UH-Ordering a new course area

Suomeksi: HY-Uuden kurssialueen tilaaminen

There are two ways for a teacher in the University of Helsinki to get a new course area:

• By ordering a Moodle course area without connection to Oodi - the teacher opens a self enrolment or adds the students to the Moodle area manually (this guide)
• By creating a Moodle course area connected to Oodi - the students registered for the course in Oodi will be automatically on to the Moodle course area

The order form for a new Moodle course area is in Moodle Front page in the right column, in the block “Instructions for teachers” > Request a new course area. Course areas can be ordered only by the members of the teaching staff. You must login to Moodle to fill in the form. User data is not automatically synchronized from Oodi, so when you use this way to create a new course area, the students and the teachers must be added to Moodle with either self enrolment or adding them one by one. If you are a student looking for instructions for course registration, please see the Student’s Guide to Moodle. N.B. The Open University course areas are ordered from an education specialist of the discipline in question.

The order form

In order to fill the order form for the Moodle course area, first login to Moodle with your personal University of Helsinki account. After logging in, fill in the form by following the instructions (see below). The teacher can edit all the information requested in the form (except the course category) in the Moodle course settings after the course area has been created. If you need to change the category or you need additional advice for ordering the course area, please contact moodle@helsinki.fi.

Moodle administration creates the ordered course areas within three working days (excluding holidays). Usually the course area orders can be delivered within the same working day or the next. The teacher will always receive an automatic confirmation by email when the course area has been created. The email also has a quick guide for opening the course area.

When you order a new course area in the University of Helsinki, you must fill in the following information:

• The course name: The full name of the course area. The name can contain several words, special characters, spaces or characters å, ä or ö. It is recommended to name the course area in, for example, the following way: “Oodi code coursefullname, term/period”, here e.g. “581328 Introduction to databases, spring 2018”. (If needed, with the teacher’s name in the end, if there are several parallel groups with their own course areas).
• The course abbreviation: The course area abbreviation can be, for instance, the course code, the code of the institute or an abbreviated version of the course name. Choose an abbreviation that is recognizable for the students also. The abbreviation is shown whenever a long name is tricky, for example in the navigation bar in the header and in the subject field of emails sent from Moodle. The recommended maximum length of the abbreviation is 15 characters.
  • The abbreviation must be unique: the form will notify you if that is not the case. In that case, edit the abbreviation, for example, by adding a year after it.
  • The abbreviation cannot contain special characters or characters å, ä or ö, and you should not use spaces as it makes the search process harder.
• Category: The courses are sorted into categories by faculties and independent institutes. From the drop-down menu, choose a suitable category for your course area. The course can only be in one category at a time.
• Summary: This is same as course summary. It is visible in the course listing which is open to everyone, including non-logged in users. In the summary you can tell, for example, the intended audience of the course, who can register for the course, and what is taught on the course, where, and by whom. The summary can also be shown on the course area main page by adding the block Course summary.
• Additional information: Fill in additional information regarding the course, for example the wanted language (if not Finnish) and information about any other teachers. The information is only visible to the Moodle administration.

What next?

Choose how to enrol students, see Enrolment methods.

When the course area is ready, the Moodle course area must be opened for the students. (In Moodle: Actions menu (Gear menu on the top right) > Edit Settings > Course visibility > Show > Save and display)

Add a Moodle link and a login key to the course pages.The address to the course area is visible for the students in the course page and in My studies. The enrolment key, if one is used, is shown only for the students registered for the course in Oodi. See Instructions.

See also: Course homepage.