How to MOODLE Tutorial

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HowToMoodle Course Creator Reference Manual 1.9

Š HowToMoodle 2009

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All rights reserved. No part of these materials may be reproduced in any form, or by any means electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, or any information storage or retrieval system without prior permission from HowToMoodle Ltd. All rights of HowToMoodle Ltd to be identified as the authors of this work have been asserted in accordance with Sections 77 and 78 of the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988. Condition of Sale This book is sold subject to the condition that it shall not, by way of trade or otherwise, be lent, re-sold, hired out or otherwise circulated in any form of binding or cover other than that in which it is published and without a similar condition including this condition being imposed on the subsequent purchaser. Copyright 2009, HowToMoodle

Please contact us at www.howtomoodle.com if you have any suggestions, spot a typo, an error or anything else.

HowToMoodle Ltd e-Innovation Centre University of Wolverhampton, Priorslee, Telford TF2 9FT w. www.howtomoodle.com t: 0845 226 1073

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Š HowToMoodle 2009


Contents Notes about this manual �������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������17 Creating a new course �����������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������18 Edit course settings ������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������19 Full name �����������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������19 Short name ��������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������19 Course ID number ���������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������19 Summary �����������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������20 Format ���������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������20 Number of weeks/topics ����������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������21 Course start date �����������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������21 Hidden sections ������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������21 News items to show ������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������22 Show gradebook to students ���������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������22 Show activity reports ����������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������22 Maximum upload size ��������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������22 Force theme ������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������22 Is this a metacourse? �����������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������22 Enrolments ��������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������23 Enrolment plugins ��������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������23 Default role �������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������23 Course enrollable ����������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������23 Enrolment duration ������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������23 Enrolment expiry notification ��������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������23 Groups ���������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������24 Group mode ������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������24 Force ������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������24 Default grouping ����������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������24 Availability ���������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������24 Enrolment key ���������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������24 Guest access ������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������25 Force language �������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������25 Role renaming ���������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������25 Save changes ����������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������25 The course page ���������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������26 Navigation and orientation ������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������26 Course name �����������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������26 User profile / login/logout link �������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������26 Navigation bar ��������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������26 Switch role to … �����������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������26 Turn editing on button �������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������26 Blocks ����������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������27 Main course area �����������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������27 Modifying the course page layout with blocks �����������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������27 Enabling editing of the course page ���������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������27 Adding blocks to a course ��������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������27 © HowToMoodle 2009

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Removing a block from a course ����������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������28 Moving blocks ���������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������28 Hiding a block from students ���������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������28 Roles ������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������29 Collapsing blocks ����������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������29 Blocks without header icons ����������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������29 Blocks in more detail ����������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������29 People block ������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������29 Activities block ��������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������29 Search Forums block ����������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������30 Administration block ����������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������30 My courses block ����������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������32 Recent activity block ����������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������32 Section links block ��������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������33 Latest News block ���������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������33 Upcoming events ���������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������34 Calendar ������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������34 Online Users ������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������35 Messages block �������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������35 Course summary block �������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������39 HTML block �������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������39 Random glossary entry block ��������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������40 Remote News Feed block ���������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������41 Quiz results ��������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������44 Main course area ����������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������46 Topics �����������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������46 Activity / resource icons �����������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������47 Accessing resources and activities ������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������49 Adding resources and activities to the course page ���������������������������������������������������������������������������������������50 Resources ��������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������51 Label ������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������51 Common module settings �������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������52 Text page �����������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������52 Name �����������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������53 Summary �����������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������53 Full text ��������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������53 Show / Hide Advanced �������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������54 Window ������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������54 Common module settings �������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������55 Web page ����������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������55 Link to file or web site ��������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������55 Summary �����������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������56 Location �������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������56 Choose or upload a file �������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������56 Window �������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������56 Parameters ��������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������58

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© HowToMoodle 2009


Display a directory ��������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������58 Summary �����������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������59 Display a directory ��������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������59 Edit files �������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������59 Course files area ���������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������60 Folders ���������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������60 Uploading files ��������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������60 Moving folders and files �����������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������61 Deleting files and folders ���������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������62 Zipping folders and files �����������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������62 Assignment �����������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������63 Add an Assignment activity �����������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������63 Advanced uploading of files ���������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������64 Assignment name ���������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������64 Description ��������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������64 Grade �����������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������64 Available from ���������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������64 Due date ������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������64 Prevent late submissions ����������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������64 Maximum size ���������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������65 Allow deleting ���������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������65 Maximum number of uploaded files ���������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������65 Allow notes �������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������65 Hide description before available date �����������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������65 Email alerts to teachers ������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������66 Enable Send for marking ����������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������66 Common module settings �������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������66 Submitting an advanced uploading of files assignment �������������������������������������������������������������������������������������67 Teacher review of submissions ������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������68 Submissions table ���������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������69 Grading area ������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������70 Quick grading view of submissions table ��������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������72 Student view of a graded assignment �������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������73 Online text ��������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������73 Prevent late submissions ����������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������73 Allow resubmitting �������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������73 Comment inline ������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������73 Submitting an online text assignment ������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������73 Teacher review of submissions ������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������74 Submissions table ���������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������74 Grading area ������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������74 Quick grading view of submissions table ��������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������74 Student view of a graded assignment �������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������74 Upload a single file �������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������74 Allow resubmitting �������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������74 Submitting an upload a single file assignment ����������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������75 © HowToMoodle 2009

5


Teacher review of submissions ������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������75 Grading area ������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������75 Student view of a graded assignment �������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������75 Offline activity ��������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������76 Submissions table ���������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������76 Grading area ������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������76 Quick grading view of submissions table ��������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������76 Student view of a graded assignment �������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������76 Chat �����������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������77 Add a Chat activity �������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������77 Name of this chat room ������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������77 Introduction text �����������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������77 Next chat time ���������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������78 Repeat session ��������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������78 Save past chat sessions ������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������78 Everyone can view past sessions ���������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������78 Common module settings �������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������78 Initiating or joining a chat session �������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������78 Click here to enter chat now ����������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������79 Version without frames and JavaScript �����������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������81 Leaving a chat ���������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������81 Viewing past chat sessions �������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������82 Choice ��������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������83 Add a Choice activity ����������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������83 Choice name �����������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������83 Choice text ��������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������83 Limit the number of responses allowed ����������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������84 Choice # �������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������84 Limit �������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������84 Restrict answering time to this period ������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������84 Display mode ����������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������84 Publish results ���������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������84 Privacy of results �����������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������85 Allow choice to be updated �����������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������85 Show column for unanswered �������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������86 Common module settings �������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������86 Selecting a Choice option ��������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������86 Monitoring choice responses ��������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������87 Database ����������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������89 Add Database activity ��������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������89 Name �����������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������90 Introduction ������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������90 Available from / Available to ����������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������90 Viewable from / Viewable to ����������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������90 Required entries ������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������90 Entries required before viewing �����������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������91

6

© HowToMoodle 2009


Maximum entries ����������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������91 Comments ���������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������91 Require approval? ���������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������91 Allow posts to be rated? �����������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������91 Grade �����������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������91 Common module settings �������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������91 Fields �����������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������92 Creating a new field ������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������92 Checkbox ����������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������94 Date �������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������95 File ���������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������95 Latitude /Longitude ������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������96 Menu �����������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������96 Menu (Multi-select) �������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������97 Number �������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������98 Picture ���������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������98 Radio buttons ������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������ 100 Text ����������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������� 100 Text area ��������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������� 101 URL ����������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������� 101 Presets ������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������ 102 Templates ������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������� 104 Add template ������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������� 105 Single template ���������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������� 106 List template �������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������� 107 Advanced search template ��������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������� 109 RSS template �������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������� 109 CSS template �������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������� 109 JavaScript template ��������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������� 109 Adding entries ����������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������� 109 Uploading bulk entries ���������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������� 109 Viewing entries ���������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������� 110 Searching entries ������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������� 111 Exporting entries ������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������� 111 Student view of a database activity �������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������� 111 Forum ������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������ 112 Add a Forum activity ������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������� 112 Forum name ��������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������� 112 Forum type ����������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������� 113 Forum introduction ��������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������� 113 Force everyone to be subscribed? ���������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������� 113 Read tracking for this forum? ������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������ 113 Maximum attachment size ���������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������� 114 Grade �������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������� 114 Post threshold for blocking ��������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������� 115 Common module settings ���������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������� 115 © HowToMoodle 2009

7


Subscription options ������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������� 115 Creating a discussion ������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������� 116 Forum discussion summary �������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������� 118 Replying to a forum post whilst viewing a discussion ��������������������������������������������������������������������������������������� 119 Discussion display options ���������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������� 119 Moving discussions ��������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������� 121 Forum posts ��������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������� 121 Forum emails ������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������� 123 Identifying a participant’s forum posts and discussions ����������������������������������������������������������������������������������� 125 Glossary �������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������� 126 Add a Glossary activity ���������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������� 126 Name �������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������� 127 Description ����������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������� 127 Entries shown per page ��������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������� 127 Glossary type ������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������� 127 Duplicated entries allowed ��������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������� 127 Allow comments on entries �������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������� 127 Allow print view ��������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������� 127 Automatically link glossary entries ��������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������� 127 Approve by default ���������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������� 127 Display format ������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������ 127 Show ‘Special’ link ������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������ 130 Show alphabet link ���������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������� 130 Show ‘ALL’ link ������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������ 130 Edit always ������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������ 130 Allow entries to be rated? ����������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������� 130 Common module settings ���������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������� 131 Categories for glossary entries ��������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������� 131 Creating categories ���������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������� 131 Adding an entry to a glossary ����������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������� 132 Concept ���������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������� 133 Format ������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������ 133 Categories ������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������ 133 Keyword(s) ����������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������� 134 Attachment ���������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������� 134 This entry should be automatically linked ��������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������� 134 Disabling specific instances of automatic linking ���������������������������������������������������������������������������������������� 134 Approving glossary entries ��������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������� 135 Editing, deleting and commenting on entries ��������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������� 135 Exporting an entry from a secondary glossary to a main glossary ������������������������������������������������������������������� 136 Exporting glossary entries ����������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������� 136 Importing glossary entries ���������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������� 136 Using the glossary ����������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������� 137 Searching glossary entries ���������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������� 137 Browsing glossary entries ����������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������� 137

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© HowToMoodle 2009


Lesson ����������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������� 139 Add Lesson activity ��������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������� 139 Name �������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������� 140 Timed �������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������� 140 Time limit (minutes) ��������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������� 140 Maximum number of answers/branches ����������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������� 140 Practice lesson ����������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������� 141 Custom scoring ���������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������� 141 Maximum grade ��������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������� 141 Student can re-take ��������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������� 141 Handling of re-takes �������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������� 141 Display ongoing score ����������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������� 141 Allow student review ������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������� 142 Display review button ����������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������� 142 Maximum number of attempts ��������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������� 142 Action after correct answer ��������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������� 142 Display default feedback ������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������� 143 Minimum number of questions �������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������� 143 Number of pages (cards) to show ����������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������� 144 Slide show ������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������ 145 Progress bar ��������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������� 145 Password protected lesson ��������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������� 146 Password �������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������� 146 Available from ����������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������� 146 Deadline ��������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������� 146 Dependent on ������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������ 146 Pop-up to file or web page ���������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������� 147 Link to an activity ������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������� 148 Use this lesson’s settings as defaults ������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������� 148 Common module settings ���������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������� 148 Lesson setup  initial options ����������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������� 148 Import questions ������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������� 148 Import PowerPoint ���������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������� 149 Add a Branch Table ���������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������� 150 Previewing a branch table ����������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������� 152 Add a question page ������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������� 153 Question type ������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������ 153 Question options ������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������� 153 Page title �������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������� 154 Page contents ������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������ 154 Answer # ��������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������� 154 Response # ����������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������� 154 Jump # ������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������ 155 Score # ������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������ 155 Add a question page ������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������� 155 Multiple choice questions ����������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������� 156 © HowToMoodle 2009

9


Previewing a multiple choice question �������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������� 156 True/False questions �������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������� 157 Short answer questions ��������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������� 157 Previewing a short answer question ������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������ 158 Numerical questions �������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������� 158 Previewing a numerical question ����������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������� 159 Matching questions ��������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������� 159 Previewing a matching question ������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������ 159 Essay questions ���������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������� 160 Previewing an essay question ����������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������� 160 Edit page �������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������� 161 Moving, updating, previewing, deleting a specific page ���������������������������������������������������������������������������� 163 Add an End of Branch page (End of Branch) ������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������ 163 Add a Cluster (Cluster) ����������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������� 164 Add an End of Cluster page (End of cluster) ������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������� 164 Preview ����������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������� 164 Grade essay questions ����������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������� 164 Reports ����������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������� 166 Overview �������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������� 166 Detailed statistics ������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������� 168 Attempting a lesson as a student ����������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������� 168 Question bank ��������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������� 170 Tabs ���������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������� 170 Category ��������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������� 170 Question bank categories ����������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������� 171 Editing categories ������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������ 172 Adding a category ����������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������� 172 Managing categories ������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������� 173 Selecting the working category �������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������� 173 Creating new questions �������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������� 173 Multiple choice ���������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������� 174 Penalty factor ������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������� 175 General feedback ������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������� 175 One or multiple answers ������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������� 175 Number the choices �������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������� 176 Shuffle answers ���������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������� 176 Choice # ���������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������� 176 Save changes – new question ����������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������� 177 Editing a question ������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������ 177 Created / Last saved ��������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������� 178 Save changes ������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������� 178 Save as new question ������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������ 178 True / False ����������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������� 178 Short answer �������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������� 179 Answer # ��������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������� 179 Numerical ������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������� 179

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© HowToMoodle 2009


Answer # ��������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������� 180 Alternative units ��������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������� 180 Matching �������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������� 181 Shuffle answers ���������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������� 181 Question # ������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������ 182 Embedded answer (Cloze) ���������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������� 182 Decode and verify the question text ������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������ 182 Creating question elements �������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������� 183 Essay ��������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������� 185 Calculated ������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������ 185 Choose dataset properties ���������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������� 187 Edit the datasets �������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������� 188 Description ���������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������� 190 Question list �������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������� 190 Action ������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������� 190 Question name ���������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������� 191 Type ���������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������� 191 Select all / Deselect all ����������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������� 191 Delete ������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������� 191 Move to ���������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������� 191 Previewing and testing questions ���������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������� 191 Submit / Submit page ����������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������� 192 Submit all and finish �������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������� 193 Fill with correct ���������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������� 193 Previous state ������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������� 193 Start again ������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������ 193 Close preview ������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������� 193 Exporting questions �������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������� 194 File format ������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������ 194 Category ��������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������� 194 File name �������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������� 194 Export questions to a file ������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������� 194 Importing questions �������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������� 194 File format ������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������ 195 Category ��������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������� 195 Match grades ������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������� 195 Import from file upload ��������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������� 196 Import from file already in course files ... ������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������ 196 Quiz ��������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������� 197 Add a Quiz activity ����������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������� 197 Name �������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������� 197 Introduction ��������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������� 197 Open the quiz ������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������ 198 Quiz closes ����������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������� 198 Time limit ������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������� 198 Time delay between first and second attempt �������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������� 198 © HowToMoodle 2009

11


Time delay between later attempts �������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������� 198 Questions per page ��������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������� 199 Shuffle questions ������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������� 199 Shuffle within questions �������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������� 199 Attempts allowed ������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������ 199 Each attempt builds on the last �������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������� 199 Adaptive mode ���������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������� 199 Grading method �������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������� 199 Apply penalties ���������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������� 199 Decimal digits in grades �������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������� 200 Review options ���������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������� 200 Show quiz in a secure window ���������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������� 200 Require password ������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������ 200 Require network address ������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������� 201 Common module settings ���������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������� 201 Overall feedback �������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������� 201 Edit quiz page ������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������ 202 Questions in this quiz ������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������ 203 Previewing a quiz ������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������� 205 Editing attempted quizzes ���������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������� 207 Attempting a quiz as a student ��������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������� 207 Reviewing student quiz attempt data ���������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������� 209 Overview table ����������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������� 209 Download results buttons ����������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������� 210 Page preferences ������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������� 210 Reviewing quiz attempts ������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������ 212 Make comment or override grade ���������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������� 212 History of responses �������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������� 213 Manual grading ��������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������� 214 Grading an essay question ���������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������� 214 Regrade attempts ������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������ 215 Item analysis �������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������� 215 Info ����������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������� 215 Wiki ���������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������� 216 Add a Wiki activity ����������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������� 216 Name �������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������� 217 Summary �������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������� 217 Type ���������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������� 217 Print wiki name on every page ��������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������� 217 HTML mode ���������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������� 217 Allow binary files ������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������� 217 Wiki auto-linking options ������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������ 217 Student admin options ��������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������� 218 Page name ����������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������� 218 Choose an Initial Page ����������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������� 218 Common module settings ���������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������� 218

12

© HowToMoodle 2009


Wiki pages ������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������ 219 View ���������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������� 219 Edit ������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������ 219 Links ���������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������� 219 History ������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������ 219 Attachments ��������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������� 220 Creating page content ���������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������� 221 Multiple editors ���������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������� 222 Creating new pages ��������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������� 222 Creating links between existing pages �������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������� 222 Search Wiki ����������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������� 222 Choose Wiki links ������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������� 222 Administration ����������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������� 223 Set page flags ������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������� 223 Remove pages ����������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������� 224 Strip pages ����������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������� 224 Revert mass changes ������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������� 224 Student wiki ��������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������� 225 Backup / Restore ������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������ 226 Backup ������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������ 226 Include ������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������ 226 Metacourse ���������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������� 227 Logs ���������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������� 227 User files ��������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������� 227 Course files ����������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������� 227 Site files used in this course �������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������� 227 Grade histories ����������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������� 227 Backup role assignments for these roles ������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������ 228 Backup details page �������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������� 228 Restore ����������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������� 228 Restore to ������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������� 229 Include ������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������ 229 Metacourse ���������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������� 229 Role mappings ����������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������� 230 Import ����������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������� 230 Reset �������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������� 230 General ����������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������� 231 Roles ��������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������� 232 Gradebook ����������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������� 232 Groupings ������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������ 232 Activity modules �������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������� 232 Default reset options ������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������� 232 Reset course ��������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������� 233 Managing people ���������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������� 234 Roles overview ����������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������� 234 What is a role? ������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������ 234 © HowToMoodle 2009

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What control do teachers have over roles? �������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������� 234 Where are roles assigned? ����������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������� 234 Assigning roles ����������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������� 235 Overriding permissions ��������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������� 238 Conflicts ��������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������� 240 Participants ���������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������� 240 Participants table ������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������� 241 User actions ���������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������� 242 User profiles ��������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������� 245 User profile tabs ��������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������� 246 Activity ����������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������� 246 Reports ����������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������� 249 Activity / Resource ����������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������� 249 Course ������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������ 250 Groups ������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������ 252 Course settings ���������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������� 252 In activities ����������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������� 253 Creating groups ��������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������� 254 Creating groups manually ����������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������� 255 Assigning users to groups ����������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������� 256 Managing groups ������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������ 257 Auto-creating groups ������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������ 257 Importing groups ������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������ 259 Working with groups ������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������� 259 Groupings ������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������ 260

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Notes about this manual Moodle version Throughout this manual a standard Moodle installation has been used and the site used to prepare the manual has been updated over time in an attempt to keep it as current as possible. Where functionality is described that requires action by the site administrator to enable it, this is mentioned in the text. As a result, the options and settings referred to in the guide may be slightly different to your own Moodle site. Theme Themes in Moodle determine the look and feel of the site. The “Standard White” theme has been used as this is present in each new installation and is a simple, clean theme to use for generating screenshots. Roles Moodle has a flexible system for creating roles that may be applied across the site. In this guide three “legacy” roles that are present on all Moodle installations have been used: ••Course Creator: May create new courses on the site. ••Teacher: This role enables the editing of the course and the ability to monitor and interact with students. This is the role to which a Course Creator is assigned on creation of a new course. ••Student: The default role for learners in a course. To maintain consistency with the terms in the interface in a standard installation the terms teacher and student are used throughout. Common settings There are a number of common elements that re-occur across Moodle. Rather than mention these repeatedly they are covered below. Mandatory fields etc. Where a field must be completed, a selection made etc. this is indicated by the legend being accompanied by an asterisk.

If you navigate away from a mandatory element or attempt to save a page with mandatory elements outstanding, a message to that effect is displayed.

Help icons Click the round icons with the ‘?’ to access a help file for that item.

Web browser and operating system The Firefox web browser and the Microsoft Windows XP operating system are used for screenshots and references in the text. If you are using an alternative web browser or operating system there may be a slight difference between that outlined in the guide and what you are seeing on screen.

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Creating a new course To create a course in Moodle you must have a user account with Course Creator privileges. When starting with a brand new site with no courses created, the way to do this is easy to spot! There is an ‘Add a new course’ button in the centre of the site page. Click this to open a settings page for a new course.

If the site administrator has added the ‘Courses’ block to the front page of the site, you can click the ‘Add new course …’ link to open a settings page for a new course.

If there are already courses created on the site you can access the ‘Add a new course’ button by clicking the ‘All courses …’ link in the ‘My courses’ block (if displayed).

Alternatively, click on a category name to display a list of courses. In the example below ‘Miscellaneous’ is the category name.

In all cases the ‘Add a new course’ button will be at the bottom of the list of courses displayed.

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Edit course settings

Category Courses are arranged on the site in categories (and sub-categories). Select from the items in this drop-down list to allocate the course to a category. By default Course Creators are not allowed to create categories or order a course within a category. ‘Miscellaneous’ is the default category.

Full name The text in this field may be edited to the name of the course you are creating. The content of this field is displayed in site course listings and elsewhere as a link to gain access to the course. The field is pre-populated with ‘Course Fullname 101’ by default.

Short name This field contains a shortened version of the full name of the course e.g. the course’s reference number. The content of this field appears in emails from the course and in navigation links where the full name would be inappropriate. The course short name must be unique on the site.

Course ID number Used where a number is required to match up a course to external systems. If there is no such requirement this field can be left blank.

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If any of the ‘Full name’, ‘Short name’ or ‘Course ID number’ fields are not present the site administrator has removed the ability for you to edit these.

Summary Use this area to write a description of the course. The description is displayed adjacent to the course full name on the site course listings and in the ‘Course Summary’ block.

Format There is a range of potential course formats that may be selected from the options in this drop-down list: ••LAMS: For incorporating activities created using the Learning Activity Management System, which is a separate online learning tool. More information at: http://www.lamsinternational.com/ ••SCORM: SCORM (Shareable Content Reference Model) is a collection of standards and specifications relating to how content may be packaged to allow it to be used on any system e.g. Moodle which also conforms to the standards and specifications. This format allows SCORM packages to be deployed as a Moodle course. A SCORM format course will only contain the content of the imported package. ••Social format: The central area of the course is dominated by a single forum.

••Topics format: The central area of the course is a series of numbered topic sections.

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••Weekly format / Weekly format – CSS/No tables: The central area of the course is a series of dated sections.

Number of weeks/topics Range: 1 – 52. Select the appropriate value from the drop-down list to determine the number of either dated or numbered (depending on the format selected) sections within the course.

Course start date This setting determines the dates for the weeks in ‘Weekly format’, the date set here will be the start date of the first week section in the course. For all course formats the date set here is the earliest date from which activity is displayed in charts in the activity logs for the course. In addition, this date may be used as a reference date when specifying an enrolment duration when assigning users to roles or when managing students from the ‘Participants’ page.

Hidden sections It is possible to hide sections in a course. The options are: ••Hidden sections are shown in collapsed form.

••Hidden sections are completely invisible.

Both methods of hiding sections can be used with either Weekly or Topics format. Hidden sections remain visible to teachers and administrators.

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News items to show Range: 0 – 10. In the Weekly and Topics course formats, a ‘News Forum’ is displayed at the top of the course page. This is typically used to make announcements and post news items – by default all participants are subscribed i.e. they receive emails of posts to this forum. Links to items in the News Forum will appear in a ‘Latest News’ block on the course page, the number of links is set using this setting. If ‘0’ is selected from the drop-down list neither the ‘News forum’ nor ‘Latest News’ block are added to the course.

Show gradebook to students This setting determines whether students can access their own grades for course activities in the gradebook.

Show activity reports It is possible to allow access to activity reports for each student that displays their activity within the course. The activity reports include detailed access logs and a record of contributions to the course e.g. attempting a quiz. The default setting is ‘No’ i.e. students do not have access to their own activity reports. For long courses, or for courses with many students, generating the reports may place an unwelcome burden on the site’s server. Teachers always have access to these reports, from the Participants area, the ‘All Logs’ icon from within each activity or resource or the Reports link in the Administration block.

Maximum upload size Range: Min. 10KB – Max. varies. The file size selected determines the maximum size of any single file that may be uploaded to the course by participants e.g. for an assignment submission. It is possible to set lower file upload sizes for individual activities in their respective settings pages.

Force theme This option will not be available if not enabled by the site administrator. If present, select a theme from those listed to apply its stylistic attributes to this course. Select ‘Do not force’ to use the default theme set for the site by the site administrator.

Is this a metacourse? Select ‘No’ to create a course that will allow assignment of users to any available role in the course. Select ‘Yes’ to create a course that will only allow enrolments of other courses that are not metacourses. Where a course is enrolled in a metacourse, the roles of participants in that course are automatically synchronised to the metacourse e.g. a student in a course that is enrolled in a metacourse will also have student level access to the metacourse. The roles that are ‘synchronised’ between courses with normal enrolments and metacourses are managed by a site-wide setting controlled by the site administrator. In addition to synchronised roles it is possible to assign users seperately to a course that is a metacourse provided that the role to which they are assigned permits them to ‘manage’ a metacourse. Where a course has existing assignments of individuals to roles or where the course is a metacourse that has ‘child courses’ the option to choose the status is removed.

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Enrolments

Enrolment plugins This setting determines the default enrolment method for this course. The options available are governed by the site setup. Contact your site administrator if you are unsure which type to use.

Default role From the roles listed choose the role to which you would like users enrolling in the course to be assigned – student is the default unless this has been changed by an administrator.

Course enrollable No – Students may not enrol in the course (a message to that effect is displayed if they attempt to do so). Yes – Students may enrol themselves (they are asked to confirm or decline if they attempt to do so). Date range: If enrolments are allowed, start and end dates for enrolments are set using the appropriate options below this setting.

Enrolment duration Range: Unlimited, 1 – 365 days. Specifies the default number of days a student remains enrolled, commencing from the time of enrolment. Participants are automatically un-enrolled at the expiry of this period unless an alternative duration is specified when they are assigned to a role for the course. If the setting remains as ‘Unlimited’, participants remain enrolled until they are specifically un-enrolled from the course or the site-wide function to remove students who have not visited the site for a prolonged period takes effect. The site administrator sets the timescale for the latter.

Enrolment expiry notification Notify: For no notifications of pending un-enrolments select ‘No’. Notify students: Where ‘Notify’ is set to ‘Yes’, select ‘Yes’ to notify students of pending un-enrolment. Threshold: Range: 1 – 30 days. Where ‘Notify’ is set to ‘Yes’ select how soon before un-enrolment for the expiry notification.

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Groups

Groups and groupings are covered in more depth in the People Management section.

Group mode Select an option from the group modes listed to determine how groups of participants may interact within the course. No groups: No separation into groups of any course participants. Separate groups: Members of a separate group can see fellow members of that group only. Visible groups: Members of a visible group work together in that group but can see other participants in the course (or some activities) who are not members of their group. This setting works in conjunction with the ‘Force’ setting below.

Force Yes – The group mode selected in ‘Group mode’ above applies course wide. No – The group mode may be set independently for any activity in the course which recognises groups.

Default grouping This option is not available if groupings are not enabled by the site administrator. Select an available grouping for the default for all activities and resources.

Availability

This course is available to students: Students can see the course listed on the site and may (subject to other conditions) enrol in it. This course is not available to students: The course will only be visible to teachers and administrators. Students are not allowed to access a course in this state even if they know its URL.

Enrolment key A case sensitive enrolment key may be specified for the course by entering characters in this field. Students require the enrolment key on the first occasion they attempt to enrol in the course. If the key becomes public it can be altered in this field and students who attempt to enrol for the first time following the change will require the new key. Students who have already successfully enrolled are not required to enter the replacement key. The ‘Unmask’ open reveals the key entered.

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Guest access Access to courses may be provided to guests who have ‘read only’ access to the course, they may not participate in the course activities e.g. attempt quizzes, post to a forum. The ‘Guest access’ settings determine how guest access to the course is handled. ••Do not allow guests in: Self-explanatory. ••Allow guests without the key: Anyone with access to courses is able to enter the course as a guest. ••Allow guests in who have the key: Access is permitted to guests who have the course enrolment key. Guests are required to enter the current enrolment key on each attempt to enter the course.

Force language

Range: Do not force, all installed language packs. Select an option from this drop-down list to force a particular language to be used for the course interface. If ‘Do not force’ is selected the language used in the interface is the same as the home page of the site.

Role renaming

Where a role name is not suitable for a course it may be changed for this course only by entering an alternative in the appropriate field e.g. Facilitator instead of Teacher. The revised role name will appear in the participants list and elsewhere in the course. If the original role is selected by the site administrator to appear together with the name(s) of users assigned to that role in course listings on the site, the revised role name appears in the listing for this course.

Save changes Click the ‘Save changes’ button to save all content and settings.

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The course page The appearance of the default course page will vary depending on the course format selected – the examples here use the ‘Topics’ format.

Navigation and orientation Course name

This is the name of the course as entered in the ‘Full name’ field in the ‘Edit course settings’ page.

User profile / login/logout link

Near the top right corner of the screen are two links that look similar to the above. The First name and Surname entered in your User Profile (Course Creator in this example) are displayed; click the link to view your User Profile. Adjacent to the User Profile link, in brackets, is the ‘Logout’ link. When this displays ‘Logout’ click the link to log out of the site. To log back in re-enter your site username and password in the site login page and then navigate to and click on a link displaying the course name. The above links also appear at the bottom of the course page.

Navigation bar

This provides an indication of where the user is in the course. It indicates (from left to right) the site short name, the course short name, the type of activity, the name of the activity or resource currently accessed and, depending upon the activity type, additional information e.g. name of the discussion in a forum, wiki page name. Click on any link in the navigation bar to navigate to that item. When the activity type link is clicked a page of all activities of that type in the course is displayed. The site administrator may have elected to hide the activity type link from teachers and/or students.

Switch role to …

Selecting a role type from this drop-down list allows you to view the course (nearly) as someone assigned to that role would view it. The roles displayed here may vary depending on how the site administrator has configured Roles on the site.

Turn editing on button

Click this button to enable the course editing features.

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Blocks The default course layout contains a number of blocks on the left and right of the course page: ••People ••Activities ••Search Forums ••Administration ••My courses ••Latest News (if 1 or higher is selected in the ‘News items to show’ setting in the course settings) ••Upcoming events ••Recent activity

Main course area

This area (only 4 Topics shown) is where the course activities and resources are placed.

Modifying the course page layout with blocks Enabling editing of the course page Click the ‘Turn editing on’ button or link in the Administration block to display a range of additional features that enable customisation of the course layout.

Adding blocks to a course In addition to the default blocks further blocks may be added to the course page. Locate the ‘Blocks’ block (on the right of the course page, at the bottom of the column of blocks).

Click on ‘Add’ to display a list of available blocks that may be added to the course page.

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To add a block to the course, select it from the list displayed. (Some blocks may be added more than once.) Each newly added block is always the lowermost block on the right-hand column of blocks.

Removing a block from a course In editing mode, blocks contain an ‘X’ in their header.

A block is removed from the course when the ‘X’ is clicked.

Moving blocks Displayed blocks may be repositioned: ••From the left side of the course page to the right side (or vice versa). ••Up or down the left or right side of the course page. In editing mode, blocks contain navigation arrows in their header.

When an arrow is clicked the block will move in the direction indicated. The arrows displayed indicate the permitted movements. When moving from the left or right the block will appear at the bottom of the column it has been moved to. Blocks may not be positioned in the central area of the course page.

