External tool - ReadingsThis entry relates to the list of External tools
Good practice guides and tip sheets
Good practice guides and tip sheets have been developed to support quality in both curriculum design and teaching practice. Good practice guides provide a pedagogical overview and tip sheets provide you with practical strategies and ideas for implementation. Links to readings-related resources are provided below. Considerations associated with compiling a reading list | Considerations associated with selecting a textbook 1. How does Readings work?You can put any number of resource types into your readings list including (but not limited to):
2. Where can I find it?Readings is added to every topic. If it has been removed from your topic, please contact your eLearning support team.
3. What can I do in Readings?
The Library will:
Support
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Statement of Assessment Methods (SAM)
Where to find the SAM for your topicThe 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.
Where to go for SAM's supportPlease visit the dashboard in FLEX https://flex.flinders.edu.au. This contains a complete guide for all of your SAM’s questions Good practice guides and tip sheetsGood practice guides and tip sheets have been developed to support quality in both curriculum design and teaching practice. Good practice guides provide a pedagogical overview and tip sheets provide you with practical strategies and ideas for implementation. Links to assessment-related resources are provided below. Authentic assessment | Assessment principles | Completing Statement of Assessment Methods for 2022 | Developing learning outcomes | Policy implications for assessment design | Students are engaged in authentic and experiential learning | Using gradebook | Moderation | Providing students with comprehensive assessment information and support in FLO | Constructive alignment in FLO | Negotiated assessment |
Engaging content - pollingStudents 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. Good practice guides and tip sheets
Good practice guides and tip sheets have been developed to support quality in both curriculum design and teaching practice. Good practice guides provide a pedagogical overview and tip sheets provide you with practical strategies and ideas for implementation. Links to polling-related resources are provided below. Design principles for creating engaging digital content
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Sourcing and creating digital content
FLO Active Quiz
Active Quiz is designed for in-class quizzes. The quiz uses questions from the question bank, questions can be timed/not timed, grades are reported back to the Gradebook. You can view student responses in real time to offer in-class discussion about the
results. Students can use any device. Group quizzing is supported.
Good for
Useful features
Cautions
Tips
Help resources
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Feedback - main entryWhether you are starting from scratch or working with a feedback activity already created, using the feedback activity in a topic ideally consists of 5 stages, in a looped process."] 1. Plan | 2. Build | 3. Test | 4. Administer | 5. Review || SupportGood practice guides and tip sheets
Good practice guides and tip sheets have been developed to support quality in both curriculum design and teaching practice. Good practice guides provide a pedagogical overview and tip sheets provide you with practical strategies and ideas for implementation. Links to assignment-related resources are provided below. Communication, interaction and collaboration tools in FLO | Facilitating Student-Teacher interaction in FLO | Designing holistic rubrics | Constructive alignment in FLO ![]() 1. PlanThe feedback tool enables a teacher to create a custom survey for collecting feedback from participants using a variety of question types including multiple-choice, yes/no or text input. Feedback responses may be anonymous if desired, and results may be shown to all participants or restricted to teachers only. Feedback activities may be used to:
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Training / Support Contact your college eLearning support team |
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Feedback - Touchpoint survey
The Touchpoint survey is a short survey designed as a ‘snapshot’ to provide formative feedback about student learning. The survey can be added to your topic early, mid and late (eg weeks 3- 4, 7, 11 or equivalent, depending on the topic structure), or just once in the topic. It prompts students to voluntarily and anonymously give feedback about their experience of the topic so far. The questions are:
These questions can be easily altered to suit your needs. The data provides formative feedback about where students are at, to allow adequate time to make changes to teaching if needed. It also helps reinforce that students are an active part of their own learning. The data from the survey remains with (is stored in) the topic.
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FLO interface - main entryFlinders Learning Online (FLO), Flinders University's web-based learning and teaching platform, facilitates the creation of online educational environments by non-technical users. FLO can be used to create entire online topics and courses or to provide
interactive tools that supplement or complement existing topics and courses. All topics at Flinders have a FLO site. FLO is a 'suite' of technologies. The core of FLO is Moodle, but it also includes related educational technologies. 1. Layout | 2. Customisation | 3. Topics | 4. Browser compatibility | 5. Log out || SupportAnyone 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.
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3. Topics
FLO topics consist of resources (eg lecture notes, files, URLs, and video files) and activities (eg assignment dropboxes, quizzes, discussion forums).
Orientation to FLO and quick editing tips:- 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
The editing aspects of the topic are located at the top of the screen. The Topic Management, Navigation menu and Quicklinks appear at the top of your screen in every topic, along with the Turn editing on button. To edit or add content
to your topic, select the
Turn editing on button.

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
- If deleting a module, delete all of the contents of the module. Otherwise, skip to the next step.
- Scroll to the end of the FLO topic homepage, and select either the add or delete option.
- 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.
