Note: You are currently viewing documentation for Moodle 1.9. Up-to-date documentation for the latest stable version is available here: Teacher documentation.

Talk:Teacher documentation

From MoodleDocs

Page graphics

I added some graphics and learned how to float then to the left. It does not add a great deal of length to the article. They come from 1.6.1 . It occured to me that the drop downs provide the list, and the text the links. Notice the text needs to be adjusted to the reality of what is actually there :) I like some visuals to provide context and I think this makes this opening page from the teacher link on the left of just about every MoodleDoc page, more friendly. What do you think Helen and others? --Chris collman 19:44, 11 August 2006 (WST)

Hi Chris, please let's not make this page any longer! How about making it into the "jump station" we agreed upon previously? --Helen Foster 08:39, 4 September 2006 (CDT)

What's the point???

I have been doing some work on this page based upon a suggestion I made (and helen agreed) in the docs forum which changes the lists to paragraphs. I feel this has made things better but the page obviously now needs a lot of work. I was wondering what the point / outcome of this page is? What does it hope to achieve? That may sound pretty obvious but it still isn't clear to me. Sure it introduces moodle features to teachers but there are so many ways to do that. Is it just an explanation of the features? Is it a human, friendly explanation of the features? Should it cover application in real life? Should there be a tutorial element to it? All of the above?

Also I was thinking that it is still a long page and will only increase in length. How about splitting it up further into smaller pages so you can navigate like a book. A bit like this site with a TOC for the pages and next links but only clearer and nicer of course :-). Darren Smith 19th March 2006

I think we need different pages for the different purposes you mention. Yes, there should be a tutorial. Yes, there should be a comprehensive explanation of all the features. And yes, there should be a human-friendly explanation of the essentials. This last page is the one that Helen was asking for to replace the current teacher help file in Moodle. It should be distributed with Moodle. It should be a single page, not much longer than the current teacher help file but more up-to-date. --Gustav Delius 16:12, 20 March 2006 (WST)
Darren, a big THANK YOU for your work on the Teacher documentation page - it's looking so much better now. :-)
Gustav, I agree with all your points apart from the human-friendly explanation of the essentials being distributed with Moodle - it should be the Teacher documentation page (see Bug 4803 - Redirect help link in course administration block to Teacher documentation). --Helen Foster 16:54, 23 March 2006 (WST)
Thanks Helen. A big thank you to you for this docs project! I am feeling better about the page now I finally removed the upload section. A lot of this stuff exists elsewhere so I am using the intro page as a jump station - seem fair enough? Also, is it possible to tell a page not to display a TOC as I think it would be more friendly if visiting teachers were presented with the introduction rather then a hyperlink list. --Darren Smith 04:57, 24 March 2006 (WST) (Is it possible to change the time in the sig?
Hi Darren, please note that typing __NOTOC__ removes the TOC. Your "jump station" plan sounds good to me :-) The signature time seems to be a bug. At least it's consistently wrong ;-) --Helen Foster 16:57, 24 March 2006 (WST)
Hey Darren, ditto wonderful work here. I have not looked at this section in a couple of months. While I would like to assume that anyone looking at Moodle undertands links, I would still point out the obvious to teachers that there are links that lead to other pages with more details, right at the top. Just a clue will do.

Gets me thinking about cross linking the Demo Moodle to the appropriate MoodleDoc page(s). For example, if I look at the lesson topic, there is not only the lesson example but also lesson references in the topic that could serve as the overview, which contain links to MoodleDoc pages. That would assist potential new moodlers as well as serving as an example of walking the Moodle walk. Again - thanks for your effort.--Chris collman 21:08, 25 April 2006 (WST)

Changed intro

I moved the instructions about logging in and troubleshooting logging in to their own pages so a) they can be expanded and b) it keeps the intro section concise. I have also restored the instructions stating that you need a teaching editing account or admin account as I feel that is an essential starting point. I have tweaked the new introduction but was tempted to remove it. Do we need to explain what moodle is here as it is covered elsewhere in the wiki? --Darren Smith 04:52, 5 April 2006 (WST)

You're doing a great job Darren! Please feel free to remove the Moodle explanation. --Helen Foster 18:16, 10 April 2006 (WST)
As a newbie to this wiki I though it prudent to put a link to the full teacher category at the top of the page, a way of going directly to an article that you may be interested in. --Lindsay Magnus 18:50, 17 July 2006 (WST)
Lindsay thanks for comment, and change. I tweaked it to be even more obvious. I think new users should jump to the page Teacher. From the page teacher, there should be a See Also short list of links, such as the catagory index for teacher, perhaps to this page and links for a new administrator.

