Adding activities (data declaration form required)

Assignment

An assignment is used for learners to submit assignments for grading by a teacher.

There is detailed guidance on the Moodle site that: 

• introduces what an assignment is
• discusses which settings to use
• offers guidance on how to use it. 

To add an assignment, switch editing on, go to your course’s homepage and click on the + Add an activity or resource button.

This will give you a screen full of options. Click on the Assignment icon to open the New Assignment page.

Enter the name of the assignment and (if you require one) a short description of it in the Assignment name and Description fields. If you want this description to appear on your course homepage just below the link to the assignment, you can tick the Display description on main page tickbox.

There’s a variety of settings for creating an assignment, each with a help icon that includes more information. 

• Availability includes options for assignment submission dates.
• Submission types includes settings for file formats.
• Feedback types includes options about the feedback given to your learners. To contact the learner a teacher should always use the feedback functionality; in line with GDPR law, they should never use the learner’s email address (which they will be able to see in some reports).
• Submission settings and Group submission settings allow you to define how assignments are submitted.
• Notifications includes options for informing learners about submissions.
• Grade includes grading criteria for your assignment. There are three options for the type of grading: ‘None’, ‘Scale’ and ‘Point’, which is the default choice. Note that ‘Pass/Fail’ is not automatically set up as an option. For information on how to add ‘Pass/Fail’, see the guidance on the Moodle website about scales and grade points.
• Common module settings includes availability and language options, and is also relevant if your course uses groups.
• Restrict access includes the option to add restrictions, if for example you only want your assignment to be available after a certain date, or after a learner has completed another action. 

Click on the Save and return to course button.

Blog

You can include course-wide blogs (where everyone in the course posts to the same blog), group blogs or individual blogs.

You need to think carefully about using a blog in your course. Questions you might consider include: 

• Do you plan to update it regularly with new posts?
• To what extent would you allow learners to comment?
• Would you allow learners to write blog posts too? 

You might want two different kinds of blog for your course: a reflective blog for each learner that only the learner and tutor can see, and a group blog where all the learners can publish a post and comment.

If your course will not be tutor-supported, a blog might not be an appropriate tool to use.

To add a blog, switch editing on, go to your course’s homepage and click on the + Add an activity or resource button.

This will give you a screen full of options. Click on the Blog icon to open the New Blog page.

Enter the name of the blog and a short introduction to it in the Blog name and Intro fields.

There’s a variety of settings for creating an assignment, each with a help icon that includes more information. 

• There are further options listed under General that manage comments and visibility, attachment rules, and the number of posts that appear on a page.
• Advanced options includes options managing usage statistics, changing the name of the blog and importing posts.
• Tags manages tags that are both predefined and created by learners.
• Contribution time period allows you to set rules about when posts can be made and if commenting is allowed.
• Grade includes options if your blog is part of your course’s assessment and requires grading. If you select ‘Teacher grades students’ in the Grading drop-down list, you can then select the type of grade: if you choose ‘Scale’ you can then choose type of scale; if using ‘Point’ grading, you can then enter the maximum grade available for this activity. Grading can only be used if your course is going to be supported by a tutor.
• Ratings include options managing whether your blog will be rated by learners. Rating can only be used if your course is going to be supported by a tutor.
• Common module settings includes availability and language options, and is also relevant if your course uses groups.
• Restrict access includes the option to add restrictions, if for example you only want your assignment to be available after a certain date, or after a learner has completed another action. 

Click on the Save and return to course button.

Custom Certificate

Please be aware that choosing the custom certificate does not generate a certificate; instead, it allows you to set up a customised certificate of your preferred design. Rather than using the standard statement of participation you can include a digital badge or add a second page, but be warned: it can be tricky to configure it.

Whereas a statement of participation depends on you setting up course completion tracking, the custom certificate uses the Restrictions feature.

It is possible to set up a certificate without a background layout; however, a background template design can save a lot of time when trying to produce a certificate with a consistent and professional appearance. The background template design can show all the static text, logos, branding and design that you want to appear on the certificate.

Your background template can be either landscape (horizontal) or portrait (vertical) in layout.

For your reference we have created a very basic example of a background template design. 

Setting up a certificate

To add a certificate, switch editing on, go to your course’s homepage and click on the + Add an activity or resource button.

This will give you a screen full of options. Click on the Custom Certificate icon to open the New Custom Certificate page.

Enter the name for the certificate and (if you require one) a short description of it in the Name and Description fields. If you want this description to appear on your course homepage just below the link to the poll, you can tick the Display description on main page tickbox.

The Display mode for the options drop-down list sets whether the options are listed horizontally (i.e. on a line) or vertically (i.e. in a list).

There’s a variety of settings for creating a poll, each with a help icon that includes more information. 

• Options includes settings for how a certificate appears or is sent to learners, the minimum time a learner must be on the course before being eligible for a certificate, preventing learners from modifying a certificate and language.
• Availability enables you to select a specific time period for the poll to be available; alternatively, if you do not adjust these settings then the poll will remain open.
• Common module settings enable you to set the availability of your certificate and its ID number, and set the certificate’s language, and has a group mode if your learners are divided into groups.
• Restrict access includes the option to add restrictions, if for example you only want your certificate to be available after a learner has completed one or more other actions – achieving a passing grade in a quiz, for example. 

Click on the Save and display button and the certificate page will appear showing the name of the certificate and the number of recipients (there will be none so far).

Configuring a certificate

To configure a certificate, switch editing on, go to your course’s homepage and click on certificate. Then go to the Administration block on the left-hand side of the screen and click on Edit certificate.