- First, click on My Topics list in the navigation menu:
- Scroll down and find the topic you would like to star
- Click on the three dots
- 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
Once you have finished in FLO remember to log out.- Click on your profile menu
- Click on Log out
Training and support |
Troubleshooting |
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Training Contact your eLearning support team for any training required Support For further assistance please contact your local eLearning support team |
You may have one of the following issues: |
FLO interface - troubleshooting1. Layout | 2. Customisation | 3. Topics | 4. Logout || SupportThis troubleshooting guide relates to the FLO Interface.
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FLO interface - WebPET (Web Presence in Every Topic)1. Layout | 2. Customisation | 3. Topics | 4. Logout || SupportThis entry relates to the FLO interface. This information has now been replaced by the digital learning guidelines.What is 'WebPET'?WebPET (Web Presence in Every Topic) aims to provide:
And in addition:
Students are generally happy with using FLO for their studies but have expressed their desire for more consistency across their topics.
What does it look like?As a minimum, each FLO site has:
Expectations of staffAll staff are required to:
What you can expect from the UniversityThe University will:
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Topic administration - main entryThe topic administration section describes how you administer your topic in FLO. 1. How sites are created | 2. Topic settings | 3. Editing your topic | 4. User management | 5. Reports || SupportGood practice guides and tip sheets
Good practice guides and tip sheets have been developed to support quality in both curriculum design and teaching practice. Good practice guides provide a pedagogical overview and tip sheets provide you with practical strategies and ideas for implementation. Links to assignment-related resources are provided below. Structuring your FLO site | Culturally responsive digital learning |
Teaching first year | Supporting students to successfully engage with the topic
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. How sites are createdTopics 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:
Both staff and students have access for 730 days after teaching finishes, except when a student withdraws or a staff member is removed from the teaching team in Student Management.
Shared topics
A shared topic combines several cohorts (topic availabilities) into one FLO site. View more information and guidelines Course sitesDepending 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 coursesIt 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 settingsYou can do many things under the Topic management menu.
Topic coordinator/teacher role optionsThe 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 formatYou can use different formats to change the organisation and structure of your topic.
Upload a banner to your topicA 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
site, as well as on the topic 'card' on the MyFLO page. Change the maximum upload file size available in your topicThis 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 topicThis setting controls completion tracking topic wide. By default, completion tracking is not enabled.
Manage groups in your topicA 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.
3. Editing your topic
In this section, we go through the editing within the topic using an activity, resource or block.
4. User managementIn the User management section, you can do a variety of tasks relating to users in your topic.
View a list of participantsYou can view a list of all users in your topic on the Participants screen.
![]() You can contact a student via FLO by sending a message.
You may wish to export a list of students to aid the import groups process or extract a list of FANs.
5. ReportsYou can view a wide variety of reports in your topic. Available reports:
View Reports - main entry for more information. You can also contact your local eLearning support team.
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Forum / Announcements - create a discussion forum
You can create a discussion forum in any topic module. Note: The Announcements forum is included in all topics (you do not need to create it).
Set up a forum
![]() Timeline block: The 'due date' will show to students in the Timeline block.
Set up marking in a forumThere are two ways to mark a forum in FLO:
Whole forum grading
Rating individual posts
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Forum / Announcements - create separate discussion forums for groups in a topic
You can create separate discussion forums for groups of students in a single forum activity (you don't need to create a separate forum activity for each group). Note: Before creating your group discussion forum, you will need to organise your students into groups and add these groups to a grouping. Good practice guides and tip sheets
Good practice guides and tip sheets have been developed to support quality in both curriculum design and teaching practice. Good practice guides provide a pedagogical overview and tip sheets provide you with practical strategies and ideas for implementation. Links to group-related resources are provided below.
Create a group discussion forum
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Forum / Announcements - exporting forum posts
Once the forum is made available to students (via the Forum settings), you may want to do one or more of the following actions, depending on the forum settings.
Export an entire forum, or part of a forum
Export a discussion thread
Alternatively, if you want to export the discussion topic without sending it to Mahara, you could print the page as an Adobe PDF file.
Export a single postYou (or a student) can export a post to a portfolio.
