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==Category==
{{Courses}}
A teacher, or other user with the [[Capabilities/moodle/course:update|update course settings capability]], can change course settings in ''Administration > Course administration > Edit settings''.


Your Moodle administrator may have set up several course categories.
==General==


For example, "Science", "Humanities", "Public Health" etc
===Course full name===


Choose the one most applicable for your course. This choice will affect where your course is displayed on the course listing and may make it easier for students to find your course.
This is the name of the course. It is displayed as a link on course lists on the [[Front page]] and on the [[Dashboard]] and in reports.  It is also used in the browser title bar when the course is viewed.


==Full name==
The capability [[Capabilities/moodle/course:changefullname|moodle/course:changefullname]] controls whether a user can edit the course full name.


The full name of the course is displayed at the top of the screen and in the course listings.
===Short name===


==Short name==
Many institutions have a shorthand way of referring to a course, such as BP102 or COMMS.  Even if you do not already have such a name for your course, make one up here.  It will be used in several places where the long name is not appropriate, such as the Navigation block.


Many institutions have a shorthand way of referring to a course, such as BP102 or COMMS. Even you don't already have such a name for your course, make one up here. It will be used in several places where the long name isn't appropriate (such us in the subject line of email).
The capability [[Capabilities/moodle/course:changeshortname|moodle/course:changeshortname]] controls whether a user can edit the short name field.


==ID number==
By default, only course full names are displayed in the list of courses. However an administrator can enable short names to be displayed too if required by ticking the checkbox in ''Administration > Site administration > Appearance > Courses''.


The ID number of a course is only used when matching this course against external systems - it is never displayed within Moodle. If you have an official code name for this course then use it here ... otherwise you can leave it blank.
=== Course category===


==Summary==
The site administrator may have created course categories to help teachers and students find their courses easily.  Course categories may be reflected in the [[Navigation block]].


The summary of the course is displayed in the course listings.
The capability [[Capabilities/moodle/course:changecategory|moodle/course:changecategory]] controls whether a user can edit the course category.


==Format==
===Course start date===


A Moodle course may use one of the following three formats:
This setting affects the display of logs and the weekly format topic dates.


'''Weekly format'''
If you use the "Weekly" course format, the start date will appear in the first section of the course. For example selecting 27 July, will display "27 July - 2 August" in the first section (when default display is selected for that section). 


The course is organised week by week, with a clear start date and a finish date. Each week consists of activities. Some of them, like journals, may have "open windows" of, say, two weeks after which they become unavailable.
This setting will have an effect on the display of logs. This will be the earliest possible date the log activity will display.  


'''Topics format'''
This setting will '''not''' affect courses using the 'social' or 'topics' formats.


Very similar to the weekly format, except that each "week" is called a topic. A "topic" is not restricted to any time limit. You don't need to specify any dates.
:''TIP:'' If your institution runs on a weekly schedule, you may want to consider setting the start date for courses on the first day of the week, like a Monday. Please note that the 'first day of the week' is set by the [https://docs.moodle.org/dev/Translation_langconfig langconfig file] of your [[Language]], and might be different from the default Monday of the English language pack.


'''Social format'''
:''TIP:'' In general, if your course does not have a real starting date then set the date to yesterday and use the availability setting to reveal the course to students. 


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 freeform. They may not even be courses. For example, it could be used as a departmental notice board.
:''TIP:'' See self enrolment course settings to prevent students from entering the course before a certain date/time.


==Course start date==
===Visible===


This is where you specify the starting time of the course (in your own timezone).
Here you can "hide" your course completely. It will not appear on any course listings, except for managers, course creators, teachers and any other users with the [[Capabilities/moodle/course:viewhiddencourses|view hidden courses capability]]. Even if students try to access the course URL directly, they will not be allowed to enter.


If you are using a 'weekly' course format, this will affect the display of the weeks. The first week will start on the date you set here.
The [[Capabilities/moodle/course:visibility|hide/show courses capability]] controls whether a user can hide a course.


This setting will not affect courses using the 'social' or 'topics' formats.
Note: In earlier versions of Moodle, this setting was named 'Course availability'.


