Overview  |  Types of groups and groupings  |  Groups  |  Groupings  ||  Support

This entry relates to Groups and groupings.

Questions/problems

• How do I delete a group?
• How do I rename a group?
• How do I check for students in multiple groups/no groups?
• How do I split up a group for a group assessment?
• How do I restrict something to a specific group or grouping?
  

How do I delete a group?

1. Click on the Topic Management button
   
   
   
2. Select Groups from the User Links menu
   
   
   
3. To delete a group, select the group you would like to delete and click Delete selected group
   
   
   Note: You can't delete a group created by Student Two (Student Management)
   

How do I rename a group?

1. Click on the Topic Management button.
   
   
   
2. Select Groups from the User Links menu
   
   
   
3. To rename a group, select the group you would like to rename and click Edit group settings
   
   
   
4. Type in the new group name then click Save changes
   
   

How do I check for students in multiple groups / no groups?

Students who are not in a group / grouping may miss out on interaction with the contents of a topic. Students who are members of multiple groups may have issues interacting with group activities (such as a group assignment). To verify that there are no students in multiple or not a member of any groups within a grouping, complete the following steps.

1. Click on the Topic Management button.
   
   
   
2. Select Groups from the User Links menu
   
   
   
3. Click the Overview tab
   
   
   
4. If you are looking for students missing or in multiple groups within a particular grouping, select the grouping name from the Groupings menu
   
   
5. Select Display students not in grouping to find students who are not members of any groups within a grouping
   
   
   
6. Select Display students in multiple groups within a grouping to find students who are members of multiple groups within a grouping
   
   

How do I split up a group for a group assessment?

How do I restrict something to a specific group or grouping?

Groups and groupings are used to make it easier for staff to manage their topics, and to restrict parts of a topic to specific groups of students. For example:

• groups can be used to filter an activity so you only see the work your tutorial group has done (this is particularly useful with assignments )
  
• groups can be applied to a forum to give each group a separate space within that forum.
  
• groups can be applied to a wiki or assignment to create a group assessment
  
• you can restrict a particular activity or resource to a specific group or grouping (e.g. separate information for different availabilities or tutorials)
  

Overview

• Users are individual people in the topic. Both students and staff are users in a topic.
  
  
• A group is a collection of users. For example, a group named 'Tutorial 01' will include all of the students who registered for Tutorial 01. It is used when you are working with some, but not all of the users in a topic.
  
  
• A grouping is a collection of groups. For example, a grouping named 'Tutorial Groups' may include the groups Tutorial 01, Tutorial 02 and Tutorial 03. It is used when you are working with some, but not all of the groups in a topic.

Types of groups and groupings

There are 2 categories of groups in FLO:

• Groups that you create in FLO – these are listed in the FLO group manager as User created groups

• Groups that are based on student registration into timetabled teaching sessions (lectures, tutorials, workshops) during enrolment – these are listed in FLO group manager as Student Two groups (Note: Membership of these groups cannot be changed in FLO). 

  Common Student Two groups:

• Lecture
• Tutorial
• Seminar / Workshop / Lab
• Topic groups (when using a shared FLO site there will be a group for each topic shared into the site).

There are a different ways to create a group, depending on what your needs are.

Groupings

H5P is a tool that enables educators to create content such as interactive videos, quizzes and presentations.

H5P content can be created in the Content bank and added to your course as an H5P activity or embedded into other Moodle activities or resources.

Jump directly to instructions on how to create or upload your own H5P content. 

View examples or continue below.

Examples

You can use H5P content in learning and teaching for a number of purposes:

• Create a presentation (Interactive self-paced slides)
  
  



• Build dialog cards that are Interactive flip cards with double sided content
  
  



• Use flashcards that are interactive, quiz based flashcards:
  
  



• Use an interactive video to add quiz questions that are engaging (Note: please use this guide to get your video link if using the interactive video tool)
  
  



• and many others (link opens in new window)
  

1. Plan

What is the key message or purpose of the interactive content? Is it a quick communication or should it be a highly produced, reusable resource? Knowing the answers to these questions will influence what tools you use and how much time you invest in planning and production. A storyboard or script may be an important component in planning the interactive content, depending on how complex your content needs to be.

2. Build

Create H5P content in the Content bank

1. In the topic, scroll down the LH navigation column and click on the entry for Content bank. 
   
   
   
   
2. Click on the ‘Add’ button in the top RH corner of the page.
   
    
   
   
3. Scroll through the list of available H5P activities and select the activity you want to use.
   
   
   
   
4. Configure the activity settings to suit your needs, then click ‘Save’. The activity should now be available for use in your Content bank.
   
   Note that if you want to add video to your content, please ensure it is stored in Kaltura (My Media). Use this guide to get your video link if using the interactive video tool.
   

Add an H5P activity from the Content bank to your FLO topic

1. Navigate back to your topic home page.
   
   
2. Turn editing on
   
    
   
   
3. Scroll to the topic module where you want the H5P activity to appear. Open the module if it’s not already open.
   
   
4. Click on ‘Add an activity or resource’.
   
   
5. From the Activity picker click on the H5P icon.
   
   
   
6. Give the H5P activity a name (and description if required).
   
   
7. In the section titled ‘Package file’ click on the ‘Add’ icon.
   
   
8. From the Content bank select the file you intend to use.
   
   
   
9. Click on ‘Select this file’.
   
   
   
   
10. Configure the remaining activity options to suit, then click on ‘Save and return to topic’.
    
    
    
    
11. The activity now appears in the module.
    
    
    

Embed an H5P activity from the Content bank into an existing FLO activity, such as a Label or Book.

1. From the topic home page turn editing on

2. Navigate to the FLO activity you want to embed H5P into.
   

3. In the case of a Book, open the Book and navigate to the appropriate chapter.
   

4. In the Table of contents click on the cog icon
   
   
   
   
5. In the editing toolbar of the content window click on the H5P icon
   
   
   
   
6. In the window that pops up click on ‘Browse repositories’.
   
   
   
   

7. From the H5P Content bank select the H5P file you want to use.

8. Click ‘Select this file’.
   
   
   

9. Click ‘Insert this file’.
   
   
   

10. Add any other text you require in the Content editing window.
    

11. Click on ‘Save changes’.
    
    
    

Note: it might take a minute or so for the embedded H5P activity to load.


12. To set completion tracking, open the settings section and scroll down to Activity completion:
    
    Timeline block: Using the 'Expect completed on' date in the Activity completion section will show a date to students in the Timeline block.
    

3. Test

Once you've created/uploaded your H5P content, it's recommended that you test the final product by previewing it (with sound on if using sound) before you upload.

5. Review

Occasionally, you'll need to review and update the H5P content and you may be interested in finding out how students are engaging with your content. FLO has tools to help you do all of this. 

This entry relates to H5P.

When using the Interactive video content type in H5P, it is important to link it to the relevant video hosted in Kaltura (My Media), instead of uploading a new video.



To find the video link in Kaltura (My Media) and paste it in the video source URL field, please follow the steps below:

1. Go to your My Media or topic Media Vault and find the video

2. Downloading needs to be enabled for the video (If downloading is already enabled, please skip to step 3)
   a) Use the pencil icon to go to the video editing page



b) Select the downloads tab


c) Select the Source checkbox and hit save.





3. Click Preview media or the video title to preview it, and select the Download tab

    
   
   
4. Click the download icon to download the video.
   
   
5. Go to your downloads window
   
   Ctrl + J [Windows] or ⌘ + J [Mac] if using Firefox
   
   Ctrl + J [Windows] or ⌘ + Shift + j [Mac] if using Chrome
   
   
6. The video URL will be available here. Right click and copy the link for the video that was just downloaded. It should have an .mp4 at the end.
   
