Active quiz is designed to be used in a face-to-face lecture/tutorial (ie in class), with a classroom of computers/tablets/phones (devices). See Quiz – main entry for the out-of-class quiz activity.

The teacher creates the quiz in advance – adding questions from the topic's question bank. During the lecture/tutorial, the teacher starts the quiz. Students can now connect to this quiz. Once the teacher is satisfied that all students have connected to the active quiz, they can click on 'Start Quiz'.

The teacher can review student responses in real time and re-poll the same question, go to the next question, or jump to any question set up in the activity. 

1. Plan

The better your planning/preparation, the less likely you are to run into a problem once students start doing the quiz. Therefore, it is advised that you have a process for creating your quiz. Why do you want to set up an active quiz (ie what is the quiz's purpose)? Active quiz could be used for:

• Debate/discussion in a face-to-face (f2f) session 
  
• A staged learning process: pre-session activities tested at the beginning of a f2f session, then workshopped in the session, then tested again at the end of the session (‘Session grading method’ choices are average, first session, last session, highest session grade) 
  
• Revision sessions: pre-existing quiz questions can be used as a quick poll with students to identify learning gaps
• Muddy points (knowledge/understanding) 
  
• Interactivity/inclusivity amongst diverse cohorts (if live streaming used) – external, internal etc 
  
• Classroom interactivity – competition/cooperation 
  
• Engagement with topic materials and f2f

2. Build

Set up a category and question bank 

A question bank is used to categorise quiz questions. Sorting questions into categories is especially important when random questions are used or a topic contains many quizzes. If you add a category before you add questions to the question bank, all questions created can be added to this category and they will then belong to the topic, rather than the quiz. This approach will make management easier when you are creating new quizzes (eg in the following semester) using questions from previous quizzes.

1. Add a category to the question bank
   
2. Create a new question (question types) – the most suitable questions for Active quiz are multiple choice and true/false
   

Categories in the question bank can be exported from one topic into another, enabling the questions within to be multiple use. Please contact your eLearning support team to discuss importing question bank categories.

Create an active quiz activity

1. Turn editing on using the green button – this button is available top left of screen on the topic homepage
    
2. Go to the module where you would like the active quiz to appear
   
3. Click the Add an activity or resource link at the bottom of the module
   
   
   
4. Select Active quiz from Activities tab
   
   
5. Give the Active quiz a Name and Description
   
6. Set up the Grade settings and Review options
   
• If the 'Assessed' box is left at the default (ticked) the results of the quiz will appear in the Gradebook
  
• If the 'Manual Comment' box is left ticked, you can add a comment when grading an attempt
  
  
  
  
  
  
7. Click Save and display
   
   
8. Click Edit quiz to start adding questions
   
   
9. Choose a question from your question bank. 
   For help creating questions, see Create a new question (question types).
   Create a new question, or select the category containing an existing question, then click + to add the question to the quiz
    
   
   
10. Review the question settings, and click Add question
    
    
    
11. Repeat steps 8 and 9 to add more questions

3. Test

Ask your colleagues or the eLearning support team to check the setup of your active quiz. You could also run a test session (see below for instructions).

4. Administer 

Run an active quiz session

1. In the topic, click on the Active Quiz activity you want to run
   
   
2. Enter a Session name and tick the boxes if you wish to make responses anonymous.
   When you're ready to open the session, click Start Session
   
   
   
3. Students will be able to join the session, but won't see any questions yet. Click Start quiz 
   
   
4. Students in the active quiz session will see a short countdown before the first quiz question is shown
   
   
5. You can control the question while it is shown to students by clicking on the links
   
   
   
6. Students will be able to answer the question until you click End question, or until the timer runs out (if a time limit was set)
   
   
7. Use the links to navigate between questions, re-poll questions, and hide / show results and answers
   
   
   
8. To end the session, click Close session
   

5. Review

How did it go? What did students think? Did it help achieve your purpose in creating an active quiz? These types of questions can help you refine the quiz for next time. 

Students provide responses to questions or surveys. Polling can be synchronous or asynchronous. Synchronous or real-time polling in class allows you to display and analyse the results immediately. Asynchronous polling can be used prior to a teaching session where you collect and analyse results to inform delivery of your class.

FLO Active Quiz

Good for

• Delivery of time-boxed questions (synchronous)
• Multiple poll questions in one session where the availability of each question is controlled by the teacher
• Use in-class to check understanding of materials during presentations to allow for clarification
• Use in-class to explore class views on issues for discussion

Useful features

• Active quiz is a synchronous (real-time) timed quiz
• Multiple choice (MCQ) and True-False questions will generate a dynamic histogram of answers, making them good for polling
• Functions in group mode

Cautions

• In a live classroom setting, be careful what your screen is displaying – questions other than MCQ and T/F will display identified student answers

Tips

• Create a QR code of the Active quiz URL. Insert into your lecture presentation to make it quick and easy for students to access
• Advise students in advance to have a suitable device. Have students log into FLO at the beginning of the class

