Category Archives: Activities

Adding a Podcast & Basic Recording

 Step One: Add to course

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Step Two: Select “Campus Pack Podcast” from options.

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Step Three: Open Podcast window

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Step Four: Click the “New Episode” button on the menu.

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Step Five: Select Method of Podcasting

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You can use the built in recorder, upload prerecorded files or link to a website where your podcast is already uploaded such as Soundcloud or Youtube.

Step Six: Extras

Before clicking the Save and Exit button at the bottom of the window to post your Podcast check if there is anything you want to add to your Podcast such as a written description or date restrictions.

Step Seven: Save and Exit

*** Do your students need assistance? Instructions for students on how to record a podcast are available here.

Add a blog, wiki or journal

In GoucherLearn, instructors can add blogs, wikis and journals to their course page so that their students can create their own posts to share with their peers, their instructors, or both. Depending on the intentions of your activity, a blog may be the best choice instead of a wiki, or a journal may work better than a blog, etc. Below, you’ll find descriptions of each activity as well as general instructions on how to add and manage these activities in your course.

* Please contact the Helpdesk if you’d like to get more specific instructions on CampusPack activities, or schedule a technology consultation with one of our GoucherLearn specialists.

Blogs are great for instructors who want their students to interact with their classmates, for example, by reading and responding to the class’ posts. Much like a forum, blogs facilitate social assignments in which students and instructors must view and add comments to one another’s posts.
Instructions for students on how to add a blog post are available here.

Add a blog to your course page
1. Navigate to your course and turn editing on.

2. Select Add an activity or resource. From the pop-up window, select from the ‘Activities’ section Campus Pack Blog and click Add.

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3. The following page allows you to customize the activity you previously chose. Add a title and description so that students can easily navigate to the activity on your course page. Here is where you can customize your activity’s settings.

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There are several options in the ‘Deployment’ section that should be explained:

Single copy– for class to share

One per group– groups must be configured (instructions here)

One per person– don’t use for blogs or wikis; create a journal instead

Note: A defect currently exists that prohibits changing the grading scheme set up here at a later date. 

Once you’re done select Add at the bottom of the page.

4. Your blog has been created. By default, your activity will be decorated with a banner photo, which you can change.

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(If you’d like to edit the banner, go to the Settings menu > select Settings > in the ‘Banner’ section, choose another image from the options or upload your own.

 

Add an entry
1. Click Add Entry, title your entry and Add.

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2. Compose your entry using the page’s HTML text editor.

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There are three types of users on the blog which are viewers, authors and owners. Authors are the students from this unit. Owners are professors and teaching assistance that have full permission and are running the blog . When you are giving comments to students, make sure that you are editing commenting in the Author comments. 

3. When you’re finished, select Save & exit at the bottom.

* To view all posts, go to Recent Entries, which will show you all the blog’s entries in chronological order.

 

Wikis are collaborative tools that allow students and instructors to collaborate on one or more pages of a course website. They work well as interactive class assignments and allow students and instructors to post, edit and view all pages. 
Instructions for students on how to add a page to a wiki are available here.

Add a wiki to your course page
1. Navigate to your course and turn editing on.

2. Select Add an activity or resource. From the pop-up window, select from the ‘Activities’ section Campus Pack Wiki. Click Add.

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3. The following page allows you to customize the activity you previously chose. Add a title and description so that students can easily navigate to the activity on your course page. Here is where you can customize your activity’s settings.

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* Since wikis are collaborative assignments, leave the ‘Deployment’ section at Single Copy or One Per Group. (For instructions on how to configure groups in your course, go here.)

Note: A defect currently exists that prohibits changing the grading scheme set up here at a later date. 

4. Your wiki has been created. By default, your activity will be decorated with a banner photo, which you can change.

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(If you’d like to edit the banner, go to the Settings menu > select Settings > in the ‘Banner’ section, choose another image from the options or upload your own.

 

Add and edit a page
1. Click New Page, title your entry and Add Page.

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2. Compose your entry using the page’s HTML text editor.

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3. When you’re finished, select Save & exit at the bottom.

* Contributors can add or change the wiki by navigating to a page and clicking Edit.

* To view all pages, go to Pages on the wiki main page, which will show you all the pages in chronological order.

 

A journal is a tool used for self-reflection in which the default permissions are configured so that the journal is private, shared only between the student and the instructor.
Instructions for students on how to add a journal entry are available here.

Add a journal to your course page
1. Navigate to your course and turn editing on.

2. Select Add an activity or resource. From the pop-up window, select from the ‘Activities’ section Campus Pack Journal and click Add.

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3. The following page allows you to customize the journal. Add a title and description so that students can easily navigate to the activity on your course page. Here is where you can customize your journal’s settings.