   
   
   
7. That’s it - this is the link that needs to be pasted in the green box below. After you are done, delete the downloaded video from your local drive since they can be quite large.
   
   
   

Please contact your local eLearning team if you need further assistance.

Students take different pathways through learning content based on choices they make or their performance. Branching may consist of interactive scenarios or differentiated content.

Camtasia

Good for

• Creating interactive or differentiated video content; for example, branching video scenarios or giving the learner control of the order in which they view sections of the video content

Useful features

• Interactive hotspots and timeline markers allow creation of a non-linear path through the video 
• Click and drag effects from library onto video timeline
• Properties panel to define required actions to enter
• Easy but comprehensive editing and timeline manipulations

Limitations

• Considerable planning required
• Can become time consuming
• Cannot be hosted in Kaltura and maintain interactivity, therefore no ability to use the accessibility features or analytics in the Kaltura Media Vault 
• No viewing analytics within the exported video
• No captions/transcripts 

Cautions

• Must be exported as Web Page (for Smart Player) or SCORM (for gradebook integration)
• SCORM activities are generally a poor experience on mobile devices and can be incompatible
  
• Different process to publish in FLO compared to standard video

Tips

• Plan out the choices and branched pathways on a story board
• Make sure your viewers won't feel lost
• Camtasia project files can be large. While working on your project save your files to the hard-drive of the computer. Once complete store them on OneDrive or S: drive. Your U: drive generally wont have enough space for these large files. Having your project files on network storage will slow editing down and can also cause crashes.

Help resources

• Add Interactive Hotspots to a Video
  
• Playback Requirements for Quizzes, Hotspots, and Captions (Smart Player)
• Camtasia Tutorials
  
• For advice and support on publishing your interactive content in FLO contact your eLearning support team 

PowerPoint

Good for

• Easily creating branched content through use of triggers and linking on slide objects
• Creating scenario based branched learning (eg text-based 'choose your own adventure' style narratives or scenarios where learners make a series of choices and experience the consequences as they move through the scenario)
• Creating a package of content that students can navigate through in a sequence they choose

Useful features

• Use action or link (from Insert menu) to link to presentation slides in required order
• PowerPoint will update links if slide order is altered

Limitations

• Printed or PDF cannot indicate the branching

Cautions

• Interaction for branching will only be available when viewing in Microsoft PowerPoint slideshow
• Must be provided as .pptx or .ppsx files
• Learners must download and open the file;  they cannot view it within FLO, and therefore they need PowerPoint on their computer
• Mobile devices require Microsoft PowerPoint app

Tips

• Careful planning is required. Use a story board to map out possible paths through the content/scenario
• Create links which allow users to navigate back to previous pages
• Test all possible pathways
• Design so that your users won’t feel lost
• When using Link to set up navigation between slides you can add a screen tip which displays when the mouse is over the link

Help resources

• Add commands to your presentation with action buttons
• Microsoft Office has a large amount of training and help resources and there are many third party help resources, how-to guides, videos, tutorials that can be found by searching the web
  (Note the linked Microsoft page is for windows users. The Mac PowerPoint software is so similar that these windows resources are still useful to Mac users. Mac help resources are also available)

FLO Lesson

Good for

• Mixing static content, choices and questions to determine the route the student takes through the material (eg decision or problem solving scenarios)

Useful features 

• Purpose built for branching scenarios
• Branching can be based on a choice or based on answers to questions
• Can have time limit
• Can be set up as a scored activity; integrates with Gradebook
• Some analytics available about student interactions with lesson
• Possible to provide a progress bar and/or menu within lesson

Limitations 

• Requires considerable planning
• Not as straightforward as some FLO tools
• Limited page layout and styling options

Tips 

• Build all the content and question pages first, then define all the jumps and linking
• Map out all possible journeys through the content
• Test thoroughly and ask a colleague to review 
• Design your lesson pages to help your students know where they are in the lesson
• Embed media (images, video, audio) in your lesson pages for rich experience

Help resources 

• Lesson
• Lesson activity
• Building Lesson
• Using Lesson

FLO Quiz

Good for

• Providing differentiated feedback to students based on their answers and overall  performance in the quiz
• Provide struggling students with some additional resources on the basics and give high-achieving students some extension materials 

Useful features

• Some branching achievable through the quizzes overall feedback using grade boundaries – link from feedback to different information for different grade ranges
  
• Use access restrictions to further content based on quiz result (Activity completion restriction)

Cautions

• Quizzes with Essay type questions would need to be manually marked to activate branching based on quiz score
  

Tips

• Use in conjunction with FLO pages/books and 'stealthed' resources/activities (resources which are available but not displayed on the homepage of your FLO site)
  

Help resources

• Providing quiz feedback 
  
• Completion tracking
  
• Access restrictions
  
• Stealth activities
  

FLO Glossary 

Good for

• compacting content into one place (eg glossary of terms)
• organising information (eg using categories) for efficient learning
• students can interact by adding content/controlling the space

Useful features  

• Entries can be automatically linked where the concept words and/or phrases appear anywhere within the topic. Filter needs to be enabled and auto linking set per entry where required

Cautions 

• There are three settings required for auto-linking. All three must be reviewed:
• Topic level – glossary auto-linking filter must be enabled 
• Glossary level – setting to automatically link entries must be on  
• Glossary entry level – each entry that will be linked must have the setting checked 

Help resources 

FLO tools:  Book Page

Good for

• Organising content (chunking of related content)
• Page: embedded video takes up less space than in the FLO homepage

Useful features 

• Links between FLO pages or between chapters within a book can be used to create branched learning and scenarios, but not with an assessable component  
• Use of the availability status 'Make available but not shown on topic page' (stealthed activity/resource) can control entry point  

Limitations  

• Not assessable  
• Book has inbuilt navigation which would still allow linear or totally free navigation through content  

Cautions 

• When transferring between FLO sites, all interlinked pages must be included or linkages will break. During the transfer process, It is not easy to identify interlinked pages

Tips 

• Design to avoid students feeling lost   
• Map out carefully  

Help resources  

• Stealth activities     

Digital Content Producer 

If your needs are not met by the existing tools or the resource you are looking to create is complex in some way, please speak with the Learning Designer in your college about your needs as there is some capacity for digital content production for learning and teaching.

Embedded quizzing consists of questions / knowledge-check activities embedded within learning content, rather than as a standalone activity.   

Camtasia

Good for

• Adding quiz questions or knowledge checks into video content to create more engaging and interactive experiences when learning through video, and as opportunities for informal and self assessment. 

