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A course format refers to the layout of a course.  They can be changed by the course [[Course administration block]] under [[Course settings|settings]].
{{Courses}}
 
A course format refers to the layout of a course.  The course format can be selected in ''Settings > Course administration > Edit settings''.


==Standard course formats==
==Standard course formats==


===Weekly format===
===Weekly format===
[[Image:Course top weekly mu1.jpg|thumb|Weekly format example]] The course is organized week by week, with a clear start date and a finish date.  Moodle will create a section for each week of your course.  You can add content, forums, quizzes, and so on in the section for each week.   
[[Image:Weeklyoutline.png|thumb|Weekly format example]] The course is organized week by week, with a clear start date and a finish date.  Moodle will create a section for each week of your course.  You can add content, forums, quizzes, and so on in the section for each week.   


:''TIP:'' If you want all your students to work on the same materials at the same time, this would be a good format to choose.
:''TIP:'' If you want all your students to work on the same materials at the same time, this would be a good format to choose.
:''NOTE:'' Make sure your course start date is correct. If it is not your weeks will have the wrong date on it. This is especially important if you are restoring a course to use with a new section of students.


===Topics format===
===Topics format===
The course is organised into topic sections. Each topic section consists of activities.
[[Image:Topicoutline.png|thumb|Topic format example]]The course is organised into topic sections that a teacher can give titles to. Each topic section consists of activities, resources and labels.
 
TIP: This is great to use if your course is objective based and each objective may take different amounts of time to complete. An example of this would be scaffolding where the students are building upon the knowledge from earlier topics.


===Social format===
===Social format===
[[Image:Course top social mu1.jpg|thumb|Social format example]] This format is oriented around one main forum, the Social forum, which appears listed on the main page.  It is useful for situations that are more free form.  They may not even be courses. For example, it could be used as a departmental notice board.  
[[Image:Socialformat.png|thumb|Social format example]] This format is oriented around one main [[Forum module|forum]], the social forum, which appears listed on the main page.  It is useful for situations that are more free form.  They may not even be courses. The [http://moodle.org/course/view.php?id=55 Moodle Lounge] is an example of a social format course.
 
The social forum can be edited by clicking the 'Update this forum' button on the social forum page. The forum introduction is displayed at the top of the course page.


===LAMS course format===
===SCORM format===
[[LAMS|The Learning Activity Management System]] is an open source LMS which allows teachers to use a flash based authoring environment for developing learning sequences. LAMS has been integrated with Moodle to allow teachers to develop LAMS activities within a Moodle course.  This course format makes LAMS central to the course, only displaying the LAMS interface.   
The SCORM format only has 1 section, and allows teacher to insert a pre-built SCORM package. Moodle can use SCORM packages as a content type (see [[SCORM module]]), or as a course format.   


:''TIP:'' If you are interested in using LAMS, check with your system administrator to see if they have installed and configured LAMS.  Very few institutions use LAMS as it duplicates much of the Moodle functionality.
Note: If you have a large SCORM object you want to use as an entire course, then you can select this course format and students will only be able to interact with the SCORM object, not the rest of the Moodle tools.


===SCORM format===
==Contributed course formats==
The [[SCORM/AICC module|Sharable Content Reference Model]] (SCORM) is a content packaging standard.  SCORM packages are self-contained bundles of content and JavaScript activities, which can send data to Moodle about the students score and current location.  Moodle can use SCORM packages as a content type (see [[SCORM/AICC module]]), or as a course format. 


:''TIP:'' If you have a large SCORM object you want to use as an entire course, then you can select this course format and students will only be able to interact with the SCORM object, not the rest of the Moodle tools.
Se MDL-27646 and MDL-28555 and maybe the discussion http://moodle.org/mod/forum/discuss.php?d=175758#p770737


===Weekly format, CSS/no tables===
===Collapsed Topics and its sister format, Collapsed Weeks===
The CSS / No Tables variant of the Weekly format displays the Weekly course format without using tables for layoutThis improves the accessibility of the format, but older browsers have trouble displaying it correctly. This format is available in Moodle 1.6 onwards.
These are formats that are essentially the same as the standard Topic and Weekly formats but with a 'toggle' for each section except '0'The toggles' purpose is to reduce the amount of initial information presented to the user thus reducing the 'scroll of death' that can plague courses with a lot of content. The 'state' of the toggles is remembered on a per course per user basis.  Collapsed Weeks automatically opens the current week. For more information, please visit [[Collapsed_Topics_course_format]] and [[Collapsed_Weeks_course_format]].