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Note: A defect currently exists that prohibits changing the grading scheme set up here at a later date. 

4. Your journal has been created. By default, your activity will be decorated with a banner photo, which you can change.

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(If you’d like to edit the banner, go to the Settings menu > select Settings > in the ‘Banner’ section, choose another image from the options or upload your own.

 

Add an entry
1. Click  Add Entry, title your entry and Add Entry.

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2. Compose your entry using the page’s HTML text editor.

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3. When you’re finished, select Save & exit at the bottom.

 

Hosting An Online Synchronous Session

Goucher College uses WebEx for hosting online synchronous meetings.

 Before you begin – You must contact the IT Help Desk to receive an instructor login.

Instructions for Instructors:

To Schedule a Session:

  1. Go to: https://goucher.webex.com
  2. Click on Host Log In 
    o Enter the username and password given to you by the IT Help Desk
  3. Click on Schedule a Meeting
    o Fill in the requested information – be sure your students know the name of the session!
    o Passwords are not recommended
  4. Click on Schedule Meeting (lower right hand corner)

* Repeat for additional meetings (to create recurring meetings, select Advanced Scheduler)

To Start your Session:

  1. Go to https://goucher.webex.com
  2. Click on Host Log In – log in using the same username/password you used to create the session
  3. Find your meeting in the daily list and click on Start
  4. Select Call using my Computer (if you are speaking through a headset w/mic plugged into your computer) or Use Phone (if you are speaking through a regular phone – a phone number will appear to use to connect to this meeting)

* Your session has begun and participants may now join.

Instructions for Participants:

Have anyone joining your meeting visit https://blogs.goucher.edu/knowledgebase/2012/10/25/joining-a-webex-session/ for instructions on connecting to your WebEx meeting.

Adding feedback to assignments

As an instructor, it may be in your interest to give your students feedback on their papers.  In GoucherLearn, you can do this by typing your comments or by uploading feedback files to an assignment submission activity.  The instructions below explain the steps necessary in order to give feedback to students on assignments.

OPTION 1: Type In Grading Comments

  1. Navigate to your course and select the assignment.  Click here for instructions on how to add an assignment to your course.
  2. Click View/grade all submissions.
  3. Choose a student to grade and click the “Edit” dropdown under the Edit column. Select Update grade from the pop-up menu.
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  4. Type your comments in the “Feedback comments” box.  Add grades if you wish.
  5. Select Save and show next at the bottom of the page to move to the next student; select Save changes to return to the assignment.

OPTION 2: Use the Annotate PDF Tool

The Annotate PDF Tool lets instructors provide grading feedback with annotated comments directly inside of GoucherLearn. Currently this annotation method only works with PDF files submitted through an “Assignment” activity.

  1. Add an Assignment to your course outline (click here for details)
  2. Direct students to upload only PDF files
  3. When ready to grade, go to the course outline > click on the name of the assignment > select “View/grade all submissions” link
  4. Click inside the “Grade” box for each student
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  5. At the bottom of the grading form, click the link “Launch PDF editor…”

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Use the tools at the top of the screen to add notes (click and drag), add shapes, or add stamps. To edit one of your annotations, click the arrow tool and then click the annotation you wish to change.

Moodle has published a very quick and helpful Youtube video on PDF Annotation which can be accessed HERE. 

OPTION 3: Upload a File With Your Comments

***Before you begin, make sure to enable feedback files in the assignment.  Go to your course > Turn Editing On > select “Edit Settings” from the drop-down menu > make sure the checkbox for “Feedback files” is checked in the “Feedback types” section.

  1. Navigate to your course and select the assignment you’d like to work with.  Click here for instructions on how to add an assignment to your course
  2. Click View/grade all submissions.  
  3. You will notice that there are checkboxes next to each student’s name.  Click one of the checkboxes and open the “With selected…” drop-down menu under the names.
  4. Choose Send feedback files and click Go.  You can then drag-and-drop or upload your feedback file into the file picker area.

 

Adding a Forum

Forums can facilitate class discussion without real-time interaction. Forums are a great way for students to discuss and engage with assignments or for the instructor to interact with students on a deeper level in an online course environment.

For a comparison of forums vs. advanced forums, click here.

 

Instructions

1. From your course homepage, click Turn editing on (in the upper-left corner or in the “Settings” panel beneath “Course Administration”)

2. Click +Add a resource or activity > select Forum from the popup window and hit Add.

3. A page will open allowing you to add and edit content or adjust the setting of your forum.  Enter the forum name and a forum introduction into the required fields. You may also format text, add a grading system for the forum, and adjust other settings.  There are several forum types to choose from, such as a standard forum where anyone can start a new discussion at any time; a forum where each student can post exactly one discussion; or a question and answer forum where students must first post before being able to view other students’ posts. A teacher can allow files to be attached to forum posts. Attached images are displayed in the forum post.