On the new page that opens you can edit the Name of the certificate and adjust its dimensions. By default the certificate is set up with portrait A4 dimensions: 210 mm wide and 297 mm high. (If you’d prefer a landscape-oriented certificate, you should change the Width field to ‘297’ and the Height field to ‘210’.) Left and right margins are set at 0 mm by default.

If you click on the Save changes and preview button at this stage, you will see that your certificate is a blank sheet of paper. Certificates do not work from a pre-loaded template: you need to add any design elements, including creating any artwork – which must leave space for dynamic elements such as learners’ names and the date the certificate was issued.

(We have created a very basic example of a certificate’s background image for you to download and use in the following instructions to see what a certificate would look like. You may also want to adapt this image for your own use.)

To add a background image to the certificate, switch editing on, go to your course’s homepage and click on certificate. Then go to the Administration block on the left-hand side of the screen and click on Edit certificate.

Under the Right margin field, ensure that Background image is selected from the drop-down list and click on the Add element button.

You can add a background image in either of two ways: 

• You can drag an image saved on your computer into the area indicated. After that:
  • click on the image and update the Author details – these default to your name, which might not be correct
  • select the correct licence in the Licence chooser field
  • click on Update to confirm. 
• You can click on the Add... button at the top of the box. After that:
  • click on the Choose File button and navigate to where the image you want to use is saved on your computer
  • update the Author details, if necessary
  • select the correct licence in the Choose licence field
  • click on Upload this file to confirm. 

A thumbnail of your image will then appear in the Upload image box.

Click on the Save and continue button so that the platform can register that the image has uploaded.

After the page refreshes, go to the Image drop-down list and change the selection from ‘No image’ to ‘Course image: [your image’s filename]’.

Click on the Save changes button to return to the Edit certificate screen.

The Background image element has now been added to your list of elements. Now if you click on the Save changes and preview button you’ll see a preview that includes the background image you just uploaded.

You are now ready to add other elements to your certificate. There are several options available in the drop-down list, but the most common ones are ‘Student name’ and ‘Grade’.

For example, select ‘Student name’ from the drop-down list and click on the Add element button.

On the new screen select the Font, Size and Colour that you want the name to appear in. All three should be chosen so that they complement the background image. You can choose the colour by clicking on an area of the colour block or by typing a hex colour code into the field below it.

Click on the Save changes button. The Student name element now appears in your list of elements.

When you have added all the elements you need, click on the Reposition elements link.

A preview of the certificate will appear, showing the elements that you have defined stacked on top of each other in the top-left hand corner of your certificate. (Note that Student name will appear as your name.) Drag each one into the correct position on your certificate.

Click on the Save and close and then the Save changes and preview buttons to ensure that you’re happy with your final design.

You can update the size or colour of text in any of the dynamic elements by clicking on the cog icon next to each element in the box. You may need to click on the Reposition elements link to adjust where any edited elements are placed on your certificate before saving the changes.

You can add a second page to the certificate using the + Add page link. Configuring the second page is done in the same way as the first page.

When learners start to meet the restriction criteria and the certificate is issued to them, the Course Manager will see the following information for each learner: name, email address, awarded on (day, date, time), code, file download link (PDF).

(The learners will only see the link to their own certificate on the page.)

Questionnaire

By using this activity you can construct surveys using a variety of question types, for the purpose of gathering data from users.

Setting up a new questionnaire

To add a questionnaire, switch editing on, go to your course’s homepage and click on the + Add an activity or resource button.

This will give you a screen full of options. Click on the Questionnaire icon to open the New Questionnaire page.

Enter the name of the questionnaire and (if you require one) a short description of it in the Name and Description fields. If you want this description to appear on your course homepage just below the link to the questionnaire, you can tick the Display description on main page tickbox.

There’s a variety of settings for creating a questionnaire, each with a help icon that includes more information.

• Availability allows you to limit when learners can fill in the questionnaire.
• Response options includes settings for your questionnaire.
• Content options includes templates that you can use.
• Common module settings includes availability and language options, and is also relevant if your course uses groups.
• Restrict access includes the option to add restrictions, if for example you only want your questionnaire to be available after a certain date, or after a learner has completed another action.

Click on the Save and display button. Now you've set up a questionnaire you can add some questions to it.

Note that you can edit the questionnaire’s settings at any time before making it available to learners; editing the settings after that may cause problems for any learners who have already completed it.

Creating questions

Having clicked on Save and display you should now see the front page of your questionnaire. There'll be an Add question button and a note that no questions have been added yet.

Click on the button. This will open a new screen with four tabs: Advanced settings, Questions, Feedback and Non-respondents. You are in the Questions tab.

Under Add questions is a drop-down list of all the question types:

• Check Boxes
• Date
• Dropdown Box
• Essay Box
• Label
• Numeric
• Page Break
• Radio Buttons
• Rate (scale 1...5)
• Text Box
• Yes/No.

The Moodle website has guidance on how to best use these question types.

Once you have created a question it will appear in the Manage questions list.

A new tab at the top of the screen, Preview, will show you what your question will look like for learners.

You can also define other settings for your questionnaire in the Advanced settings tab.

There’s a variety of settings for defining how your questionnaire works in the Advanced settings tab, each with a help icon that includes more information.

• Content options includes settings for the questionnaire type, title and subtitle, and additional information.
• Submission options includes settings for the page that learners see after completing the questionnaire and an associated email option.

Click on the Save and return to course button.