However, one place this setting will be affect is the display of logs, which use this date as the earliest possible date you can display.
=== Course ID number===


In general, if your course does have a real starting date then it makes sense to set this date to that, no matter what course formats you are using.
The ID number is an alphanumeric field.  It has several potential uses.  Generally, it is not displayed to students.  However, it can be used to match this course against an external system's ID, as your course catalogue ID or can be used in the certificate module as a printed field.


==Enrolment duration==
The capability [[Capabilities/moodle/course:changeidnumber|moodle/course:changeidnumber]] controls whether a user can edit the ID number.


This setting specifies the number of days a student can be enrolled in this course (starting from the moment they enroll).
==Description==
{|
|[[File:coursesummary.png|thumb|500px|Description settings expanded by default]]
|}


If this is set, then students are automatically unenrolled after the specified time has elapsed. This is most useful for rolling courses without a specific start or end time.
===Course summary===


If you don't set this then the student will remain in this course until they are manually unenrolled or the clean-up function to remove defunct students takes effect.
The summary appears on the course listings page.  This field is searched when searching for a course and also appears in the Course/Site description block.


If you have selected to manage this course as a meta course, your enrolment period will not be used.
The capability [[Capabilities/moodle/course:changesummary|moodle/course:changesummary]] controls whether a user can edit the course summary.


==Number of weeks/topics==
===Course summary files===


This setting is only used by the 'weekly' and 'topics' course formats.
An image (and if allowed by the administrator, other file types) may be attached to the course summary. They will be accessible by anyone from outside of the course just like  the course name and/or summary. Only users with [[Capabilities/moodle/course:changesummary| moodle/course:changesummary capability]] are able to upload/change course summary files.
''Note that if this is not allowed by the administrator, then no box will appear to upload course summary files''.


In the 'weekly' format, it specifies the number of weeks that the course will run for, starting from the course starting date.
By default, only jpg, gif and png file types are allowed as course summary files. An administrator can change the allowed file types in ''Administration > Site administration > Appearance > Courses''.


In the 'topics' format, it specifies the number of topics in the course.
==Course format==


Both of these translate to the number of "boxes" down the middle of the course page.
(These settings are collapsed by default.)
{|
|[[File:coursefomat25.png|thumb|500px|Course format settings expanded]]
|}


==Group mode==
===Format===


Here you can define the group mode at the course level. This will be the default group mode for all activities defined within that course. (Learn more about [[working with groups]])
See [[Course formats]]


==Force==
===Number of sections===


If the group mode is "forced" at a course-level, then this particular group mode will be applied to every activity in that course. Individual group settings in each activity are then ignored.
This setting is only used by the 'weekly' and 'topics' course formats.  In the 'weekly' format, it specifies the number of weeks that the course will run for, starting from the course starting date.  In the 'topics' format, it specifies the number of topics in the course. Both of these translate to the number of "boxes" down the middle of the course page.


This is useful when, for example, one wants to set up a course for a number of completely separate cohorts.
If the number of weeks/topics is changed for an existing course so that the number is less than the number of course sections containing activities (for example the course contains activities in 3 sections and the number or weeks/topics is set to 2) then when editing is turned on section(s) at the bottom of the course page will be shown with the title 'Orphaned activities'.


==Availability==
The number of weeks/topics may be set to 0, so that only the top general section is displayed on the course page and there are no numbered sections.


This option allows you to "hide" your course completely. It will not appear on any course listings, except to teachers of the course and administrators. Even if students try to access the course URL directly, they will not be allowed to enter.
By default, the maximum number of weeks/topics is 52, but an administrator can set a different maximum number which will apply to all courses on the site (see below).


==Enrolment key==
===Hidden sections===


A course enrolment key is what keeps unwanted people out of your course.
This option allows you to decide how the hidden sections in your course are displayed to students.  By default, a small area is shown (in collapsed form, usually grey) to indicate where the hidden section is, though they still cannot actually see the hidden activities and texts.  This is particularly useful in the Weekly format, so that non-class weeks are clear, or if you have quizzes you don't want your students to see.