Hiding a block from students When a block has been added to a course it is possible to hide it from students. In editing mode, blocks contain an ‘eye’ icon in their header. Clicking on this icon will cause the block to be hidden from students. When hidden, the icon resembles a closed eye.

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When a block is hidden it retains its position on the course page, but its contents are not visible to teachers.

Roles Roles may be assigned at block level by clicking the Roles icon.

Collapsing blocks Blocks may be collapsed by clicking the ‘–’ in the header. Click the ‘+’ to reverse this action. Blocks may be collapsed when not in editing mode.

This option is also available to students.

Blocks without header icons The ‘Blocks’ block may not be repositioned or deleted and has no icons in its header. If you encounter another block with no icons, the site administrator has forced it to appear in every course. You are not able to move, hide or delete these blocks.

Blocks in more detail People block

The ‘Participants’ link in the People block enables access to the Participants area for participant profiles, sending bulk messages, activity reports.

Activities block

The type(s) of activities used in the course are listed alphabetically. Click on the link that describes an activity type to display a list of all activities of that type.

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Search Forums block

To search the text of all forums in the course, enter the search text in the field to display any matching entries. Where it is useful to refine the search, click the ‘Advanced search’ link in the block to open an additional interface to specify more specific search criteria.

Administration block

Note: Teachers without editing rights and students have a more restricted view of the Administration block.

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Turn editing off/on This link performs the same function as the ‘Turn editing on’ button above. Settings Click to access the ‘Edit course settings’ page. Assign roles Click to access the interface for assigning users to roles in the course and role overrides (if permitted by the site administrator). (Covered in more detail elsewhere in this manual.) Child courses – Metacourses only Click to ‘enrol’ courses with enrolments of individuals into a metacourse. Groups Click to access the interface for creating groups (and groupings if enabled at site level) and allocating participants to them. (Covered in more detail elsewhere in this manual.) Backup Click to commence the process of backing up the course (or elements of it). (Covered in more detail elsewhere in this manual.) Restore Click to commence the process of restoring / importing a course (or selected elements) from previously created backups. (Covered in more detail elsewhere in this manual.) Import Click to import activity and resource data from a course on the site in the same category or which the teacher has taught. Also click here to access the field for importing group settings. (Covered in more detail elsewhere in this manual.) Reset Click to access the options for ‘resetting’ a course. Options include: Deleting student and teacher data, course events from the calendar, course activity logs, group data and resetting the course start date. In addition, posts (and optionally subscriptions) may be deleted from forums in the course by forum type. (Covered in more detail elsewhere in this manual.) Reports Click to access various activity reports. (Covered in more detail elsewhere in this manual.) Questions Click to access the area for creating a question bank. (Covered in more detail elsewhere in this manual.) Scales Click to access the interface for creating or modifying scales used when grading activities. Files Click to access any files associated with the course. These may include files uploaded to the course as well as course backup files. (Covered in more detail elsewhere in this manual.) Grades Click to access the gradebook. Unenrol me from … Click to unenrol from this course. The visibility of this link is determined by role settings.

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My courses block

This block displays links to the courses in which the current user is participating (as teacher or student). Click the ‘All courses …’ link to display a list of courses available to the current user.

Recent activity block

This block summarises activity in the course since the date and time shown, typically since the participant’s last login. Click the link associated with each item to display it. A fuller report is displayed by clicking on the ‘Full report of recent activity …’ link. Click the ‘Show advanced’ button to display all of the filtering options.

Participants Select ‘All participants’ or a named participant as required to display the required recent activity. Activities Select the activity types to view, currently the following activity types are supported: Forums, Assignments, Quizzes. Groups Select ‘All groups’ or a named group as required to display the required recent activity. (Only available if the course has groups. (Covered in more detail elsewhere in this manual.))

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Sort by Select the order in which the displayed activity will be sorted. Options are: By course order i.e. as displayed on the course page. Date – most recent last: Self-explanatory. Date – most recent first: Self-explanatory Since Select the date and time after which activity is displayed. Tick the ‘Disable’ checkbox to show all course activity. Show recent activity Click to display the activity information based on the filter criteria above.

Section links block

The aim of this block is to aid navigation between sections or weeks within the course. Click a numbered link to bring the corresponding sections into view. Where the current section is highlighted in the course, the link for the corresponding section number (if shown) is emboldened in the block and the ‘Jump to the current topic’ link is displayed. Where a large number of topics is used a selection of numbered section links is displayed. When using the weekly course format the current week is highlighted and a ‘Jump to current week’ link is displayed. Where a topic (or week) is hidden from view and it appears ‘greyed out’ to teachers, it is not displayed in the block to students.

Latest News block

This block displays the first few words of the title of new discussions added to the News Forum. The date, time and originator of the news item are shown. Click the ‘more …’ link to display the news item in full in the News Forum. Click the ‘Add a new topic’ link to start a new discussion topic in the News Forum. Other news items are displayed in the News Forum by clicking the ‘Older topics’ link. The maximum number of items shown in the block is determined in the ‘News items to show’ option in the ‘Edit course settings’ page (Administration block > Settings).

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Upcoming events

This block displays events from the Upcoming Events page in the Calendar. Up to 10 events for 21 days ahead are displayed in chronological order (the parameters may be adjusted by individual users in the calendar). If the actual number of events in the defined period exceeds the number of events permitted, not all of the future events are displayed. Click the link that describes a calendar event to open it in the Calendar or click a scheduled activity to navigate to that activity. Where the due time for an event in the current day has passed, the event is still displayed but the date information is greyed out. Click the ‘Go to calendar’ link to view the more extensive Upcoming Events area within the Calendar. Click the ‘New Event’ link to access the interface for creating a new event in the calendar.

Calendar

The Calendar block displays and enables access to the Calendar.

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Online Users

This block displays users who have accessed the course in the last 5 minutes. The participant’s name from their user profile is shown as a link next to a thumbnail of the user profile image (if any, otherwise a standard avatar is used). Hover your mouse cursor over the link for a participant to see a pop up that displays the approximate period since their last access. Click a name link to navigate to the full profile of the participant. Click the envelope icon (if displayed) to launch the messages pop-up window to send a private message to that user.

Messages block

The Messages block indicates whether any messages have been received and, if so, from whom and how many. Click the envelope icon or the link indicating the number of messages to view messages received.

Click the ‘Messages…’ link to open the message pop-up window to send a message. The contact list will be empty the first time it is accessed.

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Contacts

A list of contacts can be created by selecting from the potential contacts in the ‘Search’ area. Note: the current online/offline status of contacts is indicated. Search Click this tab to search for potential contacts and to search messages.

••Search for a person: Enter a string of characters from the name of the contact sought. Click the ‘Only in my courses checkbox’ to limit the search. A list of matches will be listed.

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••Search messages: Enter some text from a message and select whether to include blocked users and the nature of the message i.e. sent, received or both. Click the ‘Search’ button; messages that include the search text are displayed.

Settings

This area contains various settings for the Message function. The text in the screenshot above, explains the purpose of each option.

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Sending messages Click on a contact name to send a message; the message pane is displayed.

If the ‘Version without frames and JavaScript’ link is clicked (or if you have selected that preference in messaging settings) a more accessible interface is displayed.

Type the message in the text box and click the send button. The message will appear in the space above the text box and a message is displayed below the text box if the message has been sent to the recipient by email.

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The message window will appear in a pop-up in the recipient’s computer shortly or the next time they log into the site if they have enabled that option in their message settings. The recipient must click the name of the sender to view the message. Message icons

Messaging contains a number if icons which control features: Add / Remove contact: Click the icon (or link) to toggle this function. Block / Unblock contact: Click the icon (or link) to toggle this function. View message history: Click the icon (or link) to show the message history for a displayed contact.

Course summary block

Note: This block is referred to as ‘Course/Site Description’ in the Blocks block drop-down list. This block displays the content of the ‘Summary’ area in course settings. In editing mode, click on the edit icon to open the ‘Edit course settings’ page to allow editing.

HTML block

This block may be used to create a bespoke block for the course using HTML. Click the edit icon to open the block for editing. More than one instance of this block may be added to the course.

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Block title: Enter text only for the block title – if left empty the block will not display a title. Content: Enter text or HTML code here to form the block content. Save changes: Click to save the content and display the block, see the example below.

Take care when adding content e.g. images to an HTML block because if the content is too wide the block will re-size to accommodate the content, potentially affecting the layout of the course page.

Random glossary entry block

This block enables the content entries from a selected glossary to be displayed on the course page. Where a glossary entry includes a media element e.g. image, embedded sound clip in the ‘Description’ area, the layout of the course may be distorted if this content is wider than standard block width. Unapproved student entries in the source glossary are not displayed. To configure the block, click the edit icon in its header.

Title: Enter the text for the title of the block. Take entries from this glossary: Select a glossary from those available in this course. Days before a new entry is chosen: Enter the appropriate value to delay the display of entries in the block e.g. if 1 is entered a different entry is displayed each day. Enter 0 for a different entry to be displayed on each course page refresh. How a new entry is chosen: Select an item from the drop down to specify how displayed entries are chosen. Random entry: Entries are selected at random from the source glossary.

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Last modified entry: Only the last entry to be added is displayed. This setting overrides ‘Days before a new entry is chosen’. Next entry: Entries in the source glossary are displayed in the order created. Show concept (heading) for each entry: The ‘Concept’ is the title of a glossary entry; tick this checkbox to display it in the box, together with the content of the ‘Description’ area of the glossary entries. When users can add entries to the glossary … Enter text in this field that is displayed as a link to participants who may add entries to the source glossary. If clicked, the source glossary is opened with the ‘Add new entry’ page opened. When users can view the glossary but not add entries … Enter text in this field that is displayed as a link to participants who may view the source glossary. If clicked the source glossary is displayed with entries sorted alphabetically. When users cannot edit or view the glossary … Enter text in this field that is displayed to participants who may not add entries to or view the glossary.

Remote News Feed block Many websites publish news and updates using ‘RSS’ in the form of newsfeeds enabling those interested in updates to be able to capture them in a news reader without visiting the site itself. This block enables the display of one or more newsfeeds on a course page in Moodle. Sites that have news feeds often display the icon below.

Click the edit icon or the ‘Click here to configure this block to display RSS feeds’ link to open the block for editing.

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If there are no feeds set up, one or more must be added before the block can be configured. To set up feeds click the ‘Manage all my feeds’ tab or the ‘Edit news feeds’ link (the latter is only present if there are no news feeds currently available in the block). Manage all my feeds

Add a news feed URL: Obtain an RSS feed URL from the source site and paste or type it into this field. Custom title: Enter an alternative name for the feed here if this is preferred to the default that is generated by the news feed. Shared feed: Tick this checkbox to make this feed available to be added to remote news feed blocks in other courses on the site.

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Validate feed – Click this link to check if the feed is functioning properly. The status will be confirmed in a pop-up window.

Feeds that do not validate completely successfully may still function satisfactorily. Add: Click to add the feed to the course (or all courses if ‘Shared feed’ is ticked).

Configure this block tab

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Display each link’s description? No – Only a link to the item in the feed is displayed in the block. Yes – A link to the item in the feed is displayed in the block plus additional text from the article.

Max number of entries to show per block: Determines the items displayed from each feed displayed in the block. Choose the feeds which you would like to make available in this block: Tick the required feeds from those listed. Title: Enter a title for the block. If left blank the name of the feed is used, where there are multiple feeds in the block the feed added earliest is used. Should a link to the original site (channel link) be displayed?: Select ‘Yes’ if a link to the source site is required. Show channel image if available: Select ‘Yes’ to display an image for the feed (if one is available). In some cases the image may be wider than the width of the block and distort the course page layout.

Quiz results This block displays results from a selected quiz in the course.

Click the edit icon to open and configure the block. The error message in the block disappears when the block has been configured.

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Which quiz should this block display results from?: Select the required quiz from those listed. How many of the highest grades should be shown?: Enter the number of highest grades to be displayed in the block for the selected quiz or enter ‘0’ to disable this option. The block displays results of individual participants unless there are groups in the course and the quiz activity is configured to use separate or visible groups. In this case the value relates to the display of averages for groups. How many of the lowest grades should be shown?: As above but for lowest grades. Privacy level for displayed results: This option is only effective if results of individuals are displayed. For an ID number to be displayed for the ‘Display only ID numbers’ option, an ID number must be present in the ‘ID number’ field in the participant’s user profile. Show groups instead of students: Click ‘Yes’ for the block to display the average grade for group(s) rather than results for individual participants. Display grades as: Select the format in which grades should be displayed – Percentages, Fractions, Absolute numbers.

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Main course area Topics

The central area of the course page is divided into numbered sections (and dated in the case of the Weekly course format). At the top of the column of sections is an un-numbered area that is always present (students only see this if it contains at least one activity or resource or there is some content in the summary area). This section is often used for some introductory text / instructions and for activities or resources which apply throughout the course and are not related to a specific topic. A title for each topic section may be added by using a text editing area that is accessed by clicking the edit icon in the top left corner of each section.

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Each numbered topic has a series of icons to control its availability, appearance and position.

In descending order these icons are: Show topic Note: The ‘Show topic’ icon is available to students. Click this icon for any numbered topic section to make that the only topic section visible. The icon changes to the following to indicate other topics are hidden.

Click again to display all topic sections. When only one topic section is displayed another may be accessed by selecting the required topic from the ‘Jump to …’ drop-down list. The topics listed are identified by the topic number and an extract from the first line of the topic summary (in Weekly format the list items contain the Week number and dates).

Highlight topic Click this icon to highlight the topic, normally its borders change to another colour. Not present in Weekly format as the current week is automatically highlighted. Hide topic This icon toggles the status of the topic between visible or hidden i.e. available or unavailable to students. See Hidden sections in the Creating a new course section for further information. Move topic arrows Clicking on an arrow will move the topic and all of its contents in the direction indicated.

Activity / resource icons Whenever an activity or resource is added to a section in a course it is identified by its own icon and descriptive text link. To the right of these is a series of icons that can be used to modify its position and some characteristics.

From left to right these icons are: Move activity / resource left or right Click the arrow(s) to move the activity or resource to the left or right within its section. This can be useful to improve the visual layout of the course. Only the arrows for permitted movements are displayed. © HowToMoodle 2009 Please respect our copyright. If this is not your own copy you can buy one at www.howtomoodle.com

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Move This icon enables the activity or resource to be repositioned vertically in either its current topic (or week) or to another. Click the move icon; the item to be moved disappears temporarily. A message at the top of the course page indicates the item to be moved. To cancel the move, click the ‘Cancel’ link.

In each potential new location a rectangle with a dashed border is displayed. Click the rectangle in the required location to complete the move.

Update Click the ‘Update’ icon to open the page in which the settings (or text for Labels) for the activity / resource may be edited. Delete This icon is used to delete an activity or resource. Prior to completing the deletion a warning message is displayed which asks for confirmation of the deletion. There is no option to reverse the deletion. Hide Click this icon to hide an activity or resource from students. When hidden, the descriptive link for the hidden activity or resource is ‘greyed out’. Groups The Groups icon behaviour depends upon the options selected for the ‘Group mode’ and ‘Force’ settings in the ‘Edit course settings’ page. Group mode

Force

Icon

No

Yes

None

Visible

Yes

Separate

Yes

Where the ‘Force’ setting is set to ‘No’ the Groups icon responds to mouse clicks and the groups status is toggled between no groups, visible groups or separate groups for that activity. Where ‘Force’ is set to ‘No’, no groups for that activity are indicated by the following icon.

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Accessing resources and activities All activities and resources (with the exception of ‘Labels’ the content of which is visible on the course page) appear on the course page as an icon and a text link that must be clicked to gain access.

Near the top right corner of most resource and activity pages there is a ‘Jump to …’ drop-down list that itemises resources and activities in the course. Select an item from the list to navigate directly to it. Resources or activities hidden from students are in brackets.

To cycle through the resources and activities in the order they are listed on the course page click on the buttons to the left or right of the ‘Jump to …’ drop-down list. An index page of all resources or activities of the same type is displayed by clicking the name of the resource or activity type in the navigation bar when viewing an activity or resource. Note the site administrator may have elected to hide this from teachers and/or students.

Topic: Indicates the topic section in which the resource or activity is situated (displays ‘Week’ when course is in Weekly Format). Name: The name of the resource or activity as displayed on the course page. Click the link to open the resource or activity. Summary: All or part of the ‘Summary’ area (or its equivalent for an activity). The index page can also be reached by clicking an activity type link in the ‘Activities’ block.

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Adding resources and activities to the course page Each section of the course page contains two drop-down lists that each contain a list of the available resource and activity types.

An activity or resource is added to the course page by selecting an item from the appropriate list. The configuration options for the activity or resource selected are then displayed. The activity or resource will be created in the same section from which the drop-down list was located.

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Resources Label The ‘Label’ resource is used to create a label which is visible on the course page without the requirement to click on a link to reveal it. It may contain text or media elements. Click on the ‘Add a resource…’ drop-down list and select ‘Insert a label’.

The settings page is displayed.

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Common module settings Click ‘Show Advanced’ to display additional settings for groupings. These are covered in more detail in the section on managing people. Visible Show  Students may view the label. Hide  The label is not visible to students. Teachers will see the label but it will be ‘greyed out’. Save and return to course Click to save the content. The label is displayed on the course page.

Cancel Exit the page without saving.

Text page This resource enables the addition of a simple text page to the course. Click the ‘Add a resource …’ drop-down list and select ‘Compose a text page’.

The settings page is displayed.

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Name The content of this field creates a clickable link on the course page.

Summary Text entered here is displayed on the resources index page.

Full text The text entered in this area is displayed when this resource is accessed. Formatting Select the formatting option required from the drop-down list. In this format certain forms of text are recognised and automatically converted. Moodle auto-format Smileys (emoticons): These are icons which help convey the underlying emotion in a passage of text or a word. In Moodle auto-format the text is converted to an icon e.g. . :-) becomes URLs: i.e. text beginning with ‘www.’ or ‘http://’ is converted to a clickable link. HTML format HTML is a language used to create web pages. Moodle auto-format converts a limited selection of these to permit formatting of text. The supported range is detailed in the help screen. Plain text format No formatting whatsoever is applied to the text.

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Markdown format Markdown format makes it possible to create formatted web pages using text characters. Additional information can be found in the help screen or at the author’s site at http://daringfireball.net/projects/markdown/

Show / Hide Advanced To display the window and other module options click the ‘Show Advanced’ button.

Window Same window Select this option for the text page to be displayed in the same web browser window (as opposed to in a pop-up window).

If the ‘Show course blocks’ checkbox is ticked, the resource is displayed with the blocks configured for the course page in corresponding positions at the side of the resource.

New window Select this option to display the resource in a pop-up window. The settings chosen determine the characteristics of the pop-up window: Allow the window to be resized: The participant may alter the size of the new window Allow the window to be scrolled: Where the content does not fit within the new window, a scroll bar is enabled. Show the directory links: Depending on the browser in use, this displays either the Links / Favorites bar (IE) or Bookmarks bar (Firefox). Show the location bar: The web page URL is displayed. Show the menu bar: Enables access to browser functions by displaying the menus. Show the tool bar: Enables access to browser functions and navigation by displaying the toolbar. Show the status bar: Allow participants to see information displayed in the status bar. Default window width / height (in pixels): Specifies the initial size of the new window. Note: The setting in the browser used to control pop-up windows may impact on this feature. If a new window does not appear a message stating that this should have been the case is revealed, containing a clickable link to re-launch the new window.

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Common module settings Click ‘Show Advanced’ to display additional settings for groups and groupings. These are covered in more detail in the section on managing people. Visible Show  Students may view the resource. Hide  The resource is not visible to students. Teachers will see the label but it will be ‘greyed out’. ID number – This is an optional field that enables the resource to be identified in the grade book. Save and return to course Click to save the changes and return to the course page. Save and display Click to save the changes and view the resource. Cancel Exit the page without saving.

Web page This resource enables the addition of an HTML web page to the course. Where the Moodle HTML editor is enabled the HTML formatting is performed in the background. If not enabled, it is assumed that all entries in the text are HTML code. Functionality not described for this resource type is identical to that in the Text page resource. Click on the ‘Add a resource…’ drop-down list and select ‘Compose a web page’.

The settings page is displayed.

Link to file or web site This resource enables the addition of a direct link to a file (uploaded to the course files area or remote) or a web page. Depending on a range of issues such as web browser type, web browser configuration, computer programs present on the computer files that are linked to may appear embedded in the resource page or a link to the file is displayed which the user must click to open the file. Functionality not described for this resource type is identical to that in the Text page resource.

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Click on the ‘Add a resource…’ drop-down list and select ‘Link to a file or web site’.

The settings page is displayed.

Summary Identical functionality to Text page resource. In addition, the content of this area is displayed below the file or web site if the ‘Keep page navigation visible on the same page’ option below is enabled.

Location

The path to the file or web page URL must be entered in this field.

Choose or upload a file Enter the location of the web site i.e. its URL (Note: the initial http:// is already present in the field if pasting the address) or the location of the file in this field. Search for a web page Click this button to launch a search engine (www.google.com is the default) in a pop-up window whilst within the settings page for this resource type. Choose or upload file Although it is possible to link to a ‘remote’ file, this button enables access to the course files area. Click ‘Choose or upload a file’; the course files area is displayed in a pop up window. For more information on the files area see ‘Course files area’. To link to a file in the course files area click the ‘Choose’ link for that file.

The location of the uploaded file is now displayed in the location field.

Window Force download Tick this checkbox to force the web browser used by the participant to prompt to download the file that is linked to. This option can help overcome the unpredictable behaviour that can arise when participants are using computers with a range of web browsers and variable configurations. Window The window functionality is identical to that outlined above for the Text Page resource, but has additional options, if ‘Same window’ is selected.

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Keep page navigation visible on the same page No – A web site is opened full screen. Files are displayed embedded in the page or are accessible via a link. Yes, with frame – A web site is opened and displayed in a frame. Files are displayed embedded in the page or are accessible via a link. Any text entered in the Summary area is displayed above the frame.

Yes, without frame – A web site is embedded in the page. Files are displayed embedded in the page or are accessible via a link. Any text entered in the Summary area is displayed at the bottom of the screen.

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Parameters The Parameters area allows information (a parameter) to be sent to a web site. The information to be sent is selected in the ‘Parameters’ drop-down lists. A variable name must also be specified. The parameter options are: User Id

Username

Password

ID number

First name

Surname

Full name

Email address

ICQ number

Phone 1

Phone 2

Institution

Department

Address

City/town

Time zone

Web page

Course Id

Full name

Short name

Id number

Summary

Format

Word for teacher(s)

Word for student(s)

Miscellaneous Preferred language

Full site name

Time

Encrypted code

Server URL

Display a directory This resource allows the files in a specified directory (folder) in the course files area to be displayed to students without allowing deleting, moving etc. Functionality not described for this resource type is identical to that in the Text page resource. Click on the ‘Add a resource …’ drop-down list and select ‘Display a directory’.

The settings page is displayed.

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Summary Identical functionality to Text page resource. The contents of this area are also displayed above the files in the directory.

Display a directory Click the drop-down list to display a list of all directories in the course files area of the course. ‘Main files directory’ is the entire course files area.

Select a directory from those listed and click the ‘Save changes’ button. A list of all the files (and sub-directories) in the selected directory is displayed.

Edit files Click the ‘Edit files’ button near the top right corner of the resource window to access the actual directory selected from ‘Display a directory’ in the course files area.

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Course files area Click the ‘Files’ link in the ‘Administration’ block to open the course files area. This area is specific to this course only. Files located here may not be accessed from other courses.

Folders Files may be organised into folders – folders may contain additional sub-folders too. To create a new folder, click on the ‘Make a folder’ button in the location where the new folder is required.

Enter the name of the folder (Moodle will fill any spaces in the name with underscores) in the field displayed and click the ‘Create’ button.

The new folder appears in the files area and can be opened by clicking its name which is displayed as a link. To navigate between folders click on the ‘Parent folder’ link (when visible) to go ‘up’ a level or click a link which is the name of a folder in the navigation bar.

Folders may be renamed by clicking the ‘Rename’ link and entering and saving the new name.

Uploading files In the location where you want the uploaded file to reside, click the ‘Upload a file’ button to display an upload field. Note that the maximum upload size is that set for the site and not a lower value that may have been set for the course.

Click the ‘Browse’ button and locate and select the required file on your computer, network etc. The path to the file is displayed in the field. Click the ‘Upload this file’ button to upload the file to the files area in your course.

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The file is displayed with a series of links to its right. Rename: Click to rename a file (or folder). Edit: Text and HTML files. The content of the file may be edited and saved from within the files area. Unzip: Zip files only. Click this link to extract the contents of a zip archive in this location in the Files area. Zip files may contain file(s), folder(s) or a combination of both and are typically compressed to make the contents smaller (and therefore quicker) to upload. List: Zip files only. Click this link to display the contents of the zip file without extracting them into the files area. Restore: Zip files only. Click to start the restore process for Moodle course backup files only.

Moving folders and files Tick the checkbox to the left of the folder(s) or file(s) to be moved. Select ‘Move to another folder’ from the ‘With chosen files …’ drop down.

Navigate to the folder to which the file or folder is to be moved and open it. Click the ‘Move files to here’ button; the file or folder appears in the new location.

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Deleting files and folders Tick the checkbox to the left of the folder(s) or file(s) to be moved. Select ‘Delete completely’ from the ‘With chosen files …’ drop down.

Click the ‘Yes’ button to confirm the deletion. The file is deleted.

Zipping folders and files To create a zip file of folder(s) or file(s) in the files area, tick the checkbox to the left of the folder(s) or file(s) to be zipped up together. Select ‘Create zip archive’ from the ‘With chosen files …’ drop down.

Enter a name, ending in ‘.zip’ for the zip file to be created and click the ‘Create zip archive’ button.

The new ‘zip’ file is created in the same folder.

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Assignment The Assignment module enables teachers to manage tasks that require the uploading of material in electronic formats, the submission of text-based tasks and to specify tasks that cannot take place within Moodle.

Add an Assignment activity Click on the ‘Add an activity …’ drop-down box and select the required assignment type from the drop-down list: Advanced uploading of files Student compiles their submission in ‘draft’ mode. Student submits one or more files. Teacher grades and gives feedback on submissions. Teacher may send students one or more files as part of their feedback. Online text Student makes submission online in the (HTML editor or text box). Teacher grades and gives feedback on submissions. Upload a single file Student submits one file. Teacher grades and gives feedback on submissions. Offline activity The task is specified using the assignment activity but takes place offline. Teacher grades and gives feedback on submissions online using the assignment activity.

The settings page is displayed for the relevant assignment type. There are many similarities between each type of assignment; the ‘Advanced uploading of files’ is the most comprehensive and is covered first.

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Advanced uploading of files

Assignment name The content of this field creates a link on the course page.

Description Enter a description of the task etc. in this area.

Grade The Grade drop-down list contains potential ratings, including any scales that have been set up for the course or site. Range: 1 – 100, No Grade, Scales.

Available from Select from the drop-down lists to set the date and time from which students will be allowed to make submissions. Tick the ‘Disable’ checkbox to make the assignment available immediately. The available date and time is displayed to students when they access the assignment.

Due date Select from the drop-down lists to set the date and time by which students should make their submission. Tick the ‘Disable’ checkbox to remove the time limit on submissions. The due date and time are displayed to students when they access the assignment and are also displayed in the Upcoming Events Block and the calendar.

Prevent late submissions Select ‘Yes’ for the means for students to make a submission to be unavailable after the date/time set in ‘Due date’. In this assignment type this results in the upload fields being removed.

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Maximum size Range: Min. 10KB – Max. limit for course (varies). The file size selected determines the maximum size of any single file that may be submitted.

Allow deleting Select ‘Yes’ to allow students to be able to delete files they have uploaded prior to submission.

Maximum number of uploaded files Range: 1 – 20. Select the maximum number of files a student may submit. The required number of files should be specified by the teacher in the assignment ‘Description’ as students only see a single upload field.

Allow notes Select ‘Yes’ to display a ‘Notes’ area that a student may edit to append some notes to the submission.

Hide description before available date Select ‘Yes’ for the content of ‘Description’ (above) to be hidden from students prior to the date/time in ‘Available from’. Whilst this setting is effective students see the following message ‘Sorry, this assignment is not yet available. Assignment instructions will be displayed here on the date given below.’

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Email alerts to teachers Select ‘Yes’ to receive an email notification of student submissions.

Enable Send for marking Yes – The student compiles the files for submission and makes a ‘final’ submission (although the teacher may subsequently revert the activity back to draft mode). No – The student may make initial and subsequent submissions and receive feedback and grades from the teacher throughout.

Common module settings Click ‘Show Advanced’ to display additional settings for groups and groupings. These are covered in more detail in the section on managing people. Visible Yes  Students may view the activity. No  The activity is not visible to students. Teachers are able to see a ‘greyed out’ link and are able to access, view and update the activity. Click the ‘Save changes’ button to save all changes made or the ‘Cancel’ button to discard them. The assignment page is displayed.

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Submitting an advanced uploading of files assignment

Available from / Due date As specified when setting up the assignment. Submission draft This heading is only visible if ‘Enable send for marking ‘ is set to ‘Yes’ to remind the student that the assignment is in draft mode allowing the student to compile the submission in advance of the final submission. Any files that have been uploaded in readiness for submission are listed. In the screenshot a student may delete the file prior to submission. Where ‘Enable send for marking’ is set to ‘Yes’, the teacher will see files that the student has uploaded in anticipation of their submission. However, during this phase the teacher will see these identified as ‘Draft’ in the grading area. Upload this file Click the ‘Browse’ button and locate and select the required file on your computer, network etc. The path to the file is displayed in the field. Click the ‘Upload this file’ button to upload the file. Notes Click the edit button to add (or append to) notes that will accompany the submission. Visible only when ‘Allow notes’ is set to ‘Yes’.

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Final submission for assignment marking Only visible if ‘Enable send for marking ‘ is set to ‘Yes.’ Click the ‘Send for marking’ button to submit the compiled assignment. A message that it is not possible to modify the submission is displayed; click ‘Yes’ to complete the submission.

The submitted file(s) and any notes are displayed. The day, date and time of the latest submission by the student is displayed at the top right of the assignment page.

Teacher review of submissions Teachers may check the number of student submissions in a number of ways: Email alerts: For each submission if ‘Email alerts to teachers’ is set to ‘Yes’. Click the ‘It is available on the website’ link to see the submissions.

Assignment index page: Click on ‘Assignments’ in the ‘Activities’ block or the navigation bar when viewing an assignment. Click the link detailing the number of submissions to see the submissions.

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The assignment page: A link detailing the number of submissions is displayed; click this link to see the submissions.

The Submissions page is displayed. First name / Surname Click the letters to display only those students who meet the selected criteria. Page: Click a page number or ‘Next’.

First name / Surname index Click on a letter in each row to filter the participants displayed. Click ‘All’ to display all records; for large groups these are paginated based on the value in the ‘Submissions shown per page’ field in the bottom right of the page). Page: Click a page number or ‘Next’ link to display another page of students (the number of students per page is set in the ‘Submissions shown per page’ setting at the bottom right of the page.

Submissions table Each link in the table header may be clicked to sort the table columns. The icons in the table header may be clicked to collapse columns to save scrolling horizontally.

First name / surname The name of the student. Grade The grade given for the submission by the teacher – if any. If the grade recorded in the assignment has been overridden in the gradebook the grade shown here is highlighted. © HowToMoodle 2009 Please respect our copyright. If this is not your own copy you can buy one at www.howtomoodle.com

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Comment The first few words of the feedback given by the teacher. Last modified (Student) The day, date and time the student last modified the assignment submission. Last modified (Teacher) The day, date and time the teacher last updated the assignment feedback / grading. Status Grade: No grades or feedback have been saved for the submission. Update: A grade or some feedback has been saved for the submission. Click on ‘Grade’ or ‘Update’ to access the grading area; a pop-up window is displayed. Final grade The grade for the submission where this has been overridden in the gradebook.

Grading area

The page is divided into the area where the teacher grades the submission (top) and the student’s submission (bottom). The student area includes the student’s name, the date/time of the submission and the relationship to a ‘Due date’ (if any).

