Avenue to Learn 2025 Updates

Avenue Upgrades

Over the past 13 years, Avenue has largely remained visually consistent, while McMaster’s teaching and learning ecosystem has continuously evolved with new technologies and pedagogical innovations. After an extensive review process initiated in 2019 and consultations across campus, we are excited to announce a major update to Avenue beginning on August 14, 2025. Based on that feedback, these enhancements aim to improve both functionality and user experience, while maintaining your familiarity with many core aspects. The Avenue to Learn support team will be with you along the way to support you in this transition, and we think you’ll find it Here’s a sneak peek at the improvements you can expect to see in August 2025.

There will be a new look for navigation bars – gone will be the all-white background, moving to bring in McMaster maroon. Also, for the first time since 2013, we will adjust the navigation menus so that there’s less in them. All current functionality will be still available through Course Admin (providing you are in a role that has access to the Course Admin tool).

Resources Menu

In Resources we’ve removed some tools not used commonly. If you are one of the few people using those tools, you can still access them through Course Admin or add them through the Content tool workflow.

A screenshot of a Learning Management System (LMS) interface showing an expanded navigation menu. The menu includes various course management and resource options. From top to bottom, the options visible are: 'Course Outline', 'Calendar', 'Checklist', 'FAQ', 'Surveys', and 'Student Course Experience Survey'. The menu is part of a larger navigation structure with tabs named 'Content', 'Resources', 'Communication', 'Assessments', and 'Course Admin', highlighted in purple and white colors. Communication Menu

Again, this menu is slimmed down reduce screen clutter. As before, if you are one of the few people using those tools, you can still access them through Course Admin or add them through the Content tool workflow.

A screenshot of a Learning Management System (LMS) user interface, focusing on communication tools within a course named 'Example Course'. The top navigation bar includes tabs for 'Content', 'Resources', 'Communication', 'Assessments', and 'Course Admin', highlighted in a deep purple color. A dropdown menu under the 'Communication' tab is open, displaying options such as 'Blog', 'Classlist', 'Discussions', 'Avenue Mail', and 'Groups'. Below the dropdown, there's a welcome message that reads, "Welcome to Example Course.'

Assessments Menu

Again, Assignments is slimmed down slightly. As before, if you are one of the people using those tools, you can still access them through Course Admin or add them through the Content tool workflow (Add New Activity).

A screenshot of a Learning Management System (LMS) interface for an 'Example Course'. The top navigation bar includes tabs labeled 'Content', 'Resources', 'Communication', 'Assessments', and 'Course Admin', set against a deep purple background. The 'Assessments' tab is active, displaying a dropdown menu with options: 'Assignments', 'Grades', 'Quizzes', 'Rubrics', and 'Self Assessments'. On the left side of the screen, under the 'Communication' tab, there are sub-tabs for 'Welcome', 'Announcements', and 'Discussions', with 'Welcome' currently selected. Below this, a greeting appears: 'Welcome to Example Course.'

Below is a screenshot of the new default Course Homepage.

A screenshot of the 'Example Course' homepage in a Learning Management System. The interface includes a top navigation bar with tabs labeled 'Content', 'Resources', 'Communication', 'Assessments', and 'Course Admin'. The main content area displays a welcome message to 'WILLIAM MCMASTER' with introductory text and instructions for getting started in the course. On the right side, there is a 'Instructor Profile' section featuring a photo of a male instructor named 'William McMaster' and a brief bio. Below the instructor profile, there's a 'Calendar' section displaying the date 'Tuesday, October 16, 2024', with a note that there are no events on this date. Additional links for academic resources, syllabi, and other tools are listed at the bottom of the page.

We will also be adding several widgets to the default homepage.

  1. Communications widget which combines a welcome message, Announcements and Discussions; and
  2. Assessments widget which places links to all assessments into one easy to find place.
  3. Instructor Profile widget which provides a way to put your contact information, office hours and links front and centre. For courses with more than one instructor, there is also the Multi-Instructor Profile widget.

However, if you still prefer the classic layout of homepages, or have your own custom homepage, they will still be available to use. Simply select Classic Home Page in Course Admin > Homepages, or your custom Homepage name to make those active. This new homepage is currently available in Avenue as “Alternative Course Homepage”.

As a result of this change, using the new Homepage will slightly change the workflow for creating Announcements , but one of the benefits of this change is that you can have a permanent and persistent Welcome message, with key information about the course.

Content

The Content tool will undergo a visual overhaul – and presenting you with a cleaner, more focused view. The new Content experience is streamlined, and more focused on being the hub of your course. With links out to activities and assessments, it is easier than ever to create a guided experience for your students. While this is a vendor-driven change, which has been evolving over the last two years, we have reached a feature parity between the old view and the new view.  If you use Overview for Course Outlines, we have provided a Course Outline link under “Resources” in the Navigation Bar, which will pass you into Simple Syllabus, McMaster’s new Course Outline Library.

 

A screenshot of a course module titled 'Introduction' in a Learning Management System for a course named 'Introduction to Commerce COM 101'. The top navigation bar includes tabs labeled 'Content', 'Resources', 'Communication', 'Assessments', and 'Course Admin'. The left sidebar shows an expanded 'Week 1' section with links to 'Introduction', 'Week 1 Reading', 'Week 1 Quiz', and 'Week 1 Discussion'. The main content area includes a course overview discussing the purpose and objectives of the course, learning methodologies, and themes like market structures and consumer behavior. A digital artwork depicting various commerce and technology symbols, such as a shopping cart, gears, and circuit elements, illustrates the page. Below the introduction text, there are communication expectations outlined for student interactions.

Over the next few months, we will post our plans on how most instructors will get access to our Test Avenue site, so that you can experience your courses in this new format and to alert us of any problems with the new content view that you experience, prior to the global release in August 2025.

 

Learning Outcomes/Competencies

With Content changing visually, there is also a new tool being introduced called Learning Outcomes. which will replace the current Competencies tool.  Competencies was often seen as complex and difficult to use. Outcomes is designed to be much simpler. Eventually, this will allow departments and programs to track outcomes across the curriculum.

The new tool will offer greater capabilities for those interested in Outcomes, It will help instructors align activities with course outcomes, and provide students with better clarity on outcomes alignment with content, activities and assessments. Additionally, it provides a way to explicitly map program and degree-level outcomes within Avenue to Learn.

While not all course activities are assessed within Avenue, the Learning Outcomes tool includes features that can recognize these assessments, providing a holistic view of achievements across program outcomes. For programs with external accreditation, local Admins of Avenue will be able to run reporting to speak to outcomes achievement.

Data Retention

Up until this year, there was no internal policy on data retention within Avenue to Learn and so it was left up to instructors to remove their data. While this has worked well for the most part, there are a few scenarios that cause data to be left on Avenue well beyond it’s need.

Here’s the schedule for data deletion:

Deletion Date Semester
August 2025 Academic Content: Prior to Fall 2012; Continuing semester courses: last accessed before 2019
August 2026 Academic Content: Prior to Fall 2016; Continuing semester courses: last accessed before 2021
August 2027 Academic Content: Prior to Fall 2019; Continuing semester courses: last accessed before 2023
August 2028 Academic Content: Prior to Fall 2023; Continuing semester courses: last accessed before 2025
August 2029 Academic Content: Rolling 5 years; Continuing semester courses: last accessed before 2027

 

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