Help resources

• Active quiz

FLO Choice

Good for

• Asynchronous use (eg asking a question pre-class to explore class views on issues for discussion)
• Single in-class question where time-boxing of answer is less important
• Use at beginning of class before presentation commences
• Use at end of class to determine comprehension

Useful features

• Designed as a single question asynchronous (not real time, students working on it individually at own pace/time) polling activity
• Can be used in a live setting (synchronous/real time)
• Can display a histogram of responses
• Results can be exported
• Can be run in group mode

Limitations

• Teacher will need to refresh their screen to display the choice results
• Limited layout and styling control
• Only one question per choice activity

Tips

• Generate a QR code form the choice URL. Add to lecture slide to take students directly to the poll
• Advise students in advance to have a suitable device. Have students log into FLO at the beginning of the class

Help resources

• Choice (poll/survey)

Good for

• Asking multiple questions, including free text
• Asking the class what material they would like further clarification on in tutorial or revision sessions

Useful features

• Can deliver more than one question
• Designed for surveying, responses can be anonymous
• Can be used as a live activity in class
• Results of some question types can be displayed as a histogram

Limitations

• Teacher needs to refresh the results page to see incoming responses
• Limited layout and styling control

Tips

• Create a QR code from the feedback activity's URL. Place the QR code into a lecture slide to make it efficient for students to get to the activity on a mobile device
• Advise students in advance to have a suitable device. Have students log into FLO at the beginning of the class

Help resources

• Feedback

There are two main page views you will encounter in FLO: My FLO, and individual Topic pages.

My FLO

My FLO has several main navigation areas: (see image below)

1. Quicklinks - From here you can access the Library homepage, Student Portal, FLO Support resources or you can click on Topic Search to search for your topic.
2. Navigation menu - Here you can access your My Media, Calendar, and all your topics.
3. My Topics Overview - A list of all of your topics.
4. Timeline block – Provides an overview of deadlines. Deadlines may be sorted by due dates (1) or by dates or topics (2).

Topics

Navigating within any topic can be done in a number of ways:

1. Breadcrumb trail - This breadcrumb trail appears on every page. Click on the links to navigate backwards toward the topic home page or your Dashboard.
2. Navigation menu- From here you can navigate to your other topics as well as to the topic Calendar. It also displays links to the Participants list, Grades, Media Vault etc.
3. Specific topic activities and resources - Click on any specific activity or resource to open it.
4. Quick Back to Top button – Click to quickly navigate back to the top of the page, instead of scrolling up.
   
5. Topic blocks - links to standardised topic information, activities, contact details, due dates, grades, etc.
   

Anyone with a Flinders FAN can log into FLO. Each topic has a FLO site automatically created. Staff may request other sites (eg for courses, collaborative projects, committees) by contacting the eLearning support team in their college.

A link to the FLO login page is provided in the Quick links menu in the top banner of the University website or via Okta. Otherwise, type https://flo.flinders.edu.au/ into your browser address bar; this link will redirect you to Okta to sign in. Once signed in you will be redirected to FLO. 

Table of contents

1. Layout

• My FLO homepage
• Blocks

2. Customisation

• My FLO page customisations
• Profile customisations (includes photo)
• Preferences settings

3. Topics

• Find your way around (FLO features)
• Edit content in a topic (includes add a block, and add/delete a module)
• Customise the My Topics block (My FLO)
• Create starred topics for quick access (My FLO)

4. Browser compatibility

5. Log out

1. Layout

My FLO homepage

When you first log in to FLO, you will see the My FLO homepage. The My FLO page lists every topic you have a role in. Your topics are arranged in a Card layout under My Topics.

You can also see the items and topics that you have most recently accessed.

Blocks

The standard layout of the FLO homepage (My FLO) consists of blocks on the right of the screen, with the content on the left. A block is a widget that can provide a link to a feature, or can aggregate content from different areas of the site. Blocks available from My FLO can link you to upcoming assessments and latest announcements.

In your topics, the blocks can be accessed from the Topic Blocks button in the banner (top-right corner).

The blocks panel is divided into three columns. Column 1 has the Topic Links, Clock and Activities blocks. Column 2 has the Teaching team block and Column 3 has Lecture recordings and other blocks you would like to include.

2. Customisation

• My FLO page customisations
• Profile customisations (includes photo)
• Preferences settings

My FLO page customisations

To control which topics appear on your dashboard, you can star or remove them:

1. Under the topic click on the three dots
2. Choose Remove from view to hide the topic
3. Choose Star this topic to add it to your Starred list. You can access the starred list from the filter in the top-left corner of the My Topics block (FLO remembers the last filter you chose each time you come to this page).

Profile customisations (includes photo)

Every user in FLO has a profile page that is displayed to other users. To edit your profile click the picture next to your name and select Profile from the drop-down list, then the Edit profile link in the user details box.

You can edit your location, time zone and add a description about yourself. Your name and email address will be automatically added.

