NMT Moodle 1.9 Instructor's Guide |  |
NMT Moodle 1.9 Instructor's Guide | |
Whether your course is organized by week or by topic, the large center column of the course will display a sequence of blocks. The first block is for the entire course, and then each following block is for one week or topic.
When you add content, you can add it to any of these blocks. Add content to the first block if it pertains to the entire course; add content to the other blocks if that content pertains to only one week or one topic.
To add content, first you must turn on editing. There are two ways to do this:
In the top right corner of the page, just under the button, click the button labeled .
Under the Administration section in the column on the left-hand side, click on the link .
When editing is on, each block shows an
edit icon. Click on this icon to create or modify the block's
summary.
Each block also shows two pull-down menus, labeled and .
For resources, see Section 7, “Resources”. A Moodle resource is some static content associated with the course, such as a syllabus or lecture notes.
For activities, see Section 10, “Activities”. A Moodle activity is a tool that instructors and students use to interact with the course, for tasks such as homework assignments and online quizzes.
Assuming you use topic block format instead of weekly block format (see Section 4.2, “The Edit course settings page”), you will see one unnumbered block followed by blocks numbered 1, 2, 3, and so on, something like this:
The top, unnumbered block is for material that pertains to the entire course, such as your syllabus. Most instructors use each of the numbered blocks for one unit of material, such as a lecture or a week.
If you were to use block 1 for the first unit, block 2 for the second unit, and so on, as the course progresses through the semester, students would have to scroll down further and further to get to the current material.
Therefore, we recommend that you hide all the blocks for future units, and then move each block to the top as it becomes the active block. Here is the overall procedure.
Start in the Edit course settings menu: from the course page, on the left side under , click on .
Scroll down a little ways to the pulldown menu labeled , and select if you haven't already.
In the next pulldown menu labeled , select 1. Then scroll to the bottom of this page and click . You will return to the course page.
Click the
button. This
makes a number of icons appear:
In the first topic, edit the title of the block by
clicking the
edit icon just to the right of the block number.
Enter a title such as “Lecture 1”.
Add resources and activities for the first topic; see Section 7, “Resources” and Section 10, “Activities”.
To add a new block, first go back to the menu and add one to the Number of weeks/topics. Save and return to
the course page. You will see the new topic block
below the other blocks. Again, click the
edit icon and enter a heading for the block, e.g.,
“Lecture 2”.
Be sure editing is turned on. The way you move the new block above the other blocks depends on your browser. In some browsers, you will see a four-pointed arrow on the left side of the block, like this:
To move a block in a browser of this type, click on the four-pointed arrow, drag the block on top of the block that is where you want it to be, and drop it there.
In other browsers, you will see upward- and downward-pointing arrows on the right side, like this:
To move a block up one position, click on the
up-arrow; to move a block down one position, click on the
down-arrow.