If you leave this blank, then anyone who has created a Moodle username on this site will be able to enrol in your course simply by going in to it.
:''TIP:'' If you choose, these non-available items can be completely hidden, so that students do not even know  that sections or an activity in the course are hidden.


If you put something here, then students who are trying to get in for the FIRST TIME ONLY will be asked to supply this word or phrase.
===Course layout===


The idea is that you will supply the key to authorised people using another means like private email, snail mail, on the phone or even verbally in a face to face class.
The Course layout setting determines whether the whole course is displayed on one page or split over several pages. The setting currently applies to the topics and weekly core course formats and contributed collapsed topics course format only.


If this password "gets out" and you have unwanted people enrolling, you can unenrol them (see their user profile page) and change this key. Any legitimate students who have already enrolled will not be affected, but the unwanted people won't be able to get back in.
Teachers choose from the dropdown whether they wish to "show all sections on one page" in the familiar scrolling format, or "show one section per page".  


==Guest access==
If one section per page is selected, the course page is abbreviated to a list of links to individual sections. If an individual section is shown, next and previous sections may be accessed via links above and below the section.


You have the choice of allowing "guests" into your course.
{|
| [[File:one section per page course format.png|thumb|Course page for course using one section per page course layout]]
| [[File:Single_section_page.png|thumb|Individual section of a course using one section per page course layout]]
|}


People can log in as guests using the "Login as a guest" button on the login screen.
Visit the School demo site course [http://school.demo.moodle.net/course/view.php?id=37 The Types of Sport] to see the "Show one section per page" course layout in action!


Guests ALWAYS have "read-only" access - meaning they can't leave any posts or otherwise mess up the course for real students.
For further details plus screenshots, see blog post [http://www.somerandomthoughts.com/blog/2012/05/08/moodle-2-3-section-per-page/ Moodle 2.3 – Section per page] by Gavin Henrick.


This can be handy when you want to let a colleague in to look around at your work, or to let students see a course before they have decided to enrol.
==Appearance==


Note that you have a choice between two types of guest access: with the enrolment key or without. If you choose to allow guests who have the key, then the guest will need to provide the current enrolment key EVERY TIME they log in (unlike students who only need to do it once). This lets you restrict your guests. If you choose to allow guests without a key, then anyone can get straight into your course.
(These settings are collapsed by default.)


==Hidden sections==
{|
|[[File:appearancecourse252.png|thumb|500px|Appearance settings expanded]]
|}


This option allows you to decide how the hidden sections in your course are displayed to students.
===Force theme===


By default, a small area is shown (in collapsed form, usually gray) to indicate where the hidden section is, though they still can not actually see the hidden activities and texts. This is particularly useful in the Weekly format, so that non-class weeks are clear.
If the site administrator has allowed the teacher to set a course [[Themes|theme]], this pull down menu will appear with a list of themes on the site.  Teachers can use this to choose a different look for the course from the rest of the Moodle site.


If you choose, these can be completely hidden, so that students don't even know sections of the course are hidden.
=== Force language===
 
If you force a language in a course, the interface of Moodle in this course will be in this particular language, even if a student has selected a different preferred language in his/her personal profile.
 
The capability [[Capabilities/moodle/site:forcelanguage|moodle/site:forcelanguage]] may be allowed by the admin for users who need to override this language (for example, when testing problems in a course in a language they do not know.)
 
===News items to show===
 
How many news items should show the [[Latest news block]].  Set it to 0 and Latest news block will not appear.
 
The Latest News block relies on the use of the associated News Forum. News posted in other forums do not display in the latest News block
 
===Show gradebook to students===
 
Here you can decide whether to allow students to see the link to [[Grades|grades]] in the Administration block. If your course doesn't use graded activities, it makes sense to disable this. If grades are used and this link is disabled, students can still see their grade from the actual activity itself, such as an [[Assignment|assignment]]
 
===Show activity reports===
 
Here you can decide whether to show students their [[Activity_report#Individual_Activity_Report|activity reports]]. Doing so places a load on the server however, which is why the setting is disabled by default.
 
==Files and uploads==
 
(These settings are collapsed by default.)
 