Consider that a new teacher might logically from Moodle.org click on "Free documentation", then "Welcome! Are you new, confused Start Here" then "Moodle Documentation" and then "Teacher Documentation". 4 logical clicks for the brand new user and this is where they end up. New users are not dumb and quickly notice this page is about the mechanics of course, not about a teacher or a teacher's approach to Moodle. Yeah my usual new user soapbox which has to be balanced by the user who wants to know the basics of a course from a teacher's perspective.

There have been a lot of excellent changes to this page that really help our community get what they need faster. Best to all --Chris collman 23:23, 30 July 2006 (WST)

New Intro and next wave of pages

Added a link at the top of the page to Teaching and Learning with Moodle course at Moodle.org The intent of the course is not to duplicate (there is some duplication and several references to Moodle Docs in here) but to have perhaps little more coherent entry point to Moodle from teaching rather than technical side of things. The course is in its initial stages and will serve as a focal point for many activities we intend to run from HQ in terms of pedagogical/andragogical use (see Moodle Recipes for Educators - first such project, more flagged in the Welcome message at the top of the course). Cheers --Tomaz Lasic 07:37, 23 March 2010 (UTC)

Thanks for the link. It was broken and I fixed it. Guess it comes down to the question if the chicken or the egg comes first. The egg is the how to, the chicken is the example. :). This is the start of the next wave of pages, examples of how things can work. Whoopee! --Chris collman 12:59, 23 March 2010 (UTC)

Major changes?

Does Teacher documentation require major changes? The last major change, made by Darren mostly, was to move away from a page simply listing links https://docs.moodle.org/en/index.php?title=Teacher_documentation&oldid=6986 Do we really want to return to this? --Helen Foster 04:51, 5 September 2006 (CDT)

Sigh. Thought we wanted a format like developer documentation and administrator documentation (lists organized by tasks), which I took to be jumping off places (blush). WIP notices not good even if for a day on the major Teacher link (double blush). In the cold light of the morning, my self assessment is that I am clearly confused about this page.

I myself like this page better than the other two. I do favor the format of text with embedded links to pages and some pictures. I have to stay with that thesis on this page, keep verbal and visually interesting and moving right along (letting links do the talking). Thanks for correction, hope I did not create a spike in blood pressure on that one. --Chris collman 06:52, 5 September 2006 (CDT)



Adminstration block changes

Note, the MoodleDoc page Course administration block has most of this material built into with links as was suggested in this section of page comments. Thanks for assistance. --Chris collman 09:12, 26 May 2007 (CDT)

Below is for example. I would delete Administration block sub heading and make the course teacher tools the same as Block et al. Will work on words below and weave more links into discussion.

Course teacher tools

Maybe we don't need this heading, just jump to the below.

Teacher's people tools

Features in the administration block allow teachers to manage student and teacher enrollments and their groups/cohorts and access the private Teacher forum.

Grades

Teachers can view the course gradebook, create custom grading scales by the administration block links.

Presentation settings

You can change the way students (and other teachers) access and view your course by exploring the Settings option in the administration block. This page has over 30 different parameters to select. It is a place to select the section format, when the course is visible, more....

Virtual handouts & resources

Another much used feature of the administration block is the Files link. From here you can upload any digital content for inclusion in an activity, resource, course section or for a direct download. These files can be moved, renamed, edited directly on the server (if they are HTML or text) or deleted. You can also create a directory and display the whole contents of that directory to course students using the add resource drop down in any course section. Of course if your content resides out on the web then you don't need to upload the files at all - you can link directly to them from inside the course using the link to file or website option.

