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Blending Learning by Adding Resources - Stage 3

Last Update vor 2 Monaten

File Module - Linking to a File Folder Module - Sharing a Directory of Course Files URL Module - Inserting a Link to a Web Resource Page Module - Composing a Web Page Label Module - Creating a Label (with Audio or a YouTube Video)

Using Books to Organize your Course

Margarita Berezyanskaya

Last Update vor 2 Monaten

Instructors can choose to use Books to organize their course.


Teachers with a lot of materials in their courseware may find that the learners are overwhelmed by the number of activities. Instead of having all those activities visible to learners, teachers can create Books and link to the activities from within the Book. Teachers can use Stealth Mode (see below) for the activities in the Books – all materials are set to Available but Not Shown on Course Page, and the only way learners can access the material is through the Book. This can result in a cleaner look.


Different instructors will choose to set up their Books in different ways. One suggestion is to have a Book for each week, with an introductory Chapter and a Chapter for each day. 

Note: What Moodle calls Chapters are really more like pages, but since Page already has a different meaning in Moodle, they are referred to as Chapters within Books.

A sample Book is available in the Stage 2/3 Exemplar Course. (Contact your mentor if you do not have access to this course).


Please refer to Adding a Book Module for more information on how to

create Books. The webinar "Are you using Avenue? Instructional Design in Avenue" includes a discussion about Books, at about the 32-minute mark.

Stealth Mode

Moodle allows activities to be hidden on the course page but still be available to learners via a link in the Book. This means your course can be cleaner from their point of view. Activities made available this way will still send their results to the Gradebook and the ePortfolio if supported and if tagged. You can set an activity to be available but not shown on course page in two ways.


1. During activity creation, in the Common module settings section of the activity, select Make available but not shown on course page.



2. Or, for an existing activity, use the drop-down editing menu beside the activity on your course page. If the activity is already hidden, choose Make available.



If the activity is currently shown, you will not see that option. First, choose Hide, and then choose Make available.


Linking to Hidden Activities

Linking to activities in your course which are in Stealth Mode (i.e., Available but not shown on course page) will result in a cleaner course for your students. To link to those activities:


1. Select any text on the Chapter, the activity name or otherwise, and use the editor to add a link.



2. Paste the URL for the Stealth Mode activity.



3. Click on the Create link button.


4. Click on Save changes.

Other Suggestions for your Book

The organization of your Book is entirely up to you. Here are some suggestions to consider:


  • Some teachers find it useful to have a new Topic section for each theme, with one Book in each Topic, or if the theme will be for an extended time, perhaps one Book per week.

  • An Introduction chapter at the beginning of the Book will help students navigate the contents.

  • One chapter per day can make navigating through the Book easy.


  • The items being linked from within the Book should be in the same Topic, so that if students use the breadcrumbs they will end up back in the same Topic and be able to enter their Book again.

  • To avoid re-entering the Book multiple times, in some cases, students may find it faster to use the browser back arrow to return to the Book.

  • When setting up the Book, in the Appearance section, choosing Bullets or Indented for the Chapter Formatting works well if your chapter titles are clear.

  • In the Appearance section, choosing Text for the Style of Navigation makes it easy for students to move to the next Chapter.


  • In your Chapters, you will probably want to include instructions, as well as perhaps videos, links to files, and possibly embedded H5P material. 
Note: If you embed H5P so that it is directly on the Chapter, as opposed to linking to an H5P activity, it is only for practice. The results will not be uploaded to the ePortfolio or the Gradebook.