Course Template Users Guide

When you first log into your own Moodle course, you’ll notice it is already set up with a course design

and information to help you start developing it.

This users guide will give you step-by-step directions to edit the Getting Started section of your new

course template as well as directions on how to organize your course content sections.

Important!

This guide is set up in a linear fashion. You should read and follow these instructions in the order they

are written. Do not attempt to add additional course content until you have completed all instructions in

this Course Template Users Guide.

About the Getting Started section

The template for the Getting Started section of your course is already set up. The instructions in this users guide will step you through the process of editing what is in the template so it fits your particular course.

The content of the Getting Started section includes the same type of activities you would probably complete on the first day of a face-to-face course, such as

Welcome students to the class

Introduce yourself to students

Allow students to get acquainted with each other

Provide an overview of the course o Course expectations o Textbook and other supplies needed o Way the course is handled o How to contact you outside of class

Discuss the course syllabus

Tell students what to do before you meet again

As you follow the instructions in this Users Guide, you will see that all of these same types of activities are included in the Getting Started section of the course template. All Clarendon College online courses follow this same template to make it easier for students to adjust to each new online course they take. Students will complete the Getting Started section during the first few days or first week of your course before they start on the actual course content sections.

Adding additional course content

After you complete the instructions in this users guide, you will learn how to add new course content to your Moodle course. The content types you can add are divided into resources and activities. Resources are ways to deliver instructions and information to the students. Activities are ways to deliver interactive content such as online lessons, assignments, discussion forums, or exams.

You will learn how to add these types of resources and activities in the “Adding Course Content Users Guide.” It is available online in the Developing a Moodle Course training you are currently completing.

The content in the Getting Started section you will edit in your course template includes the following items:

A brief welcome - typed in the summary text box of the section name

Course Overview - added as a “Book” resource

Learn the Basic Moodle Features - added as a “File” resource

Course Syllabus - added as a “Lesson” activity

Ice Breaker Discussion Forum - added as an “Advanced Forum” activity

What to do next - added as a “Page” resource

FYI: This is where you would click to add a new resource or activity.

Welcome

Course Overview book resource

Learn the Basic Moodle Features file resource

Course Syllabus lesson activity

Ice Breaker advanced forum

What to do next page resource

Edit the welcome message

Instructions about how to insert an image are on the next page.

Step 2: Click this pencil (edit summary) icon to edit the Getting Started section name and what is in the summary text box.

Summary text box

Step 3: In the Section name box, type the due date for the Getting Started section. If desired, change the Getting Started title to something more appropriate for your course. (Most instructors leave the title as is.)

Step 4: In the Summary text box read the information in red. Then replace it with your welcome message to your students. Format your text as desired using the word processing buttons.

If you want to insert an image, use the instructions on the next page.

FYI: After you clicked the Turn editing on button, you’ll see small icons beside or below items so you can edit them.

Section name

FYI: This is where settings for this item can be changed. You will learn more about this later. For now, you probably don’t need to change any of them for this item.

Step 5: Click Save changes when done. You will be returned to the front page of your course.

Step 1: Click the Turn editing on button.

Important! You must have the Turn editing on button activated to make any changes to your course.

How to insert an image in your welcome message

1. Find the image and save it. (It can even be an animated gif.)

3. Click the Insert/edit image button in the Summary text box.

2. Place your cursor on the approximate line where you want to insert the image.

4. Click Find or upload an image.

5. Click Upload a file.

6. Click Browse

7. Select your image.

8. Click Open 9. Click Upload this file

10. Type an image description

11. Click Insert

12. To reposition the image, right click on it, select Alignment, then select where to position it.

The Course Overview

The Course Overview in the Getting Started section is where you will put information about your course such as:

course expectations

methods to ask for help

computer/technology requirements

way your course is structured

ways to communicate with you

Although some of this information may also be in your course syllabus, this is a good place to make this important information stand out for your students to notice it. The Course Overview is created using a Moodle Book Resource. A Book Resource is one of two ways in Moodle to add a multi-page document to your course so information can be “chunked” into smaller pieces so students will more likely read it. Moodle calls each page of a Book Resource a ‘chapter.”

A Book Resource is similar to the Moodle Lesson Activity that was used in the “Online lesson: The Course Template” you completed in your Developing a Moodle Course training. The main difference is that a Book resource does not allow you to add questions. It is simply a way to deliver a lot of information in a “chunked” manner.