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Grade Select a grade for the submission from the drop-down list. (If a response file is uploaded before saving this is reset to the default or previous value.) Feedback Add any feedback for the student here. (If a response file is uploaded before saving, any changes in this area are lost.) Send notification emails If ticked, following the editing period set for the site an email is sent to the student notifying any saved changes to the feedback and/or grade. If not ticked no notification email is sent to students. This setting defines the notification default for all assignments in the course for this teacher.

Save changes Click to save all grades etc. made by the teacher for this submission; the pop-up window is closed. The changes are visible to students who review the assignment in the course. Cancel Click to close the pop-up window without saving any changes. Save and show next Click to save all grades etc. made by the teacher for this submission; the pop-up window remains open and the next submission down the submissions table is displayed. The changes are visible to students who review the assignment in the course. Next Click for the pop-up window to remain open and the next submission down the submissions table is displayed. No changes are saved. Response files One or more files may be made available to each student by the teacher; typical uses include the ‘sending back’ an annotated copy of the student’s submission by the teacher, providing a model answer. Click the ‘Browse’ button and locate and select the required file on your computer, network etc. The path to the file is displayed in the field. Click the ‘Upload this file’ button to upload the file. Uploaded files are listed below the upload field and may be deleted by the teacher. Any response file uploaded is visible to the student when viewing the assignment page unless the following conditions are met: ••The assignment is hidden in the gradebook. ••Feedback and/or a grade has been saved for the submission prior to the response file being uploaded by the teacher.

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Uploaded response files uploaded by the teacher are listed below the upload field and may be deleted by the teacher if required.

Notes Click this link to view any notes appended to the submission by the student. Files The file(s) submitted by the student are listed; the teacher may delete one or more of the submitted files. Revert to draft / No more submissions This button is only available when ‘Enable Send for marking’ is set to ‘Yes’. The teacher may change the status of the assignment as follows: ••No more submissions: Displayed when the student has not finalised their submission. Click to prevent the student from making any further changes and to treat the activity as submitted by the student. ••Revert to draft: Displayed when files have been submitted by the student (or No more submissions has been clicked). Click to allow the student to modify all aspects of their submission and resubmit.

Quick grading view of submissions table An alternative view of the submissions table may be displayed by ticking the ‘Allow quick grading’ checkbox and clicking the ‘Save preferences’ button.

This view allows grades and feedback to be entered on one page; to save click the ‘Save all my feedback’ button.

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Student view of a graded assignment

Students visit the assignment page and above the display of their submission they see the following: Teacher details Name of the teacher who last updated the grade or feedback. Grade The grade allocated, if any. Comments The teacher’s feedback, if any. Response files Links to the response files, if any.

Online text Functionality not described for this assignment type is identical to that in the Advanced Uploading of Files assignment.

Prevent late submissions Select ‘Yes’ for the means for students to make a submission to be unavailable after the date/time set in ‘Due date’. In this assignment type the ‘Edit my submission’ button is removed.

Allow resubmitting Select ‘Yes’ to allow students to edit their submission indefinitely.

Comment inline Select ‘Yes’ for the initial submission (only) to be pasted into the area where the teacher enters any feedback so that the teacher’s comments may be made ‘inline’.

Submitting an online text assignment

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Edit my submission Click this button to open the area for entering text; click ‘Save changes’ when finished. Last edited The date and time of the last time ‘Save changes’ was clicked is displayed together with a word count.

Teacher review of submissions Teachers may check the number of student submissions in the same way as the ‘Advanced uploading of files’ assignment type. The Submissions page is displayed.

Submissions table Identical functionality to advanced uploading of files, except that in the ‘Last modified (Student)’ column a link to the submitted text is displayed.

Grading area The options relevant to the assignment type are displayed on this page and are identical in functionality to those in the ‘Advanced uploading of files’ assignment type.

Quick grading view of submissions table Identical functionality to advanced uploading of files, except that in the ‘Last modified (Student)’ column a link to the submitted text is displayed.

Student view of a graded assignment

Students visit the assignment page and above the display of the submission they see the following: Teacher details Name of the teacher who last updated the grade or feedback. Grade The grade allocated, if any. Comments The teacher’s feedback, if any.

Upload a single file Functionality not described for this assignment type is identical to that in the Advanced Uploading of Files assignment.

Allow resubmitting Select ‘Yes’ to permit students to submit another (or updated) file. When resubmitting the student receives a message to advise that the previously submitted file will be overwritten.

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Submitting an upload a single file assignment

Available from / Due date As specified when setting up the assignment. Upload a file Click the ‘Browse’ button and locate and select the required file on your computer, network etc. The path to the file is displayed in the field. Click the ‘Upload this file’ button to upload the file.

Teacher review of submissions Teachers may check the number of student submissions in the same way as the ‘Advanced uploading of files’ assignment type. The Submissions page is displayed.

Grading area The options relevant to this assignment type are displayed on this page and are identical in functionality to those in the ‘Advanced uploading of files’ assignment type.

Student view of a graded assignment Students visit the assignment page and above the display of their submission they see the following: Teacher details Name of the teacher who last updated the grade or feedback. Grade The grade allocated, if any. © HowToMoodle 2009 Please respect our copyright. If this is not your own copy you can buy one at www.howtomoodle.com

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Comments The teacher’s feedback, if any.

Offline activity Functionality not described for this assignment type is identical to that in the Advanced Uploading of Files assignment.

Submissions table Identical functionality to advanced uploading of files, except that the ‘Last modified (Student)’ column is not used as students don’t submit online.

Grading area The options relevant to this assignment type are displayed on this page are identical in functionality to those in the ‘Advanced uploading of files’ assignment type.

Quick grading view of submissions table Identical functionality to advanced uploading of files, except that the ‘Last modified (Student)’ column is not used as students don’t submit online.

Student view of a graded assignment Students visit the assignment page and they see the following: Teacher details Name of the teacher who last updated the grade or feedback. Grade The grade allocated, if any. Comments The teacher’s feedback, if any.

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Chat The Chat Activity allows participants to engage in synchronous discussion within a course.

Add a Chat activity Click on the ‘Add an activity …’ drop-down list and select ‘Chat’ from the list.

The settings page is displayed.

Name of this chat room The content of this field creates a link on the course page.

Introduction text In this text area information relevant to the chat may be added.

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Next chat time The date and time of the next scheduled chat are specified using these drop-down lists. The chat room is fully functional at all times; this setting is for reminding/alerting participants to the time of the next scheduled session. Chat times are displayed in the ‘Upcoming Events’ block and in the Calendar.

Repeat session Chat session repeats may be scheduled automatically by setting the appropriate option from the ‘Repeat settings’ drop-down list. Don’t publish any chat times: Self-explanatory. No repeats: Publish the specified time only – the chat time is published for the time and dates in the chat settings only. At the same time every day/week: The chat session is published daily/weekly for the duration of the course.

Save past chat sessions Range: Never delete, increments between 2 – 365 days. Chat sessions in Moodle are always saved; this setting specifies the period for which they are retained.

Everyone can view past sessions The setting specifies who may review past chat sessions. If ‘No’ is selected, students may not review past chat sessions.

Common module settings Click ‘Show Advanced’ to display additional settings for groups and groupings. These are covered in more detail in the section on managing people. Visible Yes  Students may view the activity. No – The activity is not visible to students. Teachers are able to see a ‘greyed out’ link and are able to access, view and update the activity. Click ‘Save changes’ to save all changes made or the ‘Cancel’ button to discard them. The Chat page is displayed.

Initiating or joining a chat session Click on any link that contains its name to open it. The chat ‘Introduction text’ is displayed together with a list of any participants who have already entered the chat room (Current users). Above these items are two links: ••Click here to enter chat now: Click this link to open the ‘standard’ chat interface which refreshes automatically. ••Version without frames and JavaScript: Click this link to open a version of the chat interface that must be refreshed manually by the participant to update the view of the current discussion.

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Click here to enter chat now The chat window

The chat window has three distinct areas as follows: 1. Chat pane – All chat messages are displayed here. In addition, the name and associated profile picture of participants in the chat are displayed to the left of each entry, together with status messages e.g. just entered or left the chat. 2. User pane – displays the name and associated profile image of everyone currently in the chat area i.e. including those not participating actively in the chat. 3. Input field  the field in which chat messages are entered. The input field will recognise a variety of inputs and translate them appropriately when they are subsequently displayed in the chat pane. Smilies: Text used to add an emotion to an entry e.g. :- ) will display as an emoticon in the chat pane. Internet addresses: i.e. commencing with ‘www.’ Or ‘http://’ are automatically converted into links. HTML code: Can be used to format the text e.g. size, colour and insert images, sounds etc. Participating in an active chat Enter the message text in the input field and press the enter/return key on the computer keyboard whilst the cursor is still in the input field.

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The message text is then displayed in the chat pane together with contributions from other participants. When a participant enters or leaves the chat this is indicated together with the time of exit.

When a participant is shown as being present in the chat area it is possible to attract their attention by sending an audible ‘beep’ – provided they have sound enabled on their computer. To ‘beep’ another participant, click on the ‘beep’ link in the user pane.

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Version without frames and JavaScript The chat window

Participants: The participants in the chat room, whether active or not. Send message Type the contribution in this field (Smileys, internet addresses, HTML code are treated as above). Submit: To contribute the contents of the ‘Send message’ field to the chat, click this button. Refresh: To refresh the window and present an update of the entire chat. Show only new: When this checkbox is ticked, clicking the ‘Refresh’ button will only display additions to the chat since the last refresh. Messages The contributions to the chat are displayed here. Participating in an active chat Enter the message text in the ‘Send message’ field and press the enter/return key on the computer keyboard whilst the cursor is still in the input field. The message text is displayed immediately to the submitter in the ‘Messages’ area.

Leaving a chat To exit a chat, close the chat window.

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Viewing past chat sessions Past chat sessions may by viewed by clicking on the ‘View past chat sessions’ link towards the top right corner of the chat page.

A list of past sessions is displayed in descending chronological order.

For each archived session the following information is displayed: ••The period during which the chat session was active i.e. day, date, times. ••The names and associated profile images of the participants. ••The number of entries made in the chat by each participant in brackets after their name. ••A link to view the session. ••A link to delete the session. See this session Click the ‘See this session’ link to open the archived session. All chat entries from all participants are included.

Click continue to return to the chat sessions page. Delete this session Click on the ‘Delete this session’ link to delete an archived session. A message requiring confirmation of the deletion is displayed, together with the time the chat took place and the archived chat discussion itself.

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Choice The Choice Activity provides a method for simple polls to be incorporated in the course.

Add a Choice activity Click on the ‘Add an activity …’ drop-down box and select ‘Choice’ from the list.

The settings page is displayed.

Choice name The content of this field creates a link on the course page.

Choice text In this text area the question and any other relevant information for the Choice are entered.

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Limit the number of responses allowed

Select ‘Enable’ from this drop-down list to enable a limit for the number of times each ‘choice’ may be chosen by participants. Enabling this option makes the ‘Limit’ field for each choice editable so that a numerical limit may be entered. Once the limit for a choice has been reached it is no longer possible to vote for it – as indicated by the ‘Full’ message.

Choice #

Enter the text for each choice option in these fields; any empty fields will be ignored when the options are displayed. Additional choices may be added three at a time by clicking the ‘Add 3 fields to form’ button.

Limit See ‘Limit the number of responses allowed’ above.

Restrict answering time to this period Tick this checkbox to enable the ‘Open’ and ‘Until’ drop-down lists. Select the appropriate dates/times from the drop-down lists to set the period during which the choice activity is available. Where a particular start date is required but the choice is to be effectively open-ended, choose an end date a long way into the future.

Display mode Display horizontally: The choices are displayed horizontally. Display vertically: The choices are displayed vertically.

Publish results The items in this drop-down list specify if and when students may see the outcome of the activity. ••Do not publish results to students (default). ••Show results to a student after they answer. ••Show results to students only after the choice is closed: Requires an ‘Until’ date to be set. ••Always show results to students: The current state of the activity is visible any time a student visits it.

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Privacy of results The degree of anonymity afforded if choice results are displayed is governed by the options in this drop-down box. Note that teachers are always able to see which options participants selected and any participants who abstained from voting. This option is only enabled if the setting in ‘Publish results’ allows students to see the outcome of the voting. Publish anonymous results, do not show student names

Publish full results, showing names and their choices

Allow choice to be updated If ‘No’ is selected, when the participant accesses a completed choice only the results are displayed. Where ‘Yes’ is selected, the participant may vote again and change their selection.

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Show column for unanswered If ‘Yes’ is selected, an additional column is added to the results display that indicates who or how many participants have not yet selected an option, depending on the privacy option selected.

Common module settings Click ‘Show Advanced’ to display additional settings for groups and groupings. These are covered in more detail in the section on managing people. Visible Yes  Students may view the activity. No  The activity is not visible to students. Teachers are able to see a ‘greyed out’ link and are able to access, view and update the activity. Click the ‘Save changes’ button to save all changes made or the ‘Cancel’ button to discard them. The Choice page is displayed.

Selecting a Choice option Open a choice by clicking on a link containing the choice name. The choice page is displayed. To select a choice, click the radio button to the left or above it and then click the ‘Save my choice’ button.

Subject to the setting for the ‘Publish results’ the current state of voting is displayed, together with a reminder of the option selected.

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Where ‘Allow choice to be updated’ is set to ‘Yes’ the radio button for all available choices remains visible and enabled to facilitate an alternative selection.

Monitoring choice responses Teachers monitor choice responses by clicking on the text link that contains the number of responses made towards the top right corner of the choice page.

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The responses viewed by teachers always have the names of the participants and, if selected in the choice settings, a column of any participants who have not yet selected a choice.

With selected Teachers may delete one or more selections by ticking the checkbox next to a participant and selecting ‘Delete’ from the ‘With selected’ drop-down list. A participant whose choice has been deleted will be able to vote again even if ‘Allow choice to be updated’ is set to ‘No’. To download data from the Choice, click one of the ‘Download in ODS format’, ‘Download in Excel format’ or ‘Download in text format’ buttons.

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Database The Database module may seem overly complex at first encounter. However, when mastered it provides the means to create a wide range of activities based on submissions using custom forms. When the settings for a database activity have been saved it is necessary to create the fields that will be required for the form used to create entries and then progress to define the templates that control the appearance of the pages for adding, displaying and searching entries.

Add Database activity Click on the ‘Add an activity …’ drop-down list and select ‘Database’.

The settings page is displayed.

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Name The content of this field creates a link on the course page.

Introduction Enter the introduction to the database activity in this text area to appear on the initial page of the activity.

Available from / Available to Untick the ‘Disable’ checkbox(es) to set the dates from which entries may be added to the database and/or the latest date that entries may be added to it by students. If both checkboxes are left ticked students may add entries at any time.

Viewable from / Viewable to Untick the ‘Disable’ checkbox(es) to set the dates from which entries may be viewed and/or the latest date that entries may be viewed by students. If both checkboxes are left ticked students may view entries at any time.

Required entries Range: None – 50. Select a value from this drop-down list for the minimum required entries in the database activity for each student. A message is displayed on accessing the activity whilst the minimum required entries have still to be submitted.

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Entries required before viewing Range: None – 50. Select a value from this drop-down list for the minimum required entries in the database activity for each student before any entries may be viewed (including those submitted by the student). A message is displayed on accessing the activity whilst the minimum required entries have still to be submitted indicating how many more are required prior to viewing.

Maximum entries Range: None – 50. Select a value from this drop-down list for the maximum number of entries that may be added by each student. A message is displayed to each student on reaching the maximum.

Comments Select ‘Yes’ to allow the comments to be appended to entries in the database activity.

Require approval? Select ‘Yes’ to require that entries added to the database activity by a student require approval from the teacher before being viewable by other students.

Allow posts to be rated? To enable ratings tick this checkbox.

Grade The Grade drop-down list contains potential rating scales: Numeric: Range: 1 – 100. Scales: As defined for the course or site.

Common module settings

Group mode Click ‘Show Advanced’ to display additional settings for groups and groupings. These are covered in more detail in the section on managing people. © HowToMoodle 2009 Please respect our copyright. If this is not your own copy you can buy one at www.howtomoodle.com

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Visible Yes  Students may view the activity. No  The activity is not visible to students. Teachers are able to see a ‘greyed out’ link and are able to access, view and update the activity. ID number Enter a value that will appear in the gradebook to assist in the identification of the item. This is optional. Grade category Select the required category for the activity within the gradebook. Save and return to the course Click to save the settings on this page and return to the course page. Save and display Click to save the settings on this page and display the activity without returning to the course page. Cancel Click to discard any changes made on this page and return to the course page.

Fields When a new database activity is saved the following is displayed. Predefined sets of fields are covered in ‘Presets’ later in this section.

Creating a new field Select the required field type from the ‘Create new field’ drop-down list.

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In this example the Checkbox field is used.

••Field name: The name of the field that will appear in Field name column in the fields summary, the default template and the sorting drop-down list in the completed database activity. ••Field description: Additional information to identify the field that is displayed in the field summary. ••Additional configuration information: Varies depending on the field type. ••Save changes: Click to save the information above to create or update the field (if the field name has been changed the templates where the original field name is used will need to be updated). ••Cancel: Click to exit the page without saving changes.

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When a field is created or updated the field summary page is displayed.

••Field name: The information entered in the ’Field name’ field. Click a link for a field to open it for editing. The field name must be unique for the activity. If the field name is already in use a new field is not created and any information used to create the field is lost. ••Field type: The type of field with its associated icon. ••Field description: Additional information to help identify the field. ••Action: Click the appropriate icon to open the field for editing or to delete it. ••Create new field: Select the required field type from the drop-down list to create a new field. ••Default sort field: The field that will be used to define the default sorting order when the database activity is viewed in ‘List view’. The drop down will contain ‘Time added’ and the ‘Field names’ of all other fields added to the activity. ••Sorting order: Range: Ascending/Descending. Select to set the sorting order depending on the field type e.g. by date or alphabetical. ••Go: Click to apply the default sort field and sort order. The descriptions below deal with the options that are specific to each field type.

Checkbox As displayed in the ‘Add entry’ page.

Interface for creating this field type.

Options: To create the label for each checkbox enter text on separate lines.

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As displayed in ‘View single’ and ‘View list’.

Date As displayed in the ‘Add entry’ page.

Interface for creating this field type.

As displayed in ‘View single’ and ‘View list’.

For this field the date, month, year drop downs are created automatically. When adding an entry the current date is the default.

File As displayed in the ‘Add entry’ page.

File: Click the ‘Browse’ button to locate the file to be uploaded. The file is uploaded when either the ‘Save and view’ or ‘Save and add another’ button (not shown above) is clicked. Filename (optional): Enter text that will appear as the text in the link to the uploaded file. If left blank the link text will be the name of the uploaded file. Interface for creating this field type.

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As displayed in ‘View single’ and ‘View list’.

When a file with a different filename is uploaded a message is displayed to advise that the previously uploaded file has been deleted.

Latitude /Longitude As displayed in the ‘Add entry’ page.

Interface for creating this field type.

••Link-out services to display: Select the mapping service(s) in which the co-ordinates will be used to create a map etc. Where more than one service is selected the user is presented with a drop down from which to select their preferred service. ••How to label items in KML files (Google Earth): Set the required naming convention for each entry when downloaded as a KML file – the entry number or the latitude/longitude of the entry. ••Download link for all entries as KML: Click the link to download all entries for this field as a KML file. More information about KML files can be found at: http://code.google.com/apis/kml/documentation/kml_tut.html As displayed in ‘View single’ and ‘View list’.

Menu As displayed in the ‘Add entry’ page.

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Interface for creating this field type.

Options (one per line): Each entry in the drop down should be on a separate line. As displayed in ‘View single’ and ‘View list’.

Only one item may be selected.

Menu (Multi-select) As displayed in the ‘Add entry’ page.

Interface for creating this field type.

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As displayed in ‘View single’ and ‘View list’.

More than one item may be selected as follows: Microsoft XP: Keep ‘Ctrl’ key pressed whilst selecting. Mac OS: Keep ‘Command’ key pressed whilst selecting.

Number As displayed in the ‘Add entry’ page.

Only enter numbers e.g. 3346, 6.1. Interface for creating this field type.

Display in ‘View single’ and ‘View list’.

Only numbers are displayed. If no numerical characters are entered ‘0’ is displayed.

Picture As displayed in the ‘Add entry’ page.

Picture: Click the ‘Browse’ button to locate the image file to be uploaded. The file is uploaded when either the ‘Save and view’ or ‘Save and add another’ button (not shown above) is clicked. Alternative text: Enter text that will appear if the cursor is hovered over the image and in place of the image if it is no longer available.

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Interface for creating this field type.

••Width in single view: Enter the width in pixels for the image when displayed in single view. ••Height in single view: Enter the height in pixels for the image when displayed in single view. ••Width in list view: Enter the width in pixels for the image when displayed in list view. ••Height in list view: Enter the height in pixels for the image when displayed in list view. ••Maximum size: Select a value to determine the largest image file that may be uploaded. As displayed in ‘View single’.

With alternative text displayed. Click the image to download it or open it in another program. As displayed in ‘View list’.

Click the image to navigate to single view.

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Radio buttons As displayed in the ‘Add entry’ page.

Interface for creating this field type.

Options (one per line): Each entry in the drop down should be on a separate line to create each radio button. As displayed in ‘View single’ and ‘View list’.

Text As displayed in the ‘Add entry’ page.

Interface for creating this field type.

••Allow autolink: Tick this checkbox to enable the text entered in the field to be automatically linked to where it appears elsewhere in the course. This feature is dependent upon ‘Database auto-linking’ being enabled by the site administrator.

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As displayed in ‘View single’ and ‘View list’.

Text area As displayed in the ‘Add entry’ page.

Shown with height of 10 rows. Interface for creating this field type.

••Width # columns: Enter the width required for the text area. If the HTML editor is enabled for the site and the default icon set is visible a setting of less than 60 may cause the toolbar width to exceed that of the area where text is entered. ••Height # rows: Enter the height required for the text area. As displayed in ‘View single’ and ‘View list’.

URL As displayed in the ‘Add entry’ page.

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In this example ‘Forced name for the link ‘ and ‘Autolink the URL’ are not used. Interface for creating this field type.

••Forced name for the link: If the ‘Autolink the URL’ checkbox is ticked, the text typed in this field will appear as the name of the link when the submitted entry is viewed. If this field is left blank (and the ‘Autolink the URL’ checkbox is ticked), the user is presented with a ‘Text’ field in which the text for the link may be entered. This text is displayed to users in single and list views rather than the URL. ••Autolink to the URL: Tick this checkbox for the URL entered in the field to be a clickable link (ensure that the entered link commences with http://). As displayed in ‘View single’ and ‘View list’. Without ‘Autolink this URL’ ticked.

Presets

Export The fields and template configuration for any database activity may be exported so that they may be used elsewhere on the site (or another site).

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••Export as zip: Click the button to create a zip file containing the information to recreate the fields used in the database activity. A download link is displayed to facilitate immediate download of the exported file.

The exported file remains available for download on the course files area under ‘moddata/data/database_ number’. ••Save as preset: The fields may be saved so that they can be reused for another database in any course on the site. Click the ‘Save’ button and enter a name for the preset or accept the default (the name of the database activity).

When a user attempts to create a preset with the same name as one they have already created they are prompted to enter an alternative name or overwrite the existing preset.

Additional presets with identical names may be created without the prompt, provided a different user creates the subsequent preset. User generated presets are listed together with any default presets e.g. Image gallery.

Users may delete presets that they have created. Import Importing a previously created database activity imports fields and template configuration. The existing templates are over-written with those in the imported file. ••Import from zip file: To use a preset that has been exported, click ‘Choose file’ to choose the preset zip file in the Files area. If it is not present it will be necessary to upload it first. When the preset file has been chosen click the ‘Import’ button to create the fields.

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Where the importing database activity already has existing fields (and potentially data captured using the existing fields) a list of new fields is displayed with a corresponding drop down that lists all existing fields of the same type in the database activity.

To retain existing data an existing field must be mapped to a new field by selecting it from the drop-down list. An existing field should only be mapped to a single new field. When the required fields have been mapped, click ‘Continue’ to complete the import. ••Use a preset: Click the radio button for the desired preset and click ‘Choose’ to import the fields. Where the database has existing fields (and possibly data) the fields may be mapped as outlined above.

Templates Click the ’Templates’ tab to access the options for the various templates for the activity.

Entries in the database are presented in various ways according to the view being used. The layout and appearance of the various views are governed by the corresponding template (and optionally by the contents of the CSS and JavaScript template). In this manual we will use the default templates for the ‘Image Gallery’ preset. The templates are: ••Add template: Defines the layout and appearance of the form for adding entries i.e. when the ‘Add entry’ tab is clicked. ••Single template: Defines the layout and appearance of single entries i.e. when the ‘View single’ tab is clicked. ••List template: Defines the layout and appearance of a list of all entries i.e. when the ‘View list’ tab is clicked. ••Advanced search template: Defines the layout and appearance of the fields used to make a search of all entries i.e. when the ‘Search’ tab is clicked. ••RSS template: Defines the layout and appearance of a list of entries that are distributed as a news feed (subject to this being enabled by the site administrator). ••CSS template: Defines the styles (using Cascading Style Sheets) that define the appearance of the templates. ••JavaScript template: Used to add JavaScript to the templates. Templates may only be configured when at least one field has been created.

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Add template The layout is created in the HTML area for the template. By default a table is created with two columns with each field represented as a separate row. The name of the field (Field name) is displayed in the left column; in the right column is a placeholder for the field itself. This is displayed in the template as the field name in double square brackets e.g. [[title]].

When the template layout is modified the placeholder for each field may be inserted into the new layout by using the appropriate tag. To add a tag, type its name surrounded by double square brackets e.g. [[title]] or position the cursor in the template and click the required tag.

Fields: Inserts the placeholder for the field. Field ids: Inserts text that identifies the field by the reference number for the field in the database that underpins the site. Reset template: Click to remove all amendments and to revert to the default template. ‘Save template’ must also be clicked for the changes to be applied. Disable editor: (only present if the HTML editor is enabled for the site) Click to disable the HTML editor and replace it with a plain text box. Save template: Save all layout and appearance changes to the template. The changes will take effect immediately for the user view of the template.

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This is the ‘Add entry’ view for the template in the screenshot above.

Single template As with the Add entry template the layout is created in the HTML area for the template. By default a table is created with two columns with each field represented as a separate row. The name of the field (Field name) is displayed in the left column; in the right column is a placeholder for the field itself. This is displayed in the template as the field name in double square brackets e.g. [[title]]. In the screenshot of this template from the Image Gallery preset a single column format has been adopted.

When the template layout is modified the placeholder for each field may be inserted into the new layout by using the appropriate tag. To add a tag, type its name surrounded by double square brackets e.g. [[title]] or position the cursor in the template and click the required tag.

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The functionality for Fields, Field ids, Reset template, Disable editor and Save template is the same as that described for the Add entry template. The single template contains a number of ‘Buttons’ in the available tags list. Buttons add a placeholder in the template for an icon or link that is visible when an entry is viewed by clicking the ‘View’ single tab. To add a button, type its name surrounded by a double hash e.g. ##edit## or place the cursor in the template and click the required button. Only the buttons shown in Available tags may be used in the template.

Edit: Creates an icon to allow editing of the entry. When clicked a view similar to the Add entry view is displayed but with the fields completed. Teachers see the edit icon for all entries; students only see the edit icon for any entry they have created. Delete: Creates an icon to allow deletion of the entry following acceptance of confirmation message. Teachers see the delete icon for all entries; students only see the delete icon for any entry they have created. Approve: Creates a link to allow a teacher to approve an entry added by a student. The link is only visible if the following conditions apply: ••The entry was created by a student. ••The entry has not yet been approved. ••A teacher is viewing the entry. ••The ‘Require approval?’ setting for the database activity is set to ‘Yes’. Time added: Creates a non-editable date/time stamp that indicated when the entry was first saved. Time modified: Creates a non-editable date/time stamp that indicated when the entry was last saved. User: Creates a link to the user profile of the user who created the entry. The default template includes the Edit, Delete, Approve buttons.

List template As with the Add entry and Single templates the layout is created in the HTML area for the template. In the list template there are 3 areas in which the template layout is defined: ••Header: The contents of this area are displayed above all entries added by users. ••Repeated entry: This area defines the layout of the entries added by users. ••Footer: The contents of this area are displayed below all entries added by users. By default a table is created with two columns with each field represented as a separate row. The name of the field (Field name) is displayed in the left column; in the right column is a placeholder for the field itself. This is displayed in the template as the field name in double square brackets e.g. [[title]].

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In the screenshot of this template from the Image Gallery preset a single column format has been adopted.

When the template layout is modified the placeholder for each field may be inserted into the new layout by using the appropriate tag. To add a tag, type its name surrounded by double square brackets e.g. [[title]] or position the cursor in the template and click the required tag.

The functionality for Fields, Field ids, Reset template, Disable editor and Save template is the same as that described for the Add entry template. The list template contains a number of ‘Buttons’ in the available tags list. The functionality of buttons is described in general and for the Edit, Delete, Approve, Time added, Time modified and User buttons is the same as that for the single view template. The list view offers additional button options: More: Creates an icon to navigate the single view of the entry. MoreURL: May be used to create a bespoke link to the single view of the entry. In the example below the desired link text to access the single view is ‘See more detail’. 1. In the ‘Repeated entry’ type ‘See more detail’. 2. Select this text with the cursor and click the ‘Insert web link’ button on the HTML editor toolbar.

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In the ‘URL’ field type ‘##moreURL##’ and then click ‘OK’.

3. Click Save template. 4. View an entry in list view, click the ‘See more detail’ link to view the single view for the entry. Comments: Creates a link to allow comments to be added to an entry added. The link is only visible if the ‘Comments’ setting for the database activity is set to ‘Yes’. The default template includes the Edit, More, Delete, Approve buttons.

Advanced search template The layout for the search fields is created in the HTML area for the template. This template is created in the same way as the Add entry template.

RSS template The layout for the entries in the database that are viewed in a newsreader e.g. FeedDemon, Google Reader is created in the HTML area for the template. The options for the body of the template are similar to those for the list template. The header for the RSS feed may be defined separately in the ‘RSS title template’ area.

CSS template CSS (Cascading Style Sheets) may be used to control the styling e.g. font, colour, background of the various elements in each of the Add, Single, List, Advanced search and RSS templates. It is worth investing some time in creating style sheets so that the activity is presented in a manner that is more appealing than the default templates. CSS is outside the scope of this manual; there are many good reference sources in print and on the Web. The CSS pages at http://www.w3schools.com/ are a good place to start. The CSS template of the Image Gallery preset includes an example of CSS in use in a template.

JavaScript template JavaScript is a scripting language that is supported by most modern web browsers and is used to add interactive and dynamic behaviour to web pages. JavaScript is outside the scope of this manual; there are many good references in both print and on the Web. The JavaScript template of the Image Gallery preset includes an example of JavaScript in use in a template.

Adding entries Click the Add entry tab, complete the field(s) in the ‘New entry’ form and click ‘Save and view’ to view the Single view of the entry or ‘Save and add another’ to save the entry but remain on the ‘New entry’ page to add another entry.

Uploading bulk entries Teachers may upload bulk entries from a CSV file by clicking the ‘Upload entries from a file’ link on the ‘New entry’ page.

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The CSV file must be in the appropriate format i.e. with the field name on the first row with the data on the second and subsequent rows – one row per entry.

Supported field types are Text, Textarea, Menu, Menu (Multi-select), Radio buttons, URL, Number, Checkbox. Field delimiter: Leave blank if commas separate the fields in the CSV file, otherwise enter the alternative character used. Click ‘Browse’ to locate the CSV file containing the data and then click ‘Upload file’ to complete the upload. If successful, a message indicating the number of entries created is displayed.

Viewing entries Single view To view a single entry click the ‘View single’ tab, the entry is displayed using the layout defined in the ‘Single template’. If ‘Comments’ in the database activity settings is set to ‘Yes’ a link is displayed to allow comments to be added to the entry.

Comments added are displayed in this view only (although a link may be added to the list view that indicates how many comments, if any, have been made). To browse between the entries in single view click the number for the entry or the ‘Next’ ‘Previous’ links (if visible).