===Maximum upload size===
 
Here you can decide the largest size of file that students can upload to a course.  The site administrator can determine [[Site_policies#Maximum_uploaded_file_sizefile |sizes available]] for the teacher to select.
 
Editing teachers or other users may be allowed to upload files larger than the maximum size by giving them the capability [[Capabilities/moodle/course:ignorefilesizelimits|moodle/course:ignorefilesizelimits]]
 
==Completion tracking==
 
(These settings are collapsed by default.)
 
Completion  tracking must be enabled for [[Activity completion]]. [[Course completion]] criteria may also be based upon Activity completion values found in the activity's settings.
 
==Groups==
 
(These settings are collapsed by default.)
{|
|[[File:coursegroups25.png|thumb|500px|Groups settings expanded]]
|}
 
===Group mode===
 
Here you can define the [[Groups|group mode]] at the course level by a pull down menu. "[[Groups#No_groups|No groups]]", "[[Groups#Separate_groups|Separate groups]]" and "[[Groups#Visible_groups|Visible groups]]" are the choices. The selected setting will be the default group mode for all activities defined within that course.  The group setting can affect what users see in the participants list and who they can interact with in activities.
 
===Force===
 
If the group mode is "forced" at a course-level, then this particular group mode will be applied to every activity in that course. This will override any activities that may have a special group setting. 
 
===Default grouping===
 
If [[Groupings|groupings]] are enabled, a default grouping for course activities and resources may be set.
 
==Role renaming==
 
(These settings are collapsed by default.)
{|
|[[File:rolerenaming.png|thumb|500px|Role renaming settings expanded]]
|}
You can rename the [[Roles|roles]] used in your course. For example, you may wish to rename the [[Teacher role]] as "Facilitator", "Tutor" or "Guide". These new role names will appear within the course. For example on the participants and the override permissions pages.
 
Please note that the site administrator may have changed the names or added new roles.  These names will appear and the teacher may rename them.
 
If you want the word for 'Teacher' to be different in all courses on the site, a site admin can edit the roles of teacher and non-editing teacher in ''Administration > Site administration > Users > Permissions > Define roles'' and change the custom full name there.
 
==Tags==
{{New features}}
Teachers  can add course tags here, either new tags or official tags. See [[Using tags]] for more information.
 
== Site administration settings==
 
An administrator can set course default settings in ''Administration > Site administration > Courses > Course default settings''.
 
The maximum number of weeks/topics may be set for all courses on the site. The default value is 52.
 
==Preventing teachers from editing course settings==
 
Any/all of the following fields - course full name, short name, ID number and category, summary - may be locked to prevent teachers from editing them. To do so:
 
#Access ''Site Administration > Users > Permissions > Define roles''.
#Click the edit icon opposite the teacher role.
#Change any/all of the capabilities [[Capabilities/moodle/course:changefullname|moodle/course:changefullname]], [[Capabilities/moodle/course:changeshortname|moodle/course:changeshortname]], [[Capabilities/moodle/course:changeidnumber|moodle/course:changeidnumber]], [[Capabilities/moodle/course:changecategory|moodle/course:changecategory]], [[Capabilities/moodle/course:changesummary|moodle/course:changesummary]] from allow to not set.
#Click the "Save changes" button at the bottom of the page.
 
==See also==
* [http://youtu.be/19ke-cvhnug Moodle Course Settings] MoodleBites video on YouTube 
* [http://youtu.be/rg6rUuBwITo Moodle 2 Administration Courses] MoodleBites video on YouTube
 
[[de:Kurseinstellungen]]
[[es:Configuraciones del curso]]
[[eu:Ikastaroaren_ezarpenak]]
[[fr:Paramètres du cours]]
[[ja:コース設定]]

Latest revision as of 06:09, 19 April 2016

A teacher, or other user with the update course settings capability, can change course settings in Administration > Course administration > Edit settings.

General

Course full name

This is the name of the course. It is displayed as a link on course lists on the Front page and on the Dashboard and in reports. It is also used in the browser title bar when the course is viewed.

The capability moodle/course:changefullname controls whether a user can edit the course full name.

