In addtion to the course editor and the course tools there are other features and settings at your disposal. For the course, the drop-down menu "Course" lists all of the functions following below. For other types of learning resources, this drop-down menu has the name of the respective learning resource type. Generally, available features and settings depend on the type of learning resource you are working in.
Change description
Here you can modify the learning resource's reference, title, its description, the execution period, work expenditure, objectives, requirements, points as well as a cover picture and a movie. This will be the title your learning resource will then appear with in the course list or in queries via the search mask.
The execution period can be set with individual start and end dates, or you can choose a pre-defined semester from the drop down menu. Execution periods of learning resources are also visible in the table display. If you uploaded a movie for the learning resource, it will be displayed in the description section of the info page. If no cover picture was uploaded, a still fo the movie will be used for the list and catalog view.
Access configuration
Here you can determine general settings of your learning resource as well as its assignment of user rights, e.g. if exporting your learning resource should be allowed or not.
Publication
A learning resource newly created is only accessible for its owner. There are five categories of OpenOLAT users you can grant access rights:
- Only owners of that learning resource: All owners (co-authors) hold the same rights as the author, i.e. they can edit, copy, delete that learning resource as well as assign these rights to other OpenOLAT users.
Owners and other OpenOLAT authors: You enable other authors to have a look at your course before publication. Authors cannot edit or delete your learning resource, nor appoint new owners. It is only possible to copy or export your resource if an owner has granted that option.
You can further determine what other OpenOLAT users can do with your course. "Copying possible" means that your course can be copied. The option "Referencing possible" is not relevant for courses; in other learning resources (e.g. the glossary) it means that other course authors could implement those resources in their own courses. "Export possible" says that your course can be downloaded.- All registered OpenOLAT users: OpenOLAT users will be able to find your learning resource via the search mask or in the course list. This setting is mandatory if you want your course to be open for participants.
- Registered OpenOLAT users and guests: Even via the guest access you can search for learning resources. Guests will hold limited access to your course, i.e. they will not be able to enroll in groups, nor contribute to forums, nor perform a task, etc.
- Members only (owners, coaches, participants): If you chose this option, only participants may open the learning resource. The learning resource is invisible to all non-participants. Participants must be added by the owner and cannot enrol themselves any longer. Administrators identify learning resources with this special set of rights by the lock icon.
These settings in OpenOLAT courses allow you further to determine the use of additional features (course chat, glossary, course calendar, resource folder, etc.). For more information please go to the section "Using Additional Course Features".
Membership configuration
Per default, course participants are allowed to leave a course at any time. The following options are available, if leaving the course should be restricted:
- At any time (Default): Participants may leave the course at any given time.
- After course end date: If an execution period has been configured for the course, this options allows participants to leave the course at the end of this time period. If this option was selected without a configured execution period, participants are not allowed to leave the course at any time.
- Never: Participants may never leave the course.
Configure booking methods
Depending on the user group selected above, the view expands to show the booking methods for that user group, in order to configure the access control to the specific learning resource. If no booking method is selected, the previously selected user group has unrestricted access to the learning resource.
Three different booking methods are available:
- Access code: An access code is manually set by the owner of the learning resource, who then passes the code on to authorized users. In order to open the course, this code must be entered when opening the course for the first time.
- Freely available: A learning resource marked as freely available can be used without any restrictions. Using this booking method adds users as participants to the resource, but will not add them to a group, thus working like the enrolment course element.
- PayPal and Credit card (only available if unlocked by an administrator): The price for admission to the resource is specified here. The resource is subsequently booked by paying with either PayPal or credit card.
You can add a validity period to each booking method, in order to control resource access in addition to the use of visibility and access rules. You can edit booking methods at any time after the initial setup.
Assessment mode
The assessment mode allows you to create exam setting where tests and assessment are carried out in safe mode during a fixed time span, during which only access to previously defined course elements in the respective course is allowed. All other OpenOLAT functions such as courses, groups, notes are masked and thus not accessible. Students are only allowed to log out during such an assessment. Detailed information on the assessment mode and how to configure exam settings can be found in the "eAssessment" chapter, section "Assessment mode".
Catalogue entries
As soon as a learning resource has been activated it can be inserted in the catalog. Just select the category your learning resource should be related to by using the "Add to catalog" icon. Learning resources can be inserted more than once at different spots in your catalog, just repeat the beforementioned step. All categories selected will be displayed under "Catalog entry", were you can delete them as well.
Layout
Here you define how your course should look like. You can choose between altoghether 5 layout templates, including the default system layout. Additionally, a custom layout may be defined, using individual fonts and colours for text, header, links, menus and boxes. Additionally, you can add a logo.
