You will also get answers to specific questions using the context- sensitive Help of OLAT (question mark icon).
Even after going into service you can modify your course or add some course elements.
Of course you can modify your course after publishing and granting your students access. Just open the course editor in the tool box "Course tools" and edit your course elements or add new ones to your course. Only after publishing your modifications will they be visible for your students.
In order to be effective you have to publish your modifications. You "Publish" using the course editor in the tool box "Editor tools".
After publishing modifications during your course all users working on that course at that time will get the following message: "This display/process not valid anymore" when clicking the next time. Your users will have to restart the course. Entries in tests, self-tests, and questionnaires that have been saved will not get lost.
Attention: if a test or self-test containing a time limit gets interrupted by the publishing procedure time will not stop. So if the interruption takes too long your students will not be able to answer the questions in time.
You can edit a limited number of course settings even while in operation. However, your modifications must not effect the course's contents. You will find these settings within the detailed view of your course. First, click "Modify settings" in in the action box "Learning resources." Then make your modifications within the single tabs according to your needs.
At the time being, you can modify the settings listed below:
Log files: You can determine how many details you want to store in the personalized or anonymized user log file before archiving those data. Further information on different levels of detail can be found using the context-sensitive Help.
Course Chat: You can decide if you want to provide your course with a course chat. Your participants can use this chat to communicate immediately after opening that course.
Layout: if you want to adapt the course's layout you can do this using your own CSS file to overwrite OLAT's layout categories. This CSS file has to be stored in the resource folder or storage folder of your course.
Resource folder: you are able to include one resource folder per course in the storage folder of that course. The resource folder assists you in using files you want to re-use in other courses (CSS files or HTML pages).
Evidence of achievement: You can determine if your course participants should receive an evidence of achievement. If you do not want to offer such a service (anymore) evidences of achievement already existing will be deleted. If you want to offer this service in the future an evidence of achievement will contain all recorded data since the beginning of your course.
This management always regards one course and enables you to divide up your participants into one or more groups.
The groups an OLAT user owns, coaches, or participates in are visible in "Home" when opening the tab "Groups" as well as during a course.
The course author can open one ore more learning groups in a course by activating the group management. If there are several learning groups in your course you can sum up these groups by creating one ore more learning areas. Learning groups and learning areas facilitate to assign rights regarding the entire course or only certain course elements, such as limited visibility and access for single groups or learning areas. You can invite all OLAT users to join your learning group, be it tutor or participant. You can also include the course element "Registration" in your course in order to animate students to register as group members for themselves.
If a course author opens a learning group he/she is automatically its owner provided with all necessary rights to administer that group. He/she can assign different tools, invite other participants to join, or even delete the whole group. Additional members can get ordinary members or coaches in that group. Coaches are able to manage their groups, provide them with tools and invite others to join as members or coaches. But they cannot copy existing learning groups, nor delete them, nor open new ones.
The course author can provide his/her learning groups with various information tools and collaborative tools: an intro page enables group members holding administration rights (owners and coaches) to prepare messages for all group members; a contact form enables them to send e-mails; they can provide their groups with a forum or a chat room; they can even create a folder for their groups to exchange and store documents.
You as author can create, manage, and delete learning groups and learning areas using the group management to be opened during your course when selecting "Course tools" in the tool box "Group management". You can define the groups' size by limiting the number of participants; subscribe/unsubscribe group members; provide your group with information tools and collaborative tools; and assign groups to learning areas. In addition, you can copy your learning group as often as you want to and send e-mails to all group members.
This management always corresponds to one course and enables you to provide other OLAT users with certain rights regarding your course.
OLAT users see the groups they own or they participate in at their "Home" page as well as when opening the tab "Groups".
The course author can open one or more right groups using the rights management during that course. He/she can grant these right groups access to one or more course tools:
Group Management
Course Editor
Data Archiving
Assessment Tool
You can invite as many OLAT users as you want to your right group. It does not matter which authorization they have in OLAT (e.g. authors, students).
You as author can provide your right groups with various tools: an intro page can contain messages for all group members; a contact form enables group members to send e-mails; you can provide your members with a forum and chat room or create a folder for the exchange and storage of documents.
The rights management enables you as owner to create, administer, and delete right groups during the course by using the tool box "Course tools" in "Rights management". You can subscribe/unsubscribe group members; provide them with information tools and collaborative tools; grant members access to using various course tools. Additionally, you can copy right groups as often as you want to and send e-mails to all group members.
All OLAT users can be notified if there are modifications concerning a forum or folder. It does not matter if that forum or folder is part of a group or an entire course. This notification option can be activated within the corresponding folder or forum. If you want to unsubscribe you can do that in your "Home" or within the folder or forum, respectively.
Notifications will be sent as e-mail at night time and displayed in your "Home". You can also read them with a personalized RSS newsfeed.
In addition, coaches of learning groups can get a message (using the assessment tool) whenever a member of their group hands in a test.
This tool enables you to judge and assess course participants. Assessments already existing can be modified if necessary.
The following can use the assessment tool: course owners, coaches of a learning group, and members of a right group authorized to assess others. If you are among these you will find the "Assessment tool" in the tool box "Course tools".
You can assess or give comments using the course elements "Test", "Task", and "Assessment". The course author decides for each of these elements what options the coaches should have. They can comment on a taken test using the course tools. They can subscribe to the notification service via mail or RSS newsfeed if they want to know when a test has been handed in. According to the author's settings, a coach can read documents stored in the element "Task"; he/she can also make comments, assess, and assign points. If the course element "Assessment" is at the coache's disposal he/she can make comments the course participants are able to read later on. All assessible course elements allow the coaches to communicate with each other using the assessment tool; the course participants will not be part of their communication.
Attention: only registered members of a learning group can be assessed. Documents created by participants who are not members of a learning group can neither be uploaded, nor corrected, nor assessed.
If you hold assessment rights you will be able to open the "Assessment tool" on the right in the tool box "Course tools" during your course. The assessment tool allows you to search for a specific user before selecting the corresponding course element or navigating the groups or course structure. Your comments and assessments will be visible for the relevant OLAT user as soon as he/she opens that course element the next time.
Data archiving assists you in uploading course relevant files to your personal folder (such as test or course results, questionnaires, folders, log files, etc.). When deleting a course all course data will be automatically stored in your personal folder.
You can archive data if you are the author or owner of a course or the member of a right group allowed to archive data. You activate data archiving in the tool box "Course tools" during the course.
You can archive tests, self-tests, questionnaires, course results, folders, and log files.
Tests: the archived test files provide you with the following information: when a user has taken that test, test results, score.
Self-tests and questionnaires: these archived files contain anonymized data.
Course results: OLAT stores final test results, assessments, tasks, and course log files. The administrator log file contains personalized data, whereas the user log file consists of anonymized data.
Drop box: when archiving this folder all documents handed in by your students will be stored in your personal folder.
Log files: you can archive personlized as well as anonymized user log files. In "Settings" you determine how detailed your log file data should be. Please note that personalized data may only be used for teaching and research as well as academic evaluations.
All archived data will be stored automatically in your personal folder "Private", sub-folder "Archive" under the name of your course.
Archived data will be stored either as xls file (Excel) or txt file. If necessary, they will be merged as a zip file. You can open your xls or txt files using Excel software. At the time being, statistical evaluation within OLAT is not possible. However, you can transfer data to an external software and evaluate your archived data according to your needs.