To organise forums, click on 'Forum Administration'. Discussions are organised in sets and subsets as following:

The first thing you should do is deleting the sample topic and modify the first forum name. Then, you can create, in the 'public' category, other forums, by by themes, to fit your learning scenario requirements.

Don't mix Categories and forums, and don't forget that an empty category (without forums) does not appear on the student view.

The description of a forum can be the list of its members, the definition of a goal, a task, a theme...

Group forums should not be created through Forum tool but through Groups tool. There you will be allowed to decide whether your group forums are private or public.

Some teachers / trainers use the forum to post corrections. One student/trainee publishes a paper. The teacher corrects it using the edit button (yellow pencil) then the WYSYWIG editor to correct it (use colors and underline to show errors and corrections for instance) and the other students/trainees benefit of this correction."; $langHDropbox = "Dropbox"; $langDropboxContent = "

The dropbox is a Content Management Tool dedicated to peer-to-peer data exchange.Any file type is accepted : Word, Excel, PDF etc. It will manage versions in the sens that it will avoid destruction of a document by a document having the same name.

The dropbox shows the files that were sent to you (the received folder)and the files that you sent to other members of this course (the sent folder).

If the list of received or sent files gets too long, you can delete allor some files from the list. The file itself is not removed as long asthe other party can see it.

To send a document to more than one person, you need to use CTRL+clic in the multiple select box. The multiple select box is the form field showing the list of members.

The course home page shows a series of tools : an introduction text, a course description, a Documents manager etc. This page is modular : you can hide / show any tool in one clic. Hidden tools can be reactivated at any time.

To browse your course, you have 2 navigation tools. One on top left is a tree showing where you are and how deep you are in the course. On top right, you can access to a tool through its icon in one clic. Whether you select your course code on left (always UPPER CASE) or the house icon on the right, you will reach the home page of your course.

To motivate your students, it is important that your course area is a dynamic area. This will indicate that there is 'somebody behind the screen'. A quick way to give this feeling is to edit the Introduction text (clic on yellow pencil) at least evey week to tell latest news, forthcoming deadlines and so on.

To give an online live streamingconference, you need a streamingserver and probably a technical admin to help you use it. This guy willgive you the URL you needto type in the live streaming form field once you edit your conferencesettings.

$\"chamilo$
dokeos streaming

Do it yourself : install, configure and admin Shoutcast or AppleDarwin.

Or contact Chamilo. We can help you organise your conference, asssistyour lecturer and rent you a low cost streaming slot on our servers : http://www.chamilo.org/hosting.php

"; $langHClar = "Chamilo Help"; $langHDoc = "Help Documents"; $langDocContent = "

The Documents tool is similar to the FileManager of your desktop computer.

You can create simple web pages ('Create a document') or upload files of any type (HTML, Word, Powerpoint, Excel, Acrobat, Flash, Quicktime, etc.). Your only concern must be that your users have the corresponding software to read them. Some file types can contain viruses, it is your responsibilty not to upload virus contaminated files, unless your portal admin has installed a server side anti=virus software. It is, anyway, a worthwhile precaution to check documents with antivirus software before uploading them.

The documents are presented in alphabetical order.

Tip : If you want to present them in a different order, numerate them: 01, 02, 03... Or use the Learning Path to present a sophisticated Table of Contents. Note that once your documents are uploaded, you may decide to hide the documents area and show only one page on Home page (Add link on home page orange tool) or a Learning Path containing some documents from your Documents area.

You can :

Create a document

Select Create a document > Give it a title (no spaces, no accents) > type your text > Use the buttons of the Wysiwyg (What You See Is What You Get) editor to structure information, create tables, styles etc. To create web pages, you will need to get familiar with 3 concepts : Links, Images and Tables. Note that web pages offer less layout possibilities than Ms-Word pages. Note too that instead of creating a document in the editor, you can also cut and paste existing content