You can also add a picture of yourself or something you want to be identified by. You can by scrolling down to the User picture section do this by clicking the add button or drag and dropping a picture into the box with the dotted lines. You can also provide a description for the picture. Adding a picture gives you a 'social presence' in FLO and will show in some FLO activities (eg forum posts) and the Teaching Team block.

Click the Update profile button  to save your changes.

Preferences settings

Preferences, available through the profile menu, allow you to control settings that primarily control how you receive information from FLO. The following settings are available:

3. Topics

FLO topics consist of resources (eg lecture notes, files, URLs, and video files) and activities (eg assignment dropboxes, quizzes, discussion forums).

• Find your way around (FLO features)
• Edit content in a topic (includes add a block, and add/delete a module)
• Customise the My Topics block (My FLO)
• Create starred topics for quick access (My FLO)

Find your way around (FLO features)

Tools for managing learning (such as the Gradebook) can be used to record and monitor student progress In the Flinders My Topics area – this is a listing of all the topics you have access to and you can decide how you would like to view your topics – in progress, past, future or starred topics.

The standard layout for each topic consists of content (modules/weeks) in the centre, navigation menu on the left, and topic blocks in the banner image.

The top module can be used for resources that are needed throughout the semester and do not sit specifically into a weekly module, or one of the modules included in the starter site.  Note: If you are using a Collapsed topic format, the user cannot collapse the top module, and so consideration should be given to the number of resources in the top module to avoid a long scrolling experience. 

Edit content in a topic

Edit week/modules and activities/resources

With editing on, next to each activity you will see an Edit drop-down menu. This menu will allow you to move, hide, duplicate or delete the activity. 

A week/module or activity/resource can be quickly renamed using the pencil icon and moved easily using the move icon.

Note: If you using a weekly format and change the default module titles by renaming them, remember to check that date-specific resources like lecture recordings appear in the correct location before teaching begins.

Add a block

There are various blocks you can add to a topic. See the list in Add a block located at the top of the page in Topic Blocks:
    

When you have finished editing, ensure that you Turn editing off.

Add/delete a module

1. If deleting a module, delete all of the contents of the module. Otherwise, skip to the next step.
   
2. Scroll to the end of the FLO topic homepage, and select either the add or delete option.
   
3. If adding a mdoule, change the module name using the pen icon, and move to the position you want it (eg below Module 0) using the icon at the left of the module name
   

Customise the My Topics block (My FLO)

The My Topics block has filters to help you find your FLO sites. The following filters are available:

All – All your FLO sites, (except for any you have hidden)

In progress – All sites currently running (e.g. the topics you are currently teaching in)

Future – Topics you will be teaching in the future. Topics will move to In progress at the start of the semester

Past – Topics where teaching has finished

Starred – Topics you have marked for easy access (see below)

Removed from view – Topics you have removed from the All filter.

Whenever you log in to FLO, you are taken back to the filter you last chose. If you find that you are suddenly missing a topic, this can probably be fixed by checking which filter is selected.

Create starred topics for quick access (My FLO)

To access frequently used topics, you can 'star' a topic, which makes it easier to filter when you log in to FLO.

1. First, click on My Topics list in the navigation menu:
   
   
   
   
2. Scroll down and find the topic you would like to star
   
   
3. Click on the three dots
   
   
4. Click on Star this topic
   
   

Your topic will now appear in Starred, when you filter the list under My Topics.

4. Browser compatibility

FLO is compatible with any standards-compliant web browser. We regularly test FLO with the following most up-to-date browsers:

Desktop: Chrome | Firefox

Mobile: Safari | Chrome

For the best experience and optimum security, we recommend that you keep your browser up to date.

5. Log out

1. Click on your profile menu
   
2. Click on Log out
   

This troubleshooting guide relates to the FLO Interface.

Questions/problems

• FLO sends me too many emails
• The file I want to upload is too big
• I can't delete the topics links block
• When I delete the announcements it keeps coming back
• What is the FLO starter site?

FLO sends me too many emails

You can control which email notifications you receive from FLO by locating your name (once logged in) in the toolbar/banner at the top of the screen. Use the drop-down arrow to go to Preferences, then Notification preferences. From here you can disable email notifications for particular activities.

The file I want to upload is too big

FLO has a default upload size of 50MB per file. You can change this using the following steps:

1. On your topic's home page, click on the Topic Management button
   
   
   
   
2. Click on the Cog icon
   
   
   
   
3. Select Edit settings
   
   



4. Scroll down to the Files and uploads section and select the topic size you require from the Maximum upload size drop-down list (if using Video we recommend using MyMedia instead of increasing the file limit)
   
   
   
   
5. Click Save and display to apply changes

I can't delete the topic links block

This block provides key information to students about the topic and cannot be removed.

When I delete the announcements it keeps coming back.

The announcements activity is a key part of communicating with students on FLO and cannot be removed.

What is the FLO starter site?

The FLO starter site is a pre-configured starting place for a FLO topic and can be customised to work with the needs of a course or topic. Read more about the FLO starter site.

This entry relates to the FLO interface.

The Statement of Assessment Methods (SAM) lists the assessment requirements for each topic. SAMs for each topic are found in that topic's FLO site but are edited in Flex.