Short name

Many institutions have a shorthand way of referring to a course, such as BP102 or COMMS. Even if you do not already have such a name for your course, make one up here. It will be used in several places where the long name is not appropriate, such as the Navigation block.

The capability moodle/course:changeshortname controls whether a user can edit the short name field.

By default, only course full names are displayed in the list of courses. However an administrator can enable short names to be displayed too if required by ticking the checkbox in Administration > Site administration > Appearance > Courses.

Course category

The site administrator may have created course categories to help teachers and students find their courses easily. Course categories may be reflected in the Navigation block.

The capability moodle/course:changecategory controls whether a user can edit the course category.

Course start date

This setting affects the display of logs and the weekly format topic dates.

If you use the "Weekly" course format, the start date will appear in the first section of the course. For example selecting 27 July, will display "27 July - 2 August" in the first section (when default display is selected for that section).

This setting will have an effect on the display of logs. This will be the earliest possible date the log activity will display.

This setting will not affect courses using the 'social' or 'topics' formats.

TIP: If your institution runs on a weekly schedule, you may want to consider setting the start date for courses on the first day of the week, like a Monday. Please note that the 'first day of the week' is set by the langconfig file of your Language, and might be different from the default Monday of the English language pack.
TIP: In general, if your course does not have a real starting date then set the date to yesterday and use the availability setting to reveal the course to students.
TIP: See self enrolment course settings to prevent students from entering the course before a certain date/time.

Visible

Here you can "hide" your course completely. It will not appear on any course listings, except for managers, course creators, teachers and any other users with the view hidden courses capability. Even if students try to access the course URL directly, they will not be allowed to enter.

The hide/show courses capability controls whether a user can hide a course.

Note: In earlier versions of Moodle, this setting was named 'Course availability'.

Course ID number

The ID number is an alphanumeric field. It has several potential uses. Generally, it is not displayed to students. However, it can be used to match this course against an external system's ID, as your course catalogue ID or can be used in the certificate module as a printed field.

The capability moodle/course:changeidnumber controls whether a user can edit the ID number.

Description

Description settings expanded by default

Course summary

The summary appears on the course listings page. This field is searched when searching for a course and also appears in the Course/Site description block.

The capability moodle/course:changesummary controls whether a user can edit the course summary.

Course summary files

An image (and if allowed by the administrator, other file types) may be attached to the course summary. They will be accessible by anyone from outside of the course just like the course name and/or summary. Only users with moodle/course:changesummary capability are able to upload/change course summary files. Note that if this is not allowed by the administrator, then no box will appear to upload course summary files.

By default, only jpg, gif and png file types are allowed as course summary files. An administrator can change the allowed file types in Administration > Site administration > Appearance > Courses.

Course format

(These settings are collapsed by default.)

Course format settings expanded

Format

See Course formats

Number of sections

This setting is only used by the 'weekly' and 'topics' course formats. In the 'weekly' format, it specifies the number of weeks that the course will run for, starting from the course starting date. In the 'topics' format, it specifies the number of topics in the course. Both of these translate to the number of "boxes" down the middle of the course page.

If the number of weeks/topics is changed for an existing course so that the number is less than the number of course sections containing activities (for example the course contains activities in 3 sections and the number or weeks/topics is set to 2) then when editing is turned on section(s) at the bottom of the course page will be shown with the title 'Orphaned activities'.

The number of weeks/topics may be set to 0, so that only the top general section is displayed on the course page and there are no numbered sections.

By default, the maximum number of weeks/topics is 52, but an administrator can set a different maximum number which will apply to all courses on the site (see below).

Hidden sections

This option allows you to decide how the hidden sections in your course are displayed to students. By default, a small area is shown (in collapsed form, usually grey) to indicate where the hidden section is, though they still cannot actually see the hidden activities and texts. This is particularly useful in the Weekly format, so that non-class weeks are clear, or if you have quizzes you don't want your students to see.

TIP: If you choose, these non-available items can be completely hidden, so that students do not even know that sections or an activity in the course are hidden.

