How to create a course

Field

Description

General

Course Full Name

The full name of the course is displayed at the top of each page in the course and in the list of courses.

This is a mandatory field.

Course Short Name

The short name of the course is displayed in the navigation and is used in the subject line of course email messages.

This is a mandatory Field.

Course Category

This setting determines the category in which the course will appear in the list of courses

Course Visibility

This setting determines whether the course appears in the list of courses and whether students can access it. If set to Hide, then access is restricted to users with the capability to view hidden courses (such as administrators and teachers)

Course Start Date

This setting determines the start of the first week of the course in a weekly format. It also determines the earliest date that logs of course activities are available for. If the course is reset and the course start date is changed, all dates in the course will be moved in relation to the new start date

Course End Date

The course end date is used for determining whether a course should be included in a user's list of courses. When the end date is past, the course is no longer listed in the navigation and is listed as past in the course overview. The course end date may also be used by custom reports. Users can still enter the course after the end date; in other words the date does not restrict access.

This is enabled by default. It can be disabled by unticking the enabled checkbox. Located on the ride side of the date and time fields.

Course ID Number

The ID number of a course is only used when matching the course against external systems and is not displayed anywhere on the site. If the course has an official code name it may be entered, otherwise the field can be left blank.

Description

Course Summary

The course summary is displayed in the list of courses. A course search searches course summary text in addition to course names.

Course Summary File

Course summary files, such as images, are displayed in the list of courses together with the summary

Course Format

Format

The course format determines the layout of each course page.

Single activity format - For displaying a single activity or resource (such as Quiz or SCORM package) on the course page

Social format - A forum is displayed on the course page

Topics format - The course page is organised into topic sections

Weekly format - The course page is organised into weekly sections, with the first week starting on the course start date

Number of Sections

The number of sections are how many topics will be included in the course, when it is created. This can be increased and decreased whilst creating course content.

Hidden Sections

This setting determines whether hidden sections are displayed to users in collapsed form (perhaps for a course in weekly format to indicate holidays) or are completely hidden.

Course Layout

This setting determines whether the whole course is displayed on one page or split over several pages.

Appearance

Force Language

You can force a language by using the dropdown box. If the language is not forced, it will default to the native language.

Number of announcements

The announcements forum is a special forum which is created automatically in the course, has forced subscription set by default, and only users with appropriate permissions (by default teachers) can post on it.

This setting determines how many recent announcements appear in the latest announcements block.

If an announcements forum is not required in the course, this setting should be set at zero.

Show Gradebook to students

Many activities in the course allow grades to be set. This setting determines whether a student can view a list of all their grades for the course via a grades link the course administration block.

Show activity reports

Activity reports are available for each participants that show their activity in the course. As well as listings of their contributions, such as forum posts or assignment submissions, these reports also include access logs. This setting determines whether a student can view their own activity reports via their profile page.

Files and Uploads

Maximum upload size

This setting determines the largest size of file that can be uploaded to the course, limited by the site-wide setting set by an administrator. Activity modules also include maximum upload size setting for further restricting the file size.

Completion Tracking

Enable completion tracking

If enabled, activity completion conditions may be set in the activity settings and/or course completion conditions may be set. It is recommended to have this enabled so that meaningful data is displayed in the course overview on the Dashboard.

Groups

Group Mode

This setting has 3 options:

No groups

Separate groups - Each group member can only see their own group, others are invisible

Visible groups - Each group member works in their own group, but can also see other groups

The group mode defined at course level is the default mode for all activities within the course. Each activity that supports groups can also define its own group mode, though if the group mode is forced at course level, the group mode setting for each activity, is ignored.

Force Group Mode

If group mode is forced, then the course group mode is applied for every activity in the course. Group mode settings in each activity are ignored.

Default Grouping

Is set to a default of None

Role Renaming

This setting allows the displayed names for roles used in the course to be changed. Only the displayed name is changed - role permissions are not affected. New role names will appear on the course participants page and elsewhere within the course. If the renamed role is one that the administrator has selected as a course manager role, then the new role name will also appear as part of the course listing.

Tags

Tags added will be used for searchability of the course