• Where to find the SAM for your topic
• Updating a SAM
• Modifying a rejected SAM
• Who to contact for help
• Additional help materials (includes 2022 changes)
• Information for moderators and administrators (links to a new page)
  

Where to find the SAM for your topic

The SAM is located in the Assessment module in each topic:

It shows any available SAM for your topic. If 'not available' appears in the 'Link to SAM' column, this means your SAM has either not been created or is currently in draft format and not yet published.

Updating your SAM

1. Login to https://flex.flinders.edu.au using your FAN and password.
   
   
2. Click My resources
   
   
   
3. Click Drafts
   
   
4. Click the title of the Statement Assessment Methods you would like to edit
   
   
   
5. Click on Edit this version under Actions
   
   
   
   
6. In Editing mode, navigate through the SAM with the buttons at the bottom of each page, or by clicking the section links in the menu on the right
   

   
   
   
   

7. Note: It is not necessary to click Save and Continue each time you navigate between sections. Once you have made all the changes, click the Save button in the top right corner.
   
   
   
   

8. A window will pop up displaying the options: Submit for moderation, Save draft and Cancel.
   
   
   
   

9. Once your SAM has been moderated and approved it will then be published to your topic.

Modifying a rejected SAM

1. Go to My resources > Moderation queue to find rejected SAM
   
   
   
   
2. Click on Show comment to view comments made from moderators      
   
   
   
   
3. Click on the SAM title to visit the summary page
   
   
   
   
4. On the SAM summary page, click on Moderation history to view the SAM’s editing, moderating process, and any comments.
   
   
   
   
5. To edit a rejected SAM, click on Redraft this version.
   
   
6. To submit a rejected SAM for moderation, click the Save and exit button in the top right corner, then click on Submit for moderation. Alternatively, you can click on Save draft to save your work for later. 

Who to contact for help

• For help updating your SAM (FLEX-related queries), please refer to the SAM contact in your College
  
• For academic or policy-related questions, please refer to your College Dean (Education) or College Assessment Policy Working Group rep

Additional help materials for SAMs

• Tip sheet – Completing Statement of Assessment Methods for 2022
• Video - How to complete SAMs
  
• Frequently asked questions
  
• New Assessment Policy plus related procedures:
  • Assessment Practice Procedures
  • Assessment Variation Procedures
  • Grading Scheme
  • Assessment Policy implementation information
    

This resource is people who either moderate or admistrate SAMS. If you are not a moderator or administrator, check out our general resource.

• Moderating a SAM
  
• Redrafting a live or rejected SAM
• Deleting a draft SAM

Moderating a SAM

This entry relates to styles and layout, in particular the HTML editor.

For reasons of accessibility, usability, universal design and sustainability, you are advised to apply styles that are built into the HTML editor when working with text. Categories of style usage include headings, quotes and other text elements. 

• Use Font colours to highlight a particular word or sentence. The range is limited to meet accessibility guidelines and create consistency
• Use Paragraph styles to create structure for your FLO site. Creating headings and other text styles will help you to meet accessibility guidelines 
  
• Use Styles to draw attention to particular information. This feature will help you to meet usability guidelines

Font colours

The font colour range is limited making it easier to be consistent. These colours ensure the text is readable on the screen. To view this feature you will need to expand the HTML editor menu.

Paragraph styles

Using paragraph styles will ensure that your site looks 'clean' (ie no unnecessary formatting) and consistent. These tools save you time as you don't have to worry about formatting text yourself, and are accessible to users with a sight disability, as their screen reader will be able to make sense of the text. Just as you wouldn't want to read a book that had no chapter headings or subheadings, so web users like 'chunked' text that makes reading easier.

1. In your FLO activity/resource/module, place your cursor where you want the style (eg heading) to appear, and from the toolbar menu, select the Paragraph styles icon 
2. Make a choice from the Paragraph styles menu 
   
   
   
3. Click Save changes once you have finished editing the text 

Styles

These styles can be used to highlight something important that you want students to see (eg guest lecturers, assessment items due, preparation for a workshop). Using an option in the Styles menu will make this information stand out in your FLO site.

Example:

1. In your FLO activity/resource/module, in the HTML editor toolbar click on the Show more buttons icon
   
   
2. Place your cursor where you want the style to appear, and from the toolbar menu select the Styles icon
   
   
3. Make a choice from the drop-down Styles menu
   
   
   
4. Click Save changes once you have finished editing the text
   

This entry relates to the Subtopic activity.

Library World is an introduction to using information at university. The Library interviewed over 40 Flinders academics and students to share their experience and expertise in finding information. From these interviews, we made 11 videos to give students a good foundation in what is quality and credible information at university, how to follow the scholarly conversation, what tools to use in research, and where to go for help. 

You will need to ask your eLearning support team to add the subtopic on your behalf.

Can I use it as an assessment item in my topic? 