Useful features

• Built-in functionality, wizards to create and add questions
• Different question types, including multiple choice, fill in the blank, short answer and true/false 
• Feedback on correct and incorrect responses
• Can score quiz, can allow viewer to see score. Overall score can integrate into FLO Gradebook if published and added to FLO as a SCORM package

Limitations

• Cannot be hosted in Kaltura and maintain quiz functionality, therefore cannot use accessibility features (captions) and viewing analytics

Cautions 

• Must be exported as Web Page (for Smart Player) or SCORM (for Gradebook integration)
• SCORM activities are generally a poor experience on mobile devices and can be incompatible 
• Different process to publish in FLO compared to standard video

Tips

• Camtasia project files can be large. While working on your project save your files to the hard drive of the computer. Working with your project files on network storage will slow editing down and can also cause crashes. Once complete, store them on OneDrive or S: drive (your U: drive generally wont have enough space for these large files)

Help resources

• Quizzes
• Playback requirements for quizzes, hotspots, and captions (Smart Player)
• Camtasia Tutorials
  
• For advice and support on publishing your interactive content in FLO, contact your eLearning support team

PowerPoint

Good for

• Embedding quiz questions or knowledge checks into content-heavy slideshows and presentations for a more engaging and interactive experience, and as opportunities for informal and self assessment
• When your students are going to download and use the PowerPoint to work through the content at their own pace – not effective in a lecture context

Useful features

• Create a quiz question on a slide by using individual objects ( eg text boxes) for each element of your question (question, answer options, feedback)
• Create interactivity by using animation effects with triggers
• Extensive drawing tools, shapes, lines, icons, Smart Art libraries
• Grids, guides, grouping, alignment and item layering
• Colour themes to help create consistent look and feel

Limitations

• Could be time consuming to build lots of questions
• No scoring of question(s)

Cautions

• Interaction for quizzes will only be available when viewing slideshow in Microsoft PowerPoint slideshow
• Must be provided as .pptx or .ppsx files. Users must download and open
• Mobile devices require Microsoft PowerPoint app
• If slides are printed, all items/layers (questions and answers) will print respecting layer order
• Question answers are readily available when viewing the file in PowerPoint editing mode

Help resources

• Trigger an animation effect
• Microsoft Office website has a large amount of training and help resources and there are many third party help resources, how-to guides, videos, tutorials that can be found by searching the web
  (Note the linked Microsoft page is for windows users. The Mac PowerPoint software is so similar that these windows resources are still useful to Mac users. Mac help resources are also available)

FLO Lesson

Good for

• Mixing static content, choices and questions to determine the route the student takes through the material (eg decision or problem-solving scenarios)

Useful features

• Inbuilt functionality to add questions (or groups/clusters of questions) and branch based on answers
• Multiple question types
• Questions can be imported
• Questions (except essays) are auto marked
• Variety of setup options in multiple tries
• Integrates with Gradebook
• Reports and analytics available

Limitations

• Requires considerable planning
• Not as straightforward as some FLO tools
• Limited page layout and styling options

Tips

• Build all the content and question pages first, then define all the jumps and linking
• Map out all possible journeys through the content
• Test thoroughly
• Design your lesson pages to help your students know where they are in the lesson

Help resources

• Lesson
• Lesson activity
• Building Lesson
• Using Lesson

FLO Quiz

Good for

• Formal assessment that counts towards topic grade
• Knowledge checks for informal ongoing assessment and self assessment
• Relatively short chunks of content delivery with accompanying questions, as this tool is designed more for standalone quizzing and assessment than as a content delivery mechanism

Useful features

• Embed content delivery within a quiz using description question types to create a linear lesson
• Variety of quiz delivery options such as fixed navigation, multiple tries with hints and penalties
• Extensive feedback options on questions and quiz overall provide opportunity to reinforce learning

Limitations

• FLO quiz is a standalone activity and cannot be embedded into other FLO activities

Cautions

• Be careful with organisation if using random random questions

• Provide differentiated overall feedback for quiz based on quiz score ranges

Help resources

• Plan your quiz
• Description question type

FLO tools: Book Page

Good for

• Organising content (chunking of related content)
• Page: embedded video takes up less space in the FLO homepage

Useful features

• Interactive content could be embedded where there is an HTML editor

Limitations

• Cannot be integrated with Gradebook

Cautions

• If you create interactive content using web-based tools, it's important to be aware of the hosting and ownership arrangements. Considerations are similar to when using non-FLO tools in your teaching, which are discussed in this article: Things to consider if you want to use non-FLO tools in your teaching

Help resources

•  For advice and support contact your eLearning support team 

Digital Content Producer

The lesson tool enables a teacher to deliver content and/or practice activities in interesting and flexible ways. A teacher can use the lesson to create a linear or nonlinear lessons. Created using a combination of content pages and/or question page, the lesson tool offers a variety of paths or options for the learner. Depending on how the lesson is set up, teachers can choose to increase engagement and ensure understanding by including a variety of questions, such as multiple choice, matching and short-answer. Depending on the student's choice of answer and how the teacher develops the lesson, students may progress to the next page, be taken back to a previous page, or redirected down a different path entirely.

The lesson tool may be used for a range of purposes, such as:

• for self-directed learning of a new topic or module
• for scenarios or simulations/decision-making exercises
• to provide students with guided steps (instructions) for learning activity(ies)
• for self-assessment/knowledge checks
• to test understanding of content (eg a post-lecture tutorial)
• for differentiated revision, with different sets of revision questions depending upon answers given to initial questions.

Example in FLO

To get started, it is worth reviewing an example interactive activity built in the lesson tool. The digital safety awareness training lesson activity was built for students in EDUC3618 to introduce them to common dangers of technologies. What features of this lesson do you like and would consider using? What ideas have you drawn from reviewing another lesson? How can you use this knowledge to plan your own lesson? 

The lesson tool is adaptable for presenting content and questions to students in an interactive way, similar to elearning authoring tools such as Adobe Captivate and Articulate Storyline, without the steep learning curve or SCORM FLO integration problems.

1. Plan

A lesson activity is used to direct students through content and sometimes questions in an interactive way. While the lesson tool layout looks like a slide-by-slide approach, the design is set to ensure easy navigation through the 'slides' of content and into relevant questions. It is a worthwhile exercise to first plan/map the 'slides' you will need and what content will be placed upon them. 

Try drawing the pages on a piece of paper to help you visualise the slides and how they will link to each other – will it be in a straight line (linear) or, based on the student response, direct them to another section or question (non-linear)? Make sure the pathways are logical and avoid the student going around in circles or getting lost. It must make sense to them if they are to learn from the experience, otherwise it is a frustrating and distracting exercise.

Planning tips 

 Whether you are starting from scratch or revising a current lesson (which could incorporate student feedback), these prompts may help: 

• What principle/knowledge are you delivering – does the lesson item enable this? 
• Line up lesson components against the learning objectives/outcomes (you could include this information in the introductory page) 
• Connect the activities within the lesson with Bloom's level/s of taxonomy – again, what is being taught/learnt? 
• Be creative – you could use a scenarios structure, embed videos or other resources, provide learning pathways (eg hints, tips, more information, think again) for students' choices 
• Provide opportunities for students to check their understanding without summative assessment

2. Build

You have planned your lesson and are now ready to set up your first lesson activity. 

1. The settings
2. Build a lesson

3. Test

The purpose of testing your lesson is to determine if the steps you have provided behalf as expected and to ensure the content displays as expected.

• Switch roles (Profile>Switch role to...>Student) to preview the lesson as your students will

4. Administer

The requirement to manage your lesson will depend if you have any questions included in the lesson and whether these are graded or not.

• Review and mark attempts (including reports)
  

5. Review

It is recommended that your review your lesson activity prior to each use (availability) if the lesson has graded content.

1. Plan  |  2. Build  |  3. Test  |  4. Administer  |  5. Review  ||  Support  

Lesson tool reports allow you to review attempts made by students and, if enabled when building the activity, grades the students have received.

Lessons created using the essay question type will also need to be manually marked. 

• Review reports 
• Mark essay questions

Review reports

The lesson activity has inbuilt reports showing the performance of students taking the lesson. 

1. Open the lesson and click on the Reports tab 
   
   
   
2. Click on the Overview tab to view the attempts by each student, the date and time of each attempt, and any grades received
   
   
   
3. Click on the Detailed statistics tab to get a breakdown of how students responded in each question 
   
   

Mark essay questions

To mark essay questions: 

1. Open the lesson and click on the Grade essays tab 
   
   
   
2. Click on the date to review a student’s attempt. If multiple attempts have been made, multiple dates will show 
   
   
   
3. Leave feedback (Your comments) and a mark (Essay score), then click the Save changes button 
   
   
4. The status of the attempt will change to Graded
   
   
   
5. To send feedback to the student, click on the Email graded essays link in the 'Email' column. Clicking on Email ALL graded essays will send feedback to all students with graded essays.

1. Plan  |  2. Build  |  3. Test  |  4. Administer  |  5. Review  ||  Support  

This entry relates to the Lesson activity.

When building inside a lesson tool, consider the planning stage as a chance to step out the pages of content and questions you will be incorporating. The choice of settings and success during the building phase will be reflected by your planning efforts:

• Add a lesson activity to FLO: The settings
• Build a lesson activity
  

Steps

Add a lesson activity to FLO: The settings 

It is good practice to plan your content pages and any questions (if required) before starting to build a lesson. The purpose of your lesson will be determine the settings you choose when you create the lesson, especially around reporting the results of any questions used during the lesson (are they being graded and need to be in Gradebook, or are they for revision only). The better your planning/preparation, the less likely you are to run into a problems later on.

Once you have planned your lesson on paper, use this structure to help you start the build process 

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 Lesson activity to appear

3. Click the Add an activity or resource link at the bottom of the module
   
   
   
4. Select Lesson from Activities tab
   
   
   
5. Now edit the following settings:
1. General: give the lesson a name and a description (if required) 
   
   
2. Appearance: Open the Appearance section and select Show more... Decide which features you would like to display to the students. Common functions include a Display menu if navigation is to be open or the Progress bar if you would like the students to see their progress through the lesson. The Link to next activity is also a useful function, for at the end of a lesson, students can be linked to another activity or resource in FLO. 
   
   
3. Availability: set the availability, due date (deadline) or set a time limit for completion. Password protection can also be enabled if desired.
   Timeline block: The 'Deadline' will show to students in the Timeline block.
   
   
4. Flow control: settings associated with the progress through the lesson, such as retaking questions if answered incorrectly or how many attempts you wish to allow. 
   
   
5. Grade: set the grading type, maximum grade and pass mark.
   
   
6. Common module settings: section enables settings for groups and grouping  (optional)
   
   
7. Restrict Access: place restrictions according to prior activity completion, date, grade, the user profile or complex restriction sets (optional)
   
   
8. Activity completion: determine completion tracking for the activity based on view, grade, end reached, time spent or date completed (optional)
   

Build a lesson activity

1. Building a lesson is an important phase of the process in using this activity tool in FLO. How it functions and looks will enable your students to get the most out of the experience. Once you have added the tool (as described above), you will be ready to add content and questions (optional) and provide your students with 'next step' buttons. Any empty lesson tool is as below.
   
   
   
2. To build the lesson, you will need to add a content page or question page. Cluster pages can be used in more advanced lessons (for providing your user with choice with the lesson). All editing must be accessed through the Edit tab.
   
   
3. A content page requires a page title, page contents and at least one button to connect to the page/question required. The Page Contents is what will be displayed to your viewer/user. Use the text editor and media buttons to add content. Keep it simple and clear.
   
   
4. A question page requires a question type selection. This tool has six types of questions available: Essay, Matching, Multiple choice, Numerical, Short answer and True/false. Make your selection before following the prompts to edit the question page. Here you will need to provide a page title, page contents (the question), and at least one answer. It is encouraged to provide a response for each answer, ensure the 'jump' option is directing where the student is directed (for a correct and incorrect answer, and how many points (score) is connected to the question. 

For more information on building in the Lesson module, review more detailed documentation from Moodle.

This entry relates to the Assignment activity.

Mahara ePortfolio is an evolving resource that records, stores and archives a student's artefacts of learning and reflection. It has the potential to demonstrate professional and personal growth, exemplify evidence-based practice and provide a planning space for future professional development needs and experiences

Create a Mahara assignment

Create an assignment (for file submissions) and make the following adjustments to the settings.

Submission settings

For Submission types:

• Untick file submissions
  
• Tick Mahara portfolio.

Locked submitted pages

Note that with any of these options, a student may at any time make a copy of their submitted work and keep editing it. Hence it is helpful to think of submitted work as a 'version' or a snapshot in time. If you need to see another version at a later time, create another Assignment dropbox.

When assessing work in Mahara, consider how you will provide feedback to students. If work has been submitted through the Assignment tool, you have two 'locations' where your interaction happens: in Mahara (through Comments) and in FLO (through the normal channels of assignment feedback). You will probably need to use a mix of both, as appropriate to your context. 

• Commenting in Mahara
• Providing feedback and marks in FLO
• Saving work as a PDF
  

Commenting in Mahara

When in a student's submitted Mahara assignment you are able to interact using the comments functions, provided the student has not turned comments off. Each page has a comments field, and some items of content also have comments enabled (Journal entries, Notes and files). As a visitor to the student's ePortfolio, you can leave comments here, but note that these comments are then managed by the student - they can choose to delete them if they wish.

Comments in Mahara 'give' the student something they can use in their portfolio as part of their portfolio, for example:

• praise for work well done
• useful extra information, or
• evidence of you having been there

Providing feedback and marks in FLO

Feedback that relates to your judgement on the quality of the work submitted and justifies a grade given is formal and should occur in FLO. This acts as a record of your thinking should there be a grade challenge. 

Saving work as a PDF

In some situations, you may need to save a submitted page as a PDF. This is an extra step and is not required for assessment records. However, you may choose to do this for:

• a record: if a formal record of the work is required, e.g. for accrediting bodies
• annotation: you want to annotate a page with comments (mirroring what you may do with a traditional assignment)
• research: the page is a research artefact
• example: the page is an example of work, intended to be shared or presented with others 

Remember to seek and gain the necessary consent if you are saving a Page for purposes other than assessment. 

To save as a PDF: 

1. Click on three dots on the top right corner of the Page
2. Choose Print
   
3. This will open your computer's printing screen. Go to the destination box and select a PDF option. The name of this option(s) can vary but may be called 'Save to PDF', 'Adobe PDF', or something similar.
   
   

NOTE: You can search this page using Ctrl+F.

Click here if you cannot view the above video Mahara is a personal online platform that stays with you for the duration of your time at Flinders. It is an online space where you can join up the dots between different things and show progress over time, and a place to organise and showcase your work. It belongs to the account holder - you control all your settings and control who sees what. You can use your Mahara space for anything you like - personal notes, professional activity, scholarly activity and research, continuing professional development, career building and job-seeking, etc. Mahara works well to capture your experiential and informal learning, and can also be used for formal coursework at Flinders, because Mahara can integrate with FLO for assessment submissions. It can be a lot of things, but essentially, Mahara is a place to tell a story about you. 

For a further introduction, see Mahara's own introduction page.

Support material in this page links to the official Mahara support material, but we include 'Shortcuts' and 'Gotchas' to help you avoid common problems. This is kept up to date. These shortcuts are not how-to instructions, they are steps. If you are copying shortcuts for use in your FLO sites, please make sure they are up to date, as you would for any instructions in your FLO site. Check your shortcuts in your site against the shortcuts here and replace if needed.

1. Plan

1.1 Play with Mahara

The best way to understand what Mahara makes possible is to use it yourself. Have something concrete and genuinely useful in mind, even if it is just creating one page where you can write up your Philosophy of Teaching, or a place to collect feedback.

Where is my Mahara?

You can always find Mahara in your FLO user profile drop-down menu (top right of your window in FLO), or through Okta. When you are in Mahara, you can return to FLO at any time through a link inside your Dashboard page. This makes it easy for you to move between FLO and Mahara - no extra sign-ins required. When you first log in to Mahara, and any time there is a change made to Mahara you will be prompted to agree to a Privacy Statement.  

1.2 Consider possible applications: 

• A personal-professional profile online: Create a professional-looking online presence, showcase your resume and collect all your social media accounts in one place.
  
• A place to collect things: Upload, tag and store files you have created, or hyperlink to larger media files. You can also export forum posts, glossary entries and other FLO-created items from your topic into your Mahara space.
  
• A place to capture your thoughts on the go: Journal your experiences, reflect, plan, make personal notes
  
• A place to collaborate with others: A controlled space for sharing and co-creating in groups 
  
• A way to present to others: Creatively combine text and media into pages and collections, and share these for assessment, promotion, or job-seeking.
  
• A conversational space: Connect your big ideas to the world and invite public comment  

You can think of the ePortfolio as a practice as well as a technology. It is a way of engaging with your work and with others. Nicola Parkin, a learning designer at Flinders, draws from her own experience as a seasoned user of Mahara to explain the idea: 

Click here if you can not view the above video

1.3 Explore example ePortfolios:

• Chris's FFOUT portfolio A previous staff member's portfolio created for Flinders Foundation of University Teaching (FFOUT) professional development
  
• Rob's portfolio Rob was an Architectural Technology student at Southampton Solent University; his portfolio shows his journey to becoming a professional
  
• Serhat's portfolio Serhat's record of learning from his Master of Distance Education at Athabasca University. An exemplar showcase of coursework
  
• A reflective journal From a student at the University of the Arts, London 
  
• Michael's academic professional portfolio: a great example of an extensive and rich portfolio, lovingly maintained - also see Michael's blog post here
  
• Kathryn's digital thesis - 'An A/r/tist in Wonderland: Exploring identity, Creativity and Digital Portfolios as A/r/tographer'
• An MD student's portfolio The student kept a journal with each entry tagged with one of MD course learning outcomes (CLO). The student then set up a collection of pages that automatically collated the journal entries for each CLO.  The student shared the entries with their learning coach, who can see a curated story about their development in each CLO.
  

1.4 Learn about ePortfolios: 

• Explore ePortfolio Assist - a great resource site for staff and students with videos, literature, ideas
  
• Authentic Assessment Toolbox - Portfolios

2. Build

The following items are the most common things that people do with Mahara. To access the full suite of Mahara user resources, see the official Mahara user manual

2.1 Add and create items of content

Add your own content:

You can save and organise individual files into your Mahara space. These become individual items of 'content' which can then be used in your pages and collections for presentation. You can easily drag items from your desktop into Mahara. More information

Use built-in tools:

• Journals: One is already set up, but you can add more. More information
  
• Resumes: Organise your professional info. More information
  
• Plans: A place to save your ideas in progress. More information
  
  

Storage capacity:

Your Mahara account is limited to 200MB storage capacity. It is recommended that you compress large files before adding them, and store large media files in other spaces and link to them. Used this way, Mahara becomes a way to curate media items published in multiple places. Video files stored on YouTube will embed in Mahara. - See how to embed media in section 2.3 'Create a Page' below.

Storage Increase Requests: Please complete this form and select 'FLO' from the Area menu for help increasing your storage in Mahara.

2.2 Use the Journal

Mahara comes with a journal already set up and ready to go. You can also create others - as many as you like. Journal entries can be tagged for easy finding. When you add a journal to a page for sharing or submission, you can:

• Embed the whole journal
• Select specific journal entries
• Add all entries tagged with a certain way

More information

Shortcuts

• Drop-down navigation (top right corner) > Content > journals
  
• Create journal OR
  
• Rename your given journal using the pencil icon
  
• Click New Entry > write, tag, save
  
• Put your journal on the Dashboard (makes it easier to add entries)
  
• Edit Dashboard > select your journal from the Blocks on the left
  
• To add a new entry: Edit Dashboard > New entry
  

Gotcha: A journal must be in a page in order to submit it to FLO

Gotcha: If you are going to embed ‘tagged journal entries’ in a page for assignment submission, tagging your entries is REALLY IMPORTANT

2.3 Create a page

A page is a place to collect a number of items together to tell a 'bigger story'. For instance, you can group presentation slides with a picture of you presenting, some promotional material, feedback received, and a reflection on the event. You can add items to pages from your 'content' or you can add straight from your computer. Pages can be formatted to group items in different ways - play with the options for maximum effect. You can also link internally from one page to another.  See Mahara page info

More information

Shortcuts

Make a new page: Dashboard > Create > Add > Page

• Title your page
• Description – a header across the top of your page (but invisible when editing your page)
• A picture looks great here. Choose a long thin one to act as a banner
• Tags – tag your page appropriately
• Create via tags - populate your page with previously tagged individual items of content created elsewhere
• Save. You can always come back to this settings area and make changes
• The page is ready is to edit. Explore content options in the blocks on the left

Add content: Drag and drop to place on the page or see dropdown for options within each type. Common content choices:

• Text: Drag onto page > title > add text, links, pictures, styling
• Journal: Dropdown to choose: whole journal, journal entry or tagged journal entries
  
• Embedded media: External > External media > drop in the URL
• Choose whether the block is retractable or if it stays open (choose the best layout for the page)
• Drag the content on your page to arrange
• Click on the Display page icon (on the right of the page) to check how it looks / Back to return to edit screen

Gotcha: A page is the smallest thing you can share. If you are sharing or submitting content, it needs to be in a page. For instance, submitting a journal means adding to a page and submitting the page (with the journal in it).

2.4 Create a collection

Collections are a collection of pages joined together. You will need to create all the pages first before grouping them together in a collection. More information 

Shortcut

• Dashboard > Create > Add > Collection – name, tag and save
• Click Next: Edit collection pages
• Select pages to add to collection > click Add pages 
• Reorder pages with the arrows

2.5 Submit to FLO

You may be instructed to use Mahara as part of your formal coursework at Flinders. Mahara creates a formal and secure channel between you and the teaching staff. They will only be able to see what you submit, when you submit it. You are responsible for submission - just like any other assignment.

When it is time to submit your Mahara work to FLO, you will do so via an Assignment tool which will be specially set up to receive Mahara assignments. When you go through the 'submit' process, you will be prompted to choose your page/s and/or collection/s from a list displayed in the tool. Click which one/s you want to be submitted and complete the submission process.

The Assignment tool may be set to:

• Unlocked (which means you can keep working in Mahara on whatever you have submitted, and teaching staff will see all your changes)
• Locked (which means you will not be able to make changes to whatever you have submitted until unlocked by the teaching staff - but you can make a copy of it at any time)

Remember that your Mahara work is time-stamped. If you are asked to complete coursework in Mahara (for instance, keep a journal with regular entries) you will need to keep up to date as expected. If you create your entries all at once they will all have the same date.

• In FLO, Click into the Assignment tool
• The tool has been configured to accept only Mahara pages or collections
• You will be prompted to select the relevant page or collection from a full lst
• Go through the steps as normal and submit
• Depending on the setting, your page/s will be
• ‘live’ – you can keep working in them, and all your changes will show up to the teaching staff
• OR locked for editing until after grading (but you can copy the page and keep working on it)

Gotcha: If you are submitting a collection to an Assignment dropbox in FLO, you must submit ALL the pages at once. This might mean creating 'blank' pages ready for you to fill later. If you add pages to a collection after you have submitted it, the teacher will not be able to see the new pages.

2.6 Share your work

You can make pages or collections available to others for view, with or without the ability for them to comment on your work.

Shortcuts

Option 1: Secret URL

• Dashboard > Share > choose your collection or page from the lists
• Click on Secret URLS (globe icon) to the right of your work
  
• New secret URL > copy
• Send this to whomever you want to see your page or collection
• UNSHARE: When you delete the URL, their access will disappear

OR create a Secret URL directly from your page – click Share button

Option 2: Share with others

• Dashboard > Share > choose your collection or page from the lists
• Click on Edit access (padlock icon)
• Advanced options – choose to allow comments and/or copying
• Share with: choose from the options
• UNSHARE: When you delete the share, their access will disappear 

OR control share options directly from your page - click the Share button. More information

Gotcha: If you are presenting this media as part of a collection (portfolio), you will need to manage the privacy settings of these outside-Mahara items. For instance, if you make a Mahara collection and share a secret URL to that collection with someone, all the items you have linked to your collection (such as files in OneDrive) should also be viewable by that person. 

2.7 Collect comments on your work 

Mahara pages and some types of content come with a 'comments' field already turned on. You can control whether you want this on or off, and whether you would like to moderate comments, from within your page. More information

Shortcut

• Share > Advanced options
• Allow comments: yes/no
• Moderate comments: yes/no

2.8 Make a copy 

Within your collection, you can make a copy of any page, or any collection that a page is a part of. Copied pages can then be adapted. More information

Shortcut

• Share > Advanced options 
• Allow copying yes/no. Note that the default setting is no.
  

You can also copy any page or collection shared with you if copying has already been enabled by the person sharing.

2.9 Work in a group

It is possible to use Mahara for groups, although some caution is advised if using as part of formal coursework. Anyone with a Mahara account can create public or invitation-only groups and can request to join other groups. More information

Gotcha: All members of a group need to already have picked up their Mahara accounts.

Gotcha: If you create work in a group and then leave that group or leave Mahara, your work will remain in the group.

2.10 Export your work to another platform

You will have access to your Mahara account for as long as your FAN is active. For students, this is one year from the date of graduation; for staff, it is when your employment with the University ends. If you want to keep the contents, pages and collections in your Mahara account, you will need to export it all into another account of your choosing. To export, you will first need to create an account to send it to, then export from your Flinders Mahara content using Leap2A format, if possible (allows your work to be reworked after export) or as an HTML webpage. More information

3. Teachers: use it first 

If you are planning to use Mahara in your topic or course, go through the activity yourself first. 

This will:

• generate ideas on how the tool might be used to support learning and assessment
• provide insight into the user experience 
• test the steps so that you can provide accurate instructions (write them down as you go)
• create an example for sharing with students so they can 'see what you mean'

You can share your work with colleagues via a secret URL or 'share' (see 2.6 above).

4. Teaching tasks 

If you are a teacher using Mahara for coursework or WIL, there are some extra FLO-related things for you to consider.

4.1 Guide and support students

General support principles for using Mahara in educational contexts:

• Own the space: Mahara is a personal space, and users are responsible for maintaining the contents of their accounts
  
• Grow your skills: Managing your Mahara space is a digital competency - start simple and develop confidence and expertise
  
• A partnered approach: Staff and students are all users - share your expertise and help each other 
  

Support strategies:

1. Write instructional guidance in FLO which clearly explains the task. See the Demo site: Mahara in FLO
2. Provide concrete examples: You can use your own work, or those of students who agree to share a copy of their work. Examples will help students 'see what you mean' - in terms of organisation and content
3. Share a copy-able 'template': If it is important to have the work formatted in a particular way, you can create the structure yourself and share with students as a copy-able page or collection. Students can copy, rename their version and 'fill in' the containers you have created. See 2.8 Make a copy section above
4. Provide hyperlinks to help material and services: You find these in the Mahara user manual or copy from the appropriate section on this support page
5. Copy and paste 'Shortcuts' from this page: Feel free to copy these from the appropriate section on this support page.

Gotcha: Hyperlinks and shortcuts copied from this page and used in FLO for student guidance and support will need to be checked every time the topic is offered, as the version may have changed in the interim - and therefore, the links and instructions may be out of date.

4.2 Creating and marking Mahara assignments

5. Teachers: review and maintain

Tips for maintaining up-to-date Mahara support in your FLO site 

• Review shortcut instructions, and replace, if needed - the latest version will always be in this support page 
• Review URLs to Mahara support pages, and replace if needed - the latest link will always be in this support page 
• Click into any displayed example portfolios and make sure they are still live and as you would expect to see them. Portfolios are living things that will change over time and may no longer be appropriate, or they can disappear without notice

1. Plan  |  2. Build  |  3. Test  |  4. Administer  |  5. Review  ||  Support  

If you currently use a manual process for providing certificates to participants as part of your teaching activity, or can identify a need for this capability as part of your teaching, you may be interested to know about a FLO feature called Custom Certificate.

This feature enables participants of non-award/short courses to receive an automatic certificate once the course has been completed in FLO and reduces manual administration for you and professional staff.

If you have any questions around why you might use custom certificates in your non-award or short course please contact the Learning Designer for your College or lodge a Service One request (Service One > Education > FLO-Course & Topic design support).

For support with how to use the custom certificate activity visit the FLOSS page then contact your local eLearning team via Service One (Service One > Education > FLO-General Query).

1. Plan  |  2. Build  |  3. Test  |  4. Administer  |  5. Review  ||  Support  

 To set up completion tracking for your FLO site, consider the following phases:

Steps

• Enable completion tracking
  
• Set up and integrate activity completion
• Monitor activity completion
• Manually override activity completion
• Bulk select activities/resources for completion tracking

Enable completion tracking

1. Completion tracking is a topic-wide setting that allows you select a 'completion' option for the items in your site. When completion tracking is turned on, you have the option to activate it for the activity or tool. Even with completion tracking turned on, items are set to off, so you have to manually enable it for each item where it makes sense to do so.

2. To enable completion tracking in your FLO site, Topic Management > Edit settings > Completion tracking and change to Yes to enable completion tracking. Save settings to apply.

Set up and integrate activity completion

1. Once 'Completion tracking' is enabled, each individual resource or activity can have 'Activity completion' turned on.
2. Enable 'Activity completion' during the set-up procedures for each activity/resource you wish to track and the action associated with the tracking (manual or conditional completion)
3. Add the activity or resource by clicking on the link in the module: or edit an existing activity
4. Scroll down to Activity completion
5. Select manual or conditional from the drop-down menu 

The settings you are provided with are available as either manual or conditional, which are related to the tracking function.

1. Completion tracking (behaviour)

• Manual: students can manually mark the activity as complete (students see a box to tick when they have finished with that item)
• Conditional: show activity as complete when conditions are met (select conditions and dates that apply)

2. Require view: Student must view this activity to complete it. By ticking this box, you are declaring the action (behaviour) of the student is to view the item and make no other changes/additions. This option only works for Show activity as complete when conditions are met is selected.
   
   
3. When an activity is added that has additional requirements possible, you are able to determine if a 'completion' is related to the grade (assessment submission, quiz etc) or entries (forum, glossary, etc). This is useful when describing to students what constitutes 'completion' of an activity. Example: Students are required to post into a forum, and to comment on someone else's post, within a certain timeframe (conditional).