List view To view a page of entries click the ‘View list’ tab; the entries are displayed using the layout defined in the ‘List template’.

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To browse between the entries in list view click the number for the entry or the ‘Next’ ‘Previous’ links (if visible).

Entries per page: Range: 2 – 1000. Select a value from the drop-down list and click the ‘Save settings’ button (at the right of the row) to set the maximum number of entries that will be shown on a page in list view. When the maximum number of entries is exceeded click the number for another page or the ‘Next’ ‘Previous’ links (if visible) to browse between pages. Sort by: From the drop-down lists, select the field on which to sort and the order i.e. ascending or descending and click the ‘Save Settings’ button. The entries in the list are re-sorted on the criteria selected.

Searching entries Click the ‘Search’ tab to display the fields as defined in the ‘Advanced search’ template. Type or select the appropriate data upon which to search and click ‘Save settings. Any entries that match the data on a field specific basis are displayed in list view. Advanced search: Tick the ‘Advanced search’ checkbox to display the search fields defined in the ‘Advanced search’ template. Search: Enter the two or more characters in the ‘Search’ field and click ‘Save settings’ (or the Enter key on your keyboard). Any entries containing the search text in any field are displayed with the search text highlighted.

Exporting entries Click the ‘Export’ tab to view the page for configuring the export.

Click the radio button for the required export format and select the fields from which data is to be exported. The Picture and File fields cannot be exported. Click the ‘Export Database records’ button to export the data. The resulting export file is named according to the following naming convention: course shortname – number of exported records – date – time.file type extension

Student view of a database activity The student view of a database activity is much simpler than that of the teacher with only the tabs required to add, view and search entries being displayed.

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Forum The Forum Activity enables asynchronous discussions between participants to take place within the course and to post announcements. The News forum in a course does not permit student posts.

Add a Forum activity Click on the ‘Add an activity …’ drop-down list and select ‘Forum’ from the list.

The settings page is displayed.

Forum name The content of this field creates a clickable link on the course page.

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Forum type For the News and Social (for courses created in Social format only) forum in a course this configuration option is not available i.e. the format of the forum is fixed. Standard forum for general use All participants may start a new discussion topic at any time. A single simple discussion The forum will consist of one discussion only. Each person posts one discussion Each participant (including the teacher) may start one new discussion only. Q and A forum Participants may start a new discussion (called questions in this forum type). Students are only able to see (and reply to) the replies of others when they have made their own initial reply to the question.

Forum introduction Describe the objectives etc. of the forum here. Part of this introduction is displayed in the forums index page.

Force everyone to be subscribed? The options in this drop-down list determine whether all participants are subscribed to this forum i.e. receive emails from it. ••No  Subscription is not forced. Participants make their own decision as to whether to subscribe to the forum. ••Yes, forever  Participants will receive emails for all posts in the forum, they may not elect to unsubscribe. ••Yes, initially  When creating the forum all participants are subscribed; they may unsubscribe themselves at a later date if they wish. If this setting is selected when updating the forum, only participants who join the course after the update are subject to the change. In addition, changing this setting to ‘No’ whilst updating the forum does not unsubscribe existing participants; only future participants are not subscribed to the forum. ••Subscriptions not allowed: All discussion must be monitored by visiting the forum online; it is not possible to elect to receive emails.

Read tracking for this forum? Read tracking creates a visible indicator of the unread posts in a forum. This setting works in conjunction with the ‘Forum tracking’ setting in each user’s profile. Read tracking for this forum?

Forum tracking profile setting

User can track posts

Optional

Yes: highlight new posts for me

Yes

Optional

No: don’t keep track of posts have seen

No

On

No: don’t keep track of posts have seen

No

On

Yes: highlight new posts for me

Yes

Off

Yes: highlight new posts for me

No

Off

No: don’t keep track of posts have seen

No

Indicators of unread posts are displayed in a number of locations as shown in the screenshots below: Course page

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Forum page

Click the tick next to the number of unread posts to mark all posts in the discussion as read. In a discussion

Maximum attachment size The options in this drop-down list indicate the maximum size of file (if any) that may be attached to a forum post, subject to the maximum specified in the ‘Maximum upload size’ option in course settings.

Grade Posts by others to a discussion may be rated, using a numeric or text-based scale. By default only teachers may rate posts. Users may not rate their own posts. Students see the ratings for their own posts, teachers see ratings for all posts. Aggregate type No ratings: Self-explanatory. Average of ratings: The average (mean) of all ratings applied to all posts of the user in the forum. The current rating is displayed on students’ own posts and on all posts Count of ratings: The number of the total number of ratings applied to posts is the grade recorded for the forum. Each post displays the number of individuals who have applied a rating to it. Currently the highest count recorded is the numerical ‘Grade’ value selected in the forum settings (irrespective of how many users actually apply ratings to a post). At the time of writing this option does not work effectively with scales. Maximum rating: The highest rating applied for any post of the user is the grade recorded for the forum. The highest rating for each post is displayed when the post is viewed in a discussion. Minimum rating: The lowest rating applied for any post of the user is the grade recorded for the forum. The lowest rating for each post is displayed when the post is viewed in a discussion.

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Sum of ratings: The sum of all ratings applied for all posts of the user is the grade recorded for the forum. The sum of the ratings for each post is displayed when the post is viewed in a discussion. Grade The Grade drop-down list contains potential rating scales: Numeric: Range: 1 – 100. Scales: As defined for the course or site. Restrict ratings to posts with dates in this range The checkbox enables the ratings to be limited to the date range specified in the drop-down lists below it.

Post threshold for blocking These settings, when enabled and the ‘Throttling applies’ capability is set to allow (administrator access or the ability to override permissions is required to set the latter), limit the number of posts that may be made in a defined period. Participants see a message about the blocking status on the forum page. Time period for blocking The period applicable to the blocking threshold. Range: Don’t block, 1 – 7 days. Post threshold for blocking Enabled if ‘Time period for blocking’ is set to 1 day or longer. Type the number of posts allowed. ‘0’ disables blocking. Post threshold for warning Enabled if ‘Time period for blocking’ is set to 1 day or longer. Type the number of posts before which a warning is displayed. ‘0’ disables the warning.

Common module settings Click ‘Show Advanced’ to display additional settings for groups and groupings. These are covered in more detail in the section on managing people. Visible Yes  Students may view the activity. No  The activity is not visible to students. Teachers are able to see a ‘greyed out’ link and are able to access, view and update the activity. Click ‘Save changes’ to save all changes made or the ‘Cancel’ button to discard them. The forum page is displayed.

Subscription options Towards the top right corner of the forum page are some text links that alter or provide access to subscription options for the forum. Allow everyone to choose / Force everyone to be subscribed This link toggles the status of the ‘Force everyone to be subscribed?’ setting for the forum between the ‘No’ and ‘Yes, forever’ options. Students do not see the link to change the settings bur see a message informing them of the subscription status of the forum.

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Unsubscribe from this forum / Subscribe to this forum Where participants may choose to subscribe or unsubscribe, this link toggles the status for that participant. This link is visible to teachers and students.

Show/edit current subscribers Click this link to display a list of users currently subscribed to this forum. Turn editing on button Whilst viewing the list of current subscribers, click this button to modify who is subscribed to the forum. Select one or more existing subscribers or potential subscribers and click one of the direction buttons to change their subscription status.

To select specific users keep the ‘Cntrl’ keyboard key pressed whilst selecting, alternatively drag the cursor over the required accounts. In addition, keeping the ‘Shift’ key on the keyboard depressed and clicking on one account and then another will select those accounts and all accounts between them for moving. Where there are more user accounts than may be displayed in the selection area, type in any characters and click the ‘Search’ button to select accounts containing that combination of characters.

Creating a discussion Save changes in the forum settings page or open the forum by clicking its link on the course page. Below the area displaying the content of the ‘Forum introduction’ click the ‘Add a new discussion topic’ button (this is called ‘Add a new question’ if the forum is a Q&A forum). Where the forum type is the ‘Each person posts one discussion’ the button is not available for users who have already created one discussion. It is never shown for ‘Simple single discussion’ forum types. The interface for creating the new discussion is displayed.

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Subject The content of this field is displayed in the ‘Discussion’ column of the list of discussions on the forum page. In addition, it is displayed in the header and body of emails sent from the course and in other locations within the course where the forum discussion or post is referenced e.g. in the recent activity block and reports. Message The main body of the post is entered here. This is displayed when a link containing the subject of a post is clicked and in the body of emails sent to subscribers. Format Where the HTML editor is used the default setting is HTML format. Where the HTML editor is not enabled the formatting options are the same as those described for the Text Page Resource.

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Subscription Send me email copies of posts to this forum: If selected when the ‘Post to forum’ button is clicked, the participant is subscribed to the forum. I don’t want email copies of posts to this forum: If selected when the ‘Post to forum’ button is clicked, the participant is unsubscribed from the forum. Attachment A file can be attached to a post (subject to the maximum file size chosen in the forum settings page). Click the ‘Browse …’ button to locate the file locally. If an attempt is made to attach a file larger than the limit for the forum the post is not submitted and an error message is displayed. Mail now Teachers may elect to send a post ‘immediately’. Where ‘Mail now’ is ticked the post will be emailed to subscribed users on the next occasion that emails are generated, irrespective of whether the editing period has expired. Display period Note: Only available if enabled by the site administrator; at the time of writing this option is still ‘experimental’. Click the appropriate ‘Display’ checkbox(es) to enable the option to set dates between which the discussion (and any replies) is visible to students. Display start: The discussion is visible to students from the start of this date. Display end: The discussion is hidden from students from the start of this date. If groups are enabled for the forum, the participants to whom the display period will apply is displayed i.e. group name or all participants. Where it is not desirable for students to be able to reply to a post that will subsequently be hidden, consider adding a new topic (discussion) in the News forum. Post to forum Click this button to complete the post. It is visible immediately at the course site. A confirmatory message is displayed which indicates the period allowed for editing (this period applies to students) on the first saving. Following edits to the post, a message confirming the post has been updated is displayed instead. When the first post to a discussion is saved, the forum discussion summary page is displayed; when a reply is made to an existing discussion the discussion is displayed.

Forum discussion summary This page contains links to each of the discussions in the forum.

Each row contains a number of items arranged in columns. Discussion: The content of the ‘Subject’ field is displayed as a link. Click the link to view the posts in the discussion. Started by: The name of the participant who initiated the discussion is shown as a link, together with the image associated with their profile. Click either of these to display the user profile. Group: Where groups are enabled for the forum the name of the group (or the group avatar) appears for group specific discussions.

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Replies: The numbers of replies to the original post are displayed as a link. When clicked all posts in the discussion are displayed. Unread: This column is displayed if forum posts are being tracked. Click the highlighted link that indicates the number of unread posts to open the earliest unread post. Click the ‘’ to mark all posts in the discussion as read. Posts that have been emailed to subscribers are treated as read. Last post: The day, date and time are displayed as a text link. When clicked the last post to the discussion is displayed.

Replying to a forum post whilst viewing a discussion Click the ‘Reply’ link in the body of the post.

An interface similar to that used to add a new discussion is displayed. Subject In a reply to a discussion the subject field is pre-populated with the subject of the post to which it is a reply – prefixed with ‘Re:’. The content of the subject field may be edited to reflect the content of the reply if desired. In all other respects the process of posting a reply is identical to that of starting a discussion.

Discussion display options When a discussion is displayed, immediately above the earliest post is a drop-down list that offers four possible display options. Display replies flat, with oldest first

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Display replies flat with newest first

Display replies in threaded form

In this view, the content of replies is displayed by clicking on the post’s subject text link. Replies to the displayed post are shown in threaded form below it.

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Display replies in nested form

Moving discussions Discussions may be moved to another forum in the course. Open a discussion and locate the ‘Move this discussion to …’ drop-down list, situated above the discussion posts and to the right.

Select the forum to which the discussion is to be moved; the discussion will be relocated instantly. A confirmatory message is displayed and the new location of the discussion is shown in the navigation bar.

Forum posts Header

Each header contains the following information: ••The subject of the discussion or post. ••Day, date and time the post was last edited. ••The profile image associated with the participant and a text link containing their name – click either of these to display the participant’s profile. The initial post which initiates a discussion is normally shaded (as in the screenshot). © HowToMoodle 2009 Please respect our copyright. If this is not your own copy you can buy one at www.howtomoodle.com

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Each post contains various links to facilitate replies and management of the discussion. Show parent Click this link to display the post to which this post is a reply. The ‘parent’ is displayed at the top of the browser window. This link is not present in the initial post in a discussion. Edit Click this link to open a post for editing. Students may only edit posts within the editing period allowed for the site (30 minutes by default); teachers may edit posts at any time. Where another participant’s post is edited by a teacher a message is inserted to indicate the identity of the editor and the date and time of the original post. The date and time of the post are updated to reflect the time of the edit.

If the message is deleted by the editor, the date and time of the edit are still reflected in the post header. Split Click this link to ‘split’ off this post and its replies to form a new discussion in the same forum. This option is not available to students. The new discussion created may be given a new name by entering it in the ‘Discussion name’ field before clicking the ‘Split’ button.

Delete Click this link to delete a post; all replies to it are also deleted. Students may only delete posts within the editing period for the site (30 minutes by default), and only if the post has not been replied to. Reply Click this link to reply to a post. The post being replied to is displayed, together with links to any earlier replies. The interface for making a reply is identical to that described in ‘Creating a discussion’ above, except that the ‘Subject’ field is pre-populated with the name of the discussion. Rating posts Where enabled in the forum settings, teachers may rate the posts of others. To rate a post; select the desired rating from the ‘Rate …’ drop-down list. The displayed options are dependant upon the scale selected for ‘Grade’ in the forum settings.

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To submit a rating for one or more posts, click the ‘Send in my latest ratings’ button at the bottom of the discussion. Students may view ratings in the post itself and by clicking on the rating given. The information displayed in posts depends on the ‘Aggregation type’ selected in forum settings.

Identifying unread posts When forum read tracking is turned on, in addition to the discussion outlined above, unread posts are indicated in discussions by a coloured border around the message area.

The indicators for unread posts are removed when posts are emailed to subscribers.

Forum emails For each participant subscribed to a forum an email containing the content of the post is sent to the email address in the participant’s profile. Where a file is attached to a post, a link to the attachment is included in the email i.e. the file itself is not attached. By default an email is sent for each post. However, each subscriber may elect to receive a single daily digest email of the posts to the forum by visiting their user profile and changing the setting for ‘Email digest type’ as follows: No digest (single email per forum post): Distributed from the site as outlined above. Complete (daily email with full posts). Subjects (daily email with subjects only): A single daily email with the amount of detail specified. The time of day when digest emails are distributed is governed by a setting controlled by the site administrator – the default is 17:00 hrs. All users on the site may also disable the sending of emails from the site in the ‘Email activated’ setting in their user profile. Emails are not distributed until after the expiry of the editing period. Following this, they are sent after the activation of a site-wide command which triggers automated tasks. The format of the email received by subscribers is determined in each user’s profile.

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Pretty HTML format

Plain text

Irrespective of the email format, each email contains virtually the same content. In the email header: ••Subject of the post ••The name of the participant who made the post and their email address. Where the participant has opted to make their email address available, the email address is a valid one to which responses may be emailed directly. If the participant has not opted to make their email address available, the address shown is a ‘dummy’ address specified by the site administrator. ••Date and time of the post. ••Email address of the recipient (if not disabled by the site administrator or the participant who posted to the forum).

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In the message body: ••The text from the course navigation bar indicating the location of the originating discussion. In HTML format emails these are links to that area of the course. ••The discussion subject. ••The name of the participant who made the post (with their associated profile image in the HTML format). In the HTML format this may be clicked to access the participant’s user profile. ••The day, date and time of the post. ••The post message. ••A link to add a reply at the course site. ••A link to display the ‘Parent’ post (if there is one) – HTML format only. ••A ‘See this post in context’ link  HTML format only. Click this link to open the discussion on the site at this post. ••Unsubscribe links (if subscription is not forced) – click the appropriate link to unsubscribe from the originating forum or all forums in the course. In all cases (except the email links in the header), clicking the links returns the participant to the discussion at the course site.

Identifying a participant’s forum posts and discussions Click on a link containing the participant’s name or their associated user profile image; their user profile is displayed. Click on the ‘Forum posts’ tab and then either the ‘Posts’ or ‘Discussions’ links to display the posts made by the participant or new discussions started, respectively.

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Glossary Add a Glossary activity Click on the ‘Add an activity …’ drop-down list and select ‘Glossary’ from the list.

The settings page is displayed.

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Name The content of this field creates a clickable link on the course page.

Description The text and other content added here will appear at the top of the glossary page.

Entries shown per page The number of glossary entries displayed on each page is limited to the number entered in this field. Where the number of entries of glossary entries exceeds this value, entries are displayed on additional pages (links are displayed on the glossary page to access these).

Glossary type Secondary glossary: More than one allowed in a single course, students may add entries; entries may be ‘exported’ so that they also appear in the main glossary in the course. Main glossary: Only one may be created in a single course, only teachers may add/amend entries, may display entries ‘exported’ from any secondary glossary in the same course. If a main glossary has already been added to a course this setting is only enabled in the settings of the main glossary, otherwise new glossaries are automatically created as secondary glossaries.

Duplicated entries allowed Select ‘Yes’ to allow more than one entry with an identical concept name to be created in the glossary.

Allow comments on entries Select ‘Yes’ to allow comments to be added to glossary entries.

Allow print view Select ‘Yes’ to allow students to print a ‘print view’ of the glossary entries.

Automatically link glossary entries Select ‘Yes’ to enable the automatic linking feature for entries in this glossary. Whether a particular entry is automatically linked to, and the criteria for linking, is specified in each entry’s own settings.

Approve by default Select ‘Yes’ for all entries by students to be visible to all participants immediately. Select ‘No’ to require that a student entry must be approved by a teacher to be visible to participants other than teachers and the student who created the entry.

Display format Glossary entries may be displayed in a range of formats. Select the desired format from the options in this dropdown list.

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Continuous without author

Continuous without author

Entries are shown one after another without separation. Attachments are shown as links. Encyclopaedia

Attached images are displayed in the entry.

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Entry list

A list of the concept names. FAQ

This format is designed with Frequently Asked Questions in mind. The words ‘Question’ and ‘Answer’ are displayed for the concept and definition. Full with author

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Full without author

Simple, dictionary style

Show ‘Special’ link Select ‘Yes’ to display a link that enables entries commencing with ‘special’ characters e.g. @, # or numbers only to be displayed.

Show alphabet link Select ‘Yes’ to display a link that enables entries commencing with specified letters of the alphabet to be displayed.

Show ‘ALL’ link Select ‘Yes’ to display all entries to be displayed (subject to the value in the ‘Entries shown per page’ setting).

Edit always Select ‘Yes’ to allow students to be able to edit and delete their own entries after the editing period for the site (Default: 30 minutes) has expired.

Allow entries to be rated? These settings have identical functionality to that found in the Forum settings page.

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Common module settings Click ‘Show Advanced’ to display additional settings for groupings. These are covered in more detail in the section on managing people. Visible Yes  Students may view the activity. No  The activity is not visible to students. Teachers are able to see a ‘greyed out’ link and are able to access, view and update the activity. Click the ‘Save changes’ button to save all changes made or the ‘Cancel’ button to discard them. The glossary page is displayed.

Categories for glossary entries If glossary entries are to be organised within categories, the desired categories should ideally be created before new entries are added. This removes the need to revisit entries to assign them to categories.

Creating categories Click in the ‘Browse by category’ link in the row of tabs on the glossary page.

Click on the ‘Edit categories’ button.

The ‘Categories’ page is displayed.

Categories: Existing categories and an indicator of the number of entries assigned. Action: Icons to delete and update a category. Where a category is deleted all entries within it are moved to the ‘Not categorised’ category. Add Category: Click to add a new category. Back: Click to return to the glossary.

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Name: Enter the name of the new category in this field. Automatically link this category: Select ‘Yes’ for links to be created automatically that link to the category on a matching case/whole word basis. Clicking on an automatically created link to the category will navigate the user to the glossary with entries from the relevant category displayed. Save changes: Click to save the content and settings entered. Back button: Click to return to the ‘Categories’ page without saving changes. All categories created are listed together with the number of entries they contain.

Adding an entry to a glossary Click the ‘Add a new entry’ button above the row of tabs on the glossary page.

The interface for creating a new entry is displayed.

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Concept The text entered in this field is the ‘name’ of the glossary entry. For the ‘Entry list’ format this text is used to create the link to the entry.

Format Where the HTML editor is used the default setting is HTML format. Where the HTML editor is not enabled the formatting options are the same as those described for the Text Page resource.

Categories This list contains any categories already created (Category1 and Category 2 in the screenshot) as well as a ‘Not categorised’ item. Entries are assigned to a category by selecting the category. Multiple categories may be selected by keeping the ‘Ctrl’ key on the computer keyboard pressed down whilst selecting additional categories.

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Keyword(s) One or more keywords may be created for each entry in the glossary. Enter the text for each keyword on a new line. Keyword(s) are used when creating automatic links to provide an alternative means of referencing an entry in a glossary.

‘Keywords’ may be a phrase as well as a single word.

Attachment A file can be attached to an entry. Click the ‘Browse …’ button to locate the file locally. If an attempt is made to attach a file larger than the limit displayed the entry is not created and an error message is displayed. Teachers may attach single files to the maximum permitted for the site; students are restricted to the value set in ‘Maximum upload size’ in the course settings.

This entry should be automatically linked These settings are only displayed if the ‘Automatically link glossary entries’ in the glossary settings page is set to ‘Yes’. Tick this checkbox to enable automatic linking to this item within the course (and ‘child’ courses if the course where the glossary resides is a metacourse). If the ‘Concept’ or any of the ‘Keyword(s)’ appear in native Moodle activities or resources in the course they are highlighted and converted to a link which, if clicked, opens a pop-up window containing the linked entry/entries. Linking still functions if the content of the concept field or a keyword exceeds a single word. The following additional criteria for linking may be selected if linking for this entry is enabled. This entry is case sensitive An automatic link is only created if the case of a word matches the content of the concept field or a keyword. Match whole words only An automatic link is only created if the entire word matches the text in the resource or activity e.g. the word ‘pensioner’ is not linked to the keyword ‘pension’.

Disabling specific instances of automatic linking Open the area where linking is to be disabled in the HTML editor, select the required text and click the ‘Prevent automatic linking’ icon in the HTML editor tool bar.

If the HTML editor is not available to edit the text, surround the text to be excluded from automatic linking with the following tags: <span class=’nolink’> </span>.

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Save changes Click this button to create the entry.

Approving glossary entries Where the ‘Approved by default’ setting is ‘No’ and a student adds an entry to a glossary; it must be ‘approved’ by a teacher before it is available for others to view. When the entry is created the student is alerted that the entry is awaiting approval by a message in the definition area of the entry.

A teacher is alerted that there are entries awaiting approval by the ‘Waiting approval’ link on the glossary page.

When the ‘Waiting approval’ link is clicked the entries awaiting approval are displayed. Each entry will have a tick icon in the top right corner of the definition.

Click on the tick icon to approve the entry and make it visible to all participants in the course.

Editing, deleting and commenting on entries Editing Entries may be edited after they are added to a glossary, teachers may edit any entry at any time after its creation. Click on the edit icon to open the ‘Edit’ page.

Deleting To delete an entry, click the delete icon and then click the ‘Yes’ in the confirmation message.

Commenting Where ‘Allow comments on entries’ is set to ‘Yes’ participants are able to comment on entries. To comment on an entry, click the comment icon in the definition area.

A text box is displayed in which the comment should be entered. Click ‘Save changes’ to save the comment. Comments are not nested and a comment may be deleted without later comments also having to be deleted. Entries with comments are identified by a link in the ‘Definition’ area of the entry that also indicates the number of comments added. Click this link to display comments for an entry.

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Exporting an entry from a secondary glossary to a main glossary In this context ‘exporting’ means that an entry in a secondary glossary will also appear in the main glossary of the course. If the entry is edited in the main glossary it is also updated in the secondary glossary. Where a course contains a main glossary, each entry in a secondary glossary in the course has an ‘Export to main glossary’ icon – a red cross.

Click this icon to export it so that it is also displayed in the main glossary in the course. The entry may not be edited or deleted from the secondary glossary. A message is displayed in the secondary glossary to indicate the exported status. This message is visible to teachers and the student who created the entry.

Comments may still be added to the exported entries from both the secondary and main glossaries. Comments added in the secondary glossary appear in the entry in the main glossary and vice versa. Teachers may remove an exported entry from the main glossary by clicking the delete icon – in this case a red minus sign.

When the exported entry is deleted from the main glossary the entry remains in the original secondary glossary and may continue to be deleted or edited.

Exporting glossary entries Click on the ‘Export entries’ link on the glossary page.

Click the ‘Export entries to file’ button; a file is generated for download that contains the text of the glossary entries. Comments, attached or embedded files are not exported. Save this file locally.

Importing glossary entries Click on the ‘Import entries’ link on the glossary page (see above); the import settings page is displayed.

File to import Type the location of the glossary file to be imported or select it by clicking the ‘Browse’ button and browsing

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locally. The maximum size of the imported file is restricted to the value set in ‘Maximum upload size’ in the course settings. Destination Current glossary: Import the entries into the current glossary. New glossary: Create a new glossary containing the entries and settings of the originating glossary. The new glossary is located at the bottom of the course’s header topic section. Import categories Tick this checkbox to import categories from the originating glossary. Entries will be allocated to categories in the receiving glossary in the same way as their allocation in the originating glossary. Save changes Click this button to complete the import. Revert Click to clear all changes made to the settings. When the glossary entries have been imported a status message is displayed.

If entries which are duplicates (as identified by the concept name) are present in the import file and the glossary is not set up to allow duplicate entries, the duplicates are not imported and the status message includes information about how many and which entries were rejected.

Using the glossary Searching glossary entries A ‘Search’ field is located at the top of the glossary entries.

To search Concepts in the glossary, enter the search text in the field and click the ‘Search’ button. Any entries containing the search text in the concept will be displayed with the search text highlighted. To search all text in the glossary i.e. concepts and definitions, repeat the above but also check the ‘Full text search’ checkbox. All entries matching the text will be highlighted.

Browsing glossary entries Browsing by alphabet Click on the ‘Browse by alphabet’ link in the row of tabs on the glossary page.

If ‘Yes’ was selected for ‘Show special link’, ‘Show alphabet’ and ‘Show ALL link’ settings the following index is displayed.

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Click on the links to display the glossary entries as follows: Special: Displays entries where the concept field commences with a number or a ‘special’ character e.g. @, #. A – Z: Displays entries where the concept field commences with the letter clicked. ALL: Displays all entries (subject to the value in the ‘Entries shown per page’ setting). Browsing by category Click the ‘Browse by category’ link in the row of tabs on the glossary page (see above). All entries allocated to categories are displayed in alphabetical order within category groupings (also displayed in alphabetical order). A drop-down list is displayed containing the glossary’s categories plus ‘All categories’ and ‘Not categorised’ items. Select the appropriate item to display entries in a specific category, all entries allocated to categories or all entries not allocated to a category, respectively.

Browsing by date Click on the ‘Browse by date’ link in the row of tabs on the glossary page (see above). Two links are displayed, when clicked, showing the entries sorted chronologically by the date of last update or by the creation date.

Browsing by author Click on the ‘Browse by author’ link in the row of tabs on the glossary page (see above). If ‘Yes’ was selected for ‘Show alphabet’ and ‘Show ALL link’ settings the following index will be displayed.

Sort by: Surname / First name: Click the appropriate link to choose which name to use to sort by. Click the link again to reverse the alphabetical sorting. A – Z: Depending on whether Surname or First name is active for ‘Sort by’, entries by authors with names commencing with the letter clicked are displayed. ALL: All entries sorted alphabetically by first name.

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Lesson The Lesson module provides the means to insert a series of content pages into a course.

Typically each page contains a single question that the student attempts. The answer to the question governs the next page that is displayed until the student reaches the end of the activity.

The answer to a question may direct the student to an earlier page in the sequence if required e.g. in response to an incorrect answer, or to an alternative set of pages in a lesson, as the activity need not have a simple linear progression. The example below illustrates a simple scenario.

The interface for the module does not reflect the structure of an activity visually where there is complex branching of pages. Consequently, it is advisable to map out the structure of a complex activity in another application (or on paper) before embarking on its construction in Moodle.

Add Lesson activity Click on the ‘Add an activity …’ drop-down list and select ‘Lesson’.

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The settings page is displayed.

Name The content of this field creates a link on the course page.

Timed Tick the ‘Enable’ checkbox and enter the maximum timed allowed for students to attempt the lesson. Students are presented with a countdown timer in each page of the lesson.

When a student accesses a lesson a message is displayed indicating the total time allowed for the activity.

A message is displayed on attempting a question if the remaining time is one minute or less. Any questions answered after the allowed duration are not counted towards the grade for the attempt. The timer is not displayed for teachers so in order to test a timed lesson fully it is necessary to do so using a student account.

Time limit (minutes) If ‘Yes’ is selected in ‘Timed’ above, a numerical value greater than ‘0’ must be entered in this field to set the period allowed for completion of the lesson.

Maximum number of answers/branches Range 2  20. This setting governs the number of potential: ••Answer/response boxes for constructing question pages. ••Description boxes for constructing branch tables. The number of answers/branches may be changed at any time to make the number of answers/branches appropriate to the question page or branch table under construction. If the value is amended subsequent to the creation of question pages or branch tables, there is no impact on the functioning of any already created.

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Practice lesson If ‘Yes’ is selected the lesson’s grade is not recorded in the gradebook.

Custom scoring If ‘Yes’ is selected, a field is enabled for each potential answer on a question page that allows an individual (positive or negative) mark to be allocated. Imported questions are allocated the default marks of ‘1’ for correct and ‘0’ for incorrect – both may be edited following the import. Custom scoring has an important impact on navigation if ‘Normal – follow lesson path’ is selected for the ‘Action after correct answer’ setting.

Maximum grade Range 0  100. The value selected from the drop-down list determines the maximum grade that can be awarded for the lesson. Where the maximum grade is set to ‘0’ the lesson is not graded. The grade for a lesson may be changed at any time and is reflected immediately.

Student can re-take If ‘Yes’ is selected, the student may access the lesson again once it has been completed. The grade recorded where there are subsequent attempts is determined by the setting chosen for ‘Handling of re-takes’.

Handling of re-takes Where the ‘Yes’ option is selected in ‘Student can re-take’, two options are available to determine which grades are recorded. ••Mean: The average of the student’s first and subsequent attempts. ••Use maximum: The highest grade for all attempts by the student.

Display ongoing score Select ‘Yes’ to display the score achieved for answers on question pages against the total available. The running total does not include grades for Essay-type questions (which are marked by the teacher after the attempt). The ongoing score is not displayed for teachers when previewing so in order to test this fully it is necessary to attempt the lesson using a student account.

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Allow student review Select ‘Yes’ to allow a student to review the answers for a completed attempt. A ‘Review lesson’ button is displayed on the final page of the lesson. Students who opt to review the lesson are presented with the answers they gave for the attempt being reviewed. The student may review the lesson giving different answers if desired. However, the score for the attempt is unchanged.

Display review button Select ‘Yes’ to present students with the following options for incorrectly answered questions: ••Re-attempt a question that has been answered incorrectly. If the student decides to re-attempt the question and answers correctly the score for the attempt is not revised upwards. ••Progress to the next question page in the lesson (using a Next page jump, ignoring the jump selected for a correct answer).

Maximum number of attempts Range 1 – 10. The value selected determines the maximum number of attempts a student is allowed for any question during a single attempt at the lesson. When the permitted number of attempts is exceeded the student progresses to another page in the lesson (using a Next page jump) even if they do not know the answer to a particular question. The setting is ignored for teachers when previewing a lesson.

Action after correct answer The option selected from this list determines the navigation in the lesson after the student chooses or enters a correct answer. The options are as follows: Normal – follow lesson path: The student is taken to the page selected in the ‘Jump #’ drop-down list for the answer. Where custom scoring is not enabled, for an answer to be registered as correct the page jumped to must be lower down the list of pages as viewed on the ‘Edit’ page.

