Modules Tool

The Modules tool allows you to create course lessons, which correspond to lectures, units, etc., called modules. In contrast, content created in the Assignments tool corresponds to homework, labs, projects, and the like.

Modules consist of a module page and one or more section pages. The module page contains the title of the module, the author, and a table of contents of all the section pages. Each section page is a discrete chunk of your lesson, and may contain text, images, uploaded files, links to locations on the internet, and more.

The main page of the Module tool shows a list of all the modules on your OWL-Space site. You can expand any or all of the modules using the black arrows to show the sections they contain. Above the list, at the very top are three tabs - View, Author, and Manage - which select the mode you wish to work with your modules in.

In Author mode, the default mode for an instructor, you can add new modules and sections, edit any existing modules and sections, revise details, make modules and sections inactive, and change the start and end times for a module. Above the list of modules are four links. Add Module... creates a new module. Edit, Delete, and Make Inactive all perform those functions on whichever module or section has the checkbox to the left of its name in the list checked. Clicking on the name of a module or section in the list will also take you to the Edit page for that module. Clicking on the green + or magnifying glass icon in the Next Steps column will allow you to add or edit the next steps for that module, respectively. The start date and end date fields can be edited directly or chosen by clicking the calendar icons. Click on Save to save any changes to the dates.

When adding or editing a module, you will be taken to a page where you can enter the title of the module, a short description of the module, any keywords if desired, and set the start and end date by entering them or clicking on the calendar icons. The Start Date is when your module will become visible to the members of your site. The End Date is when your module will become hidden again. The author, added by, and modified by fields are automatically filled in.

Lastly, you can choose a copyright for your module. A new window explaining the copyright options can be opened by clicking on the green question mark icon next to the Choose A License selection box.

When you are done setting the details of your module, click on Save at the bottom of the page. Alternatively, click on Add Content Sections to save the module page and go directly to adding a new section page for this module.

When adding or editing a section of a module, you will be taken to a page where you can enter the title of the section, a short instruction text describing what to do in this section, indicate what type of content appears in this section, and enter the content itself. The author is automatically set for you.

The Modality check boxes tell a user what kind of content appears in this section. This can be important for allowing different types of accessibility options for your materials.

The content of a section is created by either uploading a file, linking to a web page, or creating it directly in the OWL-Space text editor interface. Choose which method you want to use from the You can create... selection box. Note that you can only choose one of these three methods for each section. However, if you use the text editor, you can create links to websites and files within your text. You can click on Save while working on your section to save your work, and Preview to check how it looks from a student's experience. When previewing, click on Save to return to the editor. When you are done, click on Add Another Section to save this section and begin adding a new section, or Finish to save your new section and return to the module list.

In View mode, you will see the modules just as your students would. In this way, you can check your lessons to make sure they turned out the way you want them. If you find something that needs to be changed, simply return to Author mode and go to that module or section.

In Manage mode, there are four actions you can perform: Restore Inactive Modules, Sort, Change Module Label, and Export/Import. Restore allows you to reactivate a module that you made inactive in Author mode. You can only reactivate modules from Manage mode. When you click on Restore, you will be shown a list of deactivated modules. Put a check in the box next to each module you want to reactivate, then click on Restore at the bottom of the list. Note that the start and end dates are reset to the current day and a year from the current day, respectively, when a module is restored. You can edit them normally after the module has be reactivated.

Sort allows you to adjust the order of your modules, and of the sections within each module. The buttons Sort Modules and Sort Sections switch between these two modes (the current mode is shown by which button is depressed). When sorting sections, a selection box appears that allows you to choose which module you want to sort the sections of. On the left hand side is a box showing the current order, and on the right hand side is a box showing the order to change to. You can move a module/section up or down by selecting it in the right hand box and clicking the up or down arrow next to the box. When you are satisfied with your new ordering, click on Save below the right hand box.

Change Module Label allows you to change the name "Module" to something of your own choosing (Unit, Lesson, etc.). This will change the name as it appears within the list of modules in View or Author mode, and in the automatically created headings within modules and sections themselves. However, the name will not change where it is used in the tool itself (ie, "Add Module...", etc.), and the Modules tool will still be called Modules. The reason for this is so that Modules consistently means the same thing across all OWL-Space sites. In this way, students always know to go to the Modules tool for this content.

The Import/Export option allows you to save a copy of your modules which can then be imported to another one of your sites, or given to a colleague for use on their site. It also allows you to import modules of your own or other's making that have been saved in this manner. To save a copy of your modules, click on Export. This makes a copy of all the active modules on your site. If you only want to export some of your modules, you have to make all the others inactive first, then Export, and then reactivate any modules you want to restore. To import modules, use the Browse... button to locate the file on your computer for the modules you want to import. Then click on Import. The imported modules will be added at the end of the list of modules on your site. If you want to locate them somewhere else within the list, you can use the Sort function in Manage view.