Options
For OpenOLAT courses, settings allow you further to determine the use of additional features (course chat, glossary, course calendar, resource folder, etc.). For more information please go to the section "Using Additional Course Features".
Show Calendar
When creating a new course an active course calendar is default. How to use that calendar is explained in section "Course Calendar". If you do not want to provide a course calendar you can deactivate that feature here.
Use Course Chat
When creating a new course an active course chat is default. Possible scenarios in a course and further details on chat rooms are explained in the section "Course Chat". If you do not want to use a course chat you can deactivate it here.
If enabled, course participants can chose to be displayed either as anonymous or as themselves.
Select / Selected Glossary
A glossary is there to explain your course participants certain scientific terms. If you want to use such a glossary in your course select a glossary of your choice in learning resources. First you have to create that glossary in the authoring section before defining necessary terms. A glossary can be used in several courses. For further information please go to "Glossary".
Select / Selected Resource Folder
Resource folders are suitable for using the same files in several courses at once. First you create such a resource folder in the authoring section. Select then the resource folder you want to use in your course. The files stored there can be found in the storage folder of your course when selecting the sub-folder "_sharedfolder." Only one resource folder per course is allowed.
Evidence of Achievement
An evidence of achievement is the confirmation of an efficiency control and can include taken tests or submitted and assessed tasks. If you want OpenOLAT to create such evidences of achievement please activate this option here, or you can enter the assessment tool of the course and navigate to the menu item "Evidence of achievement". Course participants can retrieve their evidences of achievement in their personal menu, section "Evidence of achievement", starting with the beginning of the course.
The according link will only appear in your course if there is also an assessable course element, and the course participant has received at least one automatic or manual assessment. This could be, e.g., a test attempt or the assessment of a task.
If you do not want to offer evidences of achievement anymore you can either deactivate this option via the "Course" drop-down menu or the assessment tool of your course, as described above.
Evidences already existing will then no longer be visible. As soon as you offer this option anew your participants can dispose of their evidences along with new data. If you choose to delete a course that contains evidences of achievement your users will still be able to see their own evidences.
Generate PDF certificate
You can additionally determine here if a certificate is to be issued to course participants. The certificate can either be issued automatically after passing the course, or manually by the tutor. If or when a user passes the tests depends on whether he or she can meet the requirements previously set in the course root node, tab "Score". Coaches can issue the certificate manually in the assessment tool by navigating to the assessment overview of a user.
Users automatically receive an email notification as soon as a certificate has been automtically issued.
By default, certificates for a course are issued once only. If for any reason a certificate needs to be re-issued on a regular basis, e.g. for language certification, re-certification can be allowed. Select a given number of days, weeks, months or years for the period of time required before a new certificate can be issued.
Generally, a default certificate template should be available to you. You can choose to replace it with an individual PDF template. For further information concerning the creation of PDF templates please consult the respective context sensitive help.
Reminders
The course reminder function allows you to create rule sets in order to trigger automated e-mail notifications once all conditions are met. Frequency and the default sending time are determined system wide by your system administrator. Reminders may be send on demand though, depending on the fulfillment of the complete rule set. Detailed information on the course reminder function can be found in the „Course Operation" chapter, section „Course Reminder“.
Copy
Learning resources can be copied; therefore it is possible e.g. to use an old course structure for your next course. When copying a course its structure, folder content, its HTML pages and group names (but not the members) will be adopted. User data such as forum entries, group members, etc. not. As owner of a learning resource you can determine (section "Access control") if your learning resource can be copied by other OpenOLAT authors as well.
Export Content
Export your learning resource as ZIP file. Tests, questionnaires, CP and SCORM learning content can be imported into other LMS supporting the same standard. Courses, Wikis and glossaries can be imported into other OpenOLAT installations. As owner of a learning resource you can determine in the section "Access control" if content may be exported.
Close
The function "Close" (only available to courses) will change a course's status to "Closed". This way you inform course participants that your course will no longer be edited or updated. The course's configuration (course settings, access or visibility rules) will not be affected. All users holding access rights will still be able to access the course content according to their individual rights, however, only as long as you do not sign them out of their groups (tutors as well as participants).
By clicking on "Close" you can determine in several steps if catalog entries of your course shall be deleted, if tutors and participants shall be signed out of groups in your course, and if tutors and participants shall be notified of your actions by e-mail.
Delete
Only learning resource owners have the permission to delete that resource. A learning resource can only be deleted if it is not used within a course at that moment. When deleting imbedded learning resources (e.g. in a test) you will get a message indicating the relevant course. First you have to delete the course element "Test" in that course to be able to delete that test in learning resources.