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Show an unseen page: This option will show pages the student has not seen before. With this option the student never sees the same page twice, even if the question on the page has been answered incorrectly. Show an unanswered page: The student may see pages that have been seen before if a question on the page has been answered incorrectly. For options 2 and 3 above, the teacher can specify whether all of the pages in the lesson are to be used or a random sub-set. If the latter, the value selected for ‘Number of pages (Cards) to show’ determines the maximum number of pages shown.

Display default feedback Select ‘Yes’ to display the default feedback for the language page in use. The appropriate feedback is displayed after each attempt at a question: ••Feedback for correct answer – That’s the correct answer. ••Feedback for incorrect answer – That’s the wrong answer. After reading the feedback the student clicks a ‘Continue’ button and the page specified in the ‘Jump’ drop-down list is displayed. If ‘No’ is selected and there is no entry in the appropriate ‘Response’ area for a question, the page specified in the ‘Jump’ drop-down list is displayed. If ‘No’ is selected and there is an entry in the appropriate ‘Response’ area for a question, there are different rules for what is displayed; this is outlined for each question-type below.

Minimum number of questions Range 0 – 100. In some cases it is desirable to specify a minimum number of questions that a student should answer within a lesson. This is particularly true where the lesson is split into discrete sections using branch tables and the student is also presented with the option to end the activity by visiting the end of lesson page. If a minimum number of questions to be attempted is not specified a student may achieve full marks even though only the questions within one branch have been completed. Example: Question pages: 20 Maximum grade: 20 Score for correct answer: 1 (Default, custom scoring not enabled) Branch tables: 1. 4 groups of question pages of 5 pages, each separated by end of branch table pages.

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Min. number of questions

Questions answered correctly

Grade

Message to student on ending activity Number of questions answered: 5 You should answer at least: 10

10

5

10

Number of correct answers: 5 Your score is 5 (out of 10). Your current grade is 10.0 out of 20 Number of questions answered: 10

10

10

20

Number of correct answers: 10 Your score is 10 (out of 10). Your current grade is 20.0 out of 20 Number of questions answered: 15

10

15

20

Number of correct answers: 15 Your score is 15 (out of 15). Your current grade is 20.0 out of 20 Number of questions answered: 5

0

5

20

Number of correct answers: 5 Your score is 5 (out of 5). Your current grade is 20.0 out of 20

On returning to the branch table page students are presented with an account of the: ••Number of questions answered vs. those required (if the minimum number has not yet been attempted). ••Number of correct answers (so far). ••Current grade.

Number of pages (cards) to show Range 1 – 100. This setting only applies if ‘Action after correct answer’ is not set to ‘Normal  follow lesson path as it governs the number of random pages shown. ••0 – All pages are shown. ••Value greater than 0 – The lesser of that number of pages or all pages in the lesson are shown. When the specified number of pages have been displayed the attempt is concluded and the student is shown the end of lesson page.

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Slide show Select ‘Yes’ to create a ‘slide show’ of branch table pages within the lesson. Navigation through the pages is controlled by an optional menu (see ‘Display left menu’ below) or, if the branch table description areas are all empty, a ‘Continue’ button. In the screenshot below the ‘slide’ area has been set to the #EEEEEE colour.

Where one or more branch table description areas are completed, the appropriate buttons are displayed below the ‘slide’ area. The ‘slide show’ formatting only applies to branch table pages; question pages visited during the activity’s navigation are displayed as normal. Slide show width / height Enter the desired dimensions in pixels in these fields. If slide content exceeds these sizes entered, scroll bars are enabled. Slideshow background color Enter a six-digit colour code e.g. #EEEEEE in this field to set the background colour of the slide area. This colour does not apply to any question pages within the slide show. Display left menu Select ‘Yes’ to create a vertical menu to the left of the lesson page. Branch table pages appear in the menu provided the ‘Display in left menu?’ option in the branch table editing page is ticked. Display left menu only if grade greater than Range 0%  100%. This setting governs whether the left menu is displayed. If set to a value greater than 0%, the student must achieve the specified grade in an attempt in order to be able to see the left menu on subsequent attempts.

Progress bar Select ‘Yes’ to enable a visual indicator that provides students with a general indication of progress through a lesson. The progress bar is not displayed for teachers during preview so in order to test an activity fully it is necessary to do so using a student account. The following pages count as a single page towards progress in the activity: ••Correctly answered question page ••Branch table ••Cluster page/pages within a cluster The following pages do not count towards progress in the activity: ••End of branch ••End of cluster The progress bar is most accurate if the lesson path is linear.

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Password protected lesson Select ‘Yes’ to require a participant to enter a password to access the lesson.

Password Enter the required password to be used in conjunction with the above. Tick the ‘Unmask’ checkbox to display the password entered.

Available from Un-tick the ‘Disable’ checkbox to set a date and time from which students will be able to commence an attempt at the lesson. Prior to this date and time students see a message advising that the lesson activity is not yet open and the opening date and time. The lesson opening time appears in the upcoming events block and the calendar.

Deadline Un-tick the ‘Disable’ checkbox to set a date and time by which any attempts must be completed. After this date and time students see a message advising that the lesson activity is closed and the appropriate date and time. The lesson closing time appears in the upcoming events block and the calendar.

Dependent on Whether a student may attempt this lesson may be made dependent upon up to 3 criteria in another lesson in the same course. Select the lesson for which the criteria must be met from this drop-down list. Where a student attempts the lesson and the required dependencies have not been met, a message is displayed.

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Time spent (minutes) Enter the time in minutes that a student must spend on the other lesson before being allowed to attempt this one. Completed The student must reach the end of lesson page in the other lesson. Grade better than Enter grade that a student must achieve in the other lesson before being allowed to attempt this one.

Pop-up to file or web page Use this option to display a link to open a pop-up window that displays either a file or a web page or, alternatively, a link to it. When the file has been chosen and the settings page saved, the file that has been linked to may be accessed by clicking the ‘Click here to view’ link from any lesson page.

Linking to a web page Enter the full URL of the web page in the field, prior to saving changes on the lesson settings page. If the URL does not commence with ‘http://’ the pop-up contains a link to the page rather than the page itself. Linking to a file in course files Click the ‘Choose or upload a file …’ button; when the files area is displayed in a pop-up window click the ‘Choose’ link for the required file. The chosen file name is displayed in the field. Where the file type is one of those listed below, the file or its contents are displayed within the pop-up window. MP3

Quicktime

Realmedia

GIF

Media Player

HTML

Plain Text

JPEG

PNG Show close button Select ‘Yes’ to display a ‘Close this window’ button in the pop-up window. Window height/width Enter the desired width and height for the pop-up window in pixels.

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Link to an activity Default: None. Where there are other activities or resources in the course they are listed in the drop-down list. If an activity or resource is selected, a button appears on the end of lesson page to enable the student to navigate directly to the specified resource or activity. The drop-down list is populated after the first saving of the lesson settings page.

Use this lesson’s settings as defaults Select ‘Yes’ for this option, prior to clicking ‘Save changes’, to retain the chosen settings as the defaults for any additional lessons created in the course.

Common module settings Click ‘Show Advanced’ to display additional settings for groups and groupings. These are covered in more detail in the section on managing people. Visible Yes  Students may view the activity. No  The activity is not visible to students. Teachers are able to see a ‘greyed out’ link and are able to access, view and update the activity. Click the ‘Save changes’ button to save all changes made or the ‘Cancel’ button to discard them. The initial lesson setup page is displayed.

Lesson setup  initial options The following options are displayed when a lesson’s settings page is saved for the first time (or when a lesson has no pages or branch tables).

Import questions Click this link to open the interface for importing questions in a range of formats.

Select the file format that corresponds with the format of the file to be imported. Click the ‘Browse …’ button to locate the import file and then ‘Upload this file’ to complete the import. Data in the imported questions are mapped to question pages as follows: Imported question

Question page

Question name

Page name

Question text

Page contents

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Import PowerPoint It is possible to import a PowerPoint presentation into a lesson. Each slide in the presentation is added as a branch table. In addition to the left menu navigation options outlined above it is possible to navigate between ‘slides’ using ‘Next’ / ‘Previous’ buttons that are added automatically. Formatting of text, backgrounds, animations etc. are not imported and images may be resized and repositioned. Prior to commencing the import the PowerPoint presentation must be prepared. Open the presentation in PowerPoint (the screenshots below use PowerPoint 2003). From the ’File’ menu select ‘Save as Web Page’. Save as type: Web Page.

A folder and HTML file are created.

Create a .zip file using the folder only.

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When the PowerPoint presentation has been prepared, click the ‘Import PowerPoint’ link to commence the import process.

Click the ‘Browse …’ button to locate the import file (the .zip file created on step 5 above) and then ‘Upload this file’ to complete the import. The slides are imported and the lesson is displayed in Preview mode.

Add a Branch Table Branch tables create ‘sections’ within the lesson which may contain question pages, additional branch tables and/or clusters. Typically a branch table page includes one or more buttons which navigate the student to a particular page within the lesson. The page displayed on clicking a button is determined by the teacher when constructing the branch table page – this is covered in more detail below. Each Branch typically comprises the branch table itself, a number of question pages and an end of branch page.

Click the ‘Add a Branch Table’ link; the branch table editing page is displayed.

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Page title The text entered in this field is displayed as the title of the page. Page contents This content of the page (which may include a combination of text, images, sounds, movies etc.) is added to this text area. Arrange Branch buttons horizontally in slideshow mode Tick this checkbox for Branch buttons to be arranged horizontally below the contents of the branch table page. If un-ticked they will be aligned vertically. Display in left menu Tick this checkbox for this branch table to be displayed in the left menu that is displayed if ‘Yes’ is selected in ‘Display left menu’ in the lesson settings page. Description The content of this text box creates the text on a button that the student clicks to jump to a specified page. Only text may be added to the ‘Description’ box for branch tables. Each description field with text creates an additional button on the branch table page. The number of boxes is determined by the value selected in ‘Maximum number of answers/branches’.

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Jump # The option selected from the ‘Jump’ drop-down list determines the page to which the student is navigated when a button on the branch table page is clicked. Jumps may be to any page or within the lesson. Prior to saving a branch table the following options are available: ••This page. ••Next page. ••Previous page. ••End of lesson. ••Specific page – these are identified by the name for the page entered in ‘Page title’. When a branch table is added additional jump types are available: ••Unseen question within a Branch  Jumps to a question page chosen at random between the current branch table and the next end of branch (or the end of lesson page if an end of branch page has not been added). Only pages that a student has not seen before during this attempt are displayed, irrespective of whether the question has been answered correctly. In order to test this navigation option it is necessary to do so using a student account. ••Random question within a Branch  Jumps to a question page chosen at random between the current branch table and the next end of branch (or the end of lesson page if an end of branch page has not been added). If the ‘Student can re-take’ option in lesson settings is set to ‘Yes’, the student may be presented with a question page more than once within a single attempt at the activity. If the question is answered correctly subsequently, a correct answer counts towards the grade for the attempt. ••Random Branch page – Jumps to a random branch table page between the current branch table and the end of the lesson. When a lesson contains a cluster, additional jump types are available (theses are the default names): ••Cluster ••End of cluster Cluster pages are covered in more detail below. Add a Branch Table To save the branch table content and settings click the ‘Add a Branch Table’ button; the lesson ‘Edit’ page is displayed. On subsequent visits to the editing page of an existing branch table the following options are available: ••Save page – The content and settings are saved and the ‘Edit’ page is displayed. ••Redisplay page  The content and settings are saved without navigating away from the current page.

Previewing a branch table A branch table page may be previewed to check layout and navigation by clicking the ‘Preview’ icon on the ‘Edit’ page. This displays the branch table as it will appear to students. Whilst previewing the page a teacher may click the ‘Edit page contents’ button to update the content or settings.

When editing is complete, click the ‘Save changes’ button to return the page to its preview mode.

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Add a question page Click the ‘Add a Question Page’ link; the editing page is displayed.

Question type Click one of these tabs to select the question type for the question page being created. Content and settings may be lost on clicking a question-type tab so it is best to ensure the correct question type is chosen at the outset. Each question type is covered in more detail below.

Question options Available for multiple choice and short answer questions only: ••Multichoice ••Use Regular Expressions

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Page title The text entered in this field is displayed as the title of the page.

Page contents This content of the page (which may include a combination of text, images, sounds, movies etc.) is added to this text area.

Answer # Enter the answer content in this area. For short answer questions a single asterisk character may be used as a ‘catch-all’ answer to trigger a specific ‘Jump’ and/or ‘Response’ where the student’s answer does not correspond with one entered by the teacher. Prior to saving the page a text box is displayed for all question types (except essay question types where it is not required). Once the page has been saved, the following is displayed for multiple choice, true/false and matching question types to allow the HTML Editor to be used.

Tick the checkbox and click either ‘Redisplay page’ or ‘Save page’ (both options are only available when the page has been saved once), the HTML editor is then available for the answer.

Response # If feedback is required, other than the default feedback (see ‘Display default feedback’ above), it must be entered here. The appropriate feedback for a correct or incorrect answer is displayed following an attempt at the question.

Where ‘Yes’ is selected for the ‘Display review button’ setting, no feedback is displayed for an incorrect answer. The student is presented with the option to re-attempt the question or proceed to the next.

The HTML Editor may be enabled as described in ‘Answer #’ above. Multiple choice – Multianswer: Where there is feedback in more than one of the ‘Response’ boxes, the feedback in the highest numbered correct or incorrect ‘Response’ box is displayed to the student.

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Matching – There are only two ‘Response’ boxes. ‘Correct response’ is for attempts where all options are matched and ‘Wrong response’ for any other combination of matching.

Jump # This option is pivotal for the correct functioning of any lesson as it specifies the navigation between pages in the activity (for the ‘Action after correct answer’, ‘Normal – follow lesson path’ option). Select a page in the activity from this drop-down list to specify the page the student will ‘jump to’ on answering a question. The sequencing of the display of pages is determined by the answer the student gives to each question. There are default navigation settings and settings that may be specified by the teacher. The default navigation for a correct answer i.e. one with a grade of 1 or more, is to display the ‘Next page’ to the student. In this context the ‘Next page’ is the page situated immediately below the page containing the question, when viewing the ‘Edit’ page for the lesson.

Where the page is the penultimate page, the default navigation on answering a question correctly is the ‘End of lesson page’ For an incorrect answer the default navigation is for the student to be returned to the question page containing the question answered incorrectly i.e. ‘This page’. To navigate the student to a specific page following a correct or incorrect answer, identify the page in the dropdown list by its ‘page title’ and select it. Where the lesson contains one or more branch tables or clusters additional options are available in the dropdown list. These are covered in more details in the branch table and cluster sections. Where the ‘Answer’ boxes are all empty, students are presented with a ‘Continue’ button and the page jump is always ‘Next page’.

Score # This field is only available if ‘Custom scoring’ is set to ‘Yes’. Enter a whole number numerical value for an answer as required. For matching questions only one each of ‘Wrong answer’ and ‘Correct answer’ ‘Score’ fields are displayed.

Add a question page To save the question page content and settings click the ‘Save page’ button; the ‘Edit’ page for the lesson is displayed. On subsequent visits to the editing page of an existing question page the following options are available: ••Save page – The content and settings are saved and the ‘Edit’ page is displayed. ••Redisplay page  The content and settings are saved without navigating away from the current page. Alternatively the ‘Cancel’ button is clicked to leave the page without saving.

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Multiple choice questions Click the ‘Multiple Choice’ tab to start the creation of the question. Multianswer Available for multiple choice questions only. When un-ticked the student is required to select one option only i.e. one radio button, as shown below.

Where the student is required to decide whether to tick one or more options the ‘Multianswer’ checkbox should be ticked. The student is presented with checkboxes to tick.

Answer # Enter the text or other content for each option. The answers entered by the teacher are always shuffled before they are presented to students. Jump # Where ‘Multianswer’ is selected, all correct answers must jump to the same page selected from the drop-down list.

Previewing a multiple choice question A single question page may be previewed to check layout and navigation by clicking the ‘Preview’ icon on the ‘Edit’ page. This displays the question as it will appear to students. Whilst previewing a page the teacher may click the ‘Edit page contents’ button to update the content or settings.

When editing is complete, click the ‘Save changes’ button to return the page to its preview mode. Click a single radio button followed by the ‘Please check one answer’ button to attempt the question.

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Where ‘Multianswer’ is ticked the question contains checkboxes.

Click one or more checkboxes followed by the ‘Please check one or more answers’ button to attempt the question.

True/False questions Click the ‘True/False’ tab to start the creation of the question. This question type works in the same way as multiple choice above (without ‘Multianswer’ ticked), except that there are only two sets of ‘Answer’/ ‘Response’ boxes and, consequently, only two radio buttons.

Short answer questions Click the ‘Short Answer’ tab to start the creation of the question. Simple analysis If the ‘Use regular expressions’ checkbox is not ticked, the student’s answer is compared to the answer entered by the teacher without reference to case. A ‘*’ may be used as a ‘wild card’ or substitute character for any (or no) character(s) in an answer to allow a degree of flexibility. Therefore if ‘broad*’ is entered in an answer text box it will match ‘broads’, ‘broader’, ‘broadest’ and ‘broad’. When a student attempts the question, the matching process follows the ascending order of ‘Answer’ boxes. If a single‘*’ is entered in the answer text box it will match any answer by the student and as a result this option should always be the last to be compared. Once a matching answer is found the remaining ones are ignored as in the example below:

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Student answer: broadest Potential answers in question

Matching sequence

Broader

Incorrect

Broad*

Matched

*

Ignored

Use regular expressions When ‘Use regular expressions’ is ticked the student’s answer is compared to the answers specified in the question which may be formatted to include ‘regular expressions’. Regular expressions are a syntax that allow combinations of characters to be identified within a particular string of characters. Example

Correct

Incorrect

[W]ashington

Washington

washington

authorise

Authorise

authorize

Authorize

authori[zs]e

There are many, many other regular expressions options and an in-depth exploration is outside the scope of this book. A web search on ‘regular expressions’ will offer many links to comprehensive reference resources.

Previewing a short answer question A single question page may be previewed to check layout and navigation by clicking the ‘Preview’ icon on the ‘Edit’ page. This displays the question as it will appear to students. Whilst previewing a page the teacher may click the ‘Edit page contents’ button to update the content or settings.

When editing is complete, click the ‘Save changes’ button to return the page to its preview mode. Enter text in the empty field and click the ‘Please enter your answer in the box’ button to attempt the question.

Numerical questions Click the ‘Numerical’ tab to start the creation of the question. Answer Enter a numerical value that the student should provide as the answer. The numerical value may be any specific value e.g. 2000, 45.75 or a value between a pre-determined minimum and maximum. To specify an acceptable range for the answer the minimum and maximum values are entered in the answer text area separated by a colon e.g. 1998:2002. This is useful where potential answers may vary slightly depending on the rounding method or the number of decimal places used in the answer. It is also useful for ‘To the nearest …’ type of question. When a student attempts the question, the matching process follows the ascending order of ‘Answer’ boxes; therefore, answers that attract a lower mark should be in the higher numbered answer boxes.

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Previewing a numerical question A single question page may be previewed to check layout and navigation by clicking the ‘Preview’ icon on the ‘Edit’ page. This displays the question as it will appear to students. Whilst previewing a page the teacher may click the ‘Edit page contents’ button to update the content or settings.

When editing is complete, click the ‘Save changes’ button to return the page to its preview mode. Enter the digits in the empty field and click the ‘Please enter your answer in the box’ button to attempt the question.

Students are not able to determine whether a question is a numerical or short answer question from the interface alone – they are identical.

Matching questions Click the ‘Matching’ tab to start the creation of the question. Answer Enter in the answer that should be matched to an item in the corresponding drop-down list. Matches with answer Enter the text that will appear in the drop-down list (text only even if the HTML editor is available). Correct response The feedback that is displayed if all answers are correctly matched and ‘Display default feedback’ is set to ‘No’. Wrong response The feedback that is displayed if one or more answers are incorrectly matched and ‘Display default feedback’ is set to ‘No’. Correct answer jump Specify the page to jump to if all answers are matched correctly. Wrong answer jump Specify the page to jump to if one or more answers are matched incorrectly. Correct answer score The score for the question if all answers are matched correctly. Wrong answer score The score for the question if one or more answers are matched incorrectly (should be zero).

Previewing a matching question A single question page may be previewed to check layout and navigation by clicking the ‘Preview’ icon on the ‘Edit’ page. This displays the question as it will appear to students. Whilst previewing a page the teacher may click the ‘Edit page contents’ button to update the content or settings.

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When editing is complete, click the ‘Save changes’ button to return the page to its preview mode. Select an item from each drop-down list to match with the corresponding answer and click the ‘Please match the above pairs’ button to attempt the question.

An account of the pairs that have been matched is displayed next, including where a selection has not been made (Athens and Sydney in the screenshot below) when: ••Display default feedback is set to ‘Yes’. ••Display default feedback is set to ‘No’ and feedback is entered in the ‘Correct/Wrong response’ boxes.

Essay questions Click the ‘Essay’ tab to start the creation of the question. The ‘Answer’ and ‘Response’ boxes are absent in this question type as there is no automatic marking of the question and any feedback is always provided by the teacher. To grade and provide feedback for essay questions click the ‘Grade Essays’ tab. Students receive a notification that essay questions are not included in the grade for the attempt on its completion (there are no automatically graded questions in the example below).

Previewing an essay question A single question page may be previewed to check layout and navigation by clicking the ‘Preview’ icon on the ‘Edit’ page. This displays the question as it will appear to students. Whilst previewing a page the teacher may click the ‘Edit page contents’ button to update the content or settings.

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When editing is complete, click the ‘Save changes’ button to return the page to its preview mode. Enter text in the ‘Your answer’ text box and click the ‘Please enter your answer in the box’ button to test navigation. Where ‘Display default feedback’ is set to ‘Yes’, the following is displayed when an essay question has been submitted.

If the text box is left empty the following is displayed when the ‘Please enter your answer in the box’ button is clicked:

Edit page This page is accessed by clicking the ‘Edit’ tab (this is not available until at least one page has been created).

The level of detail displayed depends on whether it is set to ‘Collapsed’ or ‘Expanded’, there are links on the ‘Edit’ page that control this.

The following are examples of a branch table and question page as displayed in each view. Collapsed view

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Expanded view

Although the layout and amount of detail are different, basic elements are displayed in both views: ••Page title. ••Page type: Indicates the question type on the page for question pages. Expanded view indicates whether ‘Multianswer’ or ’Use Regular Expressions’ has been ticked. ••Answer: Extended view only, correct answers are underlined.

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••Jumps: As specified in the ‘Jump’ drop-down lists. ‘Not defined’ indicates that the page specified for the jump for that answer has been deleted. ••Action icons: For moving, editing previewing or deleting pages. See below for further details. ••Page actions: Import questions, Add a Branch Table (Branch Table), Add a question page here (Question) perform the same functions as those on the initial page of the lesson. Add a Cluster (Cluster), Add an End of Branch (End of Branch), Add an End of Cluster (End of Cluster) are expanded upon below.

Moving, updating, previewing, deleting a specific page In both the collapsed and expanded view a set of icons is displayed to facilitate (from left to right) moving, updating, previewing or deleting a page.

Move a page Click the move icon; a page showing a list of all pages, except the one to be moved, is displayed.

Click the appropriate ‘Move page to here’ link to relocate the page. Update a page Click the update icon to open the page for editing. Click the ‘Save changes’ button to return to the ‘Edit’ page. Preview a page Click the preview icon to preview layout and to test navigation – see each question-type above for more information. Delete a page Click the delete icon and the ‘Yes’ button below the subsequent confirmation request to delete a page.

Add an End of Branch page (End of Branch) An end of branch table page defines the end of a ‘branch’ or section within a lesson. By default the ‘Jump’ for the page is set to the branch table that precedes the End of Branch page. If an alternative jump is required, click the update icon to open the page for editing, select the desired alternative from the ‘Jump’ drop-down list and click the ‘Save page’ button. End of branch pages are not displayed to students; a jump to an end of branch page immediately invokes the jump for that page. © HowToMoodle 2009 Please respect our copyright. If this is not your own copy you can buy one at www.howtomoodle.com

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Add a Cluster (Cluster) Add a cluster to a lesson to create a sub-set of, typically, question pages that are displayed at random. Typically a simple cluster will have the following structure: ••Cluster page. ••A number of question pages. ••End of cluster page (if not present the end of lesson page is treated as the end of the cluster). Jump # By default a cluster page jumps to an unseen page within the cluster of pages i.e. between the cluster page and next end of cluster page (or end of lesson if none). If an alternative jump is required, click the update icon to open the page for editing, select the desired alternative from the ‘Jump’ drop-down list and click the ‘Save page’ button. Pages within a cluster also have ‘Unseen question within a cluster’ as an addition to options in the ‘Jump’ dropdown. Where a page within a cluster jumps to ‘Unseen question within a cluster’ and the value selected in settings for ‘Maximum number of attempts’ exceeds the number of pages within the cluster, the student is navigated to the end of cluster page (and as a result its associated jump) on having answered the questions on all pages within the cluster. Where a student is allowed to retake a lesson, pages in a cluster are treated as unseen at the commencement of each subsequent attempt.

Add an End of Cluster page (End of cluster) An end of cluster page defines the end of a cluster within a lesson (if not present the end of lesson page is treated as the end of the cluster). By default the ‘Jump’ for the page is set to ‘Next page’. If an alternative jump is required, click the update icon to open the page for editing, select the desired alternative from the ‘Jump’ drop-down list and click the ‘Save page’ button. End of cluster pages are not displayed to students; a jump to an end of cluster page immediately invokes the jump for that page.

Preview To check the navigation of the lesson click the ‘Preview’ tab (this tab is selected by default when there are pages in the lesson and it is accessed from elsewhere e.g. from the course page). The lesson is displayed as it would be to the students with the following exceptions: ••Grades are only displayed to students. ••A review button is not displayed if ‘Allow student review’ is set to ‘Yes’. ••There is no invitation to add a high score. ••The lesson navigation includes jumps to unseen pages. As a result it is recommended that the lesson is tested whilst logged in using a student account.

Grade essay questions Click the ‘Grade Essays’ tab to access the grading area for essay questions.

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Students Students who have attempted essay questions in the lesson. Essays Essay questions that have been attempted. Click a link for an essay to review the attempt at the question. ••Red link: Not yet graded i.e. ‘Save changes’ button has not been clicked. ••Green link: Graded i.e. ‘Save changes’ button has been clicked, but result has not been emailed to student. A link returns to green if ‘Save changes’ is subsequently clicked for a question where the grade has previously been emailed. ••Grey link: Graded i.e. ‘Save changes’ button has been clicked, and result has been emailed to student.

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••Question: The question to which the student has responded. •• User’s response: The student’s attempt at the question. ••Your comments: The feedback that is provided to the student. ••Essay score: Select a grade for the attempt. This is added to the student’s grade for automatically marked questions (if any). ••Save changes: Click to record grade allocated. Email ••Email graded essays: An email is sent to this student for each question that has a green link. ••Email ALL graded essays: An email is sent to all students for each question that has a green link.

Reports Click the ‘Reports’ tab to access the reports area.

Overview

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Student name Self-explanatory Attempts The attempt(s) at the lesson arranged by the student. Click on an attempt to review it in detail.

To delete attempts, tick the checkbox next to the attempt(s) to be deleted (or click either of the Select all / Deselect all links below if appropriate) and select ‘Delete selected’ from the ‘Choose …’ drop-down list. In addition to the student’s response, grade and the feedback that was displayed, the individual student’s response is compared to that of the ‘Class’ i.e. other students who have attempted the lesson. High score The highest score for all attempts by each student. Lesson statistics This table displays a summary of key information from the full report of attempts above.

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Detailed statistics Click the ‘Detailed statistics’ link to display a report of attempts at question in the lesson made by all students.

Attempting a lesson as a student Students should click on any link containing the name of the lesson to access it; pages are displayed according to the layout specified by the teacher or at random depending on the setting chosen for ‘Action after correct answer’. Where the student is allowed to retake a lesson, the number of the current attempt is displayed for each attempt following the initial one. Where a student exits the lesson before it is completed, e.g. by navigating to the course page, and later accesses it again, the option is given to re-commence the lesson from the last page viewed or from the first page.

A lesson activity is ‘completed’ when the student reaches the end of lesson page. The information and options presented will vary depending on the lesson settings, but may include the following: ••Number of questions answered. ••Number of required answers. ••Number of correct answers. ••Score for automatically graded questions. ••Notification that essay question(s) have not yet been graded. ••Grade without essay questions. ••Current or actual grade (out of ‘Maximum grade’ value). ••Notification of eligibility to add name to high scores list.

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••Button to add name to high scores list. ••Button to view high scores list. ••Button to review lesson. ••Button to another activity or resource in the course. ••Button to return to course page. ••Button to view grade in gradebook.

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Question bank Click the ‘Questions’ link in the ‘Administration’ block to access the question bank area for a course. Questions created in this location are available for use in any quiz activity in the course.

Tabs Questions: Click to access the page for adding and editing questions (the default view when entering the question bank). Categories: Click to access the page for adding and modifying question categories. Import: Click to access the page to start the process of importing questions. Export: Click to access the page to start the process of exporting questions.

Category Category drop-down list: Select to display a list of questions in the category. Edit questions: Click to access the page for adding and modifying question categories. Display questions from sub-categories too: Where the category selected has further categories nested within it that contain questions, the questions in the sub-categories are displayed in the list of questions. Also show old questions: Where a question has been used in a quiz that has been attempted by students and has subsequently been deleted from the category, tick this checkbox to view the deleted question in the list of questions in the category. The deleted question is greyed out and has a ‘Restore’ icon to reinstate it in the category.

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Show question text in the question list: Click this checkbox to display the text in the ‘Question text’ area of a question in the list of questions.

Category information: This is the text entered in the ‘Category info’ field for the category in the categories page.

Create new question: Select a question type from this drop-down list to start the process of creating a new question in the category.

Question bank categories Questions are grouped into categories, with each course having a ‘Default for name of course’ question category. It is often useful to rename the default category to something more meaningful and to create additional categories to organise questions (particularly if random questions are to be used in quizzes).

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Editing categories Click either of the link for the category or the associated editing icon to edit its characteristics.

Parent: Not editable when there is only one category in the course. Where there are multiple categories select the appropriate item to revise the relative position of this category in the category hierarchy. Name: The name of the category. Category info: The text here appears at the top of the list of questions in the edit screen in the question bank and a quiz activity. Save changes: Click to save the changes to the category.

Adding a category Parent: Select the appropriate item to set the relative position of this new category amongst existing categories. Name: Enter the name of the new category. Category info: Enter text here to describe the category further (if required). The text appears at the top of the list of questions in the edit screen in the question bank and a quiz activity. Add category: Click to create the new category.

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Managing categories

In addition to editing the properties of a category by clicking the editing icon, see ‘Editing categories’ above, categories may also be: Deleted: Click the delete icon. Where a category contains questions (as indicated by a value higher then ‘0’ in the brackets after its name) it may not be deleted until the questions within it have been moved to another category.

Select the category to which the questions are to be moved; the questions are moved and the category is deleted. Re-ordered: Click the vertical and/or horizontal arrows to move the categories up or down on the page or to create a hierarchy of sub-categories respectively.

Selecting the working category Click the ‘Questions’ link in the Administration block on the course page or the ‘Questions’ tab (if viewing the Question Bank) then click on the ‘Category’ drop-down list; a list of categories is displayed.

Categories that contain questions have the number of questions indicated in brackets.

Creating new questions With the ‘Questions’ page in view (‘Edit questions’ in the navigation bar), select the category in which the question is to be created (see ‘Selecting the working category’ above) and then select the desired question type from the ‘Create new question’ drop-down list. The ‘editing’ page for the question type selected is displayed.

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Multiple choice Students attempt the question by selecting one (or more) choices from those displayed. Example multiple choice question

Select ‘Multiple Choice’ from the ‘Create new question’ drop-down list. The ‘editing’ page is displayed.

Category The new question will be created in the category selected in the ‘Edit question’ page (the category displayed initially); an alternative category may be selected. Question name Enter a name for the question that is displayed in the list of questions in the category. The question name is not visible to students when the question is added to the quiz.

