Glossaries give students the opportunity to create their own content and are a powerful tool for critical thinking, collaboration and sharing.
The glossary can also become a legacy or resource for future topics. It is a product that
could potentially be converted into a publishable resource (eg create your own textbook).
1. Plan your glossary
The glossary tool enables participants (students) to create and maintain a list of definitions or to collect and organise resources/information. If the glossary auto-linking filter is
enabled, entries will be automatically linked where the concept works and/or phrases appear within the topic.
A teacher can allow comments on entries (eg peer review, additional information). Entries can also be rated by teachers or students (peer evaluation). Ratings can be aggregated to form a final grade which is recorded in the Gradebook.
Glossaries have many uses, such as:
a collaborative bank of key terms
a 'getting to know you' space where new students add their name and key details
a 'handy tips' resource of best practice in a practical subject
a sharing area of useful videos, images or sound files
a revision resource of facts to remember
2. Build your glossary
You have planned your glossary. Now you are ready to set up your glossary. Students will be able to create an entry and add comments (if you choose Yes), but will not be able to rate an entry without further steps (see Glossary - optional settings).
Create a glossary activity
In the topic, click Turn editing on
In the week/module where you want to add the glossary, click Add an activity or resource
Select Glossary and click Add
Give the glossary a Name and Description
Under Entries, amongst other options you can choose to allow comments (default is No)
Under Appearance, select Display format. There are 7 display formats:
Simple, dictionary style - No authors are displayed and attachments are shown as links
Continuous without author - Entries are displayed one after another without any separation apart from the editing icons
Full with author - A forum-like display format showing the author's data and with attachments shown as links
Full without author - A forum-like display format without authors and with attachments shown as links
Encyclopedia - As for "Full with author" but attached images are shown inline
Entry list - Concepts are listed as links
FAQ - The words QUESTION and ANSWER are appended to the concept and definition respectively
Click Save and display
Click Edit categories. Adding categories to a glossary means you can apply them to entries (and have more than one) which makes for easier searching/navigation
Click Add Category
Provide your category with a category Name
Use
the Automatically link this category drop-down menu to select whether
or not you would like to automatically link the category. For more information about auto-linking, see Set up auto-linking in a glossary entry
Select Save changes
The newly created category will be displayed. Click Add category to add another category
The categories you create will allow users the option to browse by the glossary by category
Repeat above steps to continue adding new categories
Optional settings
See the following links for more options about using the Glossary activity:
To make sure your glossary works as expected, create a test entry (this can be deleted once you are happy with the result, just click the X button).
Add a glossary entry
Click Add a new entry
Fill in the required fields
Click Save changes
Once your entry has been added, try searching for the entry. In the search box type in the name of your entry
Click search
Your entry should now appear. To delete the entry press the X button at the bottom. You can also preview the content by switching your role to student.
4. Administer your glossary
In order to administer your glossary you can use a variety of functions (listed below). You can moderate entries, set up ratings, import and export entries.
Export and import glossary entries
You can export and import glossary entries into a new glossary. For example, you have created a glossary of relevant terms/definitions in one topic and developed it over the semester. You want to include this glossary as a resource in the next semester
the topic is taught, or include it in another topic altogether. When the glossary is imported it will not bring across the individual entries. To do this, in the glossary screen, you will need to first export the entries
(Administration block > Export entries) and then, in the topic glossary you wish to import them into, import the entries (Administration block > Import entries). Whoever does the importing is the author of all imported entries.
You are advised to request support from your local eLearning support team to do this, as there are some considerations/limitations to this process. For
example, the following features cannot be imported:
Student-created entries – their names will not come across (a good thing)
Glossaries give students the opportunity to create their own content and are a powerful tool for critical thinking, collaboration and sharing. 
