MoodleDocs - User contributions [en]

Course settings

2008-10-24T10:02:08Z

Englishlanguage-a-long: /* News items to show */

{{Help files}}
{{Course admin}}

[[Image:Settings.gif]]'''Course settings''' control how the things appear to the participants in a course. It is the first page viewed after creating a course. It can be edited through the '''Settings''' link in the [[Course administration block]] menu. This page has links to other pages that may describe a setting in more detail. Different versions of Moodle may not have all the settings listed below.

==General==
[[Image:generalsettings1.gif|thumb|300px|General settings|center]]

portfolio

===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. The most common use is in the navigation bar that is at the top of most pages and this provides an active link to the course home page.

[[Image:Assignment nav trail.jpg|The underlined part is the course Short name.]]

The above example has the short course name, "Features". The short name also appears in the subject line of email messages that are part of the course.

:''TIP:'' If the short name field is not editable, the site administrator has disabled that user's ability by unassigning the moodle/course:changeshortname capability.

===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 catalog ID or can be used in the certificate module as a printed field.

:''TIP:'' If the ID number field is not editable, the site administrator has disabled that user's ability by unassigning the moodle/course:changeidnumber capability.

English portfolio

===Format===
[[Image:generalsettings3.gif|thumb|Format section in course settings|center]]
A Moodle course may use one of the following formats:

====Weekly format====
[[Image:Course top weekly mu1.jpg|thumb|left|100px|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. 

'''Assessment'''[[Link title]]
'''Book of songs'''[[Link title]]
'''Tales'''[[Link title]]

====Social format====
[[Image:Course top social mu1.jpg|thumb|left|100px|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.

''TIP:'' If you change the course format from Social format to Weekly or Topics format, delete the 'Social activities' block. This block should only be used in the Social format and is normally not available in other course formats. 

====LAMS course 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.

:''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.

====SCORM format====
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.

====Weekly format, CSS/no tables (Moodle 1.6 onwards)====
The CSS / No Tables variant of the Weekly format displays the Weekly course format without using tables for layout. This improves the accessibility of the format, but older browsers have trouble displaying it correctly.

====Page format (non-standard)====
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.

===Number of weeks/topics===
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.

===Course start date===
This is where you specify the starting time of the course (in your own time zone). The first week will start on the date you set here when you use the "Weekly" course format.

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

However, this setting will have an effect on the display of logs, which use this date as the earliest possible date you can display. It can also make your course not visible to students even if when the course is available to students (see below).

:''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.

===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 gray) 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 quizes 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.

10 new items

===Show grades===
Many of the activities allow [[Grades|grades]] to be set. By default, the results of all grades within the course can be seen in the Grades page, available from the main course page for students and teachers.

:''TIP:'' If a teacher is not interested in using grades in a course, or just wants to hide grades from students, then they can disable the display of grades with this option. This does not prevent the teacher using or setting grades for an individual activities, it just disables the results from being displayed to students.

===Show activity reports===
[[Activity_report#Individual_Activity_Report|Activity reports]] are available to each student. These reports or logs shows their activity and contributions in the current course. These reports include their detailed access log.

Student access to their own reports is controlled by the teacher via this course setting. For some courses, these reports can be a useful tool for a student to reflect on their involvement and appearance within the online environment, but for some courses, this may not be necessary.

Teachers always have access to these reports. Teachers can use the button or tab visible on each person’s profile page or use the [[Reports]] link in the course administration block.

Your site administrator may ask you to turn this feature off. Showing activity reports can place a load on the server, slowing it down at times. For large or long classes it may be more efficient to keep it off.

===Maximum upload size===
[[Image:Changeupload.jpg|thumb|Maximum upload size setting]]
This setting defines the largest size of file that can be uploaded by students in this course. The site administrator can determine [[Site_policies#Maximum_uploaded_file_sizefile |sizes available]] for the teacher to select. Teachers should be aware of a course's [[Files|file structure]].

It is possible to further restrict this size through settings within each activity module.

===Force===
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.

===Is this a meta course?===
A [[Metacourses|metacourse]] automatically enrolls its participants from other courses. For example, for every course that is a "child" of the metacourse, all students in the child course are enrolled in the metacourse.

==Enrolments==
[[Image:generalsetting4.gif|thumb|Enrolment settings]]
===Enrolment plugins===
This setting allows you to choose an interactive [[Enrolment plugins|enrolment plugin]], such as [[Internal enrolment|internal enrolment]] or [[Paypal]]. If you use a non-interactive enrolment plugin, this setting has no effect.

===Default role===

From Moodle 1.7 onwards, a default course role, such as student, may be set.

===Course enrollable===
This setting only affects interactive enrolment plugins, such as [[Internal enrolment|internal enrolment]] and [[Paypal]]. It has no affect at all on non-interactive plugins (e.g. External Database, LDAP). Setting it to "no" or if it is outside the specified date range will result in the student being told the course is "Not enrollable" and being returned to the front page, if they are attempting to enroll using an interactive plugin.

:''TIP:'' If you are using Internal enrolment and you have not set an enrolment key, you should seriously consider setting this to ''No'' otherwise any user can enrol on your course.

===Enrolment duration===
This setting specifies the number of days a student can be enrolled in this course (starting from the moment they enroll). Set this value with care - setting it when not required is a common origin of the complaint, "my students keep disappearing after n days".

:''TIP:'' This is useful for rolling courses without a specific start or end time. Students are automatically unenrolled after the number of days has expired in this setting.

:''TIP:'' This setting can be used as an alternative to a manually unenrolling students or using a clean-up function to remove defunct students at some future time.
:''TIP:'' If this course is a metacourse, the enrolment period will not be used.

==Enrolment expiry notification==
[[Image:generalsettings5.gif|thumb|Enrolment expiry notification settings]]
These settings determine whether teachers and/or students are notified that their enrolment is about to expire and how much notice they should be given.

==Groups==
[[Image:generalsettings6.gif|thumb|Groups settings]]
===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.

:''TIP:'' You may leave it set to "No groups" and still have specific activities use groups. In this case the force setting below should be set to "no". For example, the teacher can use a group setting to completely separate cohorts of students such that each group is unaware of the other in the course.

===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.

The force setting is useful when the teacher wants to set up a course and not have to change each activities group settings.

===Default grouping===

{{Moodle 1.9}}If [[Groupings|groupings]] are enabled (in Moodle 1.9 onwards), a default grouping for course activities and resources may be set.

==Availability==

[[Image:generalsettings7.gif|thumb|Availability settings]]
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.

:''TIP:'' The [[Course_settings#Course_start_date|Start Date]] of the course can also effect course visibility.

===Enrolment key===
A course [[Enrolment key|enrolment key]] enables access to courses to be restricted to those who know the key. This feature is typically used on sites which encourage self enrolments or use an external database process to register students in a course. The idea is that Teachers or course administrators will supply the key to authorized people using another means like private email, snail mail, on the phone or even verbally in a face-to-face class.

When the key is left blank and [[Course_settings#Course_enrollable|self enrolment]] is allowed, then anyone who has a Moodle username on the site will be able to enrol in the course.

:''TIP:'' A student can be manually enroled in the course and will not have to supply the required key when they enter the course for the first time.

:''TIP:'' If this password "gets out" and you have unwanted people enrolling, you can unenrol them (see their user profile page or unassign them from the [[Assign roles|student role]] in the course) and change this key. Any legitimate students who have already enrolled will not be affected, but the unwanted people will not be able to get back in.

:''TIP:'' If you are using a non-interactive enrolment, system (e.g., External Database, LDAP) and you do not want students who fail the initial check to be asked for an enrolment key that they will not have, set ''Course Enrolable'' to ''No''.

===Guest access===

Allows any authenticated user (i.e. logged in) to access the course (as a [[Guest role|guest]]), including those who have logged in "as guest". You can choose if they need an enrolment key or may enter without one.

People can log in as guests using the "Login as a guest" button on a login screen, where that feature is enabled for the site. When the user tries to enter a course, they will see the [[Log in|login screen]]. If you only need people authenticated via your normal authentication method to access courses (as Guest or not) it is probably wise to disable "Login as a guest" for a slight improvement in site security. See [[Manage authentication]].

Guests in a course ALWAYS have "read-only" access - meaning they cannot leave any posts or otherwise mess up the course for real students. No use information is stored for a guest.

:''TIP:'' 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 enroll.
:''TIP:'' 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.

For more information see [[Guest role]].

===Cost===

If [[Paypal]] or [[Authorize.net Payment Gateway]] is set as the [[Enrolment plugins|enrolment plugin]], then the course cost can be set in the cost field.

==Language==
[[Image:generalsettings8.gif|thumb|Language settings]]

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.

==Role renaming==
[[Image:rolesimages.gif|thumb|Role renaming settings]]
{{Moodle 1.9}}In Moodle 1.9 onwards, 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|participants]] and the override permissions pages.

Please note that the site administrator or a [[Course managers|course manager]] may have changed the names or added new roles. These names will appear and the teacher may rename them.

[[Roles FAQ]] contains information on changing the name for teacher in Moodle 1.7 and 1.8. Prior to Moodle 1.7, the words for teacher and student may be changed in the course settings.

:''Tip'': Do not worry about changing every role name. Only change the site roles which are used in your course. For example, you may want to ignore renaming roles such as the [[Administrator role]] or the [[Authenticated user role]].

:''Tip'': To include new role names in a course backup, users should be included in the backup.

==See also==

*[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zWOp1oq-TvI Video showing how to create a course in Moodle]

[[Category:Teacher]]

[[fr:Paramètres]]
[[ja:コース設定]]
[[de:Kurseinstellungen]]

Course settings

2008-10-24T09:59:55Z

Englishlanguage-a-long: /* Topics format */

{{Help files}}
{{Course admin}}

[[Image:Settings.gif]]'''Course settings''' control how the things appear to the participants in a course. It is the first page viewed after creating a course. It can be edited through the '''Settings''' link in the [[Course administration block]] menu. This page has links to other pages that may describe a setting in more detail. Different versions of Moodle may not have all the settings listed below.

==General==
[[Image:generalsettings1.gif|thumb|300px|General settings|center]]

portfolio

===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. The most common use is in the navigation bar that is at the top of most pages and this provides an active link to the course home page.

[[Image:Assignment nav trail.jpg|The underlined part is the course Short name.]]

The above example has the short course name, "Features". The short name also appears in the subject line of email messages that are part of the course.

:''TIP:'' If the short name field is not editable, the site administrator has disabled that user's ability by unassigning the moodle/course:changeshortname capability.

===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 catalog ID or can be used in the certificate module as a printed field.

:''TIP:'' If the ID number field is not editable, the site administrator has disabled that user's ability by unassigning the moodle/course:changeidnumber capability.

