FLO Staff Support

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 Quicklinks 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 in a Card layout under My Topics.

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

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1. Layout

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

In your topics, the blocks have moved to the banner in the top-right corner of the page.

The blocks panel is divided into three columns. Column 1 has the Topic links, Clock and Activities blocks. Column 2 has the Teaching team block and Column 3 has Lecture recordings and Recent activity blocks.

 

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2. Customisation

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

My FLO page customisations

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

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

Profile customisations (includes photo)

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

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

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

Click the Update profile button  to save your changes.

Preferences

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

Setting	What it does
Edit profile	See the above section for more information
Preferred language	The default language is set to English.
Forum preferences	How often you are notified about new posts How you subscribe to forums. Have new posts marked Forum tracking
Editor preferences	Choose which text editor to use. Note that access to the video platform is only available through the Default/Atto editors.
Topic preferences	Turns on a comprehensive activity chooser. If disabled separate choosers for activities and resources are provided instead.
Calendar preferences	Choose between a 12 & 24-hour calendar Choose the first day of the week The number of upcoming events that are displayed
Message preferences	Control how you are notified about new messages Prevent non-contacts from messaging you.
Notification preferences	Control where and how you receive notifications for every activity in FLO

You can return to the My FLO page by clicking the link in the topic breadcrumbs at the top of the screen. 

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3. Topics

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

Orientation to FLO and quick editing tips:

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

Find your way around (FLO features)

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

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

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

Edit content in a topic

The editing aspects of the topic are located at the top of the screen. The Topic Management, Navigation menu and Quicklinks appear at the top of your screen in every topic, along with the Turn editing on button. To edit or add content to your topic, select the  Turn editing on button.  

Edit week/modules and activities/resources

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

  

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

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

Add a block

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

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

Add/delete a module

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

 

Customise the My Topics block (My FLO)

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

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

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

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

Past – Topics where teaching has finished

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

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

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

Create starred topics for quick access (My FLO)

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

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

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

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4. Logout

Once you have finished in FLO remember to log out.

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

FLO's browser compatibility

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

Desktop:

• Chrome
• Firefox

Mobile:

• Safari
• Chrome

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

Training and support	Troubleshooting
Training Contact your eLearning support team for any training required Support For further assistance please contact your local eLearning support team	You may have one of the following issues: FLO sends me too many emails The file I want to upload is too big I can't delete the topic links block When I delete the announcements it keeps coming back What is the FLO starter site?