Yes. The assessment in Library World takes the form of reflective questions. Before viewing any of the videos, students are asked three quick questions about their current information seeking practices. After working through Library World, students are asked the same questions so they can reflect on what they have learned and what they will now do differently to find information at university. 

You can add Library World to your topic as a subtopic and use as either an assessment item or a resource. 

Can I use it as a resource that is not assessed?

Yes. Let your eLearning support team know that you want Library World added as a resource only. To get grades for Library World you need to click the  button (once you have clicked on the Library World subtopic link). The weighting in the Gradebook is defaulted to 0.

Where can I get help? 

• Visit the Library Teaching and Learning Showcase for more information about Library World and other Library support for teaching and learning. Self-enrol in this site so that it appears in your 'Additional' tab. You can request (via Service One) that your eLearning support team embed resources such as the Searching the literature book in your topic site.
  
• Contact the Teaching and Learning team through Service One.
  
• Contact your eLearning support team to add Library World to your FLO topic as a subtopic.

This entry relates to the Subtopic activity.

1. Options

The following Subtopics can be added to your topic:

• Horizon Award
• Library World (separate entry)
• Academic integrity for students (i.e. the academic integrity quiz)
  
• PRE-PLACE

2. Set up

You will need to ask your eLearning support team to add the subtopic on your behalf.

Once the activity has been added, you will have a limited number of settings that you can edit:

• add a description for the activity
  
• redirect students to the subtopic by ticking the box in the Referenced topic section
• add a Group mode or Grouping in the Common module settings section
• restrict access (by activity completion, date, grade, group, grouping etc) in the Restrict access section
• add completion tracking (this will first have to be enabled at topic settings level) in the Activity completion section
  

Grades

Because grades will feed into your topic through the activity, you will need to make some minor decisions about how the grades are used.

• Set the weighting for the activity (by default it will have a weighting of 0).
  
  
  
  
  
• Set a Lock Date when your topic should stop accepting grades from the activity (this is a roundabout way of setting a due date).
  
  We recommend setting the lock date an hour after the due date specified in the SAM, to ensure that the grades have synced one last time.

3. Administer

When students click on the subtopic activity, they will go directly to the subtopic site (students have automatic access to all subtopic sites as a student at the University). They will then be able to complete the activity. The grades will then periodically sync back with your topic.

4. Reports

You can view the logs report in FLO to see if a student has clicked on the link to the subtopic. 

If you are grading a subtopic, you can also manually 'fetch' the grades. You might do this at the end of the topic, or after a specified timeframe (which you can set in the subtopic settings in the Restrict access tab). Click on the link for the subtopic to  view the screen below, then click the Fetch now button.

This entry relates to topic administration.

Course sites connect students across a range of courses or topics together in one place. Feedback from students (new/continuing) and/or staff may prompt you to set up a course site. Course sites appear in the My Topics area, along with topics.

1. Plan the site
   
2. Request a course site 
   
3. Build the site
   
4. Evaluate the site (post set up)
   
   

1. Plan the site

Think about the site’s purpose and audience before you request it – planning will determine the site’s structure/content and ultimate success. You may want to have a conversation with your local eLearning support team. 

Some reasons why you might want to create a course site:

• Streamlining (one-stop-shop for resources, forms, etc)
  
• Orientation/induction (bigger picture)
  
• Opportunity for students to ‘meet’ other students across years/disciplines
  
• Networking in a profession/the University (eg. mentoring, societies)
  
• Work-Integrated Learning (WIL) (eg. employment opportunities)
  
• Procedural (eg. step-by-step) or chronological (year-by-year)
  
• Use of a particular activity (eg. Scheduler)

Your audience/users might be:

• All students enrolled in a particular course(s)
  
• All students enrolled in certain topics (eg. all Archaeology students, using all ARCH topic codes)
  
• Students enrolled in specific topics 

View the Keys to success – course sites (Word doc) for tips.

2. Request a course site 

As the site administrator/s, team leader (eg. course coordinator), use Service One to send a request to your local eLearning support team. They will set up the site and allow access for specified users. 

Provide key information (‘need to know’) with your request:

1. Proposed name of the site 
   
2. Description of the purpose of the site (see possibilities above)
   
3. FANs of staff who will manage site content (and responsibilities), and students (maintaining the site/engaging other students) if relevant
   
4. Rules for populating (course codes, lists of topics, topic prefix)
   
5. Consideration of requirement for restriction of access to one organisational area (open or self-enrol options) - discuss this with eLearning
   
6. Approval or endorsement of college if appropriate.

3. Build the site

FLO Staff Support contains the following resources to may help you develop your site:

• Topic administration – main entry
  
• Styles and layout - main entry
  
• Edit content in a topic (FLO interface – main entry)

4. Evaluate the site (post set up)

If you are a site administrator, you will want to evaluate the site’s usage on a regular basis (eg. 2x per year). Some suggested approaches: 

• Seek feedback from your target audience – you could use the feedback activity for this purpose, and post an announcement (this post will go to everyone enrolled in the site) to encourage users to provide feedback
  
• Review forums for common questions or points of discussion (how can thisFAQs for future years?)
  