English portfolio

===Format===
[[Image:generalsettings3.gif|thumb|Format section in course settings|center]]
A Moodle course may use one of the following formats:

====Weekly format====
[[Image:Course top weekly mu1.jpg|thumb|left|100px|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. 

'''Assessment'''[[Link title]]
'''Book of songs'''[[Link title]]
'''Tales'''[[Link title]]

====Social format====
[[Image:Course top social mu1.jpg|thumb|left|100px|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.

''TIP:'' If you change the course format from Social format to Weekly or Topics format, delete the 'Social activities' block. This block should only be used in the Social format and is normally not available in other course formats. 

====LAMS course 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.

:''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.

====SCORM format====
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.

====Weekly format, CSS/no tables (Moodle 1.6 onwards)====
The CSS / No Tables variant of the Weekly format displays the Weekly course format without using tables for layout. This improves the accessibility of the format, but older browsers have trouble displaying it correctly.

====Page format (non-standard)====
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.

===Number of weeks/topics===
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.

===Course start date===
This is where you specify the starting time of the course (in your own time zone). The first week will start on the date you set here when you use the "Weekly" course format.

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

However, this setting will have an effect on the display of logs, which use this date as the earliest possible date you can display. It can also make your course not visible to students even if when the course is available to students (see below).

:''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.

===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 gray) 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 quizes 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.

===News items to show===
A special forum called "[[News forum|News]]" appears in the "weekly" and "topics" course formats. It is a good place to post notices for all students to see. (By default, all students are subscribed to this forum, and will receive your notices by email.)

This setting determines how many recent items appear on your course home page, in a news box on the right side called [[Latest News block]].

:''TIP:'' If you set it to "0 news items" then the latest news box will not appear.

===Show grades===
Many of the activities allow [[Grades|grades]] to be set. By default, the results of all grades within the course can be seen in the Grades page, available from the main course page for students and teachers.

:''TIP:'' If a teacher is not interested in using grades in a course, or just wants to hide grades from students, then they can disable the display of grades with this option. This does not prevent the teacher using or setting grades for an individual activities, it just disables the results from being displayed to students.

===Show activity reports===
[[Activity_report#Individual_Activity_Report|Activity reports]] are available to each student. These reports or logs shows their activity and contributions in the current course. These reports include their detailed access log.

Student access to their own reports is controlled by the teacher via this course setting. For some courses, these reports can be a useful tool for a student to reflect on their involvement and appearance within the online environment, but for some courses, this may not be necessary.

Teachers always have access to these reports. Teachers can use the button or tab visible on each person’s profile page or use the [[Reports]] link in the course administration block.

Your site administrator may ask you to turn this feature off. Showing activity reports can place a load on the server, slowing it down at times. For large or long classes it may be more efficient to keep it off.

===Maximum upload size===
[[Image:Changeupload.jpg|thumb|Maximum upload size setting]]
This setting defines the largest size of file that can be uploaded by students in this course. The site administrator can determine [[Site_policies#Maximum_uploaded_file_sizefile |sizes available]] for the teacher to select. Teachers should be aware of a course's [[Files|file structure]].

It is possible to further restrict this size through settings within each activity module.

===Force===
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.

===Is this a meta course?===
A [[Metacourses|metacourse]] automatically enrolls its participants from other courses. For example, for every course that is a "child" of the metacourse, all students in the child course are enrolled in the metacourse.

==Enrolments==
[[Image:generalsetting4.gif|thumb|Enrolment settings]]
===Enrolment plugins===
This setting allows you to choose an interactive [[Enrolment plugins|enrolment plugin]], such as [[Internal enrolment|internal enrolment]] or [[Paypal]]. If you use a non-interactive enrolment plugin, this setting has no effect.

===Default role===

From Moodle 1.7 onwards, a default course role, such as student, may be set.

===Course enrollable===
This setting only affects interactive enrolment plugins, such as [[Internal enrolment|internal enrolment]] and [[Paypal]]. It has no affect at all on non-interactive plugins (e.g. External Database, LDAP). Setting it to "no" or if it is outside the specified date range will result in the student being told the course is "Not enrollable" and being returned to the front page, if they are attempting to enroll using an interactive plugin.

:''TIP:'' If you are using Internal enrolment and you have not set an enrolment key, you should seriously consider setting this to ''No'' otherwise any user can enrol on your course.

===Enrolment duration===
This setting specifies the number of days a student can be enrolled in this course (starting from the moment they enroll). Set this value with care - setting it when not required is a common origin of the complaint, "my students keep disappearing after n days".

:''TIP:'' This is useful for rolling courses without a specific start or end time. Students are automatically unenrolled after the number of days has expired in this setting.

:''TIP:'' This setting can be used as an alternative to a manually unenrolling students or using a clean-up function to remove defunct students at some future time.
:''TIP:'' If this course is a metacourse, the enrolment period will not be used.

==Enrolment expiry notification==
[[Image:generalsettings5.gif|thumb|Enrolment expiry notification settings]]
These settings determine whether teachers and/or students are notified that their enrolment is about to expire and how much notice they should be given.

==Groups==
[[Image:generalsettings6.gif|thumb|Groups settings]]
===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.

:''TIP:'' You may leave it set to "No groups" and still have specific activities use groups. In this case the force setting below should be set to "no". For example, the teacher can use a group setting to completely separate cohorts of students such that each group is unaware of the other in the course.

===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.

The force setting is useful when the teacher wants to set up a course and not have to change each activities group settings.

===Default grouping===

{{Moodle 1.9}}If [[Groupings|groupings]] are enabled (in Moodle 1.9 onwards), a default grouping for course activities and resources may be set.

==Availability==

[[Image:generalsettings7.gif|thumb|Availability settings]]
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.

:''TIP:'' The [[Course_settings#Course_start_date|Start Date]] of the course can also effect course visibility.

===Enrolment key===
A course [[Enrolment key|enrolment key]] enables access to courses to be restricted to those who know the key. This feature is typically used on sites which encourage self enrolments or use an external database process to register students in a course. The idea is that Teachers or course administrators will supply the key to authorized people using another means like private email, snail mail, on the phone or even verbally in a face-to-face class.

When the key is left blank and [[Course_settings#Course_enrollable|self enrolment]] is allowed, then anyone who has a Moodle username on the site will be able to enrol in the course.

:''TIP:'' A student can be manually enroled in the course and will not have to supply the required key when they enter the course for the first time.

:''TIP:'' If this password "gets out" and you have unwanted people enrolling, you can unenrol them (see their user profile page or unassign them from the [[Assign roles|student role]] in the course) and change this key. Any legitimate students who have already enrolled will not be affected, but the unwanted people will not be able to get back in.

:''TIP:'' If you are using a non-interactive enrolment, system (e.g., External Database, LDAP) and you do not want students who fail the initial check to be asked for an enrolment key that they will not have, set ''Course Enrolable'' to ''No''.

===Guest access===

Allows any authenticated user (i.e. logged in) to access the course (as a [[Guest role|guest]]), including those who have logged in "as guest". You can choose if they need an enrolment key or may enter without one.

People can log in as guests using the "Login as a guest" button on a login screen, where that feature is enabled for the site. When the user tries to enter a course, they will see the [[Log in|login screen]]. If you only need people authenticated via your normal authentication method to access courses (as Guest or not) it is probably wise to disable "Login as a guest" for a slight improvement in site security. See [[Manage authentication]].

Guests in a course ALWAYS have "read-only" access - meaning they cannot leave any posts or otherwise mess up the course for real students. No use information is stored for a guest.

:''TIP:'' 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 enroll.
:''TIP:'' 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.

For more information see [[Guest role]].

===Cost===

If [[Paypal]] or [[Authorize.net Payment Gateway]] is set as the [[Enrolment plugins|enrolment plugin]], then the course cost can be set in the cost field.

==Language==
[[Image:generalsettings8.gif|thumb|Language settings]]

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.

==Role renaming==
[[Image:rolesimages.gif|thumb|Role renaming settings]]
{{Moodle 1.9}}In Moodle 1.9 onwards, 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|participants]] and the override permissions pages.

Please note that the site administrator or a [[Course managers|course manager]] may have changed the names or added new roles. These names will appear and the teacher may rename them.

[[Roles FAQ]] contains information on changing the name for teacher in Moodle 1.7 and 1.8. Prior to Moodle 1.7, the words for teacher and student may be changed in the course settings.

:''Tip'': Do not worry about changing every role name. Only change the site roles which are used in your course. For example, you may want to ignore renaming roles such as the [[Administrator role]] or the [[Authenticated user role]].

:''Tip'': To include new role names in a course backup, users should be included in the backup.

==See also==

*[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zWOp1oq-TvI Video showing how to create a course in Moodle]

[[Category:Teacher]]

[[fr:Paramètres]]
[[ja:コース設定]]
[[de:Kurseinstellungen]]

Course settings

2008-10-24T09:56:58Z

Englishlanguage-a-long: /* Summary */

{{Help files}}
{{Course admin}}

[[Image:Settings.gif]]'''Course settings''' control how the things appear to the participants in a course. It is the first page viewed after creating a course. It can be edited through the '''Settings''' link in the [[Course administration block]] menu. This page has links to other pages that may describe a setting in more detail. Different versions of Moodle may not have all the settings listed below.

==General==
[[Image:generalsettings1.gif|thumb|300px|General settings|center]]

portfolio

===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. The most common use is in the navigation bar that is at the top of most pages and this provides an active link to the course home page.

[[Image:Assignment nav trail.jpg|The underlined part is the course Short name.]]

The above example has the short course name, "Features". The short name also appears in the subject line of email messages that are part of the course.

:''TIP:'' If the short name field is not editable, the site administrator has disabled that user's ability by unassigning the moodle/course:changeshortname capability.

===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 catalog ID or can be used in the certificate module as a printed field.

:''TIP:'' If the ID number field is not editable, the site administrator has disabled that user's ability by unassigning the moodle/course:changeidnumber capability.

English portfolio

===Format===
[[Image:generalsettings3.gif|thumb|Format section in course settings|center]]
A Moodle course may use one of the following formats:

====Weekly format====
[[Image:Course top weekly mu1.jpg|thumb|left|100px|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. 

====Topics format====

[[Image:Course top topic mu1.jpg|thumb|left|100px|Topic format example]]A topic format is very similar to the weekly format, except that each "week" is called a topic. A "topic" is not restricted to any time limit. When you create a course using the topics format, you start by choosing the number of topics you will cover in your course. Moodle then creates a section for each topic.

:''TIP:'' If your course design is concept-oriented, and students will be working through a range of concepts but not necessarily according to a fixed schedule, this is a good choice. 

====Social format====
[[Image:Course top social mu1.jpg|thumb|left|100px|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.

