Once you have built, adjusted the settings and edited your topic in preparation for student access, you can preview it as a student to
see what it looks like from a user perspective (rather than as an administrator).
1. Build
Topics are automatically created in FLO using data from Student Two. If your topic does not appear, contact your local eLearning support team for assistance. Staff
have access to topics 77 days prior to the teaching start date, with students getting access 7 days before start of teaching. See:
Both staff and students have access until 365 days after teaching finishes, except when a student withdraws or a staff member is removed from the teaching team in Student Management.
It is possible to create a non-award (short) course in FLO using existing infrastructure, though some processes are less automated than what is possible for award topics. View more information
2. Topic settings
You can do many things under the Topic management menu.
The Topic management window can be opened by clicking the button(cog icon) on the main menu. As a teacher, you will see more options than a student. It gives you access to activities, the question bank,
badges and user links. If you are on your topic's home page, you will also be able to access topic administration features (through the Actions menu).
Change your topic format
You can use different formats to change the organisation and structure of your topic.
On the homepage of your topic, open the Topic management window and click the Actions menu cog
Select Edit settingsin the drop-down list
Under Topic format, change Format to either Grid format or Collapsed modules. See
examples of topic formats (Example FLO sites)
Collapsed modules – shows your topic in a format where modules can be toggled/collapsed (recommended).
Grid format – shows your topic in a visual grid format (alternative format, requires images and may have additional rollover tasks each semester).
Select the number of modules you require
In the Hidden modules section, select your preference (
Hidden modules are completely invisible is recommended)
Change the appearance of the topic
In the Appearance section, you can manage settings such as language, number of announcements, gradebook visibility and activity reports visibility.
Upload a banner to your topic
A banner is designed to give a face to your site and make it recognisable to your students. The banner is visible on top of the
site, as well as on the topic 'card' on the MyFLO page.
Change the maximum upload file size available in your topic
This is managed in the Files and uploads section. By default, topics are set at 40MB but can be changed to accept files up to 2GB. If you need to upload video/audio, please follow the Kaltura (My Media) process.
Turn on completion tracking in your topic
This setting controls completion tracking topic wide. By default, completion tracking is not enabled.
Manage groups in your topic
A group or grouping can be used on two levels — topic level and activity level. When the group mode is switched on at topic level this is the default for all activities in the topic (including filtering in the gradebook and in particpants/enrolled users
pages). To enable group mode in a topic, follow the steps below.
In the Groups section, select either Visible groups or Separate groups
Separate groups – Each group can only see their own group, others are invisible.
Visible groups – Each group works in their own group, but can also see other groups. (The other groups' work is read-only.)
If Force group mode is set to Yes, the Group mode setting is applied to every activity in the topic. Group mode settings in each activity are then ignored.
Assign a default grouping (if required)
Note: Students can see the membership of any group, so don't name groups based around extensions, grades, language proficiency or medical conditions.
3. Editing your topic
In this section, we go through the editing within the topic using an activity, resource or block.
To begin editing your topic, click the Turn Edit Onbutton
To add a new activity or resource, click the Add an activity or resource link that will now be available at the bottom right of each module
The activity chooser window will open – it has tabs for different views:
Starred – any activity or resource you (the teacher) 'star' as a favourite or frequently used activity
All – all
Activities and Resources together
Activities – only Activities Resources – only Resources
To edit existing activities and resources, select an option from the Editmenu that appears as a drop-down list alongside each item and click Edit settings
To move activities and resources up and down the page, hover over the Move resource icon and then click and drag the item to its preferred location. Activities and resources can be moved both within and between modules
Blocks can be moved in a similar fashion. Click
the Topic Blocks button to view existing blocks. Blocks can be positioned in Column A, Column B or Column C by clicking and dragging using the Move block icon. A block can also be moved up and down within
the same column.
Click the Edit title icon if you wish to rename an activity/resource. Press Enter on your keyboard to save the new title
4. User management
In the User management section, you can do a variety of tasks relating to users in your topic.
You can view a list of all users in your topic on the Participants screen.
Open the Participants screen via the Participants link in the Navigation menu (left of your screen) Or open the Topic management window and select Participants in the User Links section
A list of participants will show
You can use the search filter to find participants in the FLO site based on:
Name
Student ID or FAN
Role (e.g. student, tutor)
Group name
Who currently has access (active)
How long they have been inactive
Contact a student (messaging)
You can contact a student via FLO by sending a message.
Open the Participants screen via the Participants link in the Navigation menu (left of your screen) Or open the Topic management window and select Participants in User Links section
A list of participants will show
Use the search filter to search for people with a particular role, inactivity, or membership to a group. At a minimum, it is recommended to at least add a status filter to select active students (otherwise you'll message students who have withdrawn from the topic).
Select individual students by clicking in the box by their name or tick the Select allbox at the top of the list
At the bottom of the page, click the With selected users menu and select Send a message. A message box will appear – type your message in the box and click send
Download student list as a file
You may wish to export a list of students to aid the import groups process or extract a list of FANs.
Open the Participants screen via the Participants link in the Navigation menu (left of your screen) Open the Topic management window and select Participants in the User Linkssection
A list of participants will show
Use the search filter to find participants with a particular role, inactivity, or membership to a group
Select individual students by clicking in the box alongside their name or tick the Select allbox at the top of the list
Select the required format from the With selected users... drop-down list
The .csv or .xlsx file can be opened in Excel.
5. Reports
You can view a wide variety of reports in your topic. Available reports:
Competency breakdown – allows teachers to view the competencies of each student in their topic, along with their ratings
Dates– allows you to filter by activity and change the dates for multiple activities all on the one screen
Engagement analytics – provides information about student progress against a range of indicators
Logs– provides logs for the topic activity for users, these can be generated by selecting any combination of group, student, date, activity, actions and level
Live logs– provides live logs for the topic including time, user name, topic, component, event name, description, origin and IP address
Activity logs – shows the number of views for each activity and resource
Topic participation– a report for a particular activity can generate a list of who has participated in a given activity, and how many times. This can be filtered by role, group, and action (view or post).
Resource activity– this report details a list of activities showing the number of views, students, not accessed and last accessed
Statistics– generates graphs and tables of user activity
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