Use the instructions on the next page to edit the Course Overview of your course template. You will find information in red on each page to give you suggestions on what to put on each page. After reading the suggestions, you will type appropriate information on each page. You may decide to delete some pages not appropriate for your course or add additional pages as needed.

Step by step instructions to edit the Course Overview begin on the next page.

The Course Overview is created as a Book Resource.

Edit the Course Overview

Click the Course Overview link to edit the content of each page of the book resource.

Click the Pencil icon beside each page in the Table of contents to edit the contents of that page.

The information in red gives you suggestions on what you might put on each page.

Click the Save changes button after you make editing changes to each page.

Read the information in red to get suggestions on what to put on each page.

Click the + icon to add a new page to the Course Overview book resource.

Click the X icon to delete a page.

Click one of the icons to reposition the pages.

Look over the settings of the Course Overview

With each resource or activity added to a course, there are settings that determine such things as:

Activity Completion –what conditions will cause a check mark to appear beside the item on the front page of the course indicating the student has completed it

Restrict Access –what conditions cause this item to be available to students, such as being available on certain dates or only when other specific items have been marked as complete

There are other setting choices depending on the type of resource or activity it is.

Although you probably won’t make any setting changes at this time to the Course Overview, use the instructions below to explore the types of choices available with a book resource such as this one.

Click the pencil icon to look over the settings of the Course Overview book resource.

This is the name that will appear on this item’s link on the front page of your course.

Although the book resource settings require you to type a summary here, it does not appear to the students.

Beside most setting choices is a that you can click to learn more about that choice. In this case you will probably not make any changes to the defaults for these 2 settings.

If you set and enable an Allow access from date, students will not see this item on their front page until that date/time. If you set and enable an Allow access until date, students will not see this item on their front page after that date/time. For now there is no need to enable either one.

The Activity completion choices determine what students have to do in order to have the activity completion check mark appear beside this item on the front page of their course. In this case, it is set so once a student views the course overview, the check mark will appear.

Look over the Learn the Basic Moodle Features item

This is the next item in your Getting Started section. It was added as a Moodle File Resource. This type of resource allows you to have a saved file (generally a pdf file) automatically open in a pop-up window when students click on the link. They can then read, save, or print the document.

The purpose of this item is to teach students how to navigate in a Moodle course. If students completed their Moodle Online Success Training orientation course, they should already know the information in this document. We have added it to the Getting Started section in case a student didn’t complete that course or needs to refresh their Moodle navigation skills.

Although you shouldn’t need to make any changes to this item, you should explore it so you’ll know how to add your own File resource later into your new course content

Click on the link to the resource itself to see what students would see. Since a file resource is not a multi-page resource like the Course Overview book resource, you edit everything for the item from the Settings window.

Click the pencil icon to edit the settings of this File Resource.

Description text box: This is the text we want to appear on the front page of the course. In this case, it includes instructions to click on the link. It also includes some tasks we want students to complete after looking at this document

This is where the saved pdf file was added.

This determines the name that students see on the link on the front page of the course.

This sets the pdf file to open in its own pop-up window. To see how this works, click the actual “Learn the basic Moodle Features” link on the front page of the course.

Marking this choice causes all of the information typed in the Description text box to appear on the front page of the course.

We set no Restrict access settings for this item.

We set the Activity completion section so a check mark would appear next to this item on the front page of the course once the students view the item.

Click the actual link to see what students would see.

Edit the Course Syllabus Instructions are on the next 4 pages.

The next item in the Getting Started section is a Lesson Activity called Course Syllabus. Before making changes to this part of the Getting Started section, you should have already created and saved your actual course syllabus. A Lesson Activity is the other method besides a Book Resource of presenting multi-page documents to students. The advantage to a Lesson Activity is that you can include questions in the activity for students to answer so they can assess their understanding of the information. In this lesson activity you will share the information from your actual syllabus. There are three reasons for doing this:

The information will be “chunked” into small “pages” of information to encourage students to actually read it.

You can add questions for them to answer about some of the most important pieces of information in your syllabus so they can assess whether they understand it.

Students have to answer a special question already created for you in which they acknowledge having read the syllabus and agree to abide by the policies in it.