''TIP:'' If you change the course format from Social format to Weekly or Topics format, delete the 'Social activities' block. This block should only be used in the Social format and is normally not available in other course formats. 

====LAMS course 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.

:''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.

====SCORM format====
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.

====Weekly format, CSS/no tables (Moodle 1.6 onwards)====
The CSS / No Tables variant of the Weekly format displays the Weekly course format without using tables for layout. This improves the accessibility of the format, but older browsers have trouble displaying it correctly.

====Page format (non-standard)====
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.

===Number of weeks/topics===
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.

===Course start date===
This is where you specify the starting time of the course (in your own time zone). The first week will start on the date you set here when you use the "Weekly" course format.

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

However, this setting will have an effect on the display of logs, which use this date as the earliest possible date you can display. It can also make your course not visible to students even if when the course is available to students (see below).

:''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.

===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 gray) 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 quizes 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.

===News items to show===
A special forum called "[[News forum|News]]" appears in the "weekly" and "topics" course formats. It is a good place to post notices for all students to see. (By default, all students are subscribed to this forum, and will receive your notices by email.)

This setting determines how many recent items appear on your course home page, in a news box on the right side called [[Latest News block]].

:''TIP:'' If you set it to "0 news items" then the latest news box will not appear.

===Show grades===
Many of the activities allow [[Grades|grades]] to be set. By default, the results of all grades within the course can be seen in the Grades page, available from the main course page for students and teachers.

:''TIP:'' If a teacher is not interested in using grades in a course, or just wants to hide grades from students, then they can disable the display of grades with this option. This does not prevent the teacher using or setting grades for an individual activities, it just disables the results from being displayed to students.

===Show activity reports===
[[Activity_report#Individual_Activity_Report|Activity reports]] are available to each student. These reports or logs shows their activity and contributions in the current course. These reports include their detailed access log.

Student access to their own reports is controlled by the teacher via this course setting. For some courses, these reports can be a useful tool for a student to reflect on their involvement and appearance within the online environment, but for some courses, this may not be necessary.

Teachers always have access to these reports. Teachers can use the button or tab visible on each person’s profile page or use the [[Reports]] link in the course administration block.

Your site administrator may ask you to turn this feature off. Showing activity reports can place a load on the server, slowing it down at times. For large or long classes it may be more efficient to keep it off.

===Maximum upload size===
[[Image:Changeupload.jpg|thumb|Maximum upload size setting]]
This setting defines the largest size of file that can be uploaded by students in this course. The site administrator can determine [[Site_policies#Maximum_uploaded_file_sizefile |sizes available]] for the teacher to select. Teachers should be aware of a course's [[Files|file structure]].

It is possible to further restrict this size through settings within each activity module.

===Force===
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.

===Is this a meta course?===
A [[Metacourses|metacourse]] automatically enrolls its participants from other courses. For example, for every course that is a "child" of the metacourse, all students in the child course are enrolled in the metacourse.

==Enrolments==
[[Image:generalsetting4.gif|thumb|Enrolment settings]]
===Enrolment plugins===
This setting allows you to choose an interactive [[Enrolment plugins|enrolment plugin]], such as [[Internal enrolment|internal enrolment]] or [[Paypal]]. If you use a non-interactive enrolment plugin, this setting has no effect.

===Default role===

From Moodle 1.7 onwards, a default course role, such as student, may be set.

===Course enrollable===
This setting only affects interactive enrolment plugins, such as [[Internal enrolment|internal enrolment]] and [[Paypal]]. It has no affect at all on non-interactive plugins (e.g. External Database, LDAP). Setting it to "no" or if it is outside the specified date range will result in the student being told the course is "Not enrollable" and being returned to the front page, if they are attempting to enroll using an interactive plugin.

:''TIP:'' If you are using Internal enrolment and you have not set an enrolment key, you should seriously consider setting this to ''No'' otherwise any user can enrol on your course.

===Enrolment duration===
This setting specifies the number of days a student can be enrolled in this course (starting from the moment they enroll). Set this value with care - setting it when not required is a common origin of the complaint, "my students keep disappearing after n days".

:''TIP:'' This is useful for rolling courses without a specific start or end time. Students are automatically unenrolled after the number of days has expired in this setting.

:''TIP:'' This setting can be used as an alternative to a manually unenrolling students or using a clean-up function to remove defunct students at some future time.
:''TIP:'' If this course is a metacourse, the enrolment period will not be used.

==Enrolment expiry notification==
[[Image:generalsettings5.gif|thumb|Enrolment expiry notification settings]]
These settings determine whether teachers and/or students are notified that their enrolment is about to expire and how much notice they should be given.

==Groups==
[[Image:generalsettings6.gif|thumb|Groups settings]]
===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.

:''TIP:'' You may leave it set to "No groups" and still have specific activities use groups. In this case the force setting below should be set to "no". For example, the teacher can use a group setting to completely separate cohorts of students such that each group is unaware of the other in the course.

===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.

The force setting is useful when the teacher wants to set up a course and not have to change each activities group settings.

===Default grouping===

{{Moodle 1.9}}If [[Groupings|groupings]] are enabled (in Moodle 1.9 onwards), a default grouping for course activities and resources may be set.

==Availability==

[[Image:generalsettings7.gif|thumb|Availability settings]]
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.

:''TIP:'' The [[Course_settings#Course_start_date|Start Date]] of the course can also effect course visibility.

===Enrolment key===
A course [[Enrolment key|enrolment key]] enables access to courses to be restricted to those who know the key. This feature is typically used on sites which encourage self enrolments or use an external database process to register students in a course. The idea is that Teachers or course administrators will supply the key to authorized people using another means like private email, snail mail, on the phone or even verbally in a face-to-face class.

When the key is left blank and [[Course_settings#Course_enrollable|self enrolment]] is allowed, then anyone who has a Moodle username on the site will be able to enrol in the course.

:''TIP:'' A student can be manually enroled in the course and will not have to supply the required key when they enter the course for the first time.

:''TIP:'' If this password "gets out" and you have unwanted people enrolling, you can unenrol them (see their user profile page or unassign them from the [[Assign roles|student role]] in the course) and change this key. Any legitimate students who have already enrolled will not be affected, but the unwanted people will not be able to get back in.

:''TIP:'' If you are using a non-interactive enrolment, system (e.g., External Database, LDAP) and you do not want students who fail the initial check to be asked for an enrolment key that they will not have, set ''Course Enrolable'' to ''No''.

===Guest access===

Allows any authenticated user (i.e. logged in) to access the course (as a [[Guest role|guest]]), including those who have logged in "as guest". You can choose if they need an enrolment key or may enter without one.

People can log in as guests using the "Login as a guest" button on a login screen, where that feature is enabled for the site. When the user tries to enter a course, they will see the [[Log in|login screen]]. If you only need people authenticated via your normal authentication method to access courses (as Guest or not) it is probably wise to disable "Login as a guest" for a slight improvement in site security. See [[Manage authentication]].

Guests in a course ALWAYS have "read-only" access - meaning they cannot leave any posts or otherwise mess up the course for real students. No use information is stored for a guest.

:''TIP:'' 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 enroll.
:''TIP:'' 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.

For more information see [[Guest role]].

===Cost===

If [[Paypal]] or [[Authorize.net Payment Gateway]] is set as the [[Enrolment plugins|enrolment plugin]], then the course cost can be set in the cost field.

==Language==
[[Image:generalsettings8.gif|thumb|Language settings]]

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.

==Role renaming==
[[Image:rolesimages.gif|thumb|Role renaming settings]]
{{Moodle 1.9}}In Moodle 1.9 onwards, 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|participants]] and the override permissions pages.

Please note that the site administrator or a [[Course managers|course manager]] may have changed the names or added new roles. These names will appear and the teacher may rename them.

[[Roles FAQ]] contains information on changing the name for teacher in Moodle 1.7 and 1.8. Prior to Moodle 1.7, the words for teacher and student may be changed in the course settings.

:''Tip'': Do not worry about changing every role name. Only change the site roles which are used in your course. For example, you may want to ignore renaming roles such as the [[Administrator role]] or the [[Authenticated user role]].

:''Tip'': To include new role names in a course backup, users should be included in the backup.

==See also==

*[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zWOp1oq-TvI Video showing how to create a course in Moodle]

[[Category:Teacher]]

[[fr:Paramètres]]
[[ja:コース設定]]
[[de:Kurseinstellungen]]

Course settings

2008-10-24T09:55:10Z

Englishlanguage-a-long: /* Full name */

{{Help files}}
{{Course admin}}

[[Image:Settings.gif]]'''Course settings''' control how the things appear to the participants in a course. It is the first page viewed after creating a course. It can be edited through the '''Settings''' link in the [[Course administration block]] menu. This page has links to other pages that may describe a setting in more detail. Different versions of Moodle may not have all the settings listed below.

==General==
[[Image:generalsettings1.gif|thumb|300px|General settings|center]]

portfolio

===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. The most common use is in the navigation bar that is at the top of most pages and this provides an active link to the course home page.

[[Image:Assignment nav trail.jpg|The underlined part is the course Short name.]]

The above example has the short course name, "Features". The short name also appears in the subject line of email messages that are part of the course.

:''TIP:'' If the short name field is not editable, the site administrator has disabled that user's ability by unassigning the moodle/course:changeshortname capability.

===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 catalog ID or can be used in the certificate module as a printed field.

:''TIP:'' If the ID number field is not editable, the site administrator has disabled that user's ability by unassigning the moodle/course:changeidnumber capability.

===Summary===
[[Image:generalsettings2.gif|thumb|Course summary|center]]
The summary of the course is displayed in the course listings and in the coure's "course description" block. It has the Moodle [[HTML editor]] tool bar, which will allow the teacher be creative. Some sites may have a policy on the limits of teacher creativity in this particular area.

===Format===
[[Image:generalsettings3.gif|thumb|Format section in course settings|center]]
A Moodle course may use one of the following formats:

====Weekly format====
[[Image:Course top weekly mu1.jpg|thumb|left|100px|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. 

====Topics format====

[[Image:Course top topic mu1.jpg|thumb|left|100px|Topic format example]]A topic format is very similar to the weekly format, except that each "week" is called a topic. A "topic" is not restricted to any time limit. When you create a course using the topics format, you start by choosing the number of topics you will cover in your course. Moodle then creates a section for each topic.

:''TIP:'' If your course design is concept-oriented, and students will be working through a range of concepts but not necessarily according to a fixed schedule, this is a good choice. 

====Social format====
[[Image:Course top social mu1.jpg|thumb|left|100px|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.

''TIP:'' If you change the course format from Social format to Weekly or Topics format, delete the 'Social activities' block. This block should only be used in the Social format and is normally not available in other course formats. 

====LAMS course 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.

:''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.