==Contributed course formats==
==== Demonstration ====


===Page format===
For a demonstration of 'Collapsed Topics' and its latest structure enhancement please see this video:
Also known as Flexpage, this format is very similar to the Book resource format in a Moodle course. It consists of a theme, course format, and menu module which enables blocks and modules to be intermixed on a 3 column layout, provide tab based navigation through course content, inline display of resources and forums, etc.  Documentation for this format is available [here][http://development.moodlerooms.com/course/view.php?id=34] (must create an account first to view).


===Other contributed course formats===
<mediaplayer>http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gvo-OseVKr8</mediaplayer>


Other contributed course formats include [[Project Course Format]], [[Weekly Tabs]] and Monthly Format (for Moodle 1.9).
===Flexpage===
See [[Flexpage]]
===Folderview===
See [[Folder View]]


An administrator wishing to remove installed formats may do so by removing the format plugin from the installation. That is: remove the directory containing the format for the ''moodle/course/format'' directory. You probably should not remove any of the default course formats, or formats that are in use on the site.
Other contributed course formats are available from the modules and plugins database.


==See also==
==See also==


*[[Course settings]]
*Using Moodle [http://moodle.org/mod/forum/view.php?id=47 Course formats forum]
*Using Moodle [http://moodle.org/mod/forum/view.php?id=47 Course formats forum]
*Using Moodle [http://moodle.org/mod/forum/discuss.php?d=116428 Social format: where to put an introduction] forum discussion
*[http://www.moodleman.net/archives/47 Getting the most out of course design] blog post describing various contributed course formats


[[Category:Course]]
Using Moodle forum discussions:
*[http://moodle.org/mod/forum/discuss.php?d=116428 Social format: where to put an introduction]
*[http://moodle.org/mod/forum/discuss.php?d=136453 RSS Feed for forum in a Social Format course]


[[de:Kursformate]]
[[es:FormatoCurso]]
[[fr:Formats de cours]]
[[fr:Formats de cours]]

Latest revision as of 09:06, 31 July 2012

A course format refers to the layout of a course. The course format can be selected in Settings > Course administration > Edit settings.

Standard course formats

Weekly format

Weekly format example

The course is organized week by week, with a clear start date and a finish date. Moodle will create a section for each week of your course. You can add content, forums, quizzes, and so on in the section for each week.

TIP: If you want all your students to work on the same materials at the same time, this would be a good format to choose.
NOTE: Make sure your course start date is correct. If it is not your weeks will have the wrong date on it. This is especially important if you are restoring a course to use with a new section of students.

Topics format

Topic format example

The course is organised into topic sections that a teacher can give titles to. Each topic section consists of activities, resources and labels.

TIP: This is great to use if your course is objective based and each objective may take different amounts of time to complete. An example of this would be scaffolding where the students are building upon the knowledge from earlier topics.

Social format

Social format example

This format is oriented around one main forum, the social forum, which appears listed on the main page. It is useful for situations that are more free form. They may not even be courses. The Moodle Lounge is an example of a social format course.

The social forum can be edited by clicking the 'Update this forum' button on the social forum page. The forum introduction is displayed at the top of the course page.

SCORM format

The SCORM format only has 1 section, and allows teacher to insert a pre-built SCORM package. Moodle can use SCORM packages as a content type (see SCORM module), or as a course format.

Note: If you have a large SCORM object you want to use as an entire course, then you can select this course format and students will only be able to interact with the SCORM object, not the rest of the Moodle tools.

Contributed course formats

Se MDL-27646 and MDL-28555 and maybe the discussion http://moodle.org/mod/forum/discuss.php?d=175758#p770737

Collapsed Topics and its sister format, Collapsed Weeks

These are formats that are essentially the same as the standard Topic and Weekly formats but with a 'toggle' for each section except '0'. The toggles' purpose is to reduce the amount of initial information presented to the user thus reducing the 'scroll of death' that can plague courses with a lot of content. The 'state' of the toggles is remembered on a per course per user basis. Collapsed Weeks automatically opens the current week. For more information, please visit Collapsed_Topics_course_format and Collapsed_Weeks_course_format.

Demonstration

For a demonstration of 'Collapsed Topics' and its latest structure enhancement please see this video:

<mediaplayer>http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gvo-OseVKr8</mediaplayer>

Flexpage

See Flexpage

Folderview

See Folder View

Other contributed course formats are available from the modules and plugins database.

See also

Using Moodle forum discussions: