Keywords: heading, structure, signpost, categorise, order, instructions, warning, contact details, describe, description

What is it?

The Text and Media area allows you to add text, or images and media to the Moodle course homepage. 

Why use it?

Text and Media Areas can be used to help organise your Moodle course homepage and provide signposts for students to understand the information available to them. For example, they are often used to place headings (using the appropriate heading style) above lists of documents, such as Lecture Materials, or Worksheets. 

You may also choose to embed media, such as videos, into the course homepage. It is suggested you avoid doing this unless you are using the OneTopic (Tabs) course format, as otherwise, the video will appear as part of a long, scrolling page. You should certainly avoid more than 1 video per page. If you are using another course format you should consider embedding the video into a page, book, or lesson instead.

Who can use it?

• Moodle course editors (tutors, course administrators) can add labels to the Moodle course homepage.
• Students can view the content within labels.

Before I start...

Consider whether you want to add the content to the course homepage, or whether you would be better placing the content within a page, book, or lesson instead to keep the course homepage free of clutter.

Meeting the baseline

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

• 1.1 Present activities and resources in a meaningful, clearly structured and sequenced way
  • Use headings - Use Section Headings for each topic area and heading styles within Text and Media Areas, Books, and Pages to maintain consistency across sections and help students see where they are.

The  Orientation category advises that you should:

• 2.2 Explain participation requirements:
  • Outline how students are expected to use Moodle in an  introductory statement .
  • Identify which activities are compulsory and optional.
  • Explicitly signpost all online and offline activities and how they interrelate.
  • 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 screencast video, with a voice over.
  • Link to instructions for any e-learning tools that students are expected to use.
  • Explain what digital devices and software students are expected to provide for themselves.

• 2.3 Display staff contact details - Include name, position, telephone, email, location, drop-in hours, as appropriate.

How do I set one up?

1. Log into Moodle, go to the course you want to add the page to and use the toggle switch to turn 'Edit mode' on.  

2. In the topic you wish to add the page to, click the '+' sign to Add an activity or resource. 

3. From the menu Select 'Text and Media area', this will open your text and media area.

4. Enter the text, video, images you would like to appear in the area, making sure to choose the appropriate heading styles for headings (large, medium, small) and avoiding CAPITALISED and italicised text, which are difficult to read on screen.

5. Scroll to the bottom and click 'Save and return to course'.

6. Your Text and Media area will appear automatically in the topic. If you wish to move the Text and Media area, click and hold the move button to drag and drop it to the desired position on your Moodle course homepage and then release your mouse to drop it into place.

Caution

If using Text and Media areas for headings make sure you use the correct heading level (large, medium or small) in order to help students using screen readers to navigate your page and maintain consistency in the visual appearance of your course for sighted users. Never bold the text instead of using a heading style, as this won't appear as a heading to those using screen readers.

If you are using a tabbed course format you might embed a video into a Texta and Media area within a tab (course section). However, avoid placing more than one video onto a single Moodle page, as it will make it difficult for students to navigate and will clutter the page. Consider using a book (which has multiple pages) instead.

Examples and case studies

• You might use a Text and Media Area to provide instructions or describe links to further resources.
• Text and Media areas are often also used to provide contact details for the module lead, tutors and teaching/programme administrators.

Questions & Answers

None  at this time .

Further information

None  at this time .