The course is set so that they cannot get into the course content of your course until they answer this special question “correctly.” (This is used to determine whether a student has “attended” your online course when the registrar asks for this information. It can also be used like a “class contract” if a student should ever appeal a grade in your course.)

Step 1: Click the name to edit the contents of each

page of this lesson activity.

Step 2: Click Edit so you can

start adding the information

from your syllabus.

Step 3: Click the pencil

icon beside the desired

page to make changes

to it.

FYI:

Each item in this first column is a different page in

the lesson activity. You will add appropriate

information in each page from your actual

syllabus.

Step 3: Click the pencil

icon beside the desired

page to make changes.

Step 3: Click the pencil

icon beside the desired

page to make changes.

Step 3: Click the pencil

icon beside the desired

page to make changes.

Step 3: Click the pencil

icon beside the desired

page to make changes.

Step 4: Inside each page, read the information in red so you’ll know what to do. Paste the appropriate information from your actual syllabus to each page.

FYI:

The word (or words) typed here creates a green button at the

bottom of the page for students to click on to move to the next

page of the lesson activity. Change the word if desired.

FYI:

This choice determines what happens when the student clicks the

green button. In this situation, it causes the next page of the lesson

activity to appear.

Step 5: After making all needed changes to the page, click the Save page button. Then you can edit the next page in the lesson activity.

FYI:

With simple content pages like you

will be using, you don’t do anything

with the Content 2, 3, or 4 sections.

How to add pages to the Course Syllabus lesson activity

In most cases, you will be able to place all of the information from your syllabus into the pages already created for you in this lesson activity. However, if something doesn’t fit one of the page titles, you can add a new page.

How to delete pages in the Course Syllabus lesson activity

If there are any pages in

the lesson activity that

are not needed, you can

delete them.

FYI: Other icons:

Move (+) button

switches order of

pages

Magnifying glass

lets you preview just

that page

Delete (X) button

deletes the page.

Add a new page

dropdown lets you

add a content

page or question.

To add a new content page, click the down arrow beside the page above where you want the new page to be inserted and choose Add a content page.

A new content page appears for you to fill in. Don’t forget to add the name of the green button in the Content 1 Description box and to choose “Next page” in the Jump drop down list before you save the page.

Click the X icon beside any page

you want to delete.

You can also click the button to move a page up or down in the page order.

How to add question pages to the Course Syllabus lesson activity

You are encouraged to add questions after pages that contain really important information that you want to make sure your students understand. Having questions to answer will also encourage students to take time to read the information on the content pages.

Step 1: To add a question page, click the down arrow beside the page above where you want the question page to be inserted and choose Question.

Step 2: Choose the type of question you want to add. Then click Add a question page.

Step 4: Type the question here.

Step 3: Type a question name here. You are the only one who will see it. I usually just name my questions “Question 1” or “Question 2” ………

Step 5: Type the correct answer here.

Step 6: Type a response for students to see if they got the correct answer. If you do not supply a response, a default response will appear to students, such as “That is the correct answer.”

“Next page” in the Jump drop down choice causes students to automatically go to the next page in the lesson activity if they answered correctly.

The number 1 in the Score box indicates it is the correct answer and students are given a “grade” of 1.

Step 7: Type other possible answers. If it is an incorrect answer, leave the Jump choice at “This page” so students have to try the question again until they get it right. Also leave the Score at 0 if it is an incorrect answer.

Step 8: Click Add a question page when finished.

Edit the Submit Information about yourself item

The next item in the Getting Started section is an optional item. Its purpose is to request private information from your students such as their phone numbers. If you have no personal information you want students to give you privately, delete this activity and move to the next page in these instructions.

If you do want students to give you some private information, read the rest of this page. This item is a special type of Assignment Activity which is generally used so students can type an assignment right from within Moodle for you to “grade.” It is also a perfect method to obtain general information from students even though there is no need to actually give them a grade for doing so. The information they supply is stored in one location for you to easily see. Click the Pencil icon beside this activity to edit it.

Click the pencil icon to edit this item.

Read the information in red in the Description text box to know what to do.

The settings have

already been preset for

you, so you don’t need

to make any changes to

any of this.

Delete icon

After making changes in the Description text box, click Save and return to course.

