How the Book Works
The book, Blackboard, and how a module is put together.
The Pathfinder Guidebook holds the readings for FYE 100. Blackboard holds everything that gets submitted, scored, or dated.
This part walks through how the book is put together, the design choices behind it, and a few ways to use it in online and in-person sections. The next three parts are alignment maps you can use for planning, peer review, and reporting. The last part introduces Appreciative Advising, the model the course was built around.
The book and Blackboard
The book and your Blackboard course each do a different job. Keeping them separate lets the book stay the same from term to term while your course shell carries the details that change.
| In the book | In Blackboard |
|---|---|
| Lessons, Skill Spotlights, and Trail Tips | Due dates, points, and submission links |
| Trail Tools (fillable worksheets) | Rubrics and grading |
| Mile Marker instructions and a fill-in form | AI Chats with Coach Pathfinder |
| The Merit Guide and the STAR(T) Stories Guide | Quizzes, discussions, and journals |
| Self-check practice with answers students can open | Extra credit, announcements, and anything section-specific |
Because the book is public, it never includes answer keys for graded work, scoring guidance, points, or dates. When students ask when something is due, the book sends them to Blackboard every time. That also means you can move a due date in your section without anything in the book going out of date.
This guide follows the same rule. The maps show where each outcome is practiced and assessed, not how it's scored.
How a module is built
Every module follows the same pattern, so students learn the layout once and then spend their attention on the content.
Module overview
Why the module matters, the "I Can" objectives (verbatim from the Competency Framework) with a tag showing where each one is shown, the 10 Essential Skills and AI Literacy behaviors in play, and a Merit reminder in Modules 4, 7, and 10.
Skill Spotlight
Most modules open with a short lesson on one of the 10 Essential Skills, so every skill gets a dedicated introduction across the course.
Lessons
Short readings with key terms, examples, self-check practice, and AI Literacy boxes tagged with the BE behavior they build.
Trail Tips
Practical how-tos, like setting up Office 365, Merit, or Handshake, or figuring out how a grade is calculated.
Trail Tools
Fillable worksheets that sit at the top of the module. Students fill them in as they read, and the work feeds the Mile Marker.
Mile Marker
The module's main assignment: the prompt, support for each question, and a fill-in form. Each one carries an AI use label and saves to a PDF named "Mile Marker #N - Student Name".
Wrap Up
Key takeaways, one reflection prompt, and a link to the next module.
Design commitments
- Timeless. No dates, deadlines, or points, so the book works in every term and every section.
- Students don't lose their place. Every link that leaves the book opens in a new tab. Links inside the book stay in the same tab.
- Accessible by default. Real headings, alt text, keyboard-friendly forms, readable contrast, and print styles on every page.
- Private by design. What students type into a Trail Tool or Mile Marker form stays in their own browser on that device. Nothing is sent anywhere. Drafts can disappear if a student clears browser data or switches devices, so the book reminds them to save a PDF.
- Clear about AI. Every Mile Marker carries an AI use label, using the same three labels students learn in Lesson 1.4. No Mile Marker requires AI. The AI Chats are the course's graded AI practice, and students with a concern talk with their instructor (see Blackboard AI Chats).
- Written for students. Plain, warm, second-person language, with research claims checked against their sources.
Teaching with the book
Online sections
- In Module 1 (or your Start Here area), link How to Use This Book. It covers where things live, how forms save, and how to keep a PDF, which heads off most "I lost my answers" problems.
- Link each Blackboard module to that module's overview page. Students can move through the whole module from there.
- Students can submit a Mile Marker as the saved PDF, or copy their answers into the Blackboard submission. Tell them which you prefer.
- Point students to the On-Demand Options in the Merit Guide if they can't get to campus.
In-person sections
- Trail Tools work well as in-class activities. Students can fill them in on a laptop or phone, or you can print them.
- The self-check practice in the lessons (for example, "spot the trap" in Lesson 9.3) makes a ready-made warm-up or discussion starter.
- Printable Mile Marker handouts are available for students who'd rather work on paper.
Across the course
- The Mile Markers build toward the STAR(T) Stories capstone. Students go back to them in Module 11 to choose their four stories. The STAR(T) Stories Guide has the framework and a practice guide for each story.
- The course follows the six phases of Appreciative Advising, from Disarm in Module 1 to Don't Settle in Module 12. Appreciative Advising in FYE 100 shows your part in each phase.
- No assignment requires AI use. The AI Literacy behaviors are framed as judgment, including the decision not to use AI, which respects students with principled objections.
Keeping the book current
Most of the book is built to stay put. A few pieces change on purpose:
- Merit On-Demand Options are refreshed each term as Career Services posts new workshops.
- The alignment maps in this guide are generated from the same source as the book, so they update each time a module is added or revised. Modules still in development show as planned, using the Competency Framework.
- Outside links are checked when modules are revised. If you find a broken link or an error, contact Stephanie Self, Instructional Designer & eLearning Coordinator.
Course-level assessment
Three pieces of the course produce evidence beyond a single module:
- My Skills Snapshot (pre and post). A short self-assessment in Blackboard on the 10 Essential Skills and AI use, taken in Module 1 and again in Module 12. Students compare the two. Lesson 1.2 introduces it, and the Module 12 wrap-up sends students back to it.
- Mile Marker #8: My Career Snapshot. The institutional anchor for SLO 3, through #6 Professionalism (I Can 8.2).
- My STAR(T) Stories (capstone). The institutional anchor for SLO 1, through #9 Knowledge Application (I Can 12.1 and 12.2). Students name their four skills and experiences in Mile Marker #11 and submit the stories in the Capstone module in Module 12.
Mile Marker #1 and Mile Marker #12 also bookend the course: #12 asks students to compare directly to their Starting Point, including how they think about AI.
Using the maps for reporting
The next three parts show the same course from three angles. Each one prints cleanly or saves to PDF with the Print this map button at the top.
- Course Map: every I Can statement with its course learning outcome, Essential Skills, AI Literacy behavior, and where students show it.
- 10 Essential Skills Map: coverage of the Kentucky Graduate Profile, skill by skill and module by module.
- AI Literacy Map: where each BE behavior is taught, practiced, and assessed, with the DEC framework crosswalk.