Student tools

All of the links in the administration block are only available to teachers of the course. Students will receive their own version of the block which will display a link to their own gradebook and, if enabled, their own course logs. Need links for teachers about student's in Moodle.

Where to mention Blogs?

There was no mention of Blogs in Moodle on the article page. The Blogs page belongs to Teacher category. I added a link to it to the See also section, but it might deserve a more prominent link somewhere? It's not a resource or module... maybe something mentioning "other" pedagogical tools in Moodle than the activity modules? --Samuli Karevaara 02:40, 30 October 2006 (CST)

Good points. Blogs are part of blocks. Having been gently reminded :) to not add to the length of this page, I thought a picture of the block menu was worth 1,000 words. What I just did was use your link Blogs(Thank you), and updated Block (teacher) which was also Blog link-less. I also added more links to the Block section on the teacher documentation page so the reader might get the idea that there was more to learn about blocks.
The block type section has a pretty impressive list and actually none are "more important" than another. I guess we could string every block feature in a sentence under Blocks on this page and put links there as well. Subject to the ultimate approval of those who watch over page lengths. However, these are just my thoughts and this is a collaborative effort. Thanks for the comment and putting in the Blog link --Chris collman 12:22, 31 October 2006 (CST)

How about this template for just Teacher documentation page

Rather than make the experienced teacher dig in the text, why not have this template. I would only put it on the teacher documentation page, because once they pick an activity, that will have it's own template of sub catagories. I have not looked at this template in a couple of months and it may need some corrections/additions. --Chris collman 07:36, 23 June 2007 (CDT)

Hi Chris, thanks for your suggestion. I guess what you're wanting to do is to provide an easy way of navigating to other pages of interest for teachers. If you've not done so already, you may be interested in browsing the long history of the Teacher documentation page and seeing how it changed from being a list of links (similar to your Teacher doc template) to being paragraphs of text. --Helen Foster 06:22, 25 June 2007 (CDT)
I strongly support Chris' suggestion. His list was the information I was looking for when I landed on this page -- an index of documentation for Teachers. I suggest the "Getting Started" material should be moved to a separate page and added as an entry (at the top, if you wish). Donna Hrynkiw 12:25, 21 May 2008 (CDT)
Thanks Donna. I put up the template and changed it so instead of linking to other templates, It jumps to the main over view page. I think that will work better for people. --Chris collman 08:02, 22 June 2008 (CDT)

Links to more student help/handouts?

I am new to Moodle. I am a graduate student in technical communication. As part of a group project for a knowledge management class, I and two other students would like to contribute to Moodle's documentation and/or other types of help. We noticed that teachers cannot easily come to MoodleDocs and find information to give students who have questions about Moodle. For example, the Student FAQ is short and related to only technical issues. Also, both the Student tutorials page and the idea of creating more student documentation pages seem to have been abandoned. From my investigations, it seems like most student help is created by individual teachers and universities. If my assumption is true, would teachers like a page that links to different handouts and tutorials that others have created for students? Then teachers could easily find existing documentation to modify instead of starting from scratch when they need helpful resources for their students.--Apryl Jackson 15:35, 21 February 2008 (CST)

Hi, Please put in those links! Good point, why completely reinvent the wheel. (Humor here: My research data indicates that students are the most numerous users of Moodle.) On a more serious note, having examples of documentation could be a great help and who knows what it might inspire in MoodleDocs? Did you see the Moodle Documentation forum thread ? --Chris collman 07:32, 22 February 2008 (CST)
Thanks, Chris, for the encouragement. My classmates and I searched the documentation forums and the internet to come up with a list of example student documentation. I just posted our results to a page called Student documentation examples. I put links to it in the See Also section of this Teacher documentation page, some of the student pages, and the discussion that one of my classmates started in the Moodle documentation forum. Of course, the page that we created, like all of Moodle Docs, is a work in progress, and we look forward to feedback.--Apryl Jackson 13:49, 13 March 2008 (CDT)

Moved Getting Started Content

I moved the Getting Started material to its own page because I felt that Teacher Documentation home page should be an overview of all teacher documentation; returning teachers shouldn't have to scroll past beginner material to get to the index of resources.