====SCORM format====
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.

====Weekly format, CSS/no tables (Moodle 1.6 onwards)====
The CSS / No Tables variant of the Weekly format displays the Weekly course format without using tables for layout. This improves the accessibility of the format, but older browsers have trouble displaying it correctly.

====Page format (non-standard)====
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.

===Number of weeks/topics===
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.

===Course start date===
This is where you specify the starting time of the course (in your own time zone). The first week will start on the date you set here when you use the "Weekly" course format.

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

However, this setting will have an effect on the display of logs, which use this date as the earliest possible date you can display. It can also make your course not visible to students even if when the course is available to students (see below).

:''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.

===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 gray) 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 quizes 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.

===News items to show===
A special forum called "[[News forum|News]]" appears in the "weekly" and "topics" course formats. It is a good place to post notices for all students to see. (By default, all students are subscribed to this forum, and will receive your notices by email.)

This setting determines how many recent items appear on your course home page, in a news box on the right side called [[Latest News block]].

:''TIP:'' If you set it to "0 news items" then the latest news box will not appear.

===Show grades===
Many of the activities allow [[Grades|grades]] to be set. By default, the results of all grades within the course can be seen in the Grades page, available from the main course page for students and teachers.

:''TIP:'' If a teacher is not interested in using grades in a course, or just wants to hide grades from students, then they can disable the display of grades with this option. This does not prevent the teacher using or setting grades for an individual activities, it just disables the results from being displayed to students.

===Show activity reports===
[[Activity_report#Individual_Activity_Report|Activity reports]] are available to each student. These reports or logs shows their activity and contributions in the current course. These reports include their detailed access log.

Student access to their own reports is controlled by the teacher via this course setting. For some courses, these reports can be a useful tool for a student to reflect on their involvement and appearance within the online environment, but for some courses, this may not be necessary.

Teachers always have access to these reports. Teachers can use the button or tab visible on each person’s profile page or use the [[Reports]] link in the course administration block.

Your site administrator may ask you to turn this feature off. Showing activity reports can place a load on the server, slowing it down at times. For large or long classes it may be more efficient to keep it off.

===Maximum upload size===
[[Image:Changeupload.jpg|thumb|Maximum upload size setting]]
This setting defines the largest size of file that can be uploaded by students in this course. The site administrator can determine [[Site_policies#Maximum_uploaded_file_sizefile |sizes available]] for the teacher to select. Teachers should be aware of a course's [[Files|file structure]].

It is possible to further restrict this size through settings within each activity module.

===Force===
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.

===Is this a meta course?===
A [[Metacourses|metacourse]] automatically enrolls its participants from other courses. For example, for every course that is a "child" of the metacourse, all students in the child course are enrolled in the metacourse.

==Enrolments==
[[Image:generalsetting4.gif|thumb|Enrolment settings]]
===Enrolment plugins===
This setting allows you to choose an interactive [[Enrolment plugins|enrolment plugin]], such as [[Internal enrolment|internal enrolment]] or [[Paypal]]. If you use a non-interactive enrolment plugin, this setting has no effect.

===Default role===

From Moodle 1.7 onwards, a default course role, such as student, may be set.

===Course enrollable===
This setting only affects interactive enrolment plugins, such as [[Internal enrolment|internal enrolment]] and [[Paypal]]. It has no affect at all on non-interactive plugins (e.g. External Database, LDAP). Setting it to "no" or if it is outside the specified date range will result in the student being told the course is "Not enrollable" and being returned to the front page, if they are attempting to enroll using an interactive plugin.

:''TIP:'' If you are using Internal enrolment and you have not set an enrolment key, you should seriously consider setting this to ''No'' otherwise any user can enrol on your course.

===Enrolment duration===
This setting specifies the number of days a student can be enrolled in this course (starting from the moment they enroll). Set this value with care - setting it when not required is a common origin of the complaint, "my students keep disappearing after n days".

:''TIP:'' This is useful for rolling courses without a specific start or end time. Students are automatically unenrolled after the number of days has expired in this setting.

:''TIP:'' This setting can be used as an alternative to a manually unenrolling students or using a clean-up function to remove defunct students at some future time.
:''TIP:'' If this course is a metacourse, the enrolment period will not be used.

==Enrolment expiry notification==
[[Image:generalsettings5.gif|thumb|Enrolment expiry notification settings]]
These settings determine whether teachers and/or students are notified that their enrolment is about to expire and how much notice they should be given.

==Groups==
[[Image:generalsettings6.gif|thumb|Groups settings]]
===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.

:''TIP:'' You may leave it set to "No groups" and still have specific activities use groups. In this case the force setting below should be set to "no". For example, the teacher can use a group setting to completely separate cohorts of students such that each group is unaware of the other in the course.

===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.

The force setting is useful when the teacher wants to set up a course and not have to change each activities group settings.

===Default grouping===

{{Moodle 1.9}}If [[Groupings|groupings]] are enabled (in Moodle 1.9 onwards), a default grouping for course activities and resources may be set.

==Availability==

[[Image:generalsettings7.gif|thumb|Availability settings]]
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.

:''TIP:'' The [[Course_settings#Course_start_date|Start Date]] of the course can also effect course visibility.

===Enrolment key===
A course [[Enrolment key|enrolment key]] enables access to courses to be restricted to those who know the key. This feature is typically used on sites which encourage self enrolments or use an external database process to register students in a course. The idea is that Teachers or course administrators will supply the key to authorized people using another means like private email, snail mail, on the phone or even verbally in a face-to-face class.

When the key is left blank and [[Course_settings#Course_enrollable|self enrolment]] is allowed, then anyone who has a Moodle username on the site will be able to enrol in the course.

:''TIP:'' A student can be manually enroled in the course and will not have to supply the required key when they enter the course for the first time.

:''TIP:'' If this password "gets out" and you have unwanted people enrolling, you can unenrol them (see their user profile page or unassign them from the [[Assign roles|student role]] in the course) and change this key. Any legitimate students who have already enrolled will not be affected, but the unwanted people will not be able to get back in.

:''TIP:'' If you are using a non-interactive enrolment, system (e.g., External Database, LDAP) and you do not want students who fail the initial check to be asked for an enrolment key that they will not have, set ''Course Enrolable'' to ''No''.

===Guest access===

Allows any authenticated user (i.e. logged in) to access the course (as a [[Guest role|guest]]), including those who have logged in "as guest". You can choose if they need an enrolment key or may enter without one.

People can log in as guests using the "Login as a guest" button on a login screen, where that feature is enabled for the site. When the user tries to enter a course, they will see the [[Log in|login screen]]. If you only need people authenticated via your normal authentication method to access courses (as Guest or not) it is probably wise to disable "Login as a guest" for a slight improvement in site security. See [[Manage authentication]].

Guests in a course ALWAYS have "read-only" access - meaning they cannot leave any posts or otherwise mess up the course for real students. No use information is stored for a guest.

:''TIP:'' 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 enroll.
:''TIP:'' 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.

For more information see [[Guest role]].

===Cost===

If [[Paypal]] or [[Authorize.net Payment Gateway]] is set as the [[Enrolment plugins|enrolment plugin]], then the course cost can be set in the cost field.

==Language==
[[Image:generalsettings8.gif|thumb|Language settings]]

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.

==Role renaming==
[[Image:rolesimages.gif|thumb|Role renaming settings]]
{{Moodle 1.9}}In Moodle 1.9 onwards, 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|participants]] and the override permissions pages.

Please note that the site administrator or a [[Course managers|course manager]] may have changed the names or added new roles. These names will appear and the teacher may rename them.

[[Roles FAQ]] contains information on changing the name for teacher in Moodle 1.7 and 1.8. Prior to Moodle 1.7, the words for teacher and student may be changed in the course settings.

:''Tip'': Do not worry about changing every role name. Only change the site roles which are used in your course. For example, you may want to ignore renaming roles such as the [[Administrator role]] or the [[Authenticated user role]].

:''Tip'': To include new role names in a course backup, users should be included in the backup.

==See also==

*[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zWOp1oq-TvI Video showing how to create a course in Moodle]

[[Category:Teacher]]

[[fr:Paramètres]]
[[ja:コース設定]]
[[de:Kurseinstellungen]]

Course settings

2008-10-24T09:54:40Z

Englishlanguage-a-long: /* ID number */

{{Help files}}
{{Course admin}}

[[Image:Settings.gif]]'''Course settings''' control how the things appear to the participants in a course. It is the first page viewed after creating a course. It can be edited through the '''Settings''' link in the [[Course administration block]] menu. This page has links to other pages that may describe a setting in more detail. Different versions of Moodle may not have all the settings listed below.

==General==
[[Image:generalsettings1.gif|thumb|300px|General settings|center]]

Englishlanguage-a-long

===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. The most common use is in the navigation bar that is at the top of most pages and this provides an active link to the course home page.

[[Image:Assignment nav trail.jpg|The underlined part is the course Short name.]]

The above example has the short course name, "Features". The short name also appears in the subject line of email messages that are part of the course.

:''TIP:'' If the short name field is not editable, the site administrator has disabled that user's ability by unassigning the moodle/course:changeshortname capability.

portfolio

===Summary===
[[Image:generalsettings2.gif|thumb|Course summary|center]]
The summary of the course is displayed in the course listings and in the coure's "course description" block. It has the Moodle [[HTML editor]] tool bar, which will allow the teacher be creative. Some sites may have a policy on the limits of teacher creativity in this particular area.

===Format===
[[Image:generalsettings3.gif|thumb|Format section in course settings|center]]
A Moodle course may use one of the following formats:

====Weekly format====
[[Image:Course top weekly mu1.jpg|thumb|left|100px|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. 

====Topics format====

[[Image:Course top topic mu1.jpg|thumb|left|100px|Topic format example]]A topic format is very similar to the weekly format, except that each "week" is called a topic. A "topic" is not restricted to any time limit. When you create a course using the topics format, you start by choosing the number of topics you will cover in your course. Moodle then creates a section for each topic.

:''TIP:'' If your course design is concept-oriented, and students will be working through a range of concepts but not necessarily according to a fixed schedule, this is a good choice. 

====Social format====
[[Image:Course top social mu1.jpg|thumb|left|100px|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.

''TIP:'' If you change the course format from Social format to Weekly or Topics format, delete the 'Social activities' block. This block should only be used in the Social format and is normally not available in other course formats. 

====LAMS course 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.

:''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.

====SCORM format====
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.

====Weekly format, CSS/no tables (Moodle 1.6 onwards)====
The CSS / No Tables variant of the Weekly format displays the Weekly course format without using tables for layout. This improves the accessibility of the format, but older browsers have trouble displaying it correctly.

====Page format (non-standard)====
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.

===Number of weeks/topics===
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.

