Resources

1. Viewing Resources
2. Instructor Options
• Compose a web page
• Link to a file or web site
• Display a directory
• Add an IMS Content Package
• Insert a Label
  

Viewing Resources

Resources are, broadly, the documents and websites that you will read or view during your course.  Resources can be created natively within Moodle - or they can be documents or websites hosted elsewhere on the web.  To access a resource, click on the resource's name or icon in your course space.  You can also get a list of resources by clicking on the Resources link in the Activities block in your course space.

Resources may be indicated with a variety of icons, depending on the type.  Files like Word documents, Powerpoint presentations, or PDFs will be indicated with the same icon you see on your desktop or in your folders on your local computer.  Other common icons may include:

• This icon indicates the linked document is an external website.
  
• This icon indicates the linked document is text.

Depending on your instructor's settings for individual documents, linked resources may open in the same window (within a Moodle wrapper) or in a new window.  If you have pop-ups enabled in your browser, this setting may prevent resources from opening in new windows.  We recommend that you disable pop-ups for Moodle to ensure that course related materials can be accessed.

While some browsers can display documents like PDFs, others may not be configured to display these documents.  If your browser is unable to display the linked resource for this reason, it is likely that you will be asked to download the document, or that your browser will automatically download the document for you.

Instructor Options

To create resources, you will first need to

To add a resource, scroll to the appropriate week or topic, and select the Add a resource... drop-down menu.  From this menu, you have several options:

• Compose a text page, which allows you to compose text using a rich text editor.  The editor has been buggy, so we strongly discourage using this option.
• Compose a web page, which allows you to compose a text or webpage using a rich text editor (WYSIWYG) or a plain text code view.  Content created with this option will be displayed just like content created with the text page option.
• Link to a file or web site, which creates links to external websites or to resources uploaded to Moodle.  If the linked content is in a proprietary format, the display icon will correspond to that of the file type.
• Display a directory can be used to share a whole folder of files or documents that have previously been uploaded to Moodle.
• Add an IMS Content Package.  IMS Content Packages are content exported from an elearning system in a standardized format.
• Insert a label, which allows you to add text or images directly to the week/topic areas of your course space.

Compose a web page

To Compose a web page, select it from the Add a resource... drop down menu.

You will be prompted to provide a name and summary for this document:



The name will be displayed in the course space.  The summary should be treated as a description for the document - not the body of the document itself.  Compose or paste the body of your document in the Full Text field:



You can use the rich text editor to format your document in many of the same ways you format in Word or other word processing documents.  You can include links () and images () in your document.  If you prefer to compose in HTML directly, you can switch to code view by clicking on the angle brackets ()  If you are pasting text in from Word, we strongly recommend using the clean Word HTML button () to remove any excess formatting inserted by Word that may not render correctly in a browser.

After composing or pasting in your text, you have a few options:



By default, your new resource will open in the same window with the Moodle wrapper or frame around it.  Alternately, you could select New window to specify that your resource open in a new window.

The Visible option allows you to Show (or make available) or Hide (keep hidden) the new resource.
 
Click on Save changes, and the page will refresh to display your new resource.  If you need to make changes, you can click on in the upper right hand corner of the page.

Link to a file or website

To Link to a file or website, select it from the Add a resource... drop down menu.

You will be prompted to provide a name and summary for this document:



The name will be displayed in the course space.  The summary should be treated as a description for the document -  in this case, it could be used refer to a specific portion of a website or document that the students should read.



If your document or website is already online, you can type or paste the location in the Location field.  Clicking on the button will open Google in another window, allowing you to search for your website or document.

If your document or website is not already online, you can either upload it to your course directory using the directions in our instructor guide.  Alternately, you can upload your document to Moodle's file storage area associated with your course.  Please note: these are separate file storage systems and cannot be accessed the same way.  The Moodle file area can only be accessed from within Moodle.