You can also copy and paste the post’s text into Mahara. While this easier, be aware that it doesn't carry across the post date and time, so won’t be suitable in all situations. |
Forum / Announcements - main entryWhether you are starting from scratch or working with a discussion forum already created, using the forum activity in a topic ideally consists of 5 stages, in a looped process. 1. Plan | 2. Build | 3. Test | 4. Administer | 5. Review || Support
Forum and Announcements are the same activity. However, you do not need to add a discussion forum for Announcements as this activity will already be set up in your topic. The difference between Forum and Announcements is that announcements are for teacher use only – students cannot add a discussion post or reply to an announcement. When you set up a forum in your topic, students can interact with you and other students. Announcements are a way of generating social presence/active teaching in your FLO topic. You can provide information to all students using the 'Latest announcements' block on the topic homepage. This is handy for important information (eg changes to lecture/tutorial times, assessment reminders). Remind your students to check their emails regularly. Forums enable participants to have asynchronous discussions (ie discussions that take place over an extended period of time). Discussion forums provide opportunities for social presence and can foster a community of practice in your FLO topic. Participation in the forum could contribute to an assessment grade, and could also indicate problem areas. Participants can subscribe to a forum to receive notifications of new forum posts. Good practice guides and tip sheets
Good practice guides and tip sheets have been developed to support quality in both curriculum design and teaching practice. Good practice guides provide a pedagogical overview and tip sheets provide you with practical strategies and ideas for implementation. Links to fourm-related resources are provided below. Inspirational and engaged teaching | Designing assessment | Incorporating Socratic questions into your FLO site | Providing constructive feedback in FLO | Communication, interaction and collaboration tools in FLO | Facilitating Student-Teacher interaction in FLO | Designing holistic rubrics | Online topic orientation | Rubrics | Providing students with comprehensive assessment information and support in FLO
1. PlanAnnouncementsAnnouncements are a timely, active element in the topic – use them to post reminders, pose challenging questions, generate curiosity, answer a common FAQ, or respond to 'muddy points'. Announcements are posted to all enrolled students in
the topic within 30 minutes of posting (assuming that they have not disabled email notifications in their personal preferences).
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Support
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Forum / Announcements - manage a discussion forum
Once the forum is made available to students (via the Forum settings), you may want to one or more of the following actions, depending on the forum settings.
Add, delete or move postsOnce a discussion forum is open for student posts, teachers will need to manage the forum – moderate posts (eg around netiquette, 'muddy' points/teachable moments, drifting conversations), assess forum participation, rate posts etc. Students may also need to manage their and others' posts – follow the conversation, export their posts, use them in an eportfolio/for an assignment etc. Staff can delete, move or export posts. Students can delete (their own post, within a 15-minute time frame) or export their posts.
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Forum / Announcements - manage announcements1. Plan |
2. Build
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5. Review
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Forum / Announcements - marking a forum
Forums have the ability to be marked. For information on how to enable marking in a forum view Create a discussion forum.
Good practice guides and tip sheets
Good practice guides and tip sheets have been developed to support quality in both curriculum design and teaching practice. Good practice guides provide a pedagogical overview and tip sheets provide you with practical strategies and ideas for implementation. Links to assessment-related resources are provided below.
Whole forum grading (individually)
If the forum has been set up for grading it will automatically appear in the Gradebook. Whole forum grading allows you to view all of a student’s posts in a particular forum and mark them as a whole, using either a numerical mark (Simple direct grading) or advanced grading methods (Checklist, Marking guide or Rubric). To do this:
Whole forum grading (by group)
If the forum has been set up for grading it will automatically appear in the Gradebook. Whole forum grading allows you to view all of a student’s posts in a particular forum and mark them as a whole, using either a numerical mark (Simple direct grading) or advanced grading methods (Checklist, Marking guide or Rubric). To do this:
Rate a forum postIf the forum has been set up for ratings, it will
automatically appear in the Gradebook.
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Forum / Announcements - troubleshooting
I'm not receiving forum posts to my emailThere might be several reasons for this problem:
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Gradebook - build and edit a checklist for online marking (assignments and forums)Setting up the Gradebook | Setting up the topic total | Checking your calculations | Grading students work
| Finalising grades for the semester || Support
![]() This entry relates to the Gradebook.
You can design and use checklists to mark assignments and forums online.
See also Mark in FLO using a checklist (assignments) Please note: Currently, the checklist can only be used in marking assignments (not forums).
Build a checklist
Edit a checklistTo edit a checklist (prior to opening the assignment for submissions):
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Student viewStudents can view the checklist (Grading criteria) before they submit their assignment on the Submission status screen:
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Gradebook - build and edit a marking guide for online marking (assignments and forums)Setting up the Gradebook | Setting up the topic total | Checking your calculations | Grading students work | Finalising grades for the semester || Support ![]() This entry relates to the Gradebook.
You can design and use marking guides to mark assignments and forums online.
Build a marking guide
Edit a marking guideEdit a marking guide (prior to opening the assignment for submissions)
![]() 3. On the Advanced grading page, click Edit the current form definition 4. Once you have finished making changes, click the Save button ![]() Student viewStudents can view the marking guide (Grading criteria) before they submit their assignment on the Submission status
screen:
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Gradebook - build and edit a rubric for online marking (assignments and forums)Setting up the Gradebook | Setting up the topic total | Checking your calculations | Grading students work
| Finalising grades for the semester || Support
![]() This entry relates to the Gradebook.
You can design and use rubrics to mark assignments and forums online.
Good practice guides and tip sheetsGood practice guides and tip sheets have been developed to support quality in both curriculum design and teaching practice. Good practice guides provide a pedagogical overview and tip sheets provide you with practical strategies and ideas for implementation. Links to assessment-related resources are provided below. Rubrics and marking guides in FLO | Constructive alignment in FLO | Designing holistic rubrics | Negotiated assessment Build a rubric
Edit a rubric
Student viewStudents can view the rubric (Grading criteria) before they submit their assignment on the Submission status screen:
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