M21 - Lesson

Keywords: lesson, branching, questions, learning package.

What is it?

The lesson module presents a series of pages to the student who is usually asked to make some sort of choice underneath the content area. The choice will send them to a specific page in the Lesson. In a Lesson page's simplest form, the student can select a continue button at the bottom of the page, which will send them to the next page in the Lesson.

Why use it?

Lessons can be used to build structured pathways through learning materials and test knowledge as students make progress.

Who can use it?

Tutors or Course Administrators can set up Lessons.

Students can then take Lessons. 

Before I start...

Planning your lesson is very important, and can be helpful later on. A lesson is made up of pages which may have content for the student to read or questions for them to answer. The questions can be created by the teacher or imported. The teacher decides the order in which these pages appear.

You need to have a clear idea beforehand of what you want to do with this lesson. Is it to be a graded, linear learning experience? Or an ungraded, non-linear practice session? Will students be able to go back and revisit areas or is it just a once-only opportunity?

Even those who are very comfortable working directly online might find it useful to note down on paper the direction they want their lesson pages to go in, rather than having to remember and visualise the navigation in their head.

Meeting the baseline

The UCL E-Learning Baseline suggests the following for Structure: 

• 1.2 Minimise cognitive load - Avoid overloading the front page by placing content off the main page in Pages, Books, Folders, Lessons and by hiding unused items.

The Orientation category suggests that you should:

• 2.2 Explain participation requirements:
  • Identify which activities are compulsory and optional.
  • Provide an indicator of effort (such as timings or page counts) for all compulsory tasks.
  • Explain how students are expected to use UCL and external e-learning tools. This PowerPoint Induction template provides a starting point. Wholly online courses might provide this information as a screen-cast video, with a voice over.
  • Link to instructions for any e-learning tools that students are expected to use.
• 2.8 Outline the Intended Learning Outcomes for every activity and resource in the description and provide a clear overview of what the student is expected to do.

How do I set one up?

The only required setting for a Lesson is the name (i.e. what appears in the Moodle course). While many of the settings are important to consider, you may want to revisit them once your lesson is created, rather than worrying about them from the start. Click the  icon to see contextual help for that setting if you're unsure.

To set up a Lesson follow these steps:

1. Log into Moodle, got to the course you want to add the Lesson to and Turn Editing on. 
2. In the topic you wish to add the Lesson to, click Add an activity or resource. 
3. From the menu Select Lesson, then click Add.
   
4. Give the Lesson a name (as mentioned above you can always come back to the other settings later).
5. Scroll to the bottom and click 'Save and display'.
    

Caution

- None at this time

Examples and case studies

- None at this time

Questions & Answers

 Q. Can I import questions to a Moodle Lesson?

A. If you have some questions in the allowed formats, you can import them to use in your lesson by clicking the Import questions link. 

Further information

- None at this time