===Course start date===
This is where you specify the starting time of the course (in your own time zone). The first week will start on the date you set here when you use the "Weekly" course format.

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

However, this setting will have an effect on the display of logs, which use this date as the earliest possible date you can display. It can also make your course not visible to students even if when the course is available to students (see below).

:''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.

===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 gray) 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 quizes 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.

===News items to show===
A special forum called "[[News forum|News]]" appears in the "weekly" and "topics" course formats. It is a good place to post notices for all students to see. (By default, all students are subscribed to this forum, and will receive your notices by email.)

This setting determines how many recent items appear on your course home page, in a news box on the right side called [[Latest News block]].

:''TIP:'' If you set it to "0 news items" then the latest news box will not appear.

===Show grades===
Many of the activities allow [[Grades|grades]] to be set. By default, the results of all grades within the course can be seen in the Grades page, available from the main course page for students and teachers.

:''TIP:'' If a teacher is not interested in using grades in a course, or just wants to hide grades from students, then they can disable the display of grades with this option. This does not prevent the teacher using or setting grades for an individual activities, it just disables the results from being displayed to students.

===Show activity reports===
[[Activity_report#Individual_Activity_Report|Activity reports]] are available to each student. These reports or logs shows their activity and contributions in the current course. These reports include their detailed access log.

Student access to their own reports is controlled by the teacher via this course setting. For some courses, these reports can be a useful tool for a student to reflect on their involvement and appearance within the online environment, but for some courses, this may not be necessary.

Teachers always have access to these reports. Teachers can use the button or tab visible on each person’s profile page or use the [[Reports]] link in the course administration block.

Your site administrator may ask you to turn this feature off. Showing activity reports can place a load on the server, slowing it down at times. For large or long classes it may be more efficient to keep it off.

===Maximum upload size===
[[Image:Changeupload.jpg|thumb|Maximum upload size setting]]
This setting defines the largest size of file that can be uploaded by students in this course. The site administrator can determine [[Site_policies#Maximum_uploaded_file_sizefile |sizes available]] for the teacher to select. Teachers should be aware of a course's [[Files|file structure]].

It is possible to further restrict this size through settings within each activity module.

===Force===
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.

===Is this a meta course?===
A [[Metacourses|metacourse]] automatically enrolls its participants from other courses. For example, for every course that is a "child" of the metacourse, all students in the child course are enrolled in the metacourse.

==Enrolments==
[[Image:generalsetting4.gif|thumb|Enrolment settings]]
===Enrolment plugins===
This setting allows you to choose an interactive [[Enrolment plugins|enrolment plugin]], such as [[Internal enrolment|internal enrolment]] or [[Paypal]]. If you use a non-interactive enrolment plugin, this setting has no effect.

===Default role===

From Moodle 1.7 onwards, a default course role, such as student, may be set.

===Course enrollable===
This setting only affects interactive enrolment plugins, such as [[Internal enrolment|internal enrolment]] and [[Paypal]]. It has no affect at all on non-interactive plugins (e.g. External Database, LDAP). Setting it to "no" or if it is outside the specified date range will result in the student being told the course is "Not enrollable" and being returned to the front page, if they are attempting to enroll using an interactive plugin.

:''TIP:'' If you are using Internal enrolment and you have not set an enrolment key, you should seriously consider setting this to ''No'' otherwise any user can enrol on your course.

===Enrolment duration===
This setting specifies the number of days a student can be enrolled in this course (starting from the moment they enroll). Set this value with care - setting it when not required is a common origin of the complaint, "my students keep disappearing after n days".

:''TIP:'' This is useful for rolling courses without a specific start or end time. Students are automatically unenrolled after the number of days has expired in this setting.

:''TIP:'' This setting can be used as an alternative to a manually unenrolling students or using a clean-up function to remove defunct students at some future time.
:''TIP:'' If this course is a metacourse, the enrolment period will not be used.

==Enrolment expiry notification==
[[Image:generalsettings5.gif|thumb|Enrolment expiry notification settings]]
These settings determine whether teachers and/or students are notified that their enrolment is about to expire and how much notice they should be given.

==Groups==
[[Image:generalsettings6.gif|thumb|Groups settings]]
===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.

:''TIP:'' You may leave it set to "No groups" and still have specific activities use groups. In this case the force setting below should be set to "no". For example, the teacher can use a group setting to completely separate cohorts of students such that each group is unaware of the other in the course.

===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.

The force setting is useful when the teacher wants to set up a course and not have to change each activities group settings.

===Default grouping===

{{Moodle 1.9}}If [[Groupings|groupings]] are enabled (in Moodle 1.9 onwards), a default grouping for course activities and resources may be set.

==Availability==

[[Image:generalsettings7.gif|thumb|Availability settings]]
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.

:''TIP:'' The [[Course_settings#Course_start_date|Start Date]] of the course can also effect course visibility.

===Enrolment key===
A course [[Enrolment key|enrolment key]] enables access to courses to be restricted to those who know the key. This feature is typically used on sites which encourage self enrolments or use an external database process to register students in a course. The idea is that Teachers or course administrators will supply the key to authorized people using another means like private email, snail mail, on the phone or even verbally in a face-to-face class.

When the key is left blank and [[Course_settings#Course_enrollable|self enrolment]] is allowed, then anyone who has a Moodle username on the site will be able to enrol in the course.

:''TIP:'' A student can be manually enroled in the course and will not have to supply the required key when they enter the course for the first time.

:''TIP:'' If this password "gets out" and you have unwanted people enrolling, you can unenrol them (see their user profile page or unassign them from the [[Assign roles|student role]] in the course) and change this key. Any legitimate students who have already enrolled will not be affected, but the unwanted people will not be able to get back in.

:''TIP:'' If you are using a non-interactive enrolment, system (e.g., External Database, LDAP) and you do not want students who fail the initial check to be asked for an enrolment key that they will not have, set ''Course Enrolable'' to ''No''.

===Guest access===

Allows any authenticated user (i.e. logged in) to access the course (as a [[Guest role|guest]]), including those who have logged in "as guest". You can choose if they need an enrolment key or may enter without one.

People can log in as guests using the "Login as a guest" button on a login screen, where that feature is enabled for the site. When the user tries to enter a course, they will see the [[Log in|login screen]]. If you only need people authenticated via your normal authentication method to access courses (as Guest or not) it is probably wise to disable "Login as a guest" for a slight improvement in site security. See [[Manage authentication]].

Guests in a course ALWAYS have "read-only" access - meaning they cannot leave any posts or otherwise mess up the course for real students. No use information is stored for a guest.

:''TIP:'' 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 enroll.
:''TIP:'' 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.

For more information see [[Guest role]].

===Cost===

If [[Paypal]] or [[Authorize.net Payment Gateway]] is set as the [[Enrolment plugins|enrolment plugin]], then the course cost can be set in the cost field.

==Language==
[[Image:generalsettings8.gif|thumb|Language settings]]

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.

==Role renaming==
[[Image:rolesimages.gif|thumb|Role renaming settings]]
{{Moodle 1.9}}In Moodle 1.9 onwards, 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|participants]] and the override permissions pages.

Please note that the site administrator or a [[Course managers|course manager]] may have changed the names or added new roles. These names will appear and the teacher may rename them.

[[Roles FAQ]] contains information on changing the name for teacher in Moodle 1.7 and 1.8. Prior to Moodle 1.7, the words for teacher and student may be changed in the course settings.

:''Tip'': Do not worry about changing every role name. Only change the site roles which are used in your course. For example, you may want to ignore renaming roles such as the [[Administrator role]] or the [[Authenticated user role]].

:''Tip'': To include new role names in a course backup, users should be included in the backup.

==See also==

*[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zWOp1oq-TvI Video showing how to create a course in Moodle]

[[Category:Teacher]]

[[fr:Paramètres]]
[[ja:コース設定]]
[[de:Kurseinstellungen]]

Course settings

2008-10-24T09:53:46Z

Englishlanguage-a-long: /* Full name */

{{Help files}}
{{Course admin}}

[[Image:Settings.gif]]'''Course settings''' control how the things appear to the participants in a course. It is the first page viewed after creating a course. It can be edited through the '''Settings''' link in the [[Course administration block]] menu. This page has links to other pages that may describe a setting in more detail. Different versions of Moodle may not have all the settings listed below.

==General==
[[Image:generalsettings1.gif|thumb|300px|General settings|center]]

Englishlanguage-a-long

===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. The most common use is in the navigation bar that is at the top of most pages and this provides an active link to the course home page.

[[Image:Assignment nav trail.jpg|The underlined part is the course Short name.]]

The above example has the short course name, "Features". The short name also appears in the subject line of email messages that are part of the course.

:''TIP:'' If the short name field is not editable, the site administrator has disabled that user's ability by unassigning the moodle/course:changeshortname capability.

===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 catalog ID or can be used in the certificate module as a printed field.

:''TIP:'' If the ID number field is not editable, the site administrator has disabled that user's ability by unassigning the moodle/course:changeidnumber capability.

===Summary===
[[Image:generalsettings2.gif|thumb|Course summary|center]]
The summary of the course is displayed in the course listings and in the coure's "course description" block. It has the Moodle [[HTML editor]] tool bar, which will allow the teacher be creative. Some sites may have a policy on the limits of teacher creativity in this particular area.

===Format===
[[Image:generalsettings3.gif|thumb|Format section in course settings|center]]
A Moodle course may use one of the following formats:

====Weekly format====
[[Image:Course top weekly mu1.jpg|thumb|left|100px|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. 

====Topics format====

[[Image:Course top topic mu1.jpg|thumb|left|100px|Topic format example]]A topic format is very similar to the weekly format, except that each "week" is called a topic. A "topic" is not restricted to any time limit. When you create a course using the topics format, you start by choosing the number of topics you will cover in your course. Moodle then creates a section for each topic.

:''TIP:'' If your course design is concept-oriented, and students will be working through a range of concepts but not necessarily according to a fixed schedule, this is a good choice. 

====Social format====
[[Image:Course top social mu1.jpg|thumb|left|100px|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.

''TIP:'' If you change the course format from Social format to Weekly or Topics format, delete the 'Social activities' block. This block should only be used in the Social format and is normally not available in other course formats. 

====LAMS course 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.

:''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.

====SCORM format====
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.

====Weekly format, CSS/no tables (Moodle 1.6 onwards)====
The CSS / No Tables variant of the Weekly format displays the Weekly course format without using tables for layout. This improves the accessibility of the format, but older browsers have trouble displaying it correctly.

====Page format (non-standard)====
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.

===Number of weeks/topics===
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.

===Course start date===
This is where you specify the starting time of the course (in your own time zone). The first week will start on the date you set here when you use the "Weekly" course format.