Edit the Ice Breaker Discussion Forum

The next item in your Getting Started section is an Advanced Forum Activity where you and your students have the opportunity to get acquainted with each other. For this forum, we chose an “Each person posts one discussion” type since we wanted students to post their information once but be able to reply to as many posts as desired. Use these instructions to make editing changes to this item.

Step 2: If desired, change the title that appears on the front page of the course content.

Step 3: Read information in red to give you suggestions on what changes to make to the instructions to your students.

You probably have no need to make changes to

these settings, but clicking the symbols will help you understand the choices.

FYI: This choice means students must complete the Course Overview before they have access to this discussion forum.

FYI: This choice causes the forum title and the restrict access condition to be seen on the front page of the course, but it is grayed out (unavailable) until students complete the Course Overview.

Step 5: After making changes, click Save and return to course.

Step 1: Click the Pencil

icon to edit this item.

Step 4: Make changes here depending on how many replies you want students to post before this forum is considered complete so the completion check mark will appear.

Post information about yourself at the Ice Breaker Discussion Forum

Once you have the discussion forum instructions and settings changed and saved, you should

post information about yourself at the discussion forum so students can learn a little bit about

you. Doing so will help students feel you are “approachable” and will more likely see you as a

“real person.” Use these instructions to post your personal information.

Step 2: Click Add a new discussion topic.

Step 3: Type a Subject, then type your information in the Message text box. You can insert an image of yourself if desired using the same method as explained on Page 4 of this Users Guide.

Step 4: Decide whether you want to have copies of all student posts to this forum sent to your email. (I personally choose not to do this.)

Step 5: Click Post to forum

Step 1: Click the link to the discussion forum.

Edit the What to do next item

The last item in the Getting Started section is a Page resource. A page resource is a good way to provide a simple page of information quickly to the students. The information will appear as soon as students click on the link. The main purpose of this item is to let students know how to start on the first course content section of your course. Use these instructions to make changes as needed.

Step 1: Click the pencil icon beside this item to edit it.

Step 2: In the Page content text box, read the information in red and make appropriate changes. This is the information students will see when they click on the What to do next link.

You do not need to type anything in the Description text box for this item.

Step 3: After making needed changes, click the Save and return to course button.

You probably have no need to make changes to these settings,

but clicking the symbols will help you understand the choices.

Add the Syllabus and Course Schedule to the Quick Links block Instructions are on the next 2 pages.

Background Information According to best practices research, students should have easy access to two very important documents while they are taking an online course:

the course syllabus

the course schedule that lists all important activities, especially graded activities, and their due dates

Although you may have included a course schedule in your syllabus (which is fine), for your online course you should also have the course schedule saved as a separate document for easy student access.

The best place to make these two documents available for easy access in your Moodle course is in the Quick Links block located on the left side of your screen. The following instructions will show you how to make a link to each of those documents in the Quick Links block.

Step 1: Before starting this activity, you should have your Course Syllabus and Course Schedule saved as PDF files. The reason for doing this is so students don’t have to have a special program on their computers, such as Microsoft Word, in order to open and read the document. All they need is the free plugin called Adobe Reader which can be downloaded from the internet. (Most computers already have this program installed.)

Need help saving as PDF file? Create and save your document as normal in Microsoft Word. Then choose Save as and below the filename, select PDF as the file type.

Go to the next page for further instructions

Step 2: Click the pencil icon to edit the Quick Links block.

FYI: These settings set the position of the Quick Links block on the Moodle screen and which content pages it will appear on.

Do not change these settings.

Step 3: Drag across the word Syllabus to select it.

Step 4: Click the Insert/edit link icon. Then go to the next page of the Users Guide for further steps.

Step 5: Choose to Open in a new window from the Target drop down menu so a student won’t accidentally close their Moodle course when they close the document they open. Important! Do this every time you make a link to a document.

Step 6: Click the Browse icon.

Step 7: Click the Upload a file button

Step 8: Click this Browse button.

Step 9: Locate and select your PDF file. Then click the Open button.

Step 10: With the filename showing in the Attachment box, click Upload this file.

Step 11: Click the Insert button.

The word Syllabus should be blue and underlined, indicating the file is linked. Step 12: Follow these same steps to create a link to your Course Schedule PDF file. When finished, click the Save changes button at the bottom of the screen.