• Access FLO reports about site use: 
  
• How often is the site accessed by the target audience?
• How recently was the site accessed by the target audience?
  
• What is your audience doing in the site (eg. accessing support materials, participating in a forum)?

Ask your local eLearning support team for help if you need to.

Students will access FLO from different time zones. Settings inside FLO and on user's personal devices will affect how dates and times display in FLO.

Where is the date and time displayed in FLO?

Time is displayed in many locations in FLO:

• Timeline block – a centralised place for students to see upcoming due dates
• Calendar – a centralised place where all dates and events in a topic are collected/recorded
• Activity index pages – accessed from the activities block and the topic management panel, the activity index pages contain a variety of information depending on the tool you are looking at, such as due dates, number of attempts/submissions, unread posts, etc.
  
• Activity settings – for example, assignment due dates, quiz times, restrict access by date/time
• Text-based content – for example, within lecture recording links, documents, pages and descriptions
• The interface of the activity – for example, scheduler, attendance, forums
• Blocks – eg. Clock block, upcoming events block, activities block
  

How is the time displayed in FLO?

FLO displays dates and times based on the time zone setting in each user's profile preferences. All user's initial FLO time zone is set to server time, which is the current time in Adelaide, South Australia. Server time automatically adjusts for Adelaide Daylight Saving Time. 

Users can choose to set a different time zone in their profile preferences. FLO will then display most times and dates converted to their chosen time zone, with a few notable exceptions. These exceptions are listed below.

Note: FLO's time zone settings do automatically update with your device's settings.

Individual tools and activities in FLO will display times:

• as the time in Adelaide
  
• converted to the time zone in a user's preferences
  
• converted to the time zone on the user's device.
  

Individual tools and activities in FLO may obtain the current time from one of three sources.

Time displayed	Tool
Adelaide time (server time)	Clock block*, Assignment extension requests, Lecture recordings, Statement of Assessment Methods (SAMs), Turnitin feedback studio (similarity reports)
Converted to the time zone in a user's profile preferences	Active quiz, Assignment, Attendance, Calendar, Chat, Choice, Database, Dialogue, Feedback, Forum, Glossary, Group self-selection, Lesson, OU blog, Quiz, Scheduler, Self and Peer Assessment, Turnitin draft tool, Wiki Restrict access settings by date/time Dates entered into the topic calendar
Converted to the time zone on the user's device	Clock block*, Collaborate

*A block you can add to your site that shows all users both Adelaide time and their local time.

Third-party sites (e.g. KuraCloud, Mobius, textbook publishers) are dependent on the publisher and may vary.

Tip: Be aware that FLO displays and operates within most FLO tools as a 24-hour clock for staff when setting dates and times, and displays as a 12-hour clock to students.

Tip: You can also manually add key dates to the calendar , for example, you could add Collaborate session times as an important additional support for students in different time zones.

This entry relates to topic administration.

Topic rollover is the process of creating a new topic space in FLO, applying a template, and applying content to it in line with the topic coordinators’ requirements, all in preparation for the next teaching period.

Once topics have been rolled over, there are additional support resources that may be helpful:

• Preparing for teaching in FLO
  
• Contact your College eLearning support team

Once you have built, adjusted the settings and edited your topic in preparation for student access, you can preview it as a student to see what it looks like from a user perspective (rather than as an administrator).

1. Build

Topics are automatically created in FLO using data from Student Two. If your topic does not appear, contact your local eLearning support team for assistance. Staff have access to topics 77 days prior to the teaching start date, with students getting access 7 days before the start of teaching. See:

• Topic production cycle for information about topic rollover and access
• Preparing for teaching in FLO for tasks you may need to do leading up to and during teaching.
• Technical checklist for online teaching is designed to help you optimise your FLO site for online students with slow internet.
  

Shared topics

A shared topic combines several cohorts (topic availabilities) into one FLO site.  View more information and guidelines

Course sites

Depending on its purpose, a course site may be set up to support students across topics/programs and/or staff. View more information and how to set up

Short courses

It is possible to create a non-award (short) course in FLO using existing infrastructure, though some processes are less automated than what is possible for award topics. View more information

2. Topic settings

You can do many things under the Topic management menu.

• Topic coordinator/teacher role options
• Change your topic format
• Change the appearance of the topic
• Upload a banner to your topic (separate entry)
  
• Change the maximum upload file size available in your topic
• Turn on completion tracking in your topic
• Manage groups in your topic
• Recover deleted items using the Recycle bin (separate entry)
• Dates and times in FLO (separate entry)
  
• Roles in FLO (separate entry)

Topic coordinator/teacher role options

The Topic management panel can be opened by clicking the button (cog icon) on the main menu. As a teacher, you will see more options than a student. It gives you access to activities, the question bank, badges and user links. If you are on your topic's home page, you will also be able to access topic administration features (through the Actions menu ).

Change your topic format

You can use different formats to change the organisation and structure of your topic.