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

However, this setting will have an effect on the display of logs, which use this date as the earliest possible date you can display. It can also make your course not visible to students even if when the course is available to students (see below).

:''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.

===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 gray) 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 quizes 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.

===News items to show===
A special forum called "[[News forum|News]]" appears in the "weekly" and "topics" course formats. It is a good place to post notices for all students to see. (By default, all students are subscribed to this forum, and will receive your notices by email.)

This setting determines how many recent items appear on your course home page, in a news box on the right side called [[Latest News block]].

:''TIP:'' If you set it to "0 news items" then the latest news box will not appear.

===Show grades===
Many of the activities allow [[Grades|grades]] to be set. By default, the results of all grades within the course can be seen in the Grades page, available from the main course page for students and teachers.

:''TIP:'' If a teacher is not interested in using grades in a course, or just wants to hide grades from students, then they can disable the display of grades with this option. This does not prevent the teacher using or setting grades for an individual activities, it just disables the results from being displayed to students.

===Show activity reports===
[[Activity_report#Individual_Activity_Report|Activity reports]] are available to each student. These reports or logs shows their activity and contributions in the current course. These reports include their detailed access log.

Student access to their own reports is controlled by the teacher via this course setting. For some courses, these reports can be a useful tool for a student to reflect on their involvement and appearance within the online environment, but for some courses, this may not be necessary.

Teachers always have access to these reports. Teachers can use the button or tab visible on each person’s profile page or use the [[Reports]] link in the course administration block.

Your site administrator may ask you to turn this feature off. Showing activity reports can place a load on the server, slowing it down at times. For large or long classes it may be more efficient to keep it off.

===Maximum upload size===
[[Image:Changeupload.jpg|thumb|Maximum upload size setting]]
This setting defines the largest size of file that can be uploaded by students in this course. The site administrator can determine [[Site_policies#Maximum_uploaded_file_sizefile |sizes available]] for the teacher to select. Teachers should be aware of a course's [[Files|file structure]].

It is possible to further restrict this size through settings within each activity module.

===Force===
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.

===Is this a meta course?===
A [[Metacourses|metacourse]] automatically enrolls its participants from other courses. For example, for every course that is a "child" of the metacourse, all students in the child course are enrolled in the metacourse.

==Enrolments==
[[Image:generalsetting4.gif|thumb|Enrolment settings]]
===Enrolment plugins===
This setting allows you to choose an interactive [[Enrolment plugins|enrolment plugin]], such as [[Internal enrolment|internal enrolment]] or [[Paypal]]. If you use a non-interactive enrolment plugin, this setting has no effect.

===Default role===

From Moodle 1.7 onwards, a default course role, such as student, may be set.

===Course enrollable===
This setting only affects interactive enrolment plugins, such as [[Internal enrolment|internal enrolment]] and [[Paypal]]. It has no affect at all on non-interactive plugins (e.g. External Database, LDAP). Setting it to "no" or if it is outside the specified date range will result in the student being told the course is "Not enrollable" and being returned to the front page, if they are attempting to enroll using an interactive plugin.

:''TIP:'' If you are using Internal enrolment and you have not set an enrolment key, you should seriously consider setting this to ''No'' otherwise any user can enrol on your course.

===Enrolment duration===
This setting specifies the number of days a student can be enrolled in this course (starting from the moment they enroll). Set this value with care - setting it when not required is a common origin of the complaint, "my students keep disappearing after n days".

:''TIP:'' This is useful for rolling courses without a specific start or end time. Students are automatically unenrolled after the number of days has expired in this setting.

:''TIP:'' This setting can be used as an alternative to a manually unenrolling students or using a clean-up function to remove defunct students at some future time.
:''TIP:'' If this course is a metacourse, the enrolment period will not be used.

==Enrolment expiry notification==
[[Image:generalsettings5.gif|thumb|Enrolment expiry notification settings]]
These settings determine whether teachers and/or students are notified that their enrolment is about to expire and how much notice they should be given.

==Groups==
[[Image:generalsettings6.gif|thumb|Groups settings]]
===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.

:''TIP:'' You may leave it set to "No groups" and still have specific activities use groups. In this case the force setting below should be set to "no". For example, the teacher can use a group setting to completely separate cohorts of students such that each group is unaware of the other in the course.

===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.

The force setting is useful when the teacher wants to set up a course and not have to change each activities group settings.

===Default grouping===

{{Moodle 1.9}}If [[Groupings|groupings]] are enabled (in Moodle 1.9 onwards), a default grouping for course activities and resources may be set.

==Availability==

[[Image:generalsettings7.gif|thumb|Availability settings]]
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.

:''TIP:'' The [[Course_settings#Course_start_date|Start Date]] of the course can also effect course visibility.

===Enrolment key===
A course [[Enrolment key|enrolment key]] enables access to courses to be restricted to those who know the key. This feature is typically used on sites which encourage self enrolments or use an external database process to register students in a course. The idea is that Teachers or course administrators will supply the key to authorized people using another means like private email, snail mail, on the phone or even verbally in a face-to-face class.

When the key is left blank and [[Course_settings#Course_enrollable|self enrolment]] is allowed, then anyone who has a Moodle username on the site will be able to enrol in the course.

:''TIP:'' A student can be manually enroled in the course and will not have to supply the required key when they enter the course for the first time.

:''TIP:'' If this password "gets out" and you have unwanted people enrolling, you can unenrol them (see their user profile page or unassign them from the [[Assign roles|student role]] in the course) and change this key. Any legitimate students who have already enrolled will not be affected, but the unwanted people will not be able to get back in.

:''TIP:'' If you are using a non-interactive enrolment, system (e.g., External Database, LDAP) and you do not want students who fail the initial check to be asked for an enrolment key that they will not have, set ''Course Enrolable'' to ''No''.

===Guest access===

Allows any authenticated user (i.e. logged in) to access the course (as a [[Guest role|guest]]), including those who have logged in "as guest". You can choose if they need an enrolment key or may enter without one.

People can log in as guests using the "Login as a guest" button on a login screen, where that feature is enabled for the site. When the user tries to enter a course, they will see the [[Log in|login screen]]. If you only need people authenticated via your normal authentication method to access courses (as Guest or not) it is probably wise to disable "Login as a guest" for a slight improvement in site security. See [[Manage authentication]].

Guests in a course ALWAYS have "read-only" access - meaning they cannot leave any posts or otherwise mess up the course for real students. No use information is stored for a guest.

:''TIP:'' 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 enroll.
:''TIP:'' 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.

For more information see [[Guest role]].

===Cost===

If [[Paypal]] or [[Authorize.net Payment Gateway]] is set as the [[Enrolment plugins|enrolment plugin]], then the course cost can be set in the cost field.

==Language==
[[Image:generalsettings8.gif|thumb|Language settings]]

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.

==Role renaming==
[[Image:rolesimages.gif|thumb|Role renaming settings]]
{{Moodle 1.9}}In Moodle 1.9 onwards, 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|participants]] and the override permissions pages.

Please note that the site administrator or a [[Course managers|course manager]] may have changed the names or added new roles. These names will appear and the teacher may rename them.

[[Roles FAQ]] contains information on changing the name for teacher in Moodle 1.7 and 1.8. Prior to Moodle 1.7, the words for teacher and student may be changed in the course settings.

:''Tip'': Do not worry about changing every role name. Only change the site roles which are used in your course. For example, you may want to ignore renaming roles such as the [[Administrator role]] or the [[Authenticated user role]].

:''Tip'': To include new role names in a course backup, users should be included in the backup.

==See also==

*[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zWOp1oq-TvI Video showing how to create a course in Moodle]

[[Category:Teacher]]

[[fr:Paramètres]]
[[ja:コース設定]]
[[de:Kurseinstellungen]]

Lesson module

2008-10-24T09:04:28Z

Englishlanguage-a-long: /* Table of Contents */

{{Lessons}}

A '''lesson''' [[Teacher_documentation#Activity_modules|activity]] can deliver content in interesting and flexible ways. It consists of a number of pages. Each page has content and leads to another page based on the student's choice. [[Page content]] is created though the use of the standard Moodle [[HTML editor]]. The teacher can select any one of 7 page types for a student to view. Some page types can score a student's choice, such as a multiple choice question. The teacher creates the choices and determines the next page the student will see based upon their choice. A lesson can be part of the [[Grades|gradebook]].

Like other modules, the [[Adding/editing a lesson|Lesson settings page]] allows each lesson to be individualize. This includes access and flow controls, grade, formating and display options.

Songs

Tales

== General information about the lesson and its methodology ==
For a student, a lesson is a series of interactive pages that require a choice on their part before the next page appears.

The teacher's lesson can be a series of pages presented in a linear fashion, like a slide show, or presented in a non-linear, branching manner, or a combination of the two. The teacher can use the Lesson settings to create a different student experience for each lesson. There are also special navigation pages that the teacher may use to change the way parts of the lesson is viewed by students.

The student choice generally drives the lesson. For example, a particular answer might send the student back in the lesson for a review, while another answer will advance the student to a new page. Sometimes the student will only be given the choice to "continue". The lesson can be scored with the use of questions for a grade, or used simply as a resource of non-graded pages or a combination of both.

There are two basic modes: presentation and flash card. Most of the descriptions of a lesson in this document are about the presentation mode and the use of questions and branch pages. The Flash Card section describes how to make lesson pages appear randomly.

[[Lesson_module#Table_of_Contents|Table of Contents]]

== Presentation Lesson ==
The Lesson activity includes many features to make a [[Page content|page's content]] and the entire lesson interesting. There are tools to assist the teacher with pictures, links, fonts, tables and other graphics, plus a rich [[HTML editor]]. It also can keep students from straying from the lesson plan by password protection, various time limits and dependency on a previous lesson's activity.

===Pages, questions, answers and responses===
A [[Lesson_Pages|lesson is made up of pages]]. For the teacher there are two basic types of Lesson pages: choice and navigation. The student sees choice pages, [[Lesson_Pages#Branch_.28Branch_Table.29-_Choice_Pages|"Branch Tables"]] or [[Lesson_module#Types_of_questions_available_within_a_lesson|Question pages]]. Branch tables deliver content and can provide links to one or more other pages in the lesson. Each question page can do the same but also give an individual response and an individual score for each choice (the student's answer). The teacher decides upon the page type and how to best use its flexibility to achieve educational goals.

For example, the default lesson question is a multiple choice page. The teacher might place content on the page and ask a question about it. The teacher can provide 1 to 20 answers, where each answer is scored differently and takes the student to a different page in the lesson. On some answers, the teacher may decide to provide some explanation before sending the student along. Unlike a piece of paper, the answers are going to re arrange themselves every time the student enters the question page.