4. Expect completed on: Provide a date and enable it if you wish to use 'expected dates' in your site. This is useful for assessments or in preparation tasks for workshops or lectures.

5. Save

Monitor activity completion

1. In the topic, click the Topic Management button
   
   
   
2. Click on Activity completion in the User Links menu
   
   
   
3. View the students and activities/resources on screen. Three types of 'completion' exist – manual, automated and overridden:
   
   Manual: a tick in a solid-line box appears when a student has manually ticked the item off
   Automated: a tick in a dotted-line box appears when the condition of the activity/resource set within the activity/resource settings
   Overridden: a tick in a red box appears if an academic manually records that a student has completed a task.
   
   
4. To download a spreadsheet format (UTF-8.csv) or Excel-compatible format (.csv) report, click on the Download in... button. 

Manually override activity completion

If activity completion does not reflect a student's achievement (e.g. amended assessments, technical errors) you can mark it as complete on their behalf.

1. In the Administration tab, click on Reports then Activity completion
   
   
2. Click on an empty box to mark it complete. The cell will now have a blue tick and a red border.
   
   
   
   

Bulk select activities/resources for completion tracking

You are unlikely to want all items in your FLO site to have completion tracking set up, as this may include labels that are headings, or resources that are optional. You can bulk edit activity completion, which fast tracks the selection process.

1. Set up activity completion for the topic (instructions above)
   
   
2. In your topic homepage, under the Administration tab, select Topic completion
   
   
3. In the next screen, click on the tab Bulk edit activity completion
   
   
   
   
4. Select the activities/resources you want to edit, and click on the Edit button. In the next screen, choose options, and if relevant, a completion date
   
   Timeline block: The 'Expect completed on' date will show to students in the Timeline block, marked as 'should be completed'. If an activity has a due date (or closing date, deadline, etc.) two dates will show - the due date and 'expect completed on' date.
   
   
   
   
5. Click Save and return to topic or Save and display

1. Plan  |  2. Build  |  3. Test  |  4. Administer  |  5. Review  ||  Support  

The 'completion progress' block is a time management tool for students and a potential preparedness tracker for staff. The block is a flexible, visual block option to show students what activities and resources are required to enable them to chart their progress through assessments, a module or a topic. The colour-coded block shows students what they have and haven't done to complete/view required tasks, with or without expected due dates. Teaching staff can see an overview of students' progress using the same colour code system by accessing the student overview (see below) or using the completion tracking Activity Completion report.

• Add the progress block
• Configure the progress block
  
• View students' progress

Add the progress block

1. Click the Turn editing on button. 




2. Click on the Topic Blocks button in the top right corner of your topic’s home page.


3. Go to Add a block... and select Completion Progress. 




4. FLO will reload and the Completion Progress block will appear in your list ready for configuration

---

Configure the progress block

1. Set up (configure) the criteria for the Completion Progress block by opening the Configure Completion Progress block from the cog symbol on the block (editing must be enabled). 




2. Review and adjust the block settings, including the order of blocks, the presentation and any symbols you wish to use. 




3. Open Show more... section for adding an alternative title and selecting the components you wish to display. By default, all activities with completion set will be added to the block. Change this to Selected activities and then select the activities from the list below. Hold the Ctrl key down to select multiple activities. 




4. Open the Where this block appears section. So that students have a consistent navigation, change the default region to column A, and the default weight to 4. Then open the On this page section and repeat these steps.



5. Save your changes when you are finished.

---

View students' progress

1. To view the statistics of student's progress for activities/resources listed in the 'Completion Progress' block, click Overview of students on the block. 




2. Filter the list to all students or other roles using the Role drop-down filter. If groups are set up, the option to filter by a group is available.

 

3. Hover mouse over the 'Progress bar' colours to view details. 


What do the colours represent?
Red indicates an incomplete activity where students must carry out a specific, such as submitting an assignment or posting in a forum.
Blue indicates an incomplete activity that students can manually mark as completed.
Green indicates an activity that has been completed.



4. Alternatively, use the 'Progress' percentage column (if turned on) to view the overall progress of the activities/resources.

 

1. Plan  |  2. Build  |  3. Test  |  4. Administer  |  5. Review  ||  Support  

The 'digital badges' feature in FLO is a game element that can be used in education to celebrate achievements and show progress in a topic.

In FLO, badges can be created by teachers and awarded to students. Badges integrate with completion tracking/activity completion settings, to customise trigger points that determine the automatic release of badges. Badges may also be awarded manually based on the combination of FLO activities within a topic and physical activities in the classroom, such as practical skills. All badges may be awarded by a combination of summative or formative tasks. Badges are privately visible in a user's FLO profile or imported into Badgr.com, which enables sharing through social media sites like Facebook and Google Plus. The following guide provides information on: 

• How to use digital badges

• Getting started with digital badges

• Add digital badges into your FLO site

• Manage badges: Badge availability

• Manage badges: Deleting badges

Steps

How to use digital badges

Current research literature agrees that the digital badge is: a visual symbol of an accomplishment, skill or recognisable trait that deserves acknowledgement; contains metadata to explain the context of the award; can be shared digitally across social communities, and should be broadly identified as a digital badge. 

Examples of how digital badges can be used in higher education include: 

• an alternative to grades (micro-credentialing) (Clayton et al., 2014; Elliott et al., 2014); 
• to support the process of progressing through research degrees (Mewburn et al., 2014); 
• assessing individual students in collaboration assignments (Moccozet, 2013); 
• as an introduction to navigating a physical campus through a scavenger hunt exploration (Koutropoulos, 2012);
• to motivate students in an online course (Foli et al., 2016); 
• measuring clinical performance and GPA recognition (Hannas, 2016); and 
• as a record of achievement for future employers (Thomas, 2014). 

Sources: 

Clayton, J., Elliott, R., Iwata, J., 2014. Exploring the use of micro-credentialing and digital badges in learning environments to encourage motivation to learn and achieve. ASCILITE. 

Elliott, R., Clayton, J., Iwata, J., 2014. Exploring the use of micro-credentialing and digital badges in learning environments to encourage motivation to learn and achieve, in: Hegarty, B., McDonald, J., Loke, S.-K. (Eds.), Ascilite 2014. Ascilite, Dunedin, NZ., pp. 703-707. 

Foli, K.J., Karagory, P., Kirby, K., 2016. An exploratory study of undergraduate nursing students' perceptions of digital badges. Journal of Nursing Education 55, 640-644. Hannas, J., 2016. Demystifying digital badges. California State University Channel Islands, California.

Koutropoulos, A., 2012. Mobile Gamification for increasing motivation and engagement around the campus. International Journal of Instructional Technology and Distance Learning 9, 3-20. 

Mewburn, I., Freund, K., Rutherford, E., 2014. Badge trouble: piloting open badges at the Australian National University. Ascilite 

Moccozet, L., Tardy, C., Opprecht, W. & Leonard, M., 2013. Gamification-based assessment of group work, International Conference on Interactive Collaborative Learning, pp. 171-179. 

Thomas, A., 2014. Nursing faculty and students implement Passport badges to measure learning, achievement. Purdue University Information Technology Purdue University Information Technology

Getting started with digital badges

When designing topics for the inclusion of FLO digital badges, consider the following key points:

• How may digital badges be used in your topic? - What 'stages' do you want to create in a student's journey through your topic? Are there layers? Are the badges skill-based or knowledge-based?
• How will the visual appeal of the badge encourage users? - What visual element will you use for your creating badges? How will you create them? Visual appeal is an important component in using digital badges as a motivator.
• Which activities/resources are required to measure a student's completion of a module or topic or success at demonstrating a skill? Can these be automated or do they require manual measuring?
• Can digital badges be integrated with other motivation methods, such as progress bars? Research shows that a combination of methods will motivate a greater range of individuals.
• Organise with your eLearning support team to activate badges in your topic. Currently, digital badges do not roll from semester to semester. 
• How will you communicate with your students about the use of digital badges? It is important to communicate with your students about the role of the digital badges, as they are immediately visible as they must be earned.
• View the following video (7 mins)  on what are digital badges, how to set them up, and how to share them outside of FLO. 

