Hi @scott_groomes ,
I was also faced with these questions about 4 years ago when my College went through a 3-College consolidation and renaming. This was one thing that really helped us create our "new identity" and has also helped reduce navigation questions from students. Here are my thoughts...
1. Does anyone have a suggestion on how to automate the distribution of a master template (home page in our case) to all new and existing courses?
In the beginning, our programmer in the IT department wrote a script that would auto process "course copies" every time a new course was created. This seemed to work really well in the beginning but then when instructors would start their next semester and would get the pre-populated template in their course, they would copy content from a previous semester and duplicate the homepage, introductory module, etc. This actually started becoming a major issue because I would update the Homepage template once a year to include new accessibility standards, updated hyperlinks, etc. So, while Blueprint is probably the best solution, it is also not simple when you are deploying to multiple sub-accounts because then you have to maintain multiple copies.
This year, I decided to stop auto-copying the content into the courses and have now placed a copy of the template in our local Commons that is only accessible by our faculty. I used Studio to create a short step-by-step video showing them how to open their blank course and copy the template from the College's Commons. I also created a follow-up video for copying curriculum from a previous course and how to choose what is copied so that they will not disturb the homepage or introductory course module.
2. What is your opinion of using a standardized home page in a University setting?
I think it is a great idea from a course design and navigation perspective. It helps reduce navigation questions (as long as the process is followed by the faculty). We have actually expanded this process and now have a customized template for each different course (around 300 unique courses...but it has taken 3 years) so that it contains the same Homepage as all of the other courses but the syllabus is specific to the course and there is a customized image/course description/introductory video on the Homepage. These are also copied to our local Commons so that they can be copied by the faculty member into their blank course. I manage the updates to the overall College template and have designated faculty curriculum teams to assist anytime updates are needed for a specific course template.
3. Any best practices advice on creating a master template for mass distribution?
-Determine the navigational flow and create a guide that explains the expectations of the navigation. Our College uses the modules and we expect the instructor to add everything to the module or within a page on the module. We also train on the use of module prerequisites and requirements. No separate access to assignments, quizzes, discussions, etc.
-Create a demonstration video to walk them through how the template will work. This allows them to have a better view of the expected functionality.
-Watch out for the faculty who blindly copy their courses from one semester to the next. They will end up with 3, then 6, then 9 copies of the Homepage and will wonder why the pages have numbers listed at the end of the file name.
Best of luck to you and I hope this is helpful!