Flinders 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 (part of WebPET – Web Presence in Every Topic). FLO is a 'suite' of technologies. The core of FLO is Moodle, but it also includes related educational technologies.
Anyone with a Flinders FAN can log into FLO. Each topic has a FLO site automatically created. Staff may request other sites (eg for courses, collaborative projects, committees) by contacting the eLearning support team in their college.
A link to the FLO login page is provided in the Quick links menu in the top banner of the University website or via OKTA. Otherwise, type https://flo.flinders.edu.au/ into your browser address bar; this link will redirect you to OKTA to sign in. Once signed in you will be redirected to FLO.
When you first log into FLO, you will see the My FLO homepage. The My FLO page lists every topic you have a role in. Your topics are arranged into the tabs Favourites, Year and Additional.
1. Layout
The standard layout of FLO consists of blocks right of the screen, with content on the left. A block is a widget that can provide a link to a feature, or can aggregate content from different areas of the site. Blocks available from the My FLO page include the Navigation tab (at the top), with blocks that can link you to other University systems, email, calendar, and messaging on the right.
Every user in FLO has a profile page that is displayed to other users.
Your profile is information about yourself. You can update it as often
as you like.
To edit your profile click the picture next to your name and select Profile from the drop-down list, then select Edit profile.
Some fields (eg name and email address) are filled in for you and locked. You can enter or change other fields, such as City/Town, Country, Timezone and Description.
You can also add a picture of yourself or something you want to be identified by. You can do this by clicking the add button or drag and dropping a picture into the box. You can also provide a description for the picture. Adding a picture gives you a 'social presence' in FLO and will show in some FLO activities (eg discussion forum posts) and the Topic coordinator/Teacher block.
Click Update profile
Preferences settings
FLO has a feature called Preferences. This is where you control settings that relate to how you receive information from FLO. Listed below are the settings you can update:
See screen shots below of the preference settings available for each setting:
Edit profile (see above)
Preferred language
Forum preferences
Editor preferences
Topic preferences
Calendar preferences
Message preferences
Notification preferences (for every activity)
You can return to the My FLO page by clicking the link in the topic breadcrumbs at the top of the screen.
3. Topics
FLO topics consist of resources (eg lecture notes, files, URLs, and video files) and activities (eg assignment dropboxes, quizzes, discussion forums).
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 sorted into year order. Enter your topic by clicking on the topic name in your My FLO list.
The standard layout for each topic consists of content (modules/weeks) in the centre and blocks on the right.
The top module can be used for resources that are needed throughout semester and do not sit specifically into a weekly module. Note: If you are using a Collapsed topic format, the user cannot collapse the top module, and so consideration should be given to the amount 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 Administration and Navigation tabs 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 Actions 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 bottom of the page:
When you have finished editing, ensure that you Turn editing off.
Add a module
You can add custom modules to a FLO topic, but use caution. If you are using a Weekly topic format, adding a module before Week 1 (e.g. Orientation) may mean you need to manually rearrange date-specific resources like lecture recordings that are imported into your topic before teaching starts.
Create favourite topics for quick access (My FLO)
To access frequently used topics, you can add them to your Favourites tab, which makes them easy and quick to get to each time you log into FLO.
First, click on the My Topics list at the top of the page:
Scroll down and find the topic you would like to favourite
click on the Favourites icon
scroll up to the top of the page and click Close
Your topic will now appear in your Favourites tab on the My FLO page.
4. Logout
Once you have finished in FLO remember to log out.
Click down arrow next to your picture
Scroll down and click the Log out icon
FLO's browser compatability
FLO is compatible with any standards compliant web browser. We regularly test FLO with the following most up-to-date browsers: Desktop:
Chrome
Firefox
Safari
Edge
Internet Explorer
Mobile:
Mobile Safari
Google Chrome
For the best experience and optimum security, we recommend that you keep your browser up to date. Note: Legacy browsers with known compatibility issues with FLO are:
Internet Explorer 10 and below
Safari 7 and below
Add-ons
Add-ons or plugins may be required to view particular content. For example, if you upload a Microsoft Word document, students will need Microsoft Word to be able to read it. It is therefore recommended that you convert documents to PDF format wherever possible.
If you include YouTube or other videos in your topic, students will need Flash Player enabled in their browser.
at the top of you page. 
or drag and dropping a picture into the box. You can also provide a description for the picture. Adding a picture gives you a 'social presence' in FLO and will show in some FLO activities (eg discussion forum posts) and the Topic coordinator/Teacher block.
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