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Question text The stem of the question is added in this text box. Text, images, sound files etc. may be used to create the stem. Format Where the HTML editor is used the default setting is HTML format. Where the HTML editor is not enabled the formatting options are the same as those described for the Text Page resource. Image to display Where there are images in the course’s files area a drop-down list is displayed. Select an image from those listed to add below other content in the ‘Question text’ area when the question is viewed (does not show in editing mode). Default question grade The value added here is the default grade for the question when it is added to a quiz. The grade may be altered for an individual quiz instance when the question is added to a quiz.

Penalty factor Enter a value between 0 and 1 to determine a penalty, which is deducted from the score for the question in each incorrect attempt at the question if a student is allowed to attempt the question more than once within a single quiz attempt. A value of ‘0’ will not result in a penalty being applied; ‘1’ results in a penalty equal to the whole grade for the question being applied. For a penalty to be applied the ‘Apply penalties’ setting for the quiz must be set to ‘Yes’.

General feedback Enter any feedback that may be useful to a student, irrespective of their answer to a question in this area. A setting in the Quiz module governs whether this feedback is displayed to students.

One or multiple answers The option selected from this drop-down list determines whether the student may select more than one ‘choice’ for their answer. One answer only Requires a single radio button to be clicked. Multiple answers allowed Requires one or more checkboxes to be ticked. © HowToMoodle 2009 Please respect our copyright. If this is not your own copy you can buy one at www.howtomoodle.com

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Number the choices Options: a., b. ,c.,…, A., B., C., …, 1., 2., 3., …, No numbering. Select the appropriate option to set the ‘labelling’ of the choices for multiple choice questions.

Shuffle answers Tick this checkbox to allow the question’s choices to be displayed in a different order each time the question is presented to a student. This setting works in conjunction with the ‘Shuffle within questions’ setting for a quiz. Question – Shuffle answers

Quiz – Shuffle within questions

Choices shuffled?

Yes

Yes

Yes

Yes

No

No

No

Yes

No

Choice # By default 5 choices are available, to add additional choices click the ‘Blanks for 3 more choices’ button (below choice 5 initially). At least two choices must be used; any unused choices are disregarded on saving.

Answer Enter the text in this field that you want to be displayed as a choice to students. Grade Select the percentage of the grade for the question that the student achieves if they select this choice when answering the question. Range 100% to –100%. When scrolling the page ensure that you have clicked away from this drop down first, otherwise the grade value may be changed inadvertently. If one of the grades entered for at least one choice in single answer question is not 100%, a warning is displayed when an attempt to save the question is made and a message suggesting the question is amended is displayed.

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If the sum of the positive grades for the choices for a multiple answer question is not equal to 100% a warning message is displayed and the values must be amended before the question may be saved. Feedback Enter feedback in this area that is relevant to this choice. A setting in the Quiz module governs whether this feedback is displayed to students. Overall feedback Feedback entered in these areas relates to the overall score achieved for the question. For any correct answer: Where the student scores 100%. For any partially correct answer: Where the student scores less than 100% but more than 0%. For any incorrect answer: Where the student scores 0%.

Save changes – new question When a question is saved for first time, click the ‘Save changes’ button to save the question and return to the ‘Editing quiz’ page. When an existing question is opened for editing, additional options and information are available.

Editing a question To open a question for editing click the editing icon for the question on the ‘Edit questions’ page (or anywhere else it appears).

You have permission to: The permitted options for modifying this question are displayed.

General Current category: The name of the category in which the question resides and the number of questions in that category (in brackets). Untick the ‘Use this category’ checkbox if you would like to move the question to another category or save a copy of it in another category (see ‘Save as new question’ button at the bottom of the page). Save in category: Initially this drop down is disabled so that the amended or new question is saved in the same category. To enable an alternative category to be selected, untick the ‘Use this category’ checkbox above; the drop down is then enabled. Question name: There is no change to the functionality of this field when editing the question. However, if creating a new question it is generally advisable to give it a new name here. © HowToMoodle 2009 Please respect our copyright. If this is not your own copy you can buy one at www.howtomoodle.com

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Created / Last saved The following information at the bottom of the question editing page.

The information regarding who created and last edited the question is specific to each question, the ‘Last saved’ information is updated when ‘Save changes’ is clicked. When ‘Save as new question’ is clicked the ‘Created’ and ‘Last saved’ information is reset in the new question to the author and creation date of the new question.

Save changes Click to save the question including any changes.

Save as new question Click to create a new question based on the settings etc. on the page, in the location specified in ‘Save in category’. ‘Save as new question’ button is displayed. This allows subsequent questions to be based on existing questions.

True / False Students attempt the question by selecting either the true or false radio button. Example True/False question

Select ‘True/False’ from the ‘Create new question’ drop-down list. The ‘editing’ page is displayed. The additional options and information available when a question is edited are identical to those described for the Multiple Choice question type. Options not described for this question type have identical functionality to the multiple choice question type. Penalty factor Cannot be defined, the penalty factor is always set to ‘1’ i.e. 100% of the grade for the question. Correct answer

Select the option that is the correct answer. Feedback for the response ‘True’ / ‘False’ Enter feedback in this area that is relevant to the student’s answer i.e. true or false. As above, a setting in the Quiz module governs whether this feedback is displayed to students.

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Short answer Students attempt the question by typing their answer in the field. Example short answer question

Select ‘Short Answer’ from the ‘Create new question’ drop-down list. The ‘editing’ page is displayed. The additional options and information available when a question is edited are identical to those described for the Multiple Choice question type. Options not described for this question type have identical functionality to the multiple choice question type. Case sensitivity No, case is unimportant: The case of the student’s submission is not taken into account when comparing to the answers specified by the teacher. Yes, case must match: The case of the student’s submission is taken into account when comparing to the answers specified by the teacher and must match exactly.

Answer # Answer By default 3 answer fields are available; to add additional potential answers click the ‘Blanks for 3 More Answers’ button (below Answer 3 initially). Type the text required from the student in this field. The ‘best’ correct answer should be entered in ‘Answer 1’ as student responses are checked against the question in Answer 1, Answer 2 etc. order. Answers which are partially correct may be specified if desired (bear in mind the order in which answers are checked above). An asterisk ‘*’ may be used as a wild card in this question type. Where a ‘*’ is used in an answer it will match any character in the student’s response e.g. if ‘Rod’ or ‘Red’ are accepted as correct responses if ‘R*d’ is entered in an Answer field. As an asterisk in a question will also match any number of characters one should bear in mind that in the previous example ‘Road’ would also be accepted as correct. A single asterisk may be used as a ‘catch-all’ answer so that feedback can be given for responses that have not been anticipated by the teacher. If students are shown the correct answer following an incorrect attempt at the question in a quiz, the text displayed from the ‘Answer’ field will include any asterisks used.

Numerical Students attempt the question by typing a numerical answer in the field. Example numerical question

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Select ‘Numerical’ from the ‘Create new question’ drop-down list. The ‘editing’ page is displayed. The additional options and information available when a question is edited are identical to those described for the Multiple Choice question type. Options not described for this question type have identical functionality to the multiple choice question type.

Answer # Answer By default 3 answer field sets are available, to add additional potential answers click the ‘Blanks for 2 More Answers’ button (below Answer 3 initially). Type the number required from the student in this field. The ‘best’ correct answer should be entered in ‘Answer 1’ as student responses are checked against the question in Answer 1, Answer 2 etc. order. A single asterisk ‘*’ may be used as a ‘catch-all’ answer so that feedback can be given for responses that have not been anticipated by the teacher. Accepted error An error margin plus or minus the value in the ‘Answer’ field can be specified in this field e.g. Answer

Acceptable error

Student response

Marked as

3.33

0.01

3.33

Correct

3.33

0.01

3.34

Correct

3.33

0.01

3.35

Incorrect

Specifying more generous error margins for Answer 2 onwards, enables a reduced grade and appropriate feedback to be given for less accurate responses.

Alternative units A numerical question may be set up to account for a student’s response being expressed in a different unit to that preferred by the teacher or specified in the question. By default 1 alternative unit may be specified; to add additional units click the ‘Blanks for 2 More Units’ button (below Unit 2 initially). Any unused units are disregarded on saving.

Unit 1 The preferred unit should be specified in this field. Unit # An alternative unit should be specified in this field.

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Multiplier Enter the multiplier for the alternative unit in this field e.g. if the preferred unit is metres and the alternative unit is centimetres, the multiplier is 100 (100 centimetres = 1 metre). Where a student opts to express the answer using an alternative unit, the unit as specified in unit field(s) ‘Unit 2’ onwards must be entered in the response field for the question in the same case. Where the student’s response matches a value in one of the answer fields for the question it is not necessary for the preferred unit to be given. Spaces in the student’s response are ignored. Answer

Unit 1

Unit 2

Multiplier

Student response

Marked as

1

metre

centimetres

100

1

Correct

1

metre

centimetres

100

1 metre

Correct

1

metre

centimetres

100

1 Metre

Incorrect

1

metre

centimetres

100

100

Incorrect

1

metre

centimetres

100

100 Centimetres

Incorrect

1

metre

centimetres

100

100centimetres

Correct

Matching Students attempt the question by selecting an item from each of a series of drop-down lists that matches a corresponding option. Example matching question

Select ‘Matching’ from the ‘Create new question’ drop-down list. The ‘editing’ page is displayed. The additional options and information available when a question is edited are identical to those described for the Multiple Choice question type. Options not described for this question type have identical functionality to the multiple choice question type.

Shuffle answers Tick this checkbox to allow the ‘Question’ to be displayed in a different order each time the question is presented to a student. The order of the ‘Answers’ in the drop-down lists is always shuffled. This setting works in conjunction with the ‘Shuffle within questions’ setting for a quiz.

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Question #

By default 3 questions are available; this is the minimum for this question type. To add more click the ‘3 More Sets of Blanks’ button (below Question 3 initially). Question Enter the text to be matched against in this text area. Answer Enter the text that will appear as an item to be selected in a drop-down list. If more ‘Answers’ than ‘Questions’ are required, enter the required text in this field but leave the ‘Question’ text box empty.

Embedded answer (Cloze) This question type allows for 3 types of element to be inserted into the body question text i.e. multichoice, short answer and numerical. Students attempt the question by selecting an item from a drop-down list for the former and typing into a field for the short answer and numerical elements. Example embedded answer (Cloze) question

Select ‘Embedded Answer (Cloze)’ from the ‘Create new question’ drop-down list. The ‘editing’ page is displayed. The additional options and information available when a question is edited are identical to those described for the Multiple Choice question type. Options not described for this question type have identical functionality to the multiple choice question type. Question text Identical functionality to Multiple Choice questions, except that the question elements are created by typing the required code in this area. These are then converted to create drop-down lists or text entry fields. This is covered in more detail in ‘Creating question elements’ below.

Decode and verify the question text Click to view a user-friendly report of the code entered to create the question elements (see ‘Creating question elements’ below). This report is for the example ‘BBC’ question below.

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Creating question elements The code for each element must be typed into the ‘Question text’ area. It is important that the correct syntax is used; this is explained below and followed by an example. © HowToMoodle 2009 Please respect our copyright. If this is not your own copy you can buy one at www.howtomoodle.com

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{}

The code for the element must start and end with opening and closing curly brackets.

Grade

After the opening bracket here should be a number e.g. ‘1’. The sum of all such numbers will be the default grade for the question. It is possible to weight elements within a question using this value.

:

After the weighting number, enter a single colon. All The element types must be entered in capitals and without spaces.

Element types

MULTICHOICE MC This element is a drop-down list from which a single item may be selected. MULTICHOICE_V MCV This element is a column of radio buttons. MULTICHOICE_H MCH This element is a row of radio buttons. SHORTANSWER SA MW A field into which the students type their response – student’s answer is not checked on a case sensitive basis. SHORTANSWER_C SAC MWC A field into which the students type their response – student’s answer is checked on a case sensitive basis. NUMERICAL NM A field into which the students type their response.

:

After the element type, enter a single colon.

=

A correct answer is preceded by am equals sign (or %100%)

Partially correct answers

A partially correct answer is preceded by the percentage of the grade/weighting e.g. an answer worth 50% is preceded with %50%.

Incorrect answers

Are not preceded by anything (optionally %0% i.e. 0% can be used).

~

The tilde character is used as a separator (not to be entered before the first answer).

#

Optional: Use the hash character before any feedback for an answer. (Where specified, feedback is displayed by positioning the mouse cursor over the element in an attempted question.)

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Example embedded answer question The {1:MC:=Royal Charter~%50%Charter~Licence} for the {1:SA:=BBC~=British Broadcasting Corporation~*#That’s incorrect} take full effect from 1st January {1:NM:=2007}.

Additional points to note Multichoice: The order of the items cannot be shuffled whichever display option is used. Short answer: A single asterisk may be used for the last answer as a ‘catch-all’ answer so that feedback can be given for responses that have not been anticipated by the teacher. Numerical: An acceptable error margin can be specified by using the following syntax: 1st January {1:NUMERICAL:=2007:2}. In the above example 2005, 2006, 2007, 2008, 2009 will be marked as correct.

Essay The student enters the response in a text area. This is subsequently marked and given feedback by the teacher. Example essay question

Select ‘Essay’ from the ‘Create new question’ drop-down list. The ‘editing’ page is displayed. Options not described for this question type have identical functionality to the multiple choice question type.

Calculated This question type aims to discover if a student can correctly calculate the answer to a question based on the information provided. The correct formula is specified in the question by the teacher who also defines a set of values that are presented to the student in the question stem. The teacher may generate a number of sets of values that are drawn from at random to be displayed to each student; the underlying formula remains constant throughout. Values generated for a question may be used in that question only or shared amongst other calculated questions in the category.

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Example calculated question

Select ‘Calculated’ from the ‘Create new question’ drop-down list. The ‘editing’ page is displayed. The additional options and information available when a question is edited are identical to those described for the Multiple Choice question type. Options not described for this question type have identical functionality to the multiple choice question type. Update the category Click to update the page with wild cards shared from other calculated questions within the category. Shared wild cards No shared wild card in this category: Displayed if there are no other calculated questions in the category where the wild cards used in the answer formula or the question stem have not been shared for use in other calculated questions in the category. Where there are wild cards shared in the category a table similar to the one below is displayed.

Name: The character(s) used to identify the wild card in the answer formula and stem. Range of values: The lowest and highest potential values that will be substituted for the wild card characters. Items count: The total number of sets of values that may be used in place of each wild card. Where the same wild card characters are used in more than one question and those questions are configured to share values, the total number of variations is displayed. Used in question: The name(s) of the question(s) from which values are shared are listed. Question text Enter wild cards within {} brackets e.g. {name}, {a}. These may be used in the ‘Correct answer formula’ field for the question if the values that replace them are numerical. Some wild cards (text or numeric) may be used in the question stem only to add variety. The wild cards are substituted with values specified in a subsequent settings page. Correct answer formula= The formula for the calculation used in the question is entered in this field. Wild cards are entered within { } brackets e.g. {a}+{b}, {a}*{b} The values that will replace the wild cards are specified in a subsequent settings page. Amongst the acceptable operators are: +, - , *, / and %.

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Tolerance The acceptable tolerance between the correct answer and the attempt made by the student is entered in this field. The manner in which this is applied is determined by the option selected from the ‘Tolerance type’ dropdown. Tolerance type Relative – The correct answer is multiplied by the value in the ‘Tolerance’ field to obtain the tolerance. Nominal – The Student’s answer must be the correct answer plus or minus this value. Geometric – The upper value for the tolerance is equal to the correct answer plus the correct answer multiplied by the ‘Tolerance’ field value, the lower value is equal to the correct answer divided by the sum of one plus the ‘Tolerance’ field value. Example: Correct answer 200, Tolerance 0.5 Tolerance type

Formula

Acceptable range

Relative

200 ± 100

100 – 300

Nominal

200 ± 0.5

199.5 – 200.5

Geometric

200/(1+0.5)

133.33 - 300

200 + 0.5*200 Correct answer shows Range 0 – 9: Select the number of significant figures or decimal places required for the answer depending on the item selected in ‘Format’ below. Format See above. Next page Click ‘Next page’ to save the question content and settings and proceed to the next page where properties for the ‘Question datasets’ are specified.

Choose dataset properties Datasets are the collection of values that will be substituted for the wild cards when the question is accessed by a candidate.

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The options on this page and its layout depend on a whether there are shared datasets in the question bank category and if there are one or more wild cards specified in the stem of the question i.e. in the question text area that are not present in the ‘Correct answer formula’ field. In this page the wild cards created in the previous page are listed, each has a drop-down list from which the source of the values may be selected. The following descriptions may be encountered for the wild cards in the question: ••nothing – it is not a wild card: A value will not be created for this item. ••will use a new private dataset: The values created on the following page will be used in this question only and will not be available to other questions in the category. ••will use a new shared dataset: The values created on the following page may be used in this question and other questions in the category. ••will use the same existing private dataset as before: A value previously used in the question. ••will use the same existing dataset as before: The values created on the following page are also used in other questions in the category. Click the ‘Next page’ to proceed to the ‘Edit the datasets’ page.

Edit the datasets

Item to add Each wild card has its own set of fields for configuring the value that will be displayed in the question. Param {#} Enter a value directly in this field and click the ‘Add # items’ button below to use a specific value for the wild card. In all other instances the value for this field is generated automatically based on the settings and values specified for the other fields and drop downs for this wild card. Range of values Where the value for the wild card i.e. the value in the ‘Param’ field is generated automatically, the lowest and highest boundaries for the resulting value are specified in these fields. Decimal places Select the required number of decimal places for the wild card value.

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Distribution Examples of generated output are shown below. Decimal places

Decimals / digits drop down

Example output (Range of values 1 - 100)

1

Uniform

19.5, 90.4, 85.6, 69.2, 2.4

5

Uniform

31.78809, 82.66135, 59.88942, 8.69999, 70.51169

1

Loguniform

90, 10, 60, 5, 2

5

Loguniform

24.323, 27.958, 12.136, 8.7916, 79.224

The result of the calculation of the formula specified in the ‘Correct answer formula’ is displayed below the wild card setting fields taking into account the values from ‘Tolerance’ and ‘Tolerance type’ settings on the initial question setup page.

Next ‘Item to Add’ Click the ‘Get new ‘Item to add’ now’ button to generate and preview an item before it is added to the dataset. Reuse previous value if available: Select to retrieve items that have been added to the dataset and subsequently deleted. The values retrieved are displayed in the ‘Param’ fields above this feature. Force regeneration: Select to create new values for each item (subject to the parameters specified). Add: Select the number of items based on the criteria above that are to be added to the data and click the button to generate them. Delete Select the number of items to delete from the dataset. Most recently added items are deleted first. Item # Each item in the dataset is displayed i.e. the values in the Param field and the calculation and its answer.

The Param fields are editable and their values may be modified. The revised values are only saved when ‘Save changes’ at the bottom of the page is clicked. Wild card values are added to the data set by clicking the ‘Add’ button in the ‘Action’ column – see above screenshot.

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Description A Description is not a question. One or more Descriptions may be added to a category as a means of introducing text etc. between questions in a quiz e.g. for instructions, to indicate the start of a new section. Options not described have identical functionality to the multiple choice question type.

Question list When a question is created it is listed together with other questions in the category on the ‘Edit questions’ page.

Action Click to preview and test the question.

Click to open the question for editing.

Click to move a question to another category. A non-editable view of the question setup page is displayed. Select the required category from the drop-down and click the ‘Move question’ button. Click to delete a question. If the question is already in use in a Quiz a warning message is displayed. The question will not be deleted from the quiz but will not appear in the category list unless ‘Also show old questions’ is ticked.

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Click to restore a question to the category. This icon is only present if ‘Also show old questions’ is ticked and the question has been added to a quiz and subsequently deleted from the category. Tick this checkbox to delete or move to another category – works in conjunction with the ‘Delete’ and ‘Move to’ buttons below.

Question name The text entered in the ‘Question name’ field when editing a question. Sort by Select the preferred sorting order of questions from this drop down: Name: Ascending alphabetical order. Type / Name: Grouped by question type and then in ascending alphabetical order. Age: Oldest first.

Type Icons that represent each question type.

Select all / Deselect all Click to select or deselect all questions in the category – works in conjunction with the ‘Delete’ and ‘Move to’ buttons below.

Delete Delete questions where the ‘Action’ checkbox is ticked.

Move to Select a category to move the selected questions to and click this button to complete the move.

Previewing and testing questions Click the ‘Preview’ icon (above) to open up a pop-up window for the question. In the following examples a Multiple Choice question is used. The other question types work on the same principles, except the Essay question which is manually graded.

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The preview window allows a question to be tested to account for any configuration of the quiz the question may be added to; as a result students may not see all of these submission or feedback options.

Submit / Submit page In the preview window these buttons perform the same function i.e. to allow a question to be tested as if it could be attempted more than once within a single quiz attempt, with penalties applied. Select an incorrect choice and click either the ‘Submit’ or ‘Submit page’ button.

The display is updated as follows: The selected incorrect answer is highlighted with an ‘X’ and feedback specific to that choice is displayed to the right of it. Any feedback for an incorrect answer is displayed (‘Feedback for an incorrect answer’ in the screenshot above). Multiple choice questions only. A statement about the mark achieved (0/1) and that the attempt has attracted a penalty. Any general feedback for the question (‘This is the general feedback’ in the screenshot). Select any other incorrect choices as desired and finally select the correct choice.

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The display is updated as follows: The selected correct answer is highlighted with a ‘tick’ and feedback specific to that choice is displayed to the right of it. Any feedback for a correct answer is displayed (‘Feedback for correct answer’ in the screenshot above). Multiple choice questions only. A statement about the mark for the question (1/1) and the mark achieved after the deduction of any penalties. Any general feedback for the question (‘This is the general feedback’ in the screenshot).

Submit all and finish Click this button to test the question as if it could be attempted once only and then submitted.

The display is updated as follows: The selected answer is highlighted with a ‘tick’ or an ‘X’, depending on whether a correct or incorrect choice has been selected. Feedback specific to that choice is displayed to the right of it. Any feedback for a correct / partially correct / incorrect answer is displayed (‘Feedback for correct answer’ in the screenshot above). Multiple choice questions only. A statement about the mark achieved for the question (1/1). Any general feedback for the question (‘This is the general feedback’ in the screenshot).

Fill with correct Click to populate the question with the correct answer.

Previous state Click to return the preview to its previous state (only visible when the question has been ‘attempted’).

Start again Discard previous testing and start again.

Close preview Click to close the preview window.

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Exporting questions A number of export formats are supported in varying degrees. The best-supported export format is the Moodle XML format. From the ‘Edit questions’ page, click the ‘Export’ tab.

File format Select the required export format.

Category Select the category to be exported. Write category to file: Tick to include information about the category (GIFT and Moodle XML formats). Write context to file: Information about the context is captured in the exported file (GIFT and Moodle XML formats).

File name This field contains the prefix of the file that will be exported. The default format is ‘quiz-course short name– category–year, month, day–hour, minutes’. The name of the file may be changed before export if required.

Export questions to a file Click to complete the export. When the export has been completed a report of the exported questions is displayed together with a download link for the export file. The exported file is located in the course files area in a ‘quiz’ folder inside the ‘backupdata’ folder. Click ‘Continue’ to return to the ‘Edit questions’ page.

Importing questions A number of import formats are supported in varying degrees; some are intended to facilitate the transfer of questions from other software. The best-supported export format is the Moodle XML format. From the ‘Edit questions’ page, click the ‘Import’ tab.

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File format Select the import format that matched the file to be imported.

Category Select the category into which the questions are to be imported. Get category from file: Tick to include information about the category if this was included in the original export (GIFT and Moodle XML formats). Get context from file: Tick to retrieve information about the context if included in the exported file (GIFT and Moodle XML formats).

Match grades Where the imported file has been exported from other software, this setting determines what will happen if the grades in the import file do not exactly match those used in Moodle. Š HowToMoodle 2009 Please respect our copyright. If this is not your own copy you can buy one at www.howtomoodle.com

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Error if grade not listed An error message generated for questions that do not match exactly. Nearest grade if not listed The grade for the question created as a result of the import is altered to the nearest grade used in Moodle. Stop on error Select whether the import is to be halted if an error is encountered. ‘Yes’ will prevent any data from being imported, ‘No’ will result in only valid data being imported.

Import from file upload Click the ‘Browse …’ button to locate the file locally and upload the file.

Import from file already in course files ... Click the ‘Choose a file …’ button to browse the course files area to locate an import file. Click the ‘Choose’ link for the file and then click the ‘Import from this file’ button. When the import has been completed a report of the imported questions is displayed. Click the ‘Continue’ button to return to the ‘Edit questions’ page.

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Quiz The Quiz module provides the means to add a range of assessment questions to a course.

Add a Quiz activity Click on the ‘Add an activity …’ drop-down box and select ‘Quiz’ from the list.

The settings page is displayed.

Name The content of this field creates a link on the course page.

Introduction Enter the introduction to the quiz that will appear on the quiz page in this text area.

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Open the quiz Un-tick the ‘Disable’ checkbox to set a date and time from which students will be able to commence an attempt at the quiz. Prior to this date and time students see the content of ‘Introduction’ (above), the grading method and a message advising them when the quiz will be available. The quiz opening time appears in the upcoming events block and the calendar.

Quiz closes Un-tick the ‘Disable’ checkbox to set a date and time by which any attempts must be completed. After this date and time students see the content of ‘Introduction’ (above), the grading method and a message advising them when the quiz closed. The quiz closing time appears in the upcoming events block and the calendar.

Time limit Tick the ‘Enable’ checkbox and enter the permitted duration for the quiz in minutes. At the expiry of this time all attempts that have not been submitted are submitted in their current state. Where a student attempt is not submitted following the allotted duration + 60 seconds the quiz score is set to zero (the presumption is that an attempt of this prolonged duration involves cheating).

Time delay between first and second attempt A time period may be set that forces students to wait until another attempt at the quiz may be made. Range: Minutes: 30 and 60. Hours: 2 – 24. Days: 2 – 7. Where ‘None’ is selected a student may re-attempt the quiz at will. During the waiting period students who visit the quiz see a message that informs them that they are temporarily not allowed to attempt the quiz, the date and time of the next permitted attempt is displayed.

Time delay between later attempts Identical functionality to ‘Time delay between first and second attempt’ except that this setting applies to subsequent attempts.

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Questions per page Select the number of questions to be displayed on a page when the quiz is attempted (or previewed). The page breaks may be manually revised when questions are added to the quiz. Select ‘Unlimited’ for all questions in the quiz to be displayed on one page.

Shuffle questions Select ‘Yes’ for the questions in the quiz to be presented in a different order on each attempt.

Shuffle within questions Select ‘Yes’ for the order of ‘Choices’ in Multiple Choice questions and ‘Questions’ in Matching questions to be shuffled at each attempt (subject to the ‘Shuffle’ option for the question being ticked).

Attempts allowed Select how many times the quiz may be attempted by each student. Range 1 – 10 attempts or unlimited attempts.

Each attempt builds on the last Select ‘Yes’ for second and subsequent attempts at the quiz to include the response given by the student in the attempt immediately prior to the current attempt.

Adaptive mode Select ‘Yes’ to enable student to make multiple attempts at questions within the same quiz attempt.

Grading method Select the appropriate grading method; the method selected is displayed to students, and determines which attempt is highlighted in when viewing quiz results. Highest grade: The best grade from any attempts allowed. Average grade: The mean of all attempts allowed. First grade: The grade from the first attempt, all others are ignored. Last grade: The grade achieved on the most recent attempt.

Apply penalties This option works in conjunction with ‘Adaptive mode’. Select ‘Yes’ apply a penalty (the ‘Penalty factor’ for the question) on each attempt at a question within a single quiz attempt. © HowToMoodle 2009 Please respect our copyright. If this is not your own copy you can buy one at www.howtomoodle.com

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Decimal digits in grades Select the number of decimal points used in the grades for the quiz. Range 0 – 3.

Review options

These options determine what information students may see related to their attempt(s) and when they may see it (teacher may always see this information). If there are one or more essay questions in the quiz this may not yet include grades or feedback for questions which have not been marked by the teacher. Immediately after the attempt: The permitted information may be viewed as soon as the attempt has been completed. Later, while the quiz is still open: The permitted information may be viewed as soon as the attempt has been completed whilst the quiz is still open. After the quiz is closed: Students may only view the permitted information after the date and time set for ‘Quiz closes’. Students may be permitted to see: Responses: Their own responses to the questions. Answers: The correct answers to the questions. Feedback: Any answer specific feedback. General feedback: Any feedback entered in ‘General feedback’ for a question (or Description). Scores: Their score for the quiz – based on the ‘Grading method’ setting. Overall feedback: Feedback for the quiz attempt (the feedback options above are question specific).

Show quiz in a secure window

Select ‘Yes’ for the quiz to be displayed to students in a window that is full screen with certain keyboard commands and mouse actions disabled.

Require password Enter a password here that students require before each attempt at the quiz. Tick ‘Unmask’ to see the password.

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Require network address A single computer IP address or a range of IP addresses may be entered in this field to restrict the computer or group of computers that may be used by students when attempting the quiz. This option is not effective if only one IP address is identified by the Moodle server.

Common module settings Click ‘Show Advanced’ to display additional settings for groups and groupings. These are covered in more detail in the section on managing people. Visible Yes  Students may view the activity. No  The activity is not visible to students. Teachers are able to see a ‘greyed out’ link and are able to access, view and update the activity. Click the ‘Save changes’ button to save all changes made or the ‘Cancel’ button to discard them. The quiz page is displayed.

Overall feedback In this section feedback for the entire quiz may be specified. Bear in mind that students will see the feedback appropriate to their current grade and that this will not include a grade for unmarked essay questions. Feedback The text displayed to students who achieve a grade between the grade boundary percentage above and below this entry. Grade boundary The boundary that determines the feedback displayed to students, which should always end with a ‘%’ sign. The table below illustrates the feedback for the example in the following screenshot.

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Grade achieved

Feedback

78%

Pass. Well done!

70%

Pass. Well done!

43%

Fail

Edit quiz page

The right side of this page is essentially the same as the question bank area accessed via the ‘Questions’ link in the course Administration block. The ‘Quiz’ link’ beneath the tabs is used to navigate back to the ‘Editing’ quiz page. The ‘Questions’, ‘Categories’, ‘Import’ and ‘Export’ links navigate to the appropriate areas of the Question bank. In this area there are a few additional features: Add to quiz icon

Click this icon to add a single question to a quiz. Add to quiz button Click to add any questions to the quiz that have the ‘Action’ checkbox ticked.

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Add # random questions Questions in a category that have not explicitly been added to a quiz may be selected at random to populate a quiz with questions. Select the number of random questions to be added to the quiz from the category by selecting a value (Range: Varies depending on number of questions in the category) from the drop-down list. Click the ‘Add’ button to add the random questions to the quiz. Random questions and their source category are clearly identified by ‘placeholders’.

Random questions are always allocated a default grade of 1 in the quiz, irrespective of the default grade specified in the question bank. By default questions are also drawn from any sub-category of the category selected. To limit this to the selected category, click the editing icon for the random question placeholder and untick the checkbox (it’s also possible to change the source category here).

Questions in this quiz Questions (and Descriptions) added to a quiz are displayed on the right of the screen under ‘Questions in this quiz’.

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Order Click these arrows to rearrange the order that questions will be presented in the quiz (if ‘Shuffle questions’ is set to ‘No’). Question name The content of the ‘Question name’ field or the random question ‘placeholder’. Type Icons that represent each question type. Grade The fields are populated with the default grade for each question in the quiz (with the exception of random questions which are always set to 1 initially). Once added to a quiz the grade for a question is not updated if the default grade for the question is amended n the question bank. To amend a grade, enter the required value in the field and click the ‘Save changes’ button. ‘Total’ at the bottom of the column of fields is the sum of the grades for each question. Maximum grade This is the grade for the quiz to which the values in the ‘Grade’ fields are scaled. To amend the maximum grade, enter the required value in the field and click the ‘Save changes’ button. Action Click to preview the question

Click to open the question for editing

Click to remove question from the quiz

Show page breaks Tick the checkbox and click ‘Go’ to display the current pagination of the quiz. To reposition or delete a page break, click the associated arrows or delete icon.