Of course the teacher can decide a more simple approach in constructing Lesson or a page. For example, when the teacher only enters content, Lesson will automatically add a continue button for their students to link to the next page. Or Lesson can provide a standard response for correct and wrong answers, when the teacher doesn't provide one. The teacher may decide the lesson should not be part of a student's grade and be a series of static pages filled with information.

Navigation pages are only seen by the teacher but will effect the order of the pages the student views. For example, a cluster is a series of pages bracketed by a "start cluster" and a "end of cluster" page.

[[Lesson_module#Table_of_Contents|Table of Contents]]

===Logical order and navigation order===

The order of the pages of a lesson is usually determined by the material or the personal style of the teacher. A page feature called [[Jumps|jumps]] determines what a student sees next.
Once a lesson contains two or more pages the teacher can move existing pages around and add different kinds of pages to any position within the lesson.

The teacher sees the pages in what is called the ''[[Logical Page Order|logical order]]'' when they edit a lesson. The students see the lesson pages in the ''[[Navigation Page Order|navigation order]]'', which can also be seen by the teacher in preview mode. Most of the time we will be talking about the edit view or logical page order.

Jumps are the primary tool the teacher will use to determine a students navigation. For example, each different answer to a question, might send the student to a different page. There are two types of jumps, ''relative'' and ''absolute''. The default jumps used by most pages are the ''relative'' jumps "Next Page" and "This Page". For example, the destination of the Next Page jump is always the next page in the logical order of the lesson. An ''absolute'' jump sends the student to a specific page (identified by the page title). A pull down list of possible jumps assist the teacher in being creative. Thus jumps allow the teacher to design a lesson for the students with "branches", loops and a non-linear structure.

The teacher can see how a lesson's navigation "works" by using several preview tools. For example there is a [[Viewing_a_lesson#When_the_lesson_already_has_content:|Preview tab]] for the teacher when they open a lesson and there is also a preview icon associated with each page. It is possible for the Teacher to switch their role in the course to that of a student.

[[Lesson_module#Table_of_Contents|Table of Contents]]

===Answers===

Typically each question within a lesson will have one correct [[Answers|answer]] and several wrong answers. For example, in a multiple choice question, each answer can receive an individual response from the teacher before sending the student (with a jump setting) to view the same or another page.

As will be seen later, there are two ways to score an answer. In one method, the direction students are sent in the logical order of pages determines if the answer was correct or wrong for scoring purposes. Usually a correct answer advances the student in the logical order and wrong answers send the students back to the question page or back in the logical order. The other method uses custom scoring and an answer is given a score to calculate the grade.

When a question page is added, the jumps have a default setting. The jump for the first answer is the Next Page and it is a good practice to keep this as a right answer. The jumps for the subsequent answers are set to Same Page. The score for the first answer is 1 and for the rest 0. These settings can be changed by editing the question. Remember the order of the answers is going to be random each time a student enters the question page.

When Custom Scoring is turned On in the Lesson settings, then each answer has a point value associated with it. Usually a correct answer receives a score of 1 and a wrong answer receive a score 0. It is possible to give a negative score or partial credit (say 3 for the best answer and 1 for a marginal answer) in some question types.
[[Lesson_module#Table_of_Contents|Table of Contents]]

===Grading===
A students answers to questions can be graded. The [[Lesson score|lesson scores]] and grades can be viewed on the [[Lesson reports|"Reports" tab]] in edit mode and become part of the [[Grades|gradebook]]. A relatively simple formula is used to [[Lesson score|score]] the lesson. It is the number of correct answers divided by the number of question pages seen. This number score can be use by the [[Scales|grade scale]].

When [[Adding/editing_a_lesson#Custom_Scoring|Custom Scoring]] is selected in the Lesson settings, then the grading method changes. With this option, the grade is based on earned points by the user, which is divided by the total points possible. When this option is turned on, the teacher can assign a score for each answer, this can be a negative or 0 (zero) or a positive number. Usually the score is 0 for a wrong answer and 1 for a correct answer. The point values associated with each of the user's answers are added up. That is then divided by the total of the maximum points that the user could have earned for each page answered. This number is then scaled by the grade parameter of the lesson.

The overall score is computed when the Lesson is completed by the student. A completed lesson usually means the student has viewed every page, or answered every question or is directed by a jump to the "[[Lesson_Pages#End_of_Lesson_Page|end of lesson]]".

The student does not have to go through all of the lesson in one "[[Adding/editing_a_lesson#User_can_re-take|sitting]]". If a student goes through some pages and then breaks off, the next time they view the lesson they are asked whether they want to start at the beginning of the lesson or at the point where they left off. The latter point is actually the page they reached with their last correct answer. The previous "attempts" are recorded and the grade for "broken" sessions will include pages seen and questions answered in the previous viewings.

*The main focus of a lesson should be the transfer of knowledge in a reasonably interesting way. Giving a grade may well turn the lesson into a kind of quiz where giving the answers correct is the sole goal. On the other hand, students like to get a perfect "score" and giving grades may well be the carrot needed to get the student to repeat the lesson until they get the magic 100%.

*Some instructors use Lessons as Formative Assignments where the grades, although some measure of activity, are not generally counted in the final mark for the course. If lessons are used in a formal way then it is probably best to use their grades in thresholds.
*Many instructors use lessons to get across chunks of knowledge. The grading options enable instructors to utilize the [http://www.wcln.org/Flow_Documentation.htm#The_Practice_Principle "Practice Principle"] of eLearning, in which immediate practice in answering questions about content leads to improved retention and understanding of the material.

With that in mind, a lesson has a Retake option. That is the subject of the next part.

===Teacher review of students answers===
The teacher has several options to review students answers in a lesson. The [[Lesson reports|report tab]] provides both an overview of each student's attempt of a lesson, and a detailed summary of the class's answers to each question. It is also possible to see the same report via [[Grades|gradebook]] in the course administration block.

===Student Review===

Enabling student review will override custom feedback for questions. [http://moodle.org/mod/forum/discuss.php?d=70798 Forum discussion]

[[Lesson_module#Table_of_Contents|Table of Contents]]

===Re-takes===
Allowing a student to re take a lesson is the default lesson setting under [[Adding/editing_a_lesson#User_can_re-take|grade options]]. Each attempt at a lesson is normally recorded and the student can see a record of their performance by viewing their [[Student_tutorials#Settings|activity page]]. The teacher when creating a lesson has the option of showing the "final" grade as either the mean of all the attempts or the best (maximum score) of their attempts. This "final" grade is the one shown on the [[Grades]] page and the "Lessons" page. By default the mean of the grades is used.

In some learning environments, the teacher may not wish the students to have more than one attempt at a lesson. A particular lesson may be being used in an exam-like situation. Here the Lesson parameter for re-take is set to "No. Once completed the lesson will then not allow students to re-take the lesson. If, however, the lesson is not completed in one "sitting", students are still allowed to restart the lesson at the beginning or at the point where they left off.

*As mentioned earlier a lesson can be used as a formative assignment, imparting some knowledge while at the same time making some demands on the students. It seems natural that students should be allowed to re-visit lessons and because they are given a grade many will want to achieve a good grade. This promotes re-takes.

*Remember that even if a student has achieved the maximum possible grade in a lesson, allowing them to revisit the lesson to explore the various "wrong" paths in the lesson, may provide the student, you and your class additional insights.

[[Lesson_module#Table_of_Contents|Table of Contents]]

===Building lessons===

When creating a lesson the teacher is required to enter content into the first page. Once the first page is in place the teacher has the option of adding more pages in front or after that page. Once a question or branch page have been created, they can be edited by the teacher at any time. When the lesson contains more than one page the teacher also has the option of moving pages, that is, changing the order of the pages. Thus once the lesson is under construction the teacher can add pages, edit pages, remove pages and move pages.

A lesson will normally cover a limited amount of material. A topic or week might contain many lessons. Lessons are shown to the student in the home page for the course within "weeks" or "topics", and/or in the activity block when it is part of the course home page.

As with any lesson, it is a good idea to have a plan before starting the presentation. Simple lessons that basically go from the start to the end in a straight line path, one page after the other, can be created from an outline. More complicated lessons require more planning. The good news is that a teacher can create a simple lesson and then based upon feedback and performance, can add refinements or complexity.

[[Adding_a_question_page]]- more help on adding question pages 
[[Adding_a_branch_table]] - more help on adding branch pages

[[Lesson_module#Table_of_Contents|Table of Contents]]

== Types of questions available within a lesson ==
{{Moodle 1.6}} [[Image:Question_type_tabs.GIF]]
===Multiple choice ===
In a multiple choice question, the student is given a question and a list of answers. Moodle can shuffle the answer list every time the question is view by a student. In a multiple choice question, the student selects one answer.

Questions can use pictures. Indeed, pictures can be used as answers when the HTML editor is turned on and the page reloaded. Each answer in a multichoice question can be scored separately. It is possible to give a negative score for an answer, or partial credit for a wrong answer. The teacher can give a response based upon the answer selected by the student.
====With multianswer box checked====
A check in the multianswer box allows the teacher to determine that more than 1 answer is required for the student to receive credit for the question. There is no partial credit and the student must select just correct answers from a list.

An example of a multianswer question is:
::'''Which of the following are animals'''?
::- A dog
::- A cow
::- A rock
::- A rose

To ensure the multianswer feature works, all correct answers should be in first lines of the answer list, receive the same score (let say 1), response and jump to the same page. Then wrong answers should hve the same score (usually 0), response and all jump to the same page. In other words you should have two groups of answers (correct answers first and then incorrect ones) with the identical scores, responses and jumps for each group.

A student who does not select all the correct answers, or includes any wrong answer will receive the "wrong answer" score, response and jump.

See also [[Multiple_Choice_question_type]] which is a quiz question and works differently.

===Short answer===
In a short answer question the student is expected to answer with one word or a few words. [[Short-Answer question type]] gives more information about this kind of question
{{Moodle 1.6}}
Starting with Moodle 1.6, there are two different ''student answer'' analysis systems available for the Short Answer type of question in the Lesson Module: the '''simple system ''' and the new '''regular expressions system'''. The simple system is the default and is the same used by the Quiz Module. There is a "Use Regular Expressions" option box on the Edit Question Page screen in the Lesson Module.

We suggest first reading about the [[Short-Answer question type|Short answer question page]] with the examples of the "simple analysis", and then read the [[Short answer analysis]] page that gives more information about "Regular Expression analysis".

[[Lesson_module#Table_of_Contents|Table of Contents]]

===True / false===

The True/False question type is a special case of the multiple choice question. The student is prompted to choose which is the correct option. See [[Lesson_module#Multiple_choice|multiple choice question]] above for details.

