity through their profile page. They can see contributions to forums, assignment submissions, and course access reports.
**Show activity dates**: Selecting **Yes** will show activity dates on the course page.
## Files and uploads settings
This setting determines the largest file size that can be uploaded to the course. Adjust the Maximum** upload size** to limit the size of files uploaded to the course.
## Completion tracking settings
This should remain enabled, as it allows for displaying meaningful data in the course overview on the dashboard. Select **Yes **in the drop-down menu adjacent to **Enable completion tracking**.
## Groups settings
Groups can be set across the whole course from this location. However, using groups from the assignment or forum settings is recommended. Information on Assignment settings can be found in the [Assignment Settings](https://macewan.atlassian.net/wiki/spaces/ETS/pages/1813743184) document, and information on Forum settings can be found in the [Forum Set-up, Use, and Settings](https://macewan.atlassian.net/wiki/spaces/ETS/pages/1803976761) document. Refer to the Setting Up and Using Groups tutorial to learn more about using groups in the course.
Select No groups, Separate groups, or Visible groups from the drop-down menu in the Group mode.
In **Force group mode**, select **No** from the menu.
## Tags settings
It can add tags to make the course searchable. If a user searches the site and one of the tags is part of their search query, they will return results to where that tag is embedded. If the Tag Block is enabled, the tags entered will also show in the block. (For information on the tag block, refer to **Navigation and the Tag Block tutorial**.)
Type a word in the box and press enter to add a tag. This will generate a tag, which will appear in a dark grey rectangular box as seen below: Help, Contact.
When finished, select **SAVE AND DISPLAY** to save choices.
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> **Related Keywords**
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> | Related Issues | settings | course-settings | availability | visibility |
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