Forums vs. Advanced Forums

Feature

Forum

Advanced Forum
Anonymous posting

✘

✔
RSS feed

✘

✔
Can restrict access

✔

✔
Groups mode

✔

✔
Attachment preferences

✔

✔
More grading options

✘

✔
“Sort by” features (organize posts by name, date, ascending/descending, and more)

✘

✔

Add a Quiz

The Quiz activity module allows the instructor to design and set quizzes with a variety of Question types such as multiple choice, true/false, and short answer questions. These questions are stored in a course Question bank and can be re-used within courses. The quiz activity module also allows students to have repeated attempts at a question or retake quizzes multiple times.

Step 1: From your course homepage, click Turn editing on on the top right hand side of your page.

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Step 2: Once you turn editing on, Click the “+” sign to the bottom right.   This is the Add an Activity Button.

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 Step 3: Select Quiz under Activities.

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Step 4: Adjust quiz settings

Enter a name and any other desired settings. Below is a description of setting sections.

General: Type an instruction for the quiz.
Timing: Allows the instructor to adjust the starting date and time for the quiz, the end time, the duration of the quiz (leave it blank if you want no time limit) and how long students must wait before taking the quiz again.
Grade: This option allows you to choose which score is recorded when multiple attempts of a quiz are enabled.
Layout: Layout allows you to choose how often there is a new page and the navigation method. Free navigation allows students to skip ahead or go back to previous pages. Sequential navigations forces students to progress through the quiz in order without the ability to go backwards or skip ahead.
Question Behavior: Enables the quiz to shuffle through questions and how the questions behave. “How the questions behave” refers to when students see whether they answered a question correctly or not. Also, there is an option to “Allow redo within an attempt” which allows students to redo particular questions without having to retake the entire quiz. There is also an option for each attempt of the quiz to build on the last which shows results from previous attempts in new attempts.
Review Options: This controls what information a student will see when they see a quiz.
Appearance: Gives the option to show users’ pictures and the option to change the number of decimal places in overall or question grades.
Extra restrictions on attempts: Enables the instructor to open the quiz in a new window without the forward and back buttons, address bar, or other navigation. This prevents students from navigating to other sites during the quiz. Also enables the instructor to set a password that students must use to enter the quiz and allows the instructor to set a delay period between attempts.
Overall Feedback: The Grade boundary and feedback box allows the instructor to set the text that students will see when they have completed the quiz. You can set a feedback message for certain grade outcomes.
Legacy outcomes: Gives option to successfully apply scales.
Common Module Settings: Enables the instructor to set up a group mode for a quiz.
Restrict access: Blocks users. 

Step 5: When you have completed adjusting your quiz settings select the Save and display button.

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 Step 6: To add questions to your quiz, click Edit Quiz.

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Step 7: Click Add a Question. A list  will then appear showing you the different types of questions you can add.  Descriptions of the types of questions will be shown on the right.

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Follow the prompts to set question options. For detailed information about different questions types and their options, see https://docs.moodle.org/28/en/Questions.

Adding Assignments

Similar to the Drop Box feature in Blackboard, GoucherLearn’s assignment submission module allows you to electronically collect your students’ work and provide grades and feedback.  After students upload their files to the module, you can leave feedback comments and even upload additional files for the student to view.

If you’d like to learn how to add feedback to an assignment, here’s our how-to guide.

Note:
When your students upload their files to the assignment module, they will not be able to see or interact with other students’ assignments.  If you’d like a more interactive option for your students to be able to view and discuss assignments, consider creating a forum instead.

Instructions

1. Go to your course page.  Turn editing on.

2. Click Add an activity or resource in the bottom right corner of the course header.

3. Select “Assignment” from the pop-up window.  Click Add.

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4.  Fill in the required boxes (name & description).  Click Save and return to course at the bottom of the page when you’re done.

Using Groups for a Forum

The Advanced Forum has features that enable students to discuss forum topics in assigned groups.

1. On your course page, turn editing on.

2. Click Add a Activity or Resource.  Select Advanced Forum from the options listed in the pop-up window.  Click Add at the bottom of the window.

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3. Fill in the required sections (name & description).

4.  To adjust the group settings in the forum, click the Groups Mode drop-down menu in the “Common Module Settings” category.  There are three options—

No groups: There are no sub-groups; each student can see what every other student posts.

Separate groups: Each group can only see their own group; others are invisible.

Visible groups: Each group works within their own group, but can also see other groups.

Select the option that works best for you > select Save and display at the bottom of the page.  You’ll be taken to the forum page.

5.  In the upper-right corner of the forum page, there is a drop-down menu that allows the professor to filter their views/posts to one group only or to all students at once.

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Email helpdesk@goucher.edu if you have any questions.