START HERE -----> Inserting ACTIVITIES for student engagement
| Site: | eLearn.MCOE.org |
| Course: | A beginner's guide to eLearn |
| Book: | START HERE -----> Inserting ACTIVITIES for student engagement |
| Printed by: | Guest user |
| Date: | Thursday, May 2, 2024, 9:35 PM |
1. Inserting activities
The Activity chooser pane appears when you have the editing turned on and you click the link 'Add an activity or resource' in the section you wish to add your learning content. This video and the text underneath it explain what it does.
Video tutorial
If you don't see the 'Add an activity or resource' link, (and instead you see two drop down menus) check with your Moodle administrator. Perhaps you have an older Moodle version or the feature has been turned off.
Learners interact with an activity; whereas they simply view a resource
The Activity chooser shows all activities the administrator has enabled. They might include non-standard, extra (add-on) activities such as, Big Blue Button, a contributed web conferencing module.
To find out more about a particular activity or resource, click the radio button next to it and read the information which appears. A link to the documentation gives more details
To add a particular activity or resource, click the Add button at the bottom or simply click the radio button twice.
Documentation links:
Activity chooser on the Course home page(These Moodle documentation links open in a new window.)
2. Inserting Forums to create conversations
This video and the text underneath it explain how you can set up a discussion forum for your learners.
Video tutorial
Discussing learning with others and sharing in the building of knowledge helps us progress. Moodle offers several types of forum a teacher can add to enhance learning. As a teacher you can also 'pin' posts to the top of a thread to keep them visible and you can 'lock' them if nobody has posted after a certain time.
Forums are added by turning on the editing and clicking Add an activity or resource in the section you want the forum. You can have more than one forum in your course and more than one type of forum.
When you have named and described your forum you choose its type. The standard type allows users to start their own discussions. Clicking the ? help icon will provide information on the other types. Amongst other settings, you can allow learners to attach files and you can rate their posts.
Documentation links:
(These Moodle documentation links open in a new window.)
3. Inserting Choice (Polls) to give students voice
If you need quickly to gauge students' progress or to have a simple way of allowing them to vote on a particular issue, then use the Choice activity. This video and the text underneath it explain how.
Video tutorial
The Choice activity allows you to set up radio buttons which users can click to make a selection. They can choose one or more option and they can - if you wish - update their choice more than once.
As a teacher you can always see the results, but you can also choose whether or not - and when - to allow learners to see each others' choices and whether or not to allow them to see the names or merely the percentage of votes. Choice options may be restricted by number and you can also view those who have not made their selection and (if needed) make a selection on their behalf.
Documentation links:
Choice activity(This Moodle documentation link opens in a new window.)
4. Checkboxes to track student progress
This video and the text underneath it explain what about activity completion/completion tracking and why it is useful.
Video tutorial
Activity completion or Completion tracking are names given to the feature which allows learners to see their progress through checkboxes at the side of each activity. It is also needed to display completion percentages and activity deadlines on the dashboard.
A teacher then enables it from Edit settings in the gear menu top right. (Activity completion is turned on by default, so you probably don't have to do anything to get it started.) Each activity or resource will then have a section Activity completion where teachers can specify the conditions upon which that activity will be marked complete. These conditions vary according to the activity or resource. A page, for instance, can only be 'viewed', whereas in a forum it is possible to require a certain number of posts.