To upload files to the Moodle file area, click on .  The Moodle file area will launch in a pop-up window.  While in the Moodle file area, you can upload files, move files into folders, rename files, and edit text or HTML files.



If your file is already in the Moodle file area, you can click on Choose after the file's name to select it.

If your file is not already online, you can click on .  Use tbe button to locate your file on your computer, then click on Open.  Click on to upload the file to the Moodle file area.  You can only upload one file at a time.  Once your file is listed in the Moodle file area, you can click on after the file's name to select it.  Clicking on Choose will take you back to the Link to a file or web site page.

PLEASE NOTE: You must click on Choose after the file's name to select the file.  If you do not click on Choose, your file will not be selected.

If you have clicked Choose, your filename should be in the Location field.  Please make sure that either your filename or the URL for your document or website is in the Location field before proceeding.

You have a few options regarding the way your file or document will be displayed:



By default, your new resource will open in the same window with the Moodle wrapper or frame around it.  Alternately, you could select New window to specify that your resource open in a new window.

You can ignore the Parameters options.

The Visible option allows you to Show (or make available) or Hide (keep hidden) the new resource.
 
Click on Save changes, and the page will refresh to display your new resource.  If you need to make changes, you can click on in the upper right hand corner of the page.

Display a directory

To Display a directory, select it from the Add a resource... drop down menu.


You will be prompted to provide a name and summary for this document:



The name will be displayed in the course space.  The summary should be treated as a description for the directory or folder that you will be displaying.

Next, you will need to specify the directory to display:



The drop-down menu will be populated with folders set up in your Moodle file area.  If you need to add or modify folders in your Moodle file area, you can access it from the Adminstration block of your course space.  Select the appropriate directory from the drop-down menu.



The Visible option allows you to Show (or make available) or Hide (keep hidden) the new resource.
 
Click on Save changes, and the page will refresh to display your new resource.  If you need to make changes, you can click on in the upper right hand corner of the page.  You can also click on from your new resource to edit the contents of the directory.

Add an IMS Content Package

To Add an IMS Content Package, select it from the Add a resource... drop down menu.


You will be prompted to provide a name and summary for the content package:



The name will be displayed in the course space.  The summary should be treated as a description for the content package.

If your content package is already online, you can type or paste the location in the Location field.



If your content package is not already online, click on .  Use tbe button to locate your file on your computer, then click on Open.  Click on to upload the file to the Moodle file area.  You can only upload one file at a time.  Once your file is listed in the Moodle file area, you can click on after the file's name to select it.  Clicking on Choose will take you back to the Link to a file or web site page.

PLEASE NOTE: You must click on Choose after the file's name to select the file.  If you do not click on Choose, your file will not be selected.

If you have clicked Choose, your filename should be in the Location field.  Please make sure that either your filename or the URL for your content is in the Location field before proceeding.

You have a few options regarding the way your content will be displayed:



By default, your new resource will open in the same window with the Moodle wrapper or frame around it.  Alternately, you could select New window to specify that your resource open in a new window.

You can ignore the Parameters options.

The Visible option allows you to Show (or make available) or Hide (keep hidden) the new resource.
 
Click on Save changes, and the page will refresh to display your new resource.  If you need to make changes, you can click on in the upper right hand corner of the page.

Insert a Label

Labels allow you to add text directly to the course space.  To Insert a label, select it from the Add a resource... drop down menu.



Compose or paste your label text in the rich text editor.  You can use the rich text editor to format your label in many of the same ways you format in Word or other word processing documents.  You can include links () and images () in your label.  If you prefer to compose in HTML directly, you can switch to code view by clicking on the angle brackets ()  If you are pasting text in from Word, we strongly recommend using the clean Word HTML button () to remove any excess formatting inserted by Word that may not render correctly in a browser.

The Visible option allows you to Show (or make available) or Hide (keep hidden) the new resource.

Click on Save changes, and you will be taken back to the main course space, where your new label will be displayed.

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