Course layout

The Course layout setting determines whether the whole course is displayed on one page or split over several pages. The setting currently applies to the topics and weekly core course formats and contributed collapsed topics course format only.

Teachers choose from the dropdown whether they wish to "show all sections on one page" in the familiar scrolling format, or "show one section per page".

If one section per page is selected, the course page is abbreviated to a list of links to individual sections. If an individual section is shown, next and previous sections may be accessed via links above and below the section.

Course page for course using one section per page course layout
Individual section of a course using one section per page course layout

Visit the School demo site course The Types of Sport to see the "Show one section per page" course layout in action!

For further details plus screenshots, see blog post Moodle 2.3 – Section per page by Gavin Henrick.

Appearance

(These settings are collapsed by default.)

Appearance settings expanded

Force theme

If the site administrator has allowed the teacher to set a course theme, this pull down menu will appear with a list of themes on the site. Teachers can use this to choose a different look for the course from the rest of the Moodle site.

Force language

If you force a language in a course, the interface of Moodle in this course will be in this particular language, even if a student has selected a different preferred language in his/her personal profile.

The capability moodle/site:forcelanguage may be allowed by the admin for users who need to override this language (for example, when testing problems in a course in a language they do not know.)

News items to show

How many news items should show the Latest news block. Set it to 0 and Latest news block will not appear.

The Latest News block relies on the use of the associated News Forum. News posted in other forums do not display in the latest News block

Show gradebook to students

Here you can decide whether to allow students to see the link to grades in the Administration block. If your course doesn't use graded activities, it makes sense to disable this. If grades are used and this link is disabled, students can still see their grade from the actual activity itself, such as an assignment

Show activity reports

Here you can decide whether to show students their activity reports. Doing so places a load on the server however, which is why the setting is disabled by default.

Files and uploads

(These settings are collapsed by default.)

Maximum upload size

Here you can decide the largest size of file that students can upload to a course. The site administrator can determine sizes available for the teacher to select.

Editing teachers or other users may be allowed to upload files larger than the maximum size by giving them the capability moodle/course:ignorefilesizelimits

Completion tracking

(These settings are collapsed by default.)

Completion tracking must be enabled for Activity completion. Course completion criteria may also be based upon Activity completion values found in the activity's settings.

Groups

(These settings are collapsed by default.)

Groups settings expanded

Group mode

Here you can define the group mode at the course level by a pull down menu. "No groups", "Separate groups" and "Visible groups" are the choices. The selected setting will be the default group mode for all activities defined within that course. The group setting can affect what users see in the participants list and who they can interact with in activities.

Force

If the group mode is "forced" at a course-level, then this particular group mode will be applied to every activity in that course. This will override any activities that may have a special group setting.

Default grouping

If groupings are enabled, a default grouping for course activities and resources may be set.

Role renaming

(These settings are collapsed by default.)

Role renaming settings expanded

You can rename the roles used in your course. For example, you may wish to rename the Teacher role as "Facilitator", "Tutor" or "Guide". These new role names will appear within the course. For example on the participants and the override permissions pages.

Please note that the site administrator may have changed the names or added new roles. These names will appear and the teacher may rename them.

If you want the word for 'Teacher' to be different in all courses on the site, a site admin can edit the roles of teacher and non-editing teacher in Administration > Site administration > Users > Permissions > Define roles and change the custom full name there.

Tags

New feature
in Moodle 3.0!

Teachers can add course tags here, either new tags or official tags. See Using tags for more information.

Site administration settings

An administrator can set course default settings in Administration > Site administration > Courses > Course default settings.

The maximum number of weeks/topics may be set for all courses on the site. The default value is 52.

Preventing teachers from editing course settings

Any/all of the following fields - course full name, short name, ID number and category, summary - may be locked to prevent teachers from editing them. To do so:

  1. Access Site Administration > Users > Permissions > Define roles.
  2. Click the edit icon opposite the teacher role.
  3. Change any/all of the capabilities moodle/course:changefullname, moodle/course:changeshortname, moodle/course:changeidnumber, moodle/course:changecategory, moodle/course:changesummary from allow to not set.
  4. Click the "Save changes" button at the bottom of the page.

See also

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