I think a little more categorization wouldn't hurt, but don't have time right now to visit all the links to find out more about them.

--Donna Hrynkiw 11:49, 13 June 2008 (CDT)

I generally agree with you. I made a suggestion along those line when I had more hair and was politely told no. At the time, I thought all three Documentation "Teacher" "Administrator" "Developer" links should go to pages that looked the same. On the other hand(s), note that MoodleDocs is not just for the experienced and indexes are efficient but cold and unfriendly. Why not a link off the other page with a nice orange (Expert Index box) to this one. Just look at how the administration index page has grown, I had to add links to get back to the top of the page to cut down on wear and tear on my mouse wheel :)
And for the experts, what are all those category things supposed to be used for anyway if not as an index? Not trying to be negative, just talking about many concerns.
I was also thinking that a master teacher documentation template sidebox, would accomplish what this index lays out. I wanted to put a Teacher master sidebox for those experienced users on what is/was called Getting Started. See it at the top of this page. When someone clicked on say Lesson, they would jump to the Lesson module page, which in turn has its own template sidebox with the major parts of Lesson broken out. This kept within the style of the rest of the teacher pages yet some quick drilldowns for those who knew where they were going but forgot the page name. Quicking than scrolling down a page or trying to get past a huge TOC.
This page has received over 600,000 views, so while I can accept your changes and work on this page to make it more user friendly to new users, I was a little surprised. But this is a good thing because we need to keep up the discussion about improvements to MoodleDocs. Best to all--Chris collman 13:01, 17 June 2008 (CDT)


Video links

I am wondering if we have or need to have a page for video links for how to Moodle for Teachers? I know there is a ton out there, many of these links show up in the "see also" of specific pages. The trend is to put up more, so at some point I wonder if this page which we wanted to be short, is going to grow. I do appreciate the links! --Chris collman 12:47, 5 February 2010 (UTC)

Major rewrite Oct 2010

The page needed a bit of TLC, as suggested by Helen, Martin and my own steam. Last previous edit was many months ago.

I've removed a few links, changed the structure to something a bit more coherent, up-to-date and a touch more 'Wikipedia-ish'. Will work on the (new) pages some more, extend my explanation.

I'll be giving a priority to Teacher FAQ page (there are so many, it would be great if we could have literally a whole bank in one spot), will add and organise that page from different sources and add many more Q

High on the list of priorities are also primary, secondary, tertiary, adult ed/training pages. I started them, hoping to develop folks ;-)

Will need a 2.0 'getting started' page as well to reflect changes as 2.0 goes stable.

Shall we keep the Teacher Docs menu to different activities?

Feedback welcome. Thanks. Tomaz Lasic

Thanks Tomaz for your edits. (Do not forget to sign your comments :) I like to see simple, focused English in Moodle Docs because it gets read by people that are not native speakers of English. I liked your changes and it inspired me to pick up my keyboard again. --Chris collman 22:07, 25 October 2010 (UTC)

Moodle principles

My spellchecker does not recognize andragogical nor it's alternative spelling androgogical. I can only wonder how this section translates in other languages.

It seems to me that pedagogy refers to teacher driven ("traditional") and andragogical to student driven ("adult learning"), while social constructionist theory offers a different context for these roles. Alternative #1:

The design and development of Moodle is guided by a theory of teaching and learning called social constructionist. Moodle can be and is used to support other educational approaches involving pedagogical (teacher driven) to andragogical (student driven) theories. However, the core Moodle package will continue to be built with a particular view of the teacher's role.

Alternative #2 is shorter and follows the current version's form.

The design and development of Moodle has been guided by a social constructionist theory and practice of teaching and learning. Moodle can be and is used to support a range of other pedagogical to andragogical approaches. However, the core Moodle package will continue to be built with a particular view of the teacher's role and is guided by five key principles.

I know this is dear to the hearts of many so I will not make the change without receiving some comments from others. --Chris collman 11:49, 15 March 2011 (UTC)