Add digital badges into your FLO site

Creating badges

Once badges have been activated in your site and you have sourced/created your badge images (100x100), you are ready to create your badges in FLO. 

1. Click the hamburger button  on the top menu bar ->  select Badges ->  Add a new badge button.

2. Enter the badge details, including name, description and the image you have created for the badge. Update the image author's details (your details) and if required, add a badge expiry date. Save your badge details by selecting Create badge.

3. Select your badge criteria: Manual issue by role, Topic completion, Activity completion or competencies.

4. Modify the existing message, avoiding altering the auto-filled text (in red below)

5. Once the criteria has been set, Enable access to the badge. All badges can be created at any time but are not released to the students until this button has been clicked.

Once the badge has been enabled, no further editing can be undertaken.

Manage badges: Badge availability

Once badges have been activated in your site and created (added) to FLO: 

1. Click the hamburger button on the top menu bar ->  select Badges. -> Manage badges .

2. Here you'll see the complete list of digital badges added to the topic. Note that some badges may be available to users (they have been enabled) and some badges may not be available to users (they are yet to be enabled).  

3. Select the badge you wish to 'manage' by clicking on the badge name. This will load the badge details. On an available badge, the criteria will be locked. This may be disabled, however, the badges that have been earned prior to the disable will not be deleted. The badge will simply not be able to be earned by new students.

*Note, that once a badge has been issued to at least one user, it automatically becomes LOCKED. Locked badges can still be earned by users, but their criteria can no longer be changed. If you need to modify details or criteria of a locked badge, you can duplicate this badge and make all the required changes. 

4. To re-enable, that is, to make it visible and active for students to earn based on the pre-set criteria, select the    button. Note that if this badge was previously enabled, the following warning will appear. 

Click Continue to re-active the badge. This will issue the badge to any student who has completed the criteria during the badges inactive stage. 

Manage badges: Deleting badges

Once badges have been awarded, the badge can be deleted using the FLO X icon or course badges in your site and created (added) to FLO: 

1. Click the hamburger button on the top menu bar -> select Badges. -> Manage badges.

2. Here you'll see the complete list of digital badges added to the topic. Note that some badges may be available to users (they have been enabled) and some badges may not be available to users (they are yet to be enabled)

3. Regardless of availability, you are able to delete a created digital badge. 

Select the badge you wish to 'manage' by identity which row in the table (see below). Navigate to the Actions column and select the

The two options for the deletion will be presented: 1. To delete and keep existing issued badge or 2. to delete and remove existing issued badges.

Follow the prompts once you have made your selection.

Note that once you have deleted the badge from FLO, the badge may still exist if it was exported to an external backpack, but the awarded criteria will not be tracked

1. Plan

Planning to use digital badges, completion progress block, activity completion tracking and restrict access should be considered to provide students with an interactive and visual method of motivating participation in your class, using the online (FLO) platform as a mechanism for charting progress.

Digital badges considerations

• How may digital badges will be used in your topic? What 'stages' do you want to create in a student's journey through your topic? Are there layers? Are the badges skill based or knowledge based?
• How will the visual appeal of the badge encourage users? What visual element will you use for your creating badges? How will you create them? Visual appeal is an important component in using digital badges as a motivator.
• Which activities/resources are required to measure a student's completion of a module or topic or success at demonstrating a skill? Can these be automated, or do they require manual measuring?
• Can digital badges be integrated with other motivation methods, such as progress bars? Research shows that a combination of methods will motivate a greater range of individuals.
• Organise with your eLearning support team to activate badges in your topic. Currently, digital badges do not roll from semester to semester. 
• How will you communicate with your students about the use of digital badges? It is important to communicate with your students about the role of the digital badges, as they are immediately visible and they must be earned.

Completion progress block uses

• Self-directed learning of a new topic or module or series of tasks.
• Enabling self-paced tracking in a topic and/or module.
• Providing students with guided requirements for learning activity(ies) and resources.
• Targeting preparation for assessment or class attendance.

Activity completion considerations

The activity completion can be used to track students' access and completion status of all activities or resources which have this feature enabled. 

• What activities/resources should you provide students the ability to track using this feature?
  
• Will students manually mark activities/resources as completed or will this be automated - or both?
• How often will you monitor the students' progress?
• What expected interventions will you use?

Restrict access considerations

• What do you need to restrict and why?
• Are you using groups, previous activities, or dates to restrict access?
• How will you communicate this to your students?
  
  

2. Build

Describe readiness to continue. [You have planned your topic. Now you are ready to set up.]

Digital badges

All entries available at 'Progress - Digital badges'

• How to use digital badges
• Getting started with digital badges
• Add digital badges into your FLO site
• Manage badges: Badge availability
• Manage badges: Deleting badges
  

Completion progress block

• Add progress block
  
• Configure progress block
  
• View students' progress
  

Activity completion tracking

All entries available at 'Progress - Activity completion tracking (Set up and monitor)'

• Enabled completion tracking
  
• Set up and integrate activity completion
• Monitor activity completion
• Manually override activity completion
  
• Bulk select activities/resources for completion tracking

Restrict access

• How to restrict access to content and activities
  

3. Test

• Using progress settings in your FLO site should be attempted at a level that does not impact student success. 
  
• Communicate with your students what progress tools are available and how they may be used to enhance their learning.
  
  

4. Administer

It is recommended that you use the progress tools (defined as digital badges, progress block and activity completion settings) for a student-focused purpose, whilst making use of the reporting feature for informing best learning and teaching practices.

5. Review

It is advisable that students or other teaching staff are consulted following the use of the feature(s) to ensure a review of their use is conducted at least once a year. 

1. Plan  |  2. Build  |  3. Test  |  4. Administer  |  5. Review  ||  Support  

The restrict access feature allows you to restrict the availability of activities, resources or whole modules according to certain conditions.

Steps

1. With editing turned on, either:
• Click on Add an activity or resource to add an item to your topic
• Edit the settings of an existing item
• Edit the settings of an existing module
  
  
2. Click on Restrict access to open the settings
   
   
3. Click on the Add restriction... button to open the restriction list
   
   
   
4. Select the type of restriction from the restriction list
   
   
   
5. You can add multiple restrictions to the same activity or resource, by selecting the Add restriction button again
   
   
   
6. If you have multiple restrictions you can choose whether students have to meet either one or all of the restrictions you've listed.
   
   If students need to meet some but not all of the restrictions (e.g. different cohorts need access from different dates), use the restriction set (see step 4) to join those restrictions together.
   
   
7. Students can see the existence of restricted items by default (they won't be able to access them by default, but will know that they exist). To only show a restricted item to those who have access to it, click on the eye icon so that there is a line running through it. Depending on how your restrictions are set up, the eye may appear in different (and multiple) places.
   
   If your restriction is based on private information (e.g. personal data or grades) you should always make it hidden.
   
   
   
8. Click either Save and return to topic or Save changes when finished.
   
   Restrictions you place on an activity or resource will display underneath the item.
   
   
   Restrictions you place on a module will display underneath the heading for the module.
   
   

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.