===Matching questions===
[[Image:Question Matching pulldown 1.JPG||thumb|80px|right|Matching]]
Matching questions consist of a list of names or statements, or pictures which must be correctly matched against another list. For example "Match the letter with its position in the alphabet. One list would have A, B, C, D, Z and the other in a pull down menu next to each item would have 2, 4, 3, 1, 26 .

Unlike the ''Multichoice question'' where the choices are shown in a random order, the first list of items in a ''Matching question'' is not shuffled but shown in the same order as entered. The second list is scrambled.

In 1.9 there is one score, one response and one jump associated with the right answers (where all matches are correct) and one score, one response and one jump associated with a wrong match (where one or more are not matched correctly).

See [[Matching question type]] for more information.

===Numerical Question===
This type of question requires a number as the answer. In it's simplest form it requires just one answer to be specified. For example "What is 2 plus 2?", where 4 is the correct answer. A numerical question will also accept a number in a range as being correct. The answers are similar to short answer, where the order that the teacher lists the answers is important.

See [[Numerical question type]] for more information.

The lesson numerical question differs from the numerical quiz question and the numerical embedded question (Cloze), in a couple of ways when it evaluates answers. For example there is no wild card.

[[Lesson_module#Table_of_Contents|Table of Contents]]

===Essay Questions===
Short essay questions were introduced in Moodle version 1.5. These are meant for short, paragraph or two type of essays one often finds on exams. Thus we did not use the html editor, preferring a simple text field. For longer essays, the assignment module is a better choice.

The student simply enters their essay in the box provided. The teacher sees ungraded essay questions when opening the lesson. After grading, the teacher can email their responses to the student.

[[Essay question type]] page has more information.

[[Lesson_module#Table_of_Contents|Table of Contents]]

== Branches and branch tables ==
If your lesson delivers quite a lot of information, you can divide it into sections that are called [[Lesson_Pages#Branch_.28Branch_Table.29-_Choice_Pages|branches]] in Moodle. One way of moving between these branches is by [[Adding_a_branch_table |adding a Branch Table page]].

Branch tables are simply pages which have a set of links to other pages in the lesson. They look similar to question pages. They have a title, [[Page content|content]] section, student choices (called descriptions) and [[Jumps|jumps]] that the student selects. There is no score for a student's choice, so branch tables are grade neutral. Branch tables also can be put to special uses by a teacher. To help understand these concepts we are going to call one use a "ordered branch" and the other a "classic branch".

===Ordered branches===
A table of contents is an example of a use of ordered branches. Typically a lesson may start with a [[Lesson_Pages#Branch_.28Branch_Table.29-_Choice_Pages|branch table]] with the title "Table of Contents". The student selects a Description button and jumps to a page in the logical order that starts a series of pages about that subject. At the end of an ordered branch, the student is given several options by a question or branch page, such as, go to the next page, the start of the series again, the end of the lesson or return to the Table of Contents.

===Classic branches===
*A classic branch introduces random movement within a series of pages that the student or teacher controls. A classic branch needs a Branch Table at the start and a special navigation page called "End of Branch" at the end of the series. The default jump in an "End of Branch" page is the preceding branch table page as an absolute jump. This makes it easy to add branch pages later in between the start and end and not have to reset the End of Branch jump. After a classic branch has been created, the teacher will see 3 new relative jump options: "Unseen question within a branch", "Random question within a branch" and "Random branch page". The classic branch with its "end of branch" navigation page is similar to a [[Clusters|cluster]].

===Tips when using branches===
*The number of links shown when setting up or editing a branch table or a question is set by the lesson setting "[[Adding/editing_a_lesson#The_Maximum_Number_of_Answers_.2F_Branches_in_a_Lesson|Number of Answers/Branches]]". This parameter can be changed on the fly by simply clicking on the "Update this Lesson" button at the top of the teacher's page and changing the value.

*When a lesson includes one or more ordered or classic branches, teachers need to decide if their students must visit every branch. By adding a question or two in each branch, the teacher can set the "[[Adding/editing_a_lesson#The_Minimum_Number_of_Questions_in_a_Lesson|Minimum number of Questions]]" parameter to some reasonable number of questions that must be answered. Without this parameter a student might visit a single branch in the lesson, answer all its questions correctly and leave the lesson with the maximum grade based upon their attempts, not the total number of available questions.

*Remember that using branches may encourage a student to revisit a question page more than once. This can impact scoring. Since scores can not be displayed for a teacher, it is a good practice for a new Moodling Teacher to log in as a student to check how the score is kept in their Lesson.

*[[Lesson_Pages#Branch_.28Branch_Table.29-_Choice_Pages|Choice pages gives]] detailed help about editing a branch . [[Adding_a_branch_table|Adding a branch table]] reviews process.

[[Lesson_module#Table_of_Contents|Table of Contents]]

== The Flash card lesson ==

The Lesson module can be used as a type of Flash Card assignment by changing the [[Adding/editing_a_lesson|lesson settings]]. In this kind of lesson, the student is shown pages (cards) in random order. Usually these are question pages. There is no set beginning and no set end. Just a series of cards shown one after another in no particular order.

There are two very similar variants of Flash Card behavior. A Flow Control option, "After a correct answer" set to [[Adding/editing_a_lesson#Action_after_a_Correct_Answer |"Show an unseen page"]] never shows the same page twice (even if the student did not answer the question associated with the Card/Page correctly). The other option is "Show an unanswered page" which shows the student pages that may have appeared before but only if they answered the associated question wrongly.

When using either of these Flash Card lessons the teacher can decide to use either all the Cards/Pages in the lesson or just a (random) sub-set. This is done through the [[Adding/editing_a_lesson#Number_of_Pages_.28Cards.29_to_Show|"Number of Pages (Cards) to show"]] parameter also found in the Flow Control settings. Make sure the number is less than the total number of available pages.

When using the Flash Card mode of presentation, setting the jumps is important. A correct answer jump should point to the Next Page, a wrong answer should stay on the same page.

The Lesson Flash Card mode is very similar to a random ordered Quiz, the difference is that the questions are shown one page at a time. And, extra text can be included with each question in the Flash Card.

There is also a [[Flashcard_module]] that can be added to a Moodle site. It is also possible to create lesson segment that is a mini flashcard lesson with the use of special jumps and navigational pages called [[Clusters]].

[[Lesson_module#Table_of_Contents|Table of Contents]]

== Linking and Dependencies ==
{{Moodle 1.6}}
===Dependency===

This setting allows this current lesson to be dependent upon a student's performance in one specific lesson that is in the same course. If the conditions(s) is not met, then the student will not be able to access this lesson.

Conditions for the dependency include:

* Time Spent: the number of minutes the student must spend in the required lesson.
* Completed: the student must finish the required lesson.
* Grade better than: the minimum [[Lesson_score#How_overall_scores_are_determined|overall score]] as a percentage, a student must earn in the required lesson.

Any combination of the above can be used if needed.

===Link to an Activity===
The drop-down menu contains all of the activities for this course. If one is selected, then a link to that activity will appear at the end of the Lesson along with links to score and course menu.

===Other unusual ways to link===
More advanced Moodlers can figure out how to place HTML links on a lesson page. Thus it is possible to create a link to another lesson/activity, a lesson/activity in another course, or even to a specific page in a lesson. While this method can be useful, the student may not be able to find their way back to the page with the link. In general, the links can be created by copying the location of the desired link from the browser's address bar, then pasting it as a link.

[[Lesson_module#Table_of_Contents|Table of Contents]]

== See also ==

*[[Lesson samples]] down loadable and on line demonstrations of the Lesson module.
*[[Using Moodle book]] Chapter 9: Lessons
*[[Grades]] See how individuals and the class answered the questions (must not be a practice lesson)
*[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4xjXelUZguw Creating a Lesson video tutorial]
*[http://moodle.tokem.fi moodle.tokem.fi] Go to teacher's manual and select lesson. For versions 1.5.4 and 1.6.4, a good supplement or alternative to MoodleDocs. Very hands on for specific type of teacher.

[[Category:Modules]]

[[es:Lecciones]]
[[eu:Ikasgaiak]]
[[fr:Leçon]]

User talk:Juana Pérez López

2008-10-24T09:02:16Z

Englishlanguage-a-long: New page: Course: Learning-a-long

Course: Learning-a-long

Talk:Database module

2008-10-24T08:50:43Z

Englishlanguage-a-long: New section: SONGS

== FAQ ==
Updates for 1.7? Doesn't look like there's been any changes.

Importing templates?

Exporting templates?

How to use tags?
:Help file "tags.html" could not be found!

:The use of the tags in the template is vague...

Anyone come across any bugs with the database module once you have added blocks?

How do I export databases created in moodle? I see a means for importing CSV files, but no means for exporting them.

:Please use the Using Moodle [http://moodle.org/mod/forum/view.php?id=3505 Database module forum] for discussions, the [http://moodle.org/bugs/ bug tracker] for browsing and/or adding bug reports and this page for comments about the documentation. Thanks! --[[User:Helen Foster|Helen Foster]] 14:15, 21 July 2006 (WST)

== Introduction to Database module ==

I propose somethink like this (I am not a native english speacker):

'''Unchange:''' The Database module activity allows the teacher and/or students to build, display and search a bank of record entries about any conceivable topic. The format and structure of these entries can be almost unlimited, including images, files, URLs, numbers and text amongst other things.

'''Remove:''' You may be familiar with similar technology from building Microsoft Access or Filemaker databases.

'''Remove:''' Note: Please don't confuse this activity type with Moodle's underlying SQL database, which stores all of the information used in Moodle courses and is only of interest to Moodle Administrators.

This module will create one table for instance, but you may create as many instances you need. The records can be linked to other tables and all resources in the course, if you allowing autolink in a name field.

These tables are "virtual", they are not created in the SQL database, they are just stored there (in tables mdl_data*).

----
I think this clarify the missleading name "database".

== SONGS ==

[[Image:Example.jpg]]

I went to the animal fair
the birds and the beasts were there
by the light of the moon the big baboon

Talk:Database module

2008-10-24T08:49:10Z

Englishlanguage-a-long: Replacing page with ' '''Remove:''' SONGS'

'''Remove:''' SONGS

Database module

2008-10-24T08:45:08Z

Englishlanguage-a-long: Replacing page with 'SONGS'

SONGS

User:Juana Pérez López

2008-10-24T08:42:00Z

Englishlanguage-a-long: New page: Englishlanguage-a-long

Englishlanguage-a-long

File:Course edit on new 2.jpg

2008-10-24T08:30:46Z

Englishlanguage-a-long: englishlanguage-a-long

[[Media:Shows new 1.6 course, topic outline, edit on, with left hand blocks]][[Media:[[Image:Example.ogg]]'''''Bold text''[[[Link title][[[Image:http://www.example.com link title]]<math><nowiki>Insert formula here</nowiki>--~~~~
----
</math>]]]''']]