Repaginate with # questions per page The setting mirrors the ‘Questions per page’ setting for the quiz. To repaginate select the required value from the drop-down list and click the ‘Go’ button.

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Show the reordering tool Although the ‘Order’ arrows are a useful method for moving questions short distances, for quizzes where questions need to be moved greater distances the reordering tool provides a faster alternative. To enable the reordering tool, tick the checkbox and click the ‘Go’ button. An additional column of fields is displayed.

To relocate a question, enter a value in the field to the left of the question you want to move that is slightly lower or higher than the value in the corresponding field for the question above or below the intended new position. Click the ‘Save changes’ button to move the question.

Previewing a quiz Click the ‘Preview’ tab to preview and test the quiz; previews are not saved. The preview page is displayed.

In the example above, the quiz has the following settings: Time limit: 10 minutes. Questions per page: 1. Adaptive mode: ‘Yes’: The ‘Submit’ and ‘Submit page’ buttons are displayed. © HowToMoodle 2009 Please respect our copyright. If this is not your own copy you can buy one at www.howtomoodle.com

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Start again Click this button to restart the preview – all previous preview actions are discarded. Page Click a page number link, ‘Next’ or ‘Previous’ to display other pages of questions in the quiz (each page is automatically saved when moving to another page). Submit / Submit page Click either of these buttons to attempt a question(s) more than once. Save without submitting Click to save responses without submitting for grading. The aim of this feature is to allow students to record their current thinking regarding a question without submitting it for grading (in case of computer, network etc. failures). This option will be removed in Moodle version 2.0. Submit all and finish Click this button to submit all responses and end the quiz attempt. A warning message is displayed.

Click ‘OK’ to submit and end the quiz attempt and ‘Cancel’ to resume the attempt. The submitted quiz is displayed in accordance with the settings in ‘Review options’ in the example below; students may review everything.

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Start again Click to initiate a fresh preview of the quiz. Show all questions on one page Click to create a single page overview of the quiz preview.

Editing attempted quizzes It is important to preview a quiz before students attempt it as it is not possible to add or remove questions after a student attempt. Following a student attempt the ‘Edit quiz’ page no longer displays the ‘Question bank’ on the right-hand side; the quiz questions remain with all options except the icons to remove a question.

Attempting a quiz as a student Click any link that contains the name of the quiz to open the quiz page. The quiz page contains the following information (depending on the quiz settings). Name of the quiz. The content of the ‘Introduction’ text area in the settings page. The permitted number of attempts – if not unlimited. The grading method. The time limit – if any. The opening and/or closing date and time – if set. Click the ‘Attempt quiz now’ to attempt the quiz (‘Re-attempt quiz’ for subsequent attempts). Where the quiz has a time limit or a finite number of attempts is allowed, a warning message is displayed (see example below) that the student must acknowledge before being allowed to proceed.

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On entering the quiz the participant is presented with the: Name of the quiz and the number of the current attempt. The quiz questions with potential marks. A range of buttons and links e.g. ‘Submit’, ‘Next’ etc. These buttons and links have the same functionality as their equivalents in the ‘Preview’ options in earlier sections. Where a time limit has been set a floating count-down timer is displayed throughout the allowed duration of the quiz (see ‘Time limit’ in quiz settings). The timer counts down in seconds; from 15 seconds remaining a red bar appears as a warning that the allotted time is drawing to a close. If a student navigates away from the quiz (subject to there being sufficient time remaining and the quiz not having closed in the meantime), the attempt may be continued by clicking the ‘Continue attempt’ button on the quiz page. To submit the quiz the student must click the ‘Submit all and finish’ button; a message is displayed requesting confirmation that the quiz is to be submitted. Depending on the options selected for ‘Review options’, information about the attempt is displayed (see ‘Previewing a quiz’ above). Click the ‘Finish review’ button to view the quiz page. Following an attempt at the quiz students are presented with additional information about attempts (subject to the settings for ‘Review options’).

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Attempt: The number of the attempt. Completed: The day, date and time the attempt was completed. Marks / x: The marks for the attempt. Grade / x: The marks for the attempt scaled to the value entered in ‘Maximum grade’ in the ‘Edit quiz’ page. Feedback for the quiz attempt, which will not take into account unmarked essay questions. The overall position with the grading of the quiz is displayed depending upon the ‘Grading method’ chosen. Re-attempt quiz – click this button to commence another attempt (if permitted).

Reviewing student quiz attempt data Click the Reports tab or the Attempt # link the Overview page is displayed.

A message is displayed indicating: The total number of attempts at the quiz (including how many from a group if one is selected). The grading status of the quiz i.e. if some essay questions have yet to be graded. The grading method used in the quiz.

Overview table Each link in the overview table may be clicked to sort the table columns. The icons in the table header may be clicked to collapse columns to save scrolling horizontally.

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The column headings are largely self-explanatory: Where a student has commenced an attempt but has not completed it (and the time allowed has not expired) the ‘Time taken’ column displays ‘open’. The values highlighted in the ‘Grade/#’ column depends upon the grading method for the quiz. The values in the ‘Grade/#’ column are the marks for the questions answered correctly, scaled to the Maximum grade value for the quiz. The values in the #1, #2 etc. columns are the marks for each question scaled taking into account the Maximum grade for the quiz. The #1, #2 etc. columns are only visible if ‘Show / download marks for each question’ is set to ‘Yes’. Where a group is selected, a group average is displayed in addition to the overall average. Where overall feedback specified for the quiz an additional ‘Feedback’ column is displayed.

The feedback displayed relates to the grade boundary for questions marked to date. Where there are unmarked essay questions in the quiz the feedback displayed may be subject to change.

Deleting attempts Click a checkbox in the leftmost column (or select either the ‘Select all’ or ‘Deselect all’ links to manage selections) and click ‘Delete selected attempts’.

Download results buttons Click a button to download the results in the desired format. The downloaded file includes the contents of the overview table. To include marks for individual questions in the quiz select ‘Yes’ for the ‘Show / download marks for each question’ and save preferences before downloading the file.

Page preferences The options below govern what is displayed on the page and what is included in any downloaded file. To apply the preferences the ‘Save preferences’ button must be clicked. Show / download all attempts: Select to show all attempts at the quiz (overridden by the checkbox below). This option will incorporate attempts by students no longer present in the course.

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Show / download all students: Select to include all students in the course, not just those who have attempted the quiz. Show / download all students with attempts only: Select to show all attempts at the quiz by current students (overridden by the checkbox below). Show / download students with no attempts only: Select to show all current students who have not attempted the quiz. Show / download only the attempt that is graded for each user (Grading method). Only the attempt that meets the criterion of the chosen grading method for the quiz is displayed. Page size: Enter the number of attempts to be displayed in each page of the overview table (subject to the preferences selected above). Show / download marks for each question: Select ‘Yes’ to display the #1. #2 etc. columns for individual questions. Bar graph of number of students achieving grade ranges

This indicates the number of students who have attempted the quiz (vertical axis) and the marks distribution (horizontal axis). Where the quiz uses groups the number of students in each range is shown for all participants and for each group.

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Reviewing quiz attempts In the Overview table, click on the ‘Started on’, ‘Completed’ or ‘Grade’ link for a quiz attempt to review the entire attempt. To review the details of an attempt at a single question, select ‘Yes’ for ‘Show / download marks for each question’ (above) and click on the link for the question in the required attempt. For reviews of the entire attempt, a report is displayed from which all attempts by the student may be accessed.

The information displayed at the top of the page is largely the same as that displayed when reviewing preview attempt at the quiz. ‘Attempts’ allows all attempts by the student to be reviewed by clicking the appropriate link.

Make comment or override grade Where considered appropriate, a teacher may override the grade already allocated for a question and leave a comment. Click on the ‘Make comment or override grade’ link to pop up a commenting pane.

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Enter a comment and a revised grade and click the ‘Save’ button and the ‘Close this window’ button on the next page. The student’s grade is amended and the History of responses is updated to show that the adjustment was made manually.

History of responses Action Save: The student clicked the ‘Save without submitting’ button. Grade: The quiz is set up with ‘Adaptive mode’ set to ‘Yes’; the student clicked the ‘Submit’ for the question or ‘Submit page’ button. Close and grade: The student clicked the ‘Submit all and finish’ button or the time limit expired and the quiz was submitted automatically. Manual grade: See ‘Make comment or override grade’ above. Response The response recorded following one of the student actions above. Time The time and date recorded for one of the actions above. Raw score The grade achieved for the question. Grade The grade achieved for the question less any penalties.

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Manual grading Essay questions are marked manually by the teacher. Click the ‘Manual grading’ link beneath the tabs to access the essay question grading area. A list of essay questions and how many still require grading is displayed.

Grade all # attempts Click this link to view all submissions of the question by all students. Grade all # ungraded attempts Click this link to view all submissions of the question by all students that have not yet been graded. The numerical value reduces when submissions have been graded. Grade Click this link to open the submission(s) for a single student to be graded.

Grading an essay question

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Enter any feedback in the ‘Comment’ area and enter the grade in the ‘Grade’ field and click the ‘Save changes’ button. The manual grading page is updated; the grade for the question is now reflected in the quiz results and feedback for both teacher and student.

Regrade attempts To regrade all attempts at the quiz click the ‘Edit’ tab or ‘Questions’ link beneath the tabs to navigate to the ‘Edit quiz’ page. Change the value in the ‘Grade’ field for the required question(s) and click the ‘Save changes’ button. Click the ‘Results’ tab and then the ‘Regrade’ link to perform the regrading. A report is displayed; attempts that are affected by the regrading are displayed as links. Click a link to review an affected question.

Item analysis Click the ‘Item analysis’ tab to display a table which contains data to enable detailed analysis of the performance of items (questions). Item analysis is outside the scope of this manual.

Info Click the ‘info’ tab to display the quiz page.

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Wiki A Wiki enables documents to be authored collectively via a web browser. Wikis use simple language to build their structure and therefore can be created very quickly (‘wiki wiki’ means ‘super fast’ in Hawaiian). Formatting is achieved using wiki formatting or the HTML editor (if enabled).

Add a Wiki activity Click on the ‘Add an activity …’ drop-down box and select ‘Wiki’ from the list.

The settings page is displayed.

Click the ‘Show Advanced’ button to see all of the settings.

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Name The content of this field creates a link on the course page.

Summary The text and other content added here appear in a column in the wiki index page that is accessed by clicking the ‘Wikis’ link in the Activities block on the course page. The Summary content also appears above the wiki pages.

Type The type of wiki may only be selected when the wiki is first created. When the ‘Save changes’ button at the bottom of the settings page is clicked the Type is displayed for information but may not be altered. The ‘Type’ setting determines who may edit or view a wiki. In addition, a wiki may be subject to a Group setting within the course. Where this is the case there are additional edit/view permutations to consider. Groups All course participants see the same version of the wiki. The wiki may be edited and viewed by all teachers and students in the course. Student Each student has an individual version and view of the wiki. The wiki (as seen by the student) may only be edited and viewed by a single student or any teacher in the course. Teachers may view every student’s wiki. Teacher All course participants see the same version of the wiki. Only a teacher may edit the wiki. All students may view the contents of the wiki.

Print wiki name on every page If ‘Yes’ is selected, the name of the wiki page will appear in bold on every page as a link.

HTML mode This option determines the nature and behaviour of the text entry area for each wiki page. No HTML: All HTML tags are ignored. Formatting may only be achieved by the use of WikiWords (see Creating page content). Safe HTML: Some HTML tags are allowed. HTML only: WikiWords do not function in this mode; formatting is achieved using HTML, including the HTML editor.

Allow binary files Select ‘Yes’ to utilise ‘binary’ files within the wiki. Images may be displayed within a wiki page and an ‘Attachments’ tab is displayed which, when clicked, provides access to a page where attachments may be made to the wiki.

Wiki auto-linking options CamelCase is a format where a string of characters (normally a string of words with the spaces removed) start with a capital letter followed by a lowercase letter and have this sequence i.e. capital letter followed by a lowercase repeated at least once more within the string e.g. ••CamelCase ••HowToMoodle ••UnitedKingdom A ‘word’ created in CamelCase is used as the first step to create a link to a new page in the wiki. Tick this checkbox to disable this behaviour. © HowToMoodle 2009 Please respect our copyright. If this is not your own copy you can buy one at www.howtomoodle.com

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Student admin options Tick these checkboxes to make the corresponding options in the Administration menu for the wiki available to students so that they may assist in the administration of the wiki.

Page name By default the name of the initial page in the wiki is the same as the name of the wiki. If an alternative name is required it may be entered in this field. This field is only available upon creation of the wiki. Any entry in this field will be overridden if the ‘Choose an Initial Page’ option is used.

Choose an Initial Page It is possible to create the content of an initial page in a text file and use the file to populate the initial page of the wiki. Upload the text file to a folder in the course files area. The location and name of the file may be typed directly in the field or may be chosen from within the files area by clicking on the ‘Choose/upload initial page’ button and navigating to the required file and selecting its ‘Choose’ link. Any entry in this field will override an entry in the ‘Page name’ field. This option is only available upon creation of the wiki. If used the name and location of the text file used is displayed. Tip: The file name of the text file must be in CamelCase for this option to work. Tip: If the text file is renamed without the ‘.txt’ extension this option will still work and a more aesthetically pleasing result is achieved. If the initial page includes page links (see ‘Creating links between existing pages’ below) to other text files within the same folder, these will also create the page structure of the wiki.

Common module settings Click ‘Show Advanced’ to display additional settings for groups and groupings. These are covered in more detail in the section on managing people. Visible Yes  Students may view the activity. No  The activity is not visible to students. Teachers are able to see a ‘greyed out’ link and are able to access, view and update the activity. Click the ‘Save changes’ button to save all changes made or the ‘Cancel’ button to discard them. The initial page is displayed either ready for editing or with predefined content (Choose an initial page).

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Wiki pages

Each page has a series of tabs as follows:

View Click this tab to display the page for viewing. When a page is accessed which has no content the ‘View’ link will mirror those displayed when the ‘Edit’ link is clicked.

Edit Click this link to open the page for editing.

Links Click this tab to display the links that target this page.

History Click this tab to access a report of updates to the page being viewed. For each page, information is displayed regarding status and modification together, with links to perform various operations. Version The version number of the wiki page; click the link to view this version of the page.

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Browse Click the link to view this version of the page. Fetch-back Click this link to open this version of the wiki page in editing mode. Save the page with edits to make the version the current version. Diff Click to view the difference(s) between this version and the version immediately prior.

Where content has been deleted the line is preceded by a ‘’ and coloured red. Where content has been added the line is preceded by a ‘+’ and coloured green. Author The name of the participant who saved this version of the page is displayed as a link, together with the associated user profile image. Click either of these to view the participant’s profile. Date created The day, date and time the earliest version of the page was first saved. Last modification The day, date and time that this version of the page was saved. References The wiki pages that are linked to this page. For the latest version of the page these are displayed as links

Attachments When ‘Yes’ is selected for the ‘Allow binary files’ setting the ‘Attachments’ link is displayed. Click the tab to display the file attachment options for the page. A ‘This page has attachments’ link is displayed when attachments have been made to the page. Click the link to display the attached files. File Enter the path on the local computer for the file to be attached or click the ‘Browse’ button to locate and select it. When the remaining options have been completed or selected, click the ‘File upload’ button to upload the file. Comment Enter the text of any comment to accompany the attachment in this text box. Upload into The option selected in this drop-down list will determine whether the file is displayed as an attachment once uploaded. If ‘main’ is selected the file will be uploaded to the folder for the Wiki in the course files area, without showing as an attachment for the page, the file may be downloaded from the ‘File Download’ page. If a wiki page name is selected the uploaded file will be displayed in the ‘Attachments’ page. Save with different file name Text entered here will be displayed on the ‘Attachments’ page as the name of the file uploaded and will be the name of the file if it is downloaded from the Wiki.

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Creating page content When a page is in Edit mode text may be entered into the text area or HTML editor. Where ‘No HTML’ was selected in the wiki settings page, it is necessary to format the text using a simple wiki syntax. This format is extensive and fuller details can be found in the Wiki help files and at the site of ErfurtWiki (http://erfurtwiki. sourceforge.net/) upon which the Moodle Wiki is based. Wiki (WikiWords) formatting examples: Input

Output

!heading

heading

!!heading

heading

‘‘emphasis’’ (use two pairs of single quote marks)

emphasis

__bold__ (two pairs of underscores)

bold

|a|b|c|

a

|d||f|

d

#Arsenal

1. Arsenal

#Man Utd.

2. Man Utd.

#Chelsea

3. Chelsea

b

c f

The advantage of this method of formatting is that, when learned, it can be used to create and format wiki pages very quickly. Displaying images in a page – attachment method When ‘Yes’ is selected for the ‘Allow binary files’ setting the field and buttons below are displayed when a wiki page is in editing mode.

Click the ‘Browse’ button and locate and select the required file on your computer, network etc. The path to the file is displayed in the field. Click the ‘Upload’ button. When the image file upload is complete a new browser tab or window is launched containing the text of the link that needs to be inserted in the text area.

Copy and paste the link onto the page where the image is to be displayed. Click the ‘Save’ or ‘Preview’ buttons to display the image. Save Click to save the content of the page as a new version. Preview Click to preview the page edits without saving as a new version. © HowToMoodle 2009 Please respect our copyright. If this is not your own copy you can buy one at www.howtomoodle.com

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Cancel Click to exit the page without saving any changes.

Multiple editors A page may not be edited by more than one person at a time, in the event that a page is being edited and one or more additional participants attempt to edit it a warning message is displayed.

Creating new pages To create a brand new page, open an existing page in edit mode and enter the name of the new page in one of the following formats: CamelCase: As described above. [Page1]: Surround text with square brackets. Then save the page. If the intended name for the new page does not already exist the text is displayed in bold with a question mark after it e.g. ‘Page1?’. Click on the ‘?’ to open the new page in editing mode, click ‘Save’ to edit the new page.

Creating links between existing pages To create a link to an existing page in the wiki , type the name of the existing page in one of the formats below: CamelCase: As described above. [existing page name]: Surround the actual name of the existing page text with square brackets. Then save the page; the text entered is now displayed as a link to the other page.

Search Wiki Enter the search test in the field and click the ‘Search Wiki’ button; a page displaying links to all pages containing the search text is displayed. Click a page link to view instances of the search text in that page. The search text is highlighted and italicised.

Choose Wiki links Site map Select to display a site map of the Wiki pages. Page index Select to display a list of links to all pages in the Wiki, including the pages in this drop-down list. Newest pages Select to display a list of the newest pages created, plus information about the date and time of creation. Most visited pages Select to display a list of most visited pages, together with the number of hits. Most often changed pages Select this option to display a list of pages with the greatest number of revisions, together with the number of changes. Updated pages Select this option to display a list of updated pages, together with the date and time of the last update. © HowToMoodle 2009

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Orphaned pages Select to display links to pages that have been created but now have no links to them. Wanted pages Select to display Wiki links that have been created but the Wiki page itself has not yet been formed. Export pages Select this option to display the Wiki export options. Include binary content: Tick this checkbox to include binary content attached to Wiki pages in the export. This checkbox is only displayed if ‘Allow binary files’ is set to ‘Yes’. Include Wiki-Links: Undocumented feature. Export formats This drop down is only available if HTML mode is set to ‘No HTML’ or ‘Safe HTML’, otherwise the text ‘HTML-Format’ is displayed and only this format is available. Plain text: The exported files are plain text without file extensions. This option is only available if HTML mode is set to ‘No HTML’ or ‘Safe HTML’. HTML-Format: The Wiki pages are exported as HTML pages. Export to Downloadable zip archive: A zip file containing the Wiki pages in the text or HTML format, plus binary files (if appropriate). Module directory: The files are exported to the named folder in the course files area. Export: Click to execute the export using the settings chosen. File download Select this option to display a list of all files available for download i.e. files attached both to pages and ‘main’. Clicking on the link containing the file name downloads the file.

Administration These options are only available to students if the corresponding checkboxes are ticked in ‘Student admin options’ in the wiki settings.

Set page flags Page name: The name of the page is displayed as a link, together with the number of the latest version. Flags: This series of checkboxes determines the status or allowed content of the page. TXT

The page contains text.

BIN

The page contains binary data.

OFF

The page is disabled. If a link for the page is clicked a message ‘This page is currently not available’ is displayed.

HTM

Determines whether HTML is allowed for this page.

RO

The page is read only. If the edit link for the page is clicked a message ‘This page cannot be changed’ is displayed.

WR

The page is writable.

To confirm a change to a page flag, click the ‘Set page flags’ button. When a page flag is altered this is confirmed in an additional column and the page version number is increased by one. © HowToMoodle 2009 Please respect our copyright. If this is not your own copy you can buy one at www.howtomoodle.com

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Remove pages Select to remove pages from the Wiki. The initial display suggests possible candidates for removal and provides the reason for their suggestion. To remove a page, tick its checkbox and click the ‘Remove selected pages’ button, a confirmatory message is displayed. Click the ‘Yes’ link to proceed with the deletion and ‘No’ to abort the operation. To list all pages in the Wiki for possible deletion, click the ‘List all’ button. To return to the suggested candidates for deletion, click the ‘List candidates’ button.

Strip pages

Select this option to remove versions of pages that are no longer required. Untick the checkboxes for those pages where previous versions are not to be removed. Click the ‘Strip changes’ button to commence the operation. A confirmatory message is displayed; click ‘Yes’ to complete the operation and ‘No’ to abort.

Revert mass changes Use this option to reverse one or more changes to a page.

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Author field pattern: Enter the IP address of the person who made the changes to be removed. The IP address is available from the site logs (make sure the IP address is not shared by other users!). Within how many hours from the last change: The period from the last page which will be considered for reversion. How to operate Only, if it was the last change: Removes the last change only. A confirmatory message is displayed; click ‘Yes’ to continue with the reversion and ‘No’ to cancel. Version diving, also delete changes made after: Removes the version specified and subsequent revisions. A confirmatory message is displayed; click ‘Yes’ to continue with the reversion and ‘No’ to cancel. Version diving, but only delete the affected one: Removes the specified version only. Delete how many last versions The number entered in this field will determine which previous versions will be deleted in conjunction with the ‘How to operate’ drop down. Revert changes button Click to activate the reversion.

Student wiki Teachers may access the wiki for an individual student by selecting the required student from a drop-down box displayed below the Navigation Bar.

When selected, if a student’s wiki has no entries it is opened for editing by default. Where the initial page has content it is displayed in view mode.

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Backup / Restore An entire course or selected activities or resources, with or without user data, may be backed up (copied into a single zip file) for archive purposes or to create a template for later use.

Backup To initiate a backup click the ‘Backup’ link in the Administration block. A page with backup options is displayed.

Include This area is split into two columns: Left: Checkboxes for all of the activity modules used in the course and each activity and resource. The items ticked will be included in the backup file. Right: User data. If ticked, user data for the activities will be included in the backup file. Examples of user data include: forum posts, quiz attempts, glossary entries, chat contributions, choice votes, online text assignment submissions. Click the ‘All’ or ‘None’ links to bulk select or deselect the items in each column or the individual checkboxes for more fine specifc control of the content of the backup file.

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Metacourse This setting is only visible if the course being backed up is a metacourse. Select ‘Yes’ and the course, if restored on the same site, will maintain the same relationship with its ‘child’ courses. Users All: All users on the site, including those not participating in the course. Course: Users participating in the course. None: No users. If selected, any items in the ‘User Data’ column are ignored and a message to that effect is displayed.

Logs Select ‘Yes’ for activity logs from the course to be backed up.

User files Select ‘Yes’ for all files uploaded by participants to be included e.g. forum attachments, assignment submissions.

Course files Select ‘Yes’ for all files in the course files area to be backed up.

Site files used in this course Select ‘Yes’ to include files from the site files area (this is not accessible by teachers) that have been used in the course. Currently this only applies to questions that have been linked to from the question bank.

Grade histories Select ‘Yes’ to retain the record of students’ grades in the gradebook. This options works in conjunction with others during both the backup and restore process. Grade histories (backup and restore)

Role assignments selected

User data for activities

Grade data in gradebook following restore?

Grade data in activity following restore?

Yes

Yes

No

No

No

Yes

No

Yes

No

Yes

Yes

Yes

Yes

Yes

Yes

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Backup role assignments for these roles Where ‘Course’ or ‘All’ are selected for the ‘Users’ setting all users assigned to a role in the course will be similarly assigned to the course on restoring of the backup file for all roles selected (assuming users are retained at that stage). Continue Click ‘Continue’ to proceed to the next backup page.

Backup details page Name This field contains the name of the file that will be generated by the backup process. The name of the file may be altered if desired (it must still be in .zip format). The default file name format is ‘backup-courseshortname-datetime.zip’. Backup details Information is provided for each item on the previous page about the number files, uses etc. which will be backed up. Cancel Click ‘Cancel’ to abort the backup and return to the course page. Continue Click the ‘Continue’ button to generate the backup file and to proceed to the next backup page. Various process messages are displayed and eventually (the actual time depends on the size of the course) a success message is displayed at the foot of the page. Click ‘Continue’ to open the ‘backupdata’ folder in the course files area. The backup file may now be downloaded, renamed etc.

Restore To initiate the restore process from the course page click the ‘Restore’ link in the Administration Block or, if already viewing the course backup file, click its ‘Restore’ link. A confirmatory message is displayed. Click ‘Yes’ to continue or ‘No’ to abort the restore and be returned to the course files area. The page displayed details: Course information: Full name and Summary. Backup information: Backup file name, Moodle version of the source site, backup version used to create the backup file, backup date – i.e. when the backup file was created, whether the backup was made on the site to which it is being restored. Backup details: i.e. the Modules, files, users etc. that are included in the backup file. Click ‘Continue’ to proceed with the restore. A number of further options are now displayed.

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Restore to Existing course, deleting it first The data selected in the options below will entirely replace the course to which the restore is applied. Available courses to restore to are listed on the following page. Existing course, adding data to it The data selected in the options is added to the ‘receiving’ course. Restored activities and/or resources are restored to the same topic section as in the originating course. Available courses to restore to are listed on the following page. New course The data selected in the options is used to create a new course on the site.

Category: Select a category in which a new course will be created. Short name: Specify a new short name for the new course (a new unique short name is created automatically if left unchanged). Full name: Specify a new full name for the course (a new full name is created automatically if left unchanged). Course start date: If altered to a new start date, the commencement and end dates of all activities are rolled forward in relation to the new course start date.

Include All features have the same functionality as during backup, except that they are used here to determine what is restored from the backup file to the existing or new course.

Metacourse Identical functionality as during backup. Users Identical functionality as during backup. The options available are dependant upon which users are present in the backup file being restored. Groups and groupings Select whether or not to retain groups, groupings (or none) in the new course. Groups retained will be populated with the same users if these are retained at the Users setting. Logs Identical functionality as during backup. User files Identical functionality as during backup. Course files Identical functionality as during backup. Site files Identical functionality as during backup.

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Role mappings

If left in the default state any users will be assigned to the same role in the receiving course as the originating course. Roles in the original course can be mapped to another role in the receiving course by selecting the desired role from the ‘Target’ drop-down list. Cancel Click ‘Cancel’ to abort the restore. Continue Click the ‘Continue’ to display a new page with a list of courses to which the restore may be applied (if one of the ‘existing course’ options has been selected). Click the link for the required course. Click ‘Restore this course now!’ to see various process messages displayed and eventually (the actual time depends on the size of the course) a success message is displayed at the foot of the page. Click ‘Continue’ to open the new course or existing course to which the restore has been applied.

Import Importing from a course enables resources and/or activities (without any user data) to be imported from one course to the current course. To start the Import process, click the ‘Import’ link in the Administration block. A page with drop-down lists for courses that may be imported from is displayed: Courses I have taught, Courses in the same category. Select a course and click ‘Use this course’. The next screen is used to define the items to be imported, the functionality is the same as for backup above. Click on the various continue buttons and links and the selected item(s) are imported to the current course.

Reset The reset option enables the deletion of data in a course whilst leaving the course intact. This option should be used with care as the data deleted is non-recoverable. To commence the process of ‘resetting’ a course click the ‘Reset’ link in the Administration block in the course to be cleared of data. The contents of the page will vary depending upon the composition of the course.

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General Course start date To change the start date for the course untick the ‘Enable’ checkbox and set the required date. This setting determines the dates for the weeks in ‘Weekly format’; the date set here will be the start date of the first week section in the course. For all course formats the date set here is the earliest date from which activity is displayed in charts in the activity logs for the course. In addition, this date may be used as a reference date when specifying an enrolment duration when assigning users to roles or when managing students from the ‘Participants’ page. Delete events Deletes all course-related calendar events. Delete logs Deletes all activity logs. Delete all notes Deletes all notes from the course. © HowToMoodle 2009 Please respect our copyright. If this is not your own copy you can buy one at www.howtomoodle.com

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Roles Unenrol users Role assignments to the role(s) selected will be removed. Only the roles that current user is allowed to assign are displayed in the list, so some role assignments may be retained even when all roles displayed are selected. Delete all overrides in course Resets all role permissions overrides for the course, activities and blocks to inherit.

Gradebook Delete all items and categories Delete all items and their organisation (categories) from the gradebook. If ticked all grades are deleted too. Delete all grades Delete grades only leaving the gradebook items and categories intact.

Groupings Delete all groups Delete all groups and group members. Remove all group members Delete group members from groups leaving groups intact. Delete all groupings Delete groupings; groups remain intact. Remove all groups from grouping Groups are removed from their groupings; groups and groupings remain intact.

Activity modules The various modes of input for each activity type may be selected as candidates for deletion. The forum module reset options also extend to cancelling subscriptions and tracing preferences. Any installed modules that do not support resetting are listed in ‘Rest not implemented’.

Default reset options Click the ‘Select default’ button to activate a preset selection of items to be reset (‘Deselect all’ reverses this). The options selected depend on the course configuration. Delete events. Delete logs. Delete all notes. Unenrol users: Student. Delete all local role assignments. Delete all grades. Assignments: Delete all submissions. Chats: Remove all messages. Choices: Remove all responses. Databases: Delete all ratings, Delete all comments. Forums: Delete all posts. Glossaries: Delete all ratings, Delete all comments. Lessons: Delete all lesson attempts. Quizzes: Delete all quiz attempts.

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Reset course Click the ‘Reset course’ button to view a report of items to be reset.

Click ‘Continue’ to complete the reset process and return to the course page.

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Managing people Roles overview What is a role? The Roles system in Moodle governs what users may do and where they can do it. Each user on the site is assigned to a role, even those who simply have an account on the site are assigned to a role that gives them limited capabilities to perform actions such as to view their own user profile. Each role is a combination of capabilities and permissions: Capabilities: Potential actions e.g. post to a forum, attempt a quiz or other privileges e.g. view blocks. Permissions: The status for users assigned to the role e.g. allowed, prevented. Each site is configured with some standard roles and the site administrator may modify these and/or create new roles with combinations of capabilities and permissions to meet particular objectives. In this manual we have been principally concerned with the standard Teacher and Student roles.

What control do teachers have over roles? The roles that are in use on the site are managed by the site administrator; teachers do not have the ability to create new roles or modify existing roles. If the site administrator has enabled their ability to do so, teachers may override certain permissions for a role, this is covered in more detail below.

Where are roles assigned? Users may be assigned to roles in various ‘contexts’. In this manual we will focus on the contexts that are most likely to impact on activity in courses. Each course on the site is located in a category (which may itself be a sub-category of another category) and categories form the site’s structure. Within each course there may be activities and blocks. The entire site (referred to as ‘System’ in Roles), categories (inccluding sub-categories), course and Activities/ Blocks are all examples of contexts to which users may be assigned to a role. System (Entire site)

Category

Sub-category

Course

Category

Course

Activity/Blocks

There is a hierarchical relationship between these contexts; the following examples will attempt to illustrate this. Scenario 1 Baz is assigned to the student role in the system context. As this is the highest context, he will have the role of student for every activity or block, in every course, in any category (or sub-category) on the site. This is because categories, courses, activities and blocks are all lower in the roles hierarchy. Scenario 2 Cerys is assigned to the teacher role in a category that contains a number of courses. Cerys has the role of teacher in all courses in the category and all activities and blocks within the course. This is because courses, activities and blocks are all lower in the roles hierarchy.