1. On the homepage of your topic, open the Topic management window and click the Actions menu cog
   
   
   
   
2. Select Edit settings in the drop-down list
   
   
   
3. Under Topic format, change Format to either Grid format or Collapsed modules. See examples of topic formats (Example FLO sites)
    
   Collapsed modules – shows your topic in a format where modules can be toggled/collapsed (recommended).
   Grid format – shows your topic in a visual grid format (alternative format, requires images and may have additional rollover tasks each semester).
   
   
4. Select the number of modules you require
   
   
   
5. In the Hidden modules section, select your preference ( Hidden modules are completely invisible is recommended)
   

Change the appearance of the topic

In the Appearance section, you can manage settings such as language, number of announcements, gradebook visibility and activity reports visibility.

Upload a banner to your topic

A banner is designed to give a face to your site and make it recognisable to your students. The banner is visible on top of the the site, as well as on the topic 'card' on the MyFLO page.

Change the maximum upload file size available in your topic

This is managed in the Files and uploads section. By default, topics are set at 40MB but can be changed to accept files up to 2GB. If you need to upload video/audio, please follow the Kaltura (My Media) process.

Turn on completion tracking in your topic

This setting controls completion tracking topic wide. By default, completion tracking is not enabled.

Manage groups in your topic

A group or grouping can be used on two levels — topic level and activity level. When the group mode is switched on at the topic level this is the default for all activities in the topic (including filtering in the gradebook and in participants/enrolled users pages). To enable group mode in a topic, follow the steps below.

1. In the Groups section, select either Visible groups or Separate groups
   
   Separate groups – Each group can only see their own group, others are invisible.
   Visible groups – Each group works in their own group, but can also see other groups. (The other groups' work is read-only.)
   
   
   
2. If Force group mode is set to Yes, the Group mode setting is applied to every activity in the topic. Group mode settings in each activity are then ignored.
   
   
3. Assign a default grouping (if required)
   
   Note: Students can see the membership of any group, so don't name groups based on extensions, grades, language proficiency or medical conditions.

3. Editing your topic

In this section, we go through the editing within the topic using an activity, resource or block.

1. To begin editing your topic, click the Turn Edit On button 
    
   
   
2. To add a new activity or resource, click the Add an activity or resource link that will now be available at the bottom right of each module 
    
   
   
3. The activity chooser window will open – it has tabs for different views:
   

   Starred – any activity or resource you (the teacher) 'star' as a favourite or frequently used activity
   All – all  Activities and Resources together
   Activities – only Activities
   Resources – only Resources
   
   

4. To edit existing activities and resources, select an option from the Edit menu that appears as a drop-down list alongside each item and click Edit settings
   
   
   
5. To move activities and resources up and down the page, hover over the Move resource icon and then click and drag the item to its preferred location. Activities and resources can be moved both within and between modules
    
   Blocks can be moved in a similar fashion. Click the Topic Blocks button to view existing blocks. Blocks can be positioned in Column A, Column B or Column C by clicking and dragging using the Move block icon. A block can also be moved up and down within the same column.
   
   
   
6. Click the Edit title icon if you wish to rename an activity/resource. Press Enter on your keyboard to save the new title
   
   

4. User management

In the User management section, you can do a variety of tasks relating to users in your topic.

• View a list of participants
• Contact a student (email or message)
• Download a CSV file of students

View a list of participants

You can view a list of all users in your topic on the Participants screen.

1. Open the Participants screen via the Participants link in the Navigation menu (left of your screen)
   
   Or open the Topic management window and select Participants in the User Links section
   
   
   
   
2. A list of participants will show
   
   
3. You can use the search filter to find participants in the FLO site based on:
• Name
• Student ID or FAN
• Role (e.g. student, tutor)
• Group name
• Who currently has access (active)
• How long they have been inactive

1. Open the Participants screen via the Participants link in the Navigation menu (left of your screen)
   
   Open the Topic management window and select Participants in the User Links section
   
   
   
   
2. A list of participants will show
   
   
3. Use the search filter to find participants with a particular role, inactivity, or membership to a group
    
   
   
4. Select individual students by clicking in the box alongside their name 
    
   or tick the Select all box at the top of the list
   
   
5. Select the required format from the With selected users... drop-down list
    
   The .csv or .xlsx file can be opened in Excel.

5. Reports

You can view a wide variety of reports in your topic. Available reports:

• Competency breakdown – allows teachers to view the competencies of each student in their topic, along with their ratings
• Dates – allows you to filter by activity and change the dates for multiple activities all on the one screen
• Engagement analytics – provides information about student progress against a range of indicators
• Logs – provides logs for the topic activity for users, these can be generated by selecting any combination of group, student, date, activity, actions and level
• Live logs – provides live logs for the topic including time, user name, topic, component, event name, description, origin and IP address
• Activity logs – shows the number of views for each activity and resource
• Topic participation – a report for a particular activity can generate a list of who has participated in a given activity, and how many times. This can be filtered by role, group, and action (view or post).
• Resource activity – this report details a list of activities showing the number of views, students, not accessed and last accessed
• Statistics – generates graphs and tables of user activity

View Reports - main entry for more information. You can also contact your local eLearning support team.

