General Information
Video introduction (German): OpenOlat Funktionsprinzipien
With OpenOlat courses you map different event formats, for example lectures, seminars, online tutorials or group puzzles. You also implement different types of learning, for example problem-based, cooperative or self-organized learning. For this you use any number of course elements in any order and align the course with your didactic concept.
To create courses, you need author rights. You get them from your OpenOlat support center or from the administrators of your OpenOlat instance.
The course cycle at a glance
1. Create course
Create the learning resource Course via Authoring > Create > Course and choose the desired course design: "With learning path" or "With learning progress" for a learning path course, "Classic" for a conventional course.
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2. Set up, design, publish course
You implement your course in the course editor: you select the suitable course elements, create learning resources if necessary and configure everything as desired. You open the course editor via Course > Administration > Course editor.
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3. Set up access
You define the access in the course administration: Course > Administration > Settings. The "Share" tab is particularly important here.
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In learning path courses, it is partially possible to grant participants time-limited access to a course:
- At the course element level: yes, via
Course > Administration > Course editor > Tab "Learning path"with a relative date - At the structure element level: no
- At the top-level node (overall course): no
4. Publish course
Set the status to "Published" in the course toolbar. This makes the course visible to the participants.
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5. Run and assess the course
In the assessment tool you assess the participants and give feedback. In addition, you coach the course, for example with posts in the forum or by organising the absences.
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6. End course
Once the course is over, set the status to "Finished".
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7. Delete course
The course is deleted via Course > Administration > Delete. Deleted courses are in the "Deleted" tab of the authoring area. In the other tabs, the "Status" filter with the option "Trash" shows or hides them.
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Tip
Before you create your OpenOlat course
First think about what you want to achieve with the course.
The structure of your course depends on your didactic concept, the goals and the framework conditions. On this basis, you decide whether a conventional course or a learning path course is the right choice for you. If in doubt, choose the conventional course: via Course > Administration > Duplicate as learning path you later create a copy of it as a learning path course, provided that the learning path course supports all course elements it contains. The conventional course remains unchanged. This conversion only leads from the conventional course to the learning path course.
After deciding on a course design, choose the course elements with which you reach your goal and implement your course concept. Bundle content that belongs together so that participants find their way around the course easily. When the structure is clear, prepare the learning content, additional files (HTML pages, PDF files, CP learning content, etc.) and everything else you need for use in the learning platform.
Role change
The toolbar shows you in which role you are currently viewing the course. As author of a course, this will be as a rule the "Owner" role. Via the role menu you can switch to the "Participant view" at any time.
If you have other roles in the course, these are also displayed and you can switch to the corresponding view.
There is no further distinction between coaches and group coaches or participants and group participants, but the options within the role coach or participant are summarized.
The role change is useful if you want to look at the course from the respective perspective, e.g. as the course owner you want to take on the role of the participant. It is also possible to view the flow of the course elements task, group task, checklist or the participant folder from the participant's point of view.
Initial role when opening a course
Users with administrative rights (such as administrator or learning resource manager) can open courses even though they are not a member of the course. This right corresponds to the role, but interferes if the user is explicitly supposed to be a participant in a course.
Therefore: If a person with administrative rights is a participant in a course, the course is initially always opened in the "Participant" role. (However, the role can be changed as usual.)
This does not apply to course owners or coaches. For these roles, it makes sense to be in the "Owner" or "Coach" role as soon as you enter the course. (You can then switch to the participant view.)
Special case: Behaviour when enrolling in a group (course element "Enrolment")
Situation:- You create a course with the course element "Enrolment".
- You switch to the participant view and make an enrolment.
-> OpenOlat then unintentionally switches to the owner role.
- When switching back to the participant view, the useful warning dialogue ("You are in the participant role") with the option to delete data is no longer displayed.
- The participant view with warning dialogue is only displayed correctly again once the course has been called up again.
Explanation:
The participant view is implemented in the same way as the course share option "Without booking" - in this view you are not booked into the course member administration. The following therefore now happens:
- If you enrol in a group in the course element "Enrolment", you become a group participant at that moment and are entered in the course member administration.
- As soon as you have a registered "Participant" membership (course or group or curriculum) in the course, the "Participant view" is no longer available. This is only available if you are not listed as a participant in the course member administration.
-> If I enrol in a group from the participant view, the participant view no longer exists for me, but I am listed as a group participant in the member administration of the course. The role therefore changes from the participant view to the owner role.
- If you now unfold the selection for the roles, you will now see the role "Participant" listed instead of the participant view.
- If you unsubscribe from the group (and reload the course), the "Participant" role is removed and the participant view is available again instead.
Further information
Further reading
Learning path course - Overview >
Members management >
Course Administration: Overview >