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Scenario 3 Paulo is assigned to the student role in a course. Paulo has the role of student in the course and all activities and blocks in that course. This is because activities and blocks are all lower in the roles hierarchy. Scenario 4 Erik is assigned to the teacher role in a category that contains a number of courses. Erik has also been assigned as a student in a course within the category. In that course Erik will be identified as a student and in addition, owing to his assignment to the role as teacher in a higher context (i.e. the category) he will also have the permissions inherited from the teacher role. Scenario 5 Roberta is assigned to the student role for a course, for a single forum activity within the course she is assigned to the teacher role. She will have the permissions of a student in all areas of the course except the forum where she will have the same permissions as the teacher in the course. As the blocks in the course, all other activities in the course and the course itself are not lower in the roles hierarchy than the forum, her teacher permissions do not extend beyond that single forum.

Assigning roles In each context there is an interface to assign users to roles. The interface is only accessible to users who are assigned to a role that has been granted the ability to assign other users to a role. Assigning roles for a course Locate the ‘Administration’ block for the course and click the ‘Assign roles’ link.

Assigning a role for an activity or resource Create an activity or resource by selecting the required item from the ’Add an activity’ or ‘Add a resources’ dropdown list, define the settings and save. ••Viewing the course page with editing turned on: Click the edit icon for the activity or resource and then click the ‘Locally assigned roles’ tab. ••When viewing the activity: Click the ‘Update this activity type’ button and then click the ‘Locally assigned roles’ tab.

Assigning a role for a block Ensure the course page is in editing mode (click the ‘Turn editing on’ button), in the header of the block click the ‘Roles’ icon.

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The following screenshot is the ‘Assign roles’ page for a course as viewed by a teacher.

The type of context (course in this instance) and its name are displayed. Roles: The roles to which the current user is allowed to assign others. The site administrator governs the roles listed here. Where an alias has been provided for a role (Course settings, Role renaming) the actual name of the role is displayed in brackets). Description: The descriptive text associated with the role. Users: The number of users assigned to the role. If the user has been assigned to the teacher role automatically when creating the course whilst assigned as a course creator, an additional column is displayed with information about the users assigned to each role.

Where more than 10 users are assigned to a role a link indicating this is displayed. Click the link to navigate to another a page for a full list. Users who have been assigned to the course who do not have course creator (or administrator) permissions in a higher context are presented with the number of users assigned to each role only. The information about role assignments in this table only takes into account the users who have been assigned in this course. Users who have permissions for the course as a result of being assigned to a role in a higher context are not listed. To access the interface for assigning users to a role, click on the link for the role to which you want to assign users.

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Roles to assign: This drop-down list contains the names of the roles to which users may be assigned. To review role assignments or to assign users to another role, select the required role from the drop down. Enrolment duration: Range: Unlimited, 1 – 365 days. Specifies the number of days a user remains assigned to the role, commencing from today’s date or the start date of the course (as defined in course settings) one of which is selected from the accompanying drop down.

The default duration is the same as that specified in ‘Enrolment duration’ in course settings. To assign one or more users to a role select the required users in the list on the right (potential users). One or more users may be selected as follows: Microsoft XP: Keep ‘Ctrl’ key pressed whilst selecting. Microsoft XP: Keep ‘Shift’ key pressed and select two users to select those users and all others between them. Microsoft XP: Click one user and drag the cursor up or down. Mac OS: Keep ‘Command’ key pressed whilst selecting. When the required users have been selected, click the button with the arrow pointing to the left to add the users to the ’existing users’ column. To un-assign users reverse the process above. © HowToMoodle 2009 Please respect our copyright. If this is not your own copy you can buy one at www.howtomoodle.com

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It is possible to assign one or more users to a role so that they are ‘hidden’ from students. Users assigned in this way are not visible to students in the participants list or in the Online users block. Teachers always see ‘hidden’ users. To assign a user to a role using this ‘Hidden assignment’ option, tick the checkbox between the existing and potential user panes prior to clicking the button to assign a user to a role. A message is added to the user’s name in the existing users list to indicate their hidden status.

Overriding permissions It is possible for teachers to override certain permissions (Safe overrides) for any context e.g. course, activity to which they are assigned (or have permissions owing to a role assignment at a higher context). This enables teachers to ‘fine tune’ access and interaction within a course, activity or block. Subject to the site administrator enabling this option, teachers may be permitted to override additional permissions in each context. The interface for overriding permissions is accessed in the same place as for assigning roles and then clicking on the ‘Override permissions’ tab. Only the roles for permissions that may be overridden are shown in the table (this may be a different list to that in the Assign roles table).

Roles: The roles for which the current user may override permissions. The site administrator governs the roles listed here. Where an alias has been provided for a role (Course settings, Roles) the actual name of the role is displayed in brackets). Description: The descriptive text associated with the role. Overrides: The number of overrides currently set for each role. To set overrides for a role; click the link for the role. The override permissions page is displayed.

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Role to override: Select the role to which overrides are to be applied. Any changes made on the page are lost if ‘Save changes’ is not clicked before switching roles. Capability: These are potential actions etc. that are governed by permissions. Permissions: Click the radio button for the required permission for a capability. The highlighted permission indicates the current status for users assigned to that role.

••Inherit: The permission for the capability is inherited from that specified for the role i.e. as indicated in the highlighted radio button. ••Allow: All users assigned to this role will be allowed to do whatever is specified by the capability in this context and lower contexts. This permission may be overridden in a lower context.

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••Prevent: All users assigned to this role will be prevented from doing whatever is specified by the capability in this context and lower contexts. This permission may be overridden in a lower context. ••Prohibit: All users assigned to this role will be prohibited from doing whatever is specified by the capability in this context and lower contexts. This permission differs from ‘Prevent’ in that it may not be overridden in a lower context. The radio buttons for the capability are disabled in lower contexts. The screenshot below is of the override permissions page for the student role in a forum created in a course where the permission for the student role for the ‘Start new discussions’ capability has been set to Prohibit. The Prohibit permission set for this capability at course level means that students may not initiate discussions in the forum illustrated (or any other forum in the course).

Where ‘Safe overrides’ apply, the permissions radio buttons for capabilities falling outside this classification are disabled as shown for ‘Manage all template presets’ in the screenshot below.

Conflicts When permissions for a capability set to Allow and Prevent the permission applicable to the ‘lower’ context apply.

Participants To access a list of the participants in the course click on the ‘Participants’ link in the ’People’ block.

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Blogs tab: Click to see blog entries made by users. This tab is only available if blogs are enabled for the site. Depending upon the setting selected by the site administrator, the blog posts shown here may not be the sum of the user’s entire blogging activity as this may be restricted to sharing with those with which the user shares a course or group. In addition, the site administrator may restrict viewing to one’s own entries only. Notes tab: Click this tab to view notes about users. To add notes click the ‘Select users to write notes about’ link; the participants list is displayed. Information about how to create new notes and their availability is covered in User actions below. My courses: The short name of the course(s) in which the current user is assigned to a role or inherits a role from higher in roles hierarchy is displayed in a drop-down. list.

Select a course to display the Participants page in that course. Inactive for more than: Ensure that the required role (or ‘All’) is selected from the ‘Current role’ drop down and select duration from the drop down. Users matching the role criterion selected who have been inactive for longer than the period chosen are displayed. User list: Less detailed – displays the simple entry in the participants list i.e. as in the screenshot above. More detailed: Displays a fuller view of the user’s profile together with links to view their blog entries, notes, activity and full user profile. In addition there is a link to unenrol the user from the course.

Current role: Select the required role to view a list of users assigned to that role for the course (or where the role assignment is inherited from a higher context). A label indicating the number of users assigned to that role (or the total number of participants if ‘All’ is selected) is displayed.

Where the current user is allowed to assign users to the role selected, the edit icon may be clicked to visit the assign roles page. Users who have not visited the course for the duration indicated (120 days in the screenshot above) are automatically unassigned from their role(s) in the course context. The duration is a site-wide setting set by the site administrator.

Participants table The information in the table may be sorted by clicking the heading of each column. User picture: The profile image from the user’s profile or the default image if one has not been uploaded.

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First name/last name: Self-explanatory. Where the user has a ‘hidden’ assignment to a role (see Assigning roles) this is indicated by the closed eye icon next to the user’s name.

City/town: The information from the user’s profile. Country: The information from the user’s profile. Last access: The time elapsed since the user last navigated to a different view using a link, button, drop down etc. in the Moodle interface. Select: Tick one or more checkboxes to determine which users have the actions in the ‘With selected users ...’ drop down at the bottom of the page. The ‘Select all’ or ‘Deselect all’ buttons at the bottom of the page can be used to bulk or deselect the checkboxes.

User actions Ensure at least one checkbox is ticked in the ‘Select’ column and then select the required action from the drop down. Send message Select ‘Add / Send message’; the interface for composing and previewing the message and adding additional recipients is displayed. The number of recipients added so far is displayed.

To add more recipients, click the ‘Keep searching’ link (Note: anything entered in the ‘Message body’ area will be lost). The participants page is displayed. Repeat the process of selecting users and then ‘Add / send message’ from the drop down to add the required recipients.

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Enter the message in the message body area. The message is previewed before sending by clicking the ‘Preview’ button.

Click ‘Send message’ to send the message to the chosen recipients or ‘Update’ to return to the previous screen to modify the draft message. Click the ‘Remove’ button to delete users from the recipient list. When the message has been sent a confirmation is displayed and the recipient list is reset to none for any future messages. Adding a note – individual notes for each user Select ‘Add a new note’, the interface for adding a note for a single user is displayed.

Full name: Self-explanatory. Content: Add the note in the text box. Status: Select the appropriate item from the drop-down list to determine how widely available the note will be. Course: The note is visible to all teachers in the course, users assigned to any other role with permission to view notes and users who inherit this ability from a role assignment higher in the roles hierarchy. Site: The note is visible to those with similar ability to view notes in any course where the student is a participant. Personal: The note is only visible to its creator.

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Adding a note – single note for multiple users Select ‘Add a new note for all’; the interface for adding a single note for all selected user is displayed.

The options are the same as for individual notes above. Extend enrolment – individual changes for each selected user Select ‘Extend enrolment (individual)’, the interface for making individual changes to the enrolment duration for each selected user is displayed.

Full name: Self-explanatory. Enrolment started: The date the enrolment in the course commenced. Enrolment ends: This will be either ‘Unlimited’ if there is no predetermined expiry date for the user’s participation or the date the enrolment is scheduled to end. The latter is displayed because a specific enrolment duration has been set for the course (Enrolment duration in Course Settings) or when the user was assigned to the role. Extended period: The period after which the user will be unenrolled. ••No change: No change to the current enrolment duration. ••Unlimited: The enrolment does not expire automatically. ••Days: Range 1– 365. The duration of enrolment from the value selected in ‘Starting from’. Starting from: This is the reference point for the commencement of any timed extension e.g. 10 days. The options available will vary based on the relationship to the course start date. ••Course start date ••Enrolment Started – The date displayed in the ‘Enrolment started’ column.

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••Enrolment Ends – The current enrolment expiry date as displayed in the ‘Enrolment ends’ column. ••Today – Today’s date, provided that it is later than the course start date in course settings. ••Course enrolment start date – The earliest date for enrolments if defined in course settings. ••Course enrolment end date – The latest date for enrolments if defined in course settings. Extend enrolment (common) – common changes for multiple users Select ‘Extend enrolment (common)’;the interface for making a common change for a number of selected users is displayed.

The options are the same as for individual changes above. Note: The term enrolment in the settings above is a legacy term from Moodle versions prior to the introduction of the roles system. In practice the user is unassigned from the chosen role at the course context.

User profiles Click the name of the user or their avatar to view their user profile, the information displayed will depend upon that present in the user’s profile.

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Email address: Click the icon to disable the email (this is equivalent to change the status of the ‘Email activated’ option in the user profile). Courses: The courses in which the user is assigned to a role are shown as links. Click a link to navigate to the Participants page in that course. Groups: Where groups have been created with users allocated to them and either Separate or Visible groups has been selected in course settings, click a group link to view the members of that group. Interests: A link is displayed for each comma-separated interest entered by the user in the ‘Interests’ text box in their profile. Click a link to see all users in the course with the same interest. Unenrol me from ... : Click to unenrol the user from the course. Only visible for students. Send message: Click to send the user a private message (visible if messaging is enabled for the site).

User profile tabs Click the participant’s name in the profile to access the activity-related tabs. Forum posts Posts: This is the default view. All posts made by the user (including posts made by teachers in the News forum) are listed in order of the date/time posted (subsequent edits do not alter the order). Discussions Click this link to view the initial post in discussions initiated by the user. In both views above the links for editing etc. posts are visible to the teacher and for students depending on the time since the post was made. An additional ‘See this post in context’ link may be displayed; click this link to see this post in the context of the entire discussion. The post will appear in the viewable area of the screen (although its exact position will vary). Blog Click to see blog entries made by the user. This tab is only available if blogs are enabled for the site. Depending upon the setting selected by the site administrator, the blog posts shown here may not be the sum of the user’s entire blogging activity as this may be restricted to sharing with those with which the user shares a course or group. In addition, the site administrator may restrict viewing to one’s own entries only. Notes Click to view notes relating to this user, arranged by notes shared with teachers across the entire site, notes that are shared with teachers within the course or notes about the user that are not shared with other teachers. To add a new note click ‘Add a new note’; the interface is identical to that outlined in ‘User actions’ above.

Activity Outline report The activities and resources in the course are displayed in their order on the course page. Basic information is included e.g. number of views, number of posts to a forum, number of glossary entries added, choice selection, quiz score recorded, assignment grade. Wiki contributions are not shown. Complete report The activities and resources in the course are displayed in their order on the course page. For some activity types additional information is displayed e.g. forum posts in full (only number of posts in the outline report), assignment submission and grade (grade only in outline report). Again, wiki contributions are not shown.

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Today’s logs

In this view a chart displays the number of ‘hits’ on the course. Hits broadly equate to actions that cause a page to be re-displayed e.g. post to forum, visit course page. The vertical axis scales depending upon the number of hits in the day, the horizontal axis is constant reflecting the 24 hours in the day. The columns below the chart display information about the action: Time: The date and time of the action. IP address: An IP (Internet Protocol) address is a numerical identification that is assigned to a device e.g. a laptop participating in a computer network utilising the Internet Protocol for communication between its nodes (Source: Wikipedia). The IP address displayed is that presented by the user’s computer or network. Some organisations present a single IP address to the outside world e.g. an externally hosted Moodle site and some Internet Service Providers (ISP) use ‘dynamic’ IP addresses that are updated frequently. Click the link to display a global map with a suggested location of the network from which the user is accessing the Moodle site. Owing to the factors above (and others) the information should not be substantially relied upon. In the map below the computer used to access the site is in central England using a UK ISP, the location is shown as California. Where the IP address is used to identify the location or provider of the network from which the site has been accessed these limiting factors should be taken into account.

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Full name: The user who performed the action. Click the link to visit the profile of that user. Action: A link that indicates the action performed. Click the link to view the current view of that aspect of the course in a pop-up window. Where the state has altered since the recorded action e.g. forum post edited, resource deleted, the view in the pop-up window reflects the current state. Information: Supplementary information that varies according to the action undertaken. All logs

In addition to the scaling of the vertical access, horizontal axis scales to accommodate the entire duration of the course from the ‘Course start date’ in course settings to the date the report is accessed.

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The remaining information on the page is the same as that displayed for ‘Today’s logs’ above. Statistics

This chart provides an overview of forum posts and views over the duration of the course. Grades Click this link to view the ‘User report’ from the course gradebook.

Reports In addition to the user centred activity information above, activity information can be located for any activity or resource or from a whole-course perspective.

Activity / Resource Click the link for the activity or resource you want to monitor. Locate the ‘Logs’ icon near the top right of the page and click it.

On the following page the user activity is displayed. The drop-down lists at the top of the page may be used to filter the information displayed. Select the required values from the drop down(s) and click’ Get these logs’. The filter options are: Course Group: All groups or single groups. This option is only available if the course has groups. Participants: All participants or individual participants. © HowToMoodle 2009 Please respect our copyright. If this is not your own copy you can buy one at www.howtomoodle.com

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Day: All days since the first action or an activity in a single day. Activities/Resources: All or specific activities and resources in the course. Actions: All actions or a specific class of actions from View, Add, Update, Delete, All changes. Display: The report may be displayed on screen (Display on page) in the same way as for ‘Today’s logs’ or downloaded to a file in Excel, ODS or text formats. The information is displayed on screen in the same format as for Activities / Resource.

Course Click the ‘Reports’ link in the Administration block to access the reports page for the course. The drop-down lists at the top of the pages are sorted in readiness to display (or download) the most complete amount of information for the current day. The options to filter are identical to those outlined for Resources and Activities. Live logs from the past hour Click this link to display a pop-up of course-related activity from the previous 60 minutes. The display refreshes every 60 seconds to update the displayed information. Activity reports Click the link for an overview of views of activities and resources.

Participation report Click the link to display the configuration page.

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A report of participation for each activity or resource can be created by specifying from the available options in the drop-down lists. Activity module: Activities and resources in the course are listed alphabetically by type and name. One must be selected. Look back: Select the period from the current date for which you would like to review participation in the activity e.g. 2 weeks. Show only: Roles that are used in the course are listed. Select a role that is to be used as the basis of the report. Show actions: Options – All actions, View, Post. Select one depending on the information required in the report. The actions that are used to construct the report for View or Posts are listed when the report is generated. Click ‘Go’ to generate the report.

The report shows the level of participation for each user assigned the role selected. Select: Click the checkbox for the user(s) to which a message is to be sent. Select all / Deselect all: Click the appropriate button to change the selected status of all of the ‘Select’ checkboxes. Select No: Click to select all users who have no record of participation. With selected users … : Select ‘Add/send message’ and click ‘Go’; the message screen is displayed. The functionality of this area is identical to that outlined in ‘Send message’ under ‘User actions’ earlier in this section. Statistics The statistics report is only available if the site administrator has enabled statistics for the site.

The statistics report may be generated in either of two modes: General view: The report is generated by activity type i.e. All actions, View, Post and Role i.e. a specific role or all roles in the course. The key to the chart is roles. © HowToMoodle 2009 Please respect our copyright. If this is not your own copy you can buy one at www.howtomoodle.com

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Detailed (user) view: The report is generated for a specific user and all activity type or all activity with Views and posts shown separately on the accompanying line graph. Course: Select the required course for the report. Report type: Dependent upon whether ‘General view’ or ‘Detailed (user) view’ are selected. Time period – last: Select the period from the current date which you would like to review in the report e.g. 4 weeks. Click ‘View’ to generate the report.

Course logs: Click the link to view the course activity logs for that week only.

Groups Students (and others) may be allocated to groups set up for a course to manage the manner in which they may interact with each other in the course itself and in collaborative activities. Groups are also useful for segregating users for administrative purposes e.g. to review the grades for an assignment for one group only (rather than for all students), sending messages selectively.

Course settings Group settings are initially configured in course settings (Administration block, Settings). Group mode

Select an option from the group modes listed to determine how groups of participants may interact within the course.

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No groups: No separation into groups of any course participants. Separate groups: Members of a separate group can see and interact with fellow members of that group only. Visible groups: Members of a visible group work together in that group but can see other participants in the course (or some activities) who are not members of their group. Note that by default users assigned to the teacher role may access any group in the course even if they are assigned to a group. The group mode setting works in conjunction with the ‘Force’ setting below. Force

Yes: The group mode above applies course-wide. No: The group mode may be set independently for any activity in the course that recognises groups.

In activities The following activity modules support groups: Assignment, Chat, Choice, Database, Forum, Quiz, Survey (not covered in this manual), Wiki. The group mode for supported activities may be set in the settings page of each instance of the activity.

Where the ‘Force’ setting for groups in course settings is set to ‘No’ the Group mode drop-down list in the activity settings page reflects the group mode specified for the course. An alternative group mode may be selected if required. Where the ‘Force’ setting for groups in course settings is set to ‘Yes’ the group mode selected in course settings is displayed and cannot be changed (unless the force setting is first changed to ‘No’).

In addition, the group mode may be set from the course page when in editing mode when the ‘Force’ setting for groups in course settings is set to ‘No’. In this case the change is made by clicking the ‘Groups’ icon at the right of the row of icons for supported activity types. In the screenshot below the icons represent (in descending order) no groups, visible groups and separate groups.

Where the ‘Force’ setting for groups in course settings is set to ‘Yes’ the icon for the group mode selected is displayed and cannot be changed (unless the force setting is first changed to ‘Yes’).

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Creating groups To create or modify groups, click the ‘Groups’ link in the administration block. The groups interface is displayed. The ‘Groups’ link is not displayed if ‘No groups’ is forced in course settings.

Groups may be created manually or automatically; we will deal with manual creation initially.

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Creating groups manually Click the ‘Create group’ button; the interface for creating a group is displayed.

Group name: Enter the required name for the group. The name used is displayed in the groups interface and is visible throughout the course to users. Group description: Enter a description of the group, if required. The description is displayed above the members of the group on the Participants page (provided the group mode for the course is separate or visible groups). Enrolment key: Enter an enrolment key to add a user automatically as a member of the group upon enrolment in the course. In order for this to take effect an enrolment key must also be set for the course but when prompted to enter an enrolment key the user must enter the one for the group (normally only one enrolment key would be provided to the user). This method of allocating to groups on enrolment only works with one group (although it is possible to assign users to more than one group). If more than one group has the same enrolment key the user is allocated to the group that was created first. Unmask: By default the enrolment key is masked, tick the checkbox to display the enrolment key characters. Hide picture: An image may be uploaded that is associated with new discussions and replies by group members in forums and where the group description is displayed in the Participants list. If this setting is set to ‘Yes’ the image is not displayed to students in the description in the participants list and is replaced by a link with the group name in forums. New picture: Click ‘Browse’ to locate and select an image for the group. The file uploaded may not exceed the upload limit for the site (shown in the label for this setting) and must be a png or jpg format e.g. ray.jpg. The image file is cropped to 100 x 100 pixels, so it is generally best to ensure that whatever is important in the image is fairly central. The image is loaded when ‘Save changes’ is clicked.

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Assigning users to groups When a group is created it should be selected in readiness to have members allocated to it. If this is not the case select the required group and then click ‘Show members for group’. The number of members in each group (if any) is indicated next to its name in the left column; the right column displays the names of the members when ‘Show members for group’ has been clicked. In the screenshot below Group 1 has 4 members.

To add or remove users from a group click the ‘Add/remove’ button.

Existing members: Existing members of the group arranged by role (see potential members below for more detail on roles). Potential members: Potential members of the group arranged by role. The roles may be listed as shown for a number of reasons. ••A user has been assigned to a single role for the course e.g. student and facilitator in the example above. ••A user has been assigned to a single role for the course and the default name for the role has been given an alias in ‘Roles’ in course settings. In the example above tutor10 has been assigned to the teacher role that has been given the alias of ‘Facilitator’. ••A user has been assigned to a role in a higher context. In the example above tutor 100 has been assigned to the

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Non-editing teacher role in the category in which this course resides. It is not possible to differentiate between role assignments in the course or in a higher context in this view. ••A user has more than one role assignment that affects this course e.g. is assigned to a role for this course and for a higher context, or is assigned to two roles for the course. In this case the role is described as ‘Multiple roles’. ••Note that Learner 25 is already a member of one group, this is indicated by (1) after the user’s name. None of the other users is currently a group member. To allocate one or more users to a group select the required users in the list on the right (Potential members). One or more users may be selected as follows: Microsoft XP: Keep ‘Ctrl’ key pressed whilst selecting. Microsoft XP: Keep ‘Shift’ key pressed and select two users to select those users and all others between them. Microsoft XP: Click one user and drag the cursor up or down. Mac OS: Keep ‘Command’ key pressed whilst selecting. When the required users have been selected, click the button with the arrow pointing to the left to add the users to the ’Existing members’ column. To remove users from a group reverse the process above. Selected user’s membership: To establish the group(s) of which a single user is already a member, select that user in the Potential members pane. The user’s current groups are listed. Back to groups: Click to display all groups.

Managing groups Edit group settings Select a group to edit from the Groups pane and click ‘Edit group settings’. An interface identical to the one described under ‘Creating groups manually’ is displayed with the current settings. This option is also used to edit groups created automatically. Delete selected group Click the button to delete a group following acceptance of a confirmatory message.

Auto-creating groups Click the ‘Auto-create group’ button to display the interface for automating the creation and allocation of users to groups. Click the ‘Show advanced’ button to display all options in the screenshot below.

Select members from role: The drop down lists the roles in use in the course; group members are selected from those users assigned to that role in the course and where they have that role in the course by virtue of an assignment to the chosen role in a higher context. Select ‘All’ to include users assigned to any role in the course and in a higher context. Specify Select either ‘Number of groups’ or ‘Members per group’ to indicate the criterion that is used to allocate users to groups based on the number set in ‘Group/member count’ below. Where there are insufficient users to create the number of required groups i.e. if ‘Number of groups’ is selected, a warning message is displayed and the number of groups required (or the number of users) must be amended. © HowToMoodle 2009 Please respect our copyright. If this is not your own copy you can buy one at www.howtomoodle.com

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If the number of users is not exactly divisible by the number of groups required, the allocation to groups is made as uniformly as is possible. Prevent last small group: This option is only enabled and functional if ‘Members per group’ is selected in ‘Specify’ and prevents one or more disproportionately small groups from being created by overriding the desired settings as illustrated in the following example: Specify: Members per group Number of users: 28 Group/member count: 13 Prevent last small group: Ticked

2 groups 14 members each.

Prevent last small group: Unticked

2 groups 13 members each, 1 group 2 members.

Group/member count Enter a number in the field to determine the number of groups or the number of users who will be added as members to each group. The basis of selection is that selected in ‘Specify’ above. Allocate members Select the required option to determine the allocation of members. No allocation: Groups are created according to the criteria set but no users are allocated to them. Randomly: Self-explanatory. Alphabetically by first name or last name. Naming scheme Group names must include an ascending alphabetical or numeric element. This is generated automatically when groups are created (or previewed). A special character must be included in the group name as follows: @ : The naming scheme includes an ascending letter e.g. Group A, Group B etc. Where the number of groups exceeds additional letters are added to the group name e.g. Group Z, Group AA, Group AB etc. # : The naming scheme includes an ascending number. The group name set here may only contain a single @ or # character. The remainder of the group name may be entered as required. Preview Click the ‘Preview’ button to generate a preview of the allocation to groups.

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Groups: The groups are listed with the total number of groups shown. Group members: The allocation of users to each group should the process be completed. Users: The number of users allocated to each group and the total number of users. Submit Click ‘Submit’ to complete the allocation the groups. The Groups interface is displayed with the automatically created groups displayed.

Importing groups This functionality is accessed via the ‘Import’ link in the Administration block. ‘Import groups’ allows groups (without members) to be imported and created in one operation. The information required to create the groups is contained in a correctly formatted CSV file.

Working with groups For activities that have groups activated (either set specifically for the activity or owing to the Group mode set in course settings) on accessing the activity page users will see an indicator of the group mode and in force either a drop down listing group names or the name of a group.

What is displayed depends upon a number of factors as outlined in the table below. Separate groups

Visible groups

Teacher

Drop-down list of all groups and All participants

Drop-down list of all groups and All participants

Student (member of one group)

Name of group

Drop-down list of all groups and All participants

Student (member of multiple groups)

Drop-down list of groups of which a member

Drop-down list of groups and All participants

Student not allocated to a group

All participants

Drop-down list of groups and All participants

For actions that are intended to be group specific e.g. post to a forum, the appropriate drop down for the required group should be selected in advance. Where the result of the action e.g. new entry in database activity is intended to be available to all users in the course ‘All participants’ should be selected in advance. As can be seen from the table above teachers always have this range of options (by default); students may have fewer options depending on their group allocation.

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Groupings The availability of groupings is dependent upon the site administrator enabling the functionality for the site. Groupings differ from Groups in that they allow the availability of resources or activities to users i.e. whether they see them, whereas Groups impact on how users may interact. In addition, by using groupings it is possible to define which groups are used for a particular activity. Each Grouping is comprised of one or more groups (which in turn have one or more members allocated to them). Setting up a Grouping Firstly create one or more groups using one of the methods outlined earlier. In the Groups area (Administration block > Groups) Click the Grouping tab and then the ‘Create new grouping’ button.

The interface for creating a grouping is displayed.

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Grouping name: The name of the grouping that is used to identify the grouping in the setup interface, in activity/resource settings pages and to teachers on the course page. Grouping description: Optional, displayed in the setup interface. Save changes to display the new grouping and any existing grouping(s).

Grouping: As entered in Grouping name above. Groups: The groups allocated to the grouping (this will be ‘None’ initially). Activities: The number of activities and/or resources that have been associated with the grouping (this will be ‘0’ initially). Edit icons: (from left to right) Edit: Opens the page to modify the name and description of the grouping. Delete: Click to delete the grouping. Groups allocated to the grouping are not deleted. Add/remove groups: Click to review and manage the groups allocated to the grouping.

Select the group(s) to be allocated to the grouping from those listed in the right-hand column and click the ‘Add’ button. A group may be allocated to more than one grouping. To remove a group select from the left-hand column and click the ‘Remove’ button. Click ‘Back to groupings’ to return to the summary page.

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Allocating activities/resources to a grouping Create a new activity or resource or open an existing one for editing. Click the ‘Show advanced’ button to reveal the grouping options in ‘Common module settings’. The ‘Available for group members’ and Grouping’ options may be used to determine who may access the resource or activity. The way in which the grouping options operate varies depending upon whether the activity is group enabled (Assignment, Chat, Choice, Database, Forum, Quiz, Survey (not covered in this manual), Wiki). The following scenario is used to illustrate when a resource is allocated to a grouping: ••Is visible to students (activities allocated to a grouping are always visible to teachers with an indicator of the allocated grouping – see screenshot)

••With whom teachers and students may interact in the activity Groups: April 08, October 08, April 09, October 09 Groupings: April 09, October 09 Groups allocated to groupings: April 09 group to April 09 grouping October 09 group to October 09 grouping Course settings: Group mode: No groups Force: No Default grouping: None

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Grouping

None

None

None

October 09

October 09

None

None

October 09

October 09

None

Group mode

No groups

No groups

Separate

Separate

Separate

Separate

Visible

Visible

Visible

Visible

Group enabled activities

Ticked

Ticked

Not ticked

Not ticked

Ticked

Ticked

Not ticked

Not ticked

Ticked

Not ticked

Visible to group members of group allocated to grouping only

Yes

No

Yes

Yes

Yes

No

Yes

Yes

Yes

Yes

Visible to student in April 09 group

Yes

Yes

Yes

Yes

Yes

Yes

Yes

Yes

Yes

Visible to student in October 09 group

No

No

Yes

No

No

Yes

Yes

No

Yes

Visible to student not in any group

Yes

No

Yes

Yes

No

Yes

Yes

Yes

Yes

Visible to student in group not allocated to a grouping

All course groups

n/a

All Participants, October 09

All groups

April 09

n/a

All participants

April 09

n/a

n/a

Student in April 09 group can see these groups

n/a

n/a

All Participants, October 09 n/a

All course groups

n/a

n/a

All Participants, October 09 All course groups

Own group(s)

All participants

All participants

n/a

Own group(s)

n/a

n/a

Student in group not allocated to a grouping can see these groups

All participants

n/a

n/a

Student not in any group can see these groups

All Participants, October 09 All Participants, October 09

October 09

October 2009

October 2009

October 09

n/a

n/a

Student in October 09 group can see these groups


October 09

None

None

Grouping

Ticked

Ticked

Ticked

Not ticked

Visible to group members of group allocated to grouping only

Yes

No

Yes

Yes

Visible to student in April 09 group

Yes

Yes

Yes

Yes

Visible to student in October 09 group

No

No

No

Yes

Visible to student not in any group

Yes

No

Yes

Yes

Visible to student in group not allocated to a grouping

Non-group enabled activities and resources

None



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