This entry relates to topic administration.

The Online Learning and Teaching team can assist with:

• Learning design advice (course structure, content and strategies)
• Creation of FLO site
• Assigning 'category administrator' access (so that someone can add students to FLO sites)
• Rolling over a site for a new cohort
  
• Skills development support
  

1. New courses: Request learning design advice (contact your local Learning Designer)

• Advice on course structure
  

  Discuss options for how the course is structured, how you want participants to engage with the digital learning environment and how completions will be administered.
  

• Advice on content and strategies
  You can create the non-award (short) course using the standard FLO tools and activities, curate outside sites in the FLO site, or embed SCORM (Shareable Content Object Reference Model) packages into FLO. Advice is focused on the tools within the FLO ‘ecosystem’. It may be possible to transfer existing content into FLO if existing online courses are hosted on Moodle platforms. 
  
  

2. Create FLO site (Service One request) 

• FLO site creation
  The Online Learning and Teaching (OLT) team can create a FLO site for your non-award (short) course. This may consist of a single site, a series of discreet sites, or linked sites. We can advise you, dependent on your requirements.
  
  
• Category Administrator role assigned
  One person can be enrolled as the site/s owner, with the Category Administrator role, enabling them to manage access to the FLO site. Once participants in a course have been assigned a FAN, and once they have activated the FAN, they can be granted access to the FLO site.
  

• Repeat site for a new cohort
  If the course will be run in several iterations, content from the existing FLO site can be 'rolled' into a new site for each new iteration. This strategy enables you to manage cohorts discretely. The alternative is to manage existing and new enrolments within the one FLO site. 
  
  

3. Skills development  

• Skills development
  Online Learning and Teaching teams can provide workshops and 1:1 support for staff who will be developing and teaching using the FLO sites. Please note that the Online Learning and Teaching team are not resourced to build FLO sites for non-award (short) courses. 
  

The Preparing for teaching in FLO site is useful for tracking FLO-related tasks associated with effective topic coordination (whether you are a new/existing topic coordinator or other staff members with topic responsibilities). Links to Uni-wide/college-level support resources/information are provided in the site.

As well as including detailed month-by-month modules (leading into the teaching of the topic), there is an Interactive checklist of key tasks (quick view) (Module 0) in case you are not starting within the ideal timeframe (2-3 months prior to topic commencement).

This entry mainly relates to 'Build' in Topic administration - main entry, although it includes some information around when the topic is running and once the topic is finished.

This entry relates to styles and layout, topic administration, and any situation where you set up activities and resources.

FLO allows you to preview your content and activities as a student would. This is particularly useful when checking the setup and design of your topic (the building and testing phases).

Steps

1. In your topic, in the top toolbar, open the drop-down menu next to your name/login
   
   
   
2. Click Switch role to...
   
   
   
3. In the next screen, select Student from the list (note that this view may not be perfect – see Moodle: Switch roles for more information) 
    
   
   
4. You will notice that Student appears under your profile name. You can now navigate around your site as a student would.
   
   
   
5. To return to your normal role, click the Return to my normal role link under the drop-down My FLO menu
   
   

Advice

• Student Two groups are synchronised regularly, and you will be automatically unenrolled from those groups each time it runs. This doesn't apply to a 'User-created group'.

• Student Two groups syncing starts at 20 to the hour, every hour and can take up to 15 minutes, so the best timeframe is the first 40 minutes of the hour. Attempting this in the last 20 minutes of the hour will work, but you may be unenrolled mid testing.

This entry relates to topic administration. 

If you accidentally delete an activity or resource from the topic page you can restore it using the Recycle bin.

When you delete an item, it’s stored in the Recycle bin for 28 days before it’s permanently deleted.

The Recycle bin (from the Actions menu in the Topic Management window) will only be visible when there are items within to restore. After an item is deleted it can take a few minutes for it to appear in the Recycle bin.

1. On your topic's home page, click on the Topic management button
    
   
   
2. In the Topic management window, click the Actions menu cog (top right corner)
   
   
3. Select Recycle bin from the drop-down menu
   
   
   
4. Locate the item you wish to recover and click the Restore icon
   
   
   
5. A message will appear stating the selected item has been restored
   
   

Once an activity / resource has been restored, it should be located at the bottom of the module in which it was originally in.

This entry relates to topic administration. 

Staff can be added to FLO through two different methods, depending on the purpose:

• Roles available in FLO via the Student Management System
  E.g. Topic Coordinator, Teacher, Tutor
  These roles are assigned by Student Administration Services teams at a college level, and requests can be made via Service One (Education > FLO - Teaching Team Member Update)
  
  
• Roles available in FLO via direct entry in FLO
  E.g. Guest Lecturer, Learning Support, Observer, Reviewer
  These roles are assigned by eLearning support teams in colleges, and requests can be made via Service One (Education > FLO - General Query)

If you have any questions relating to roles in FLO, contact your local eLearning support team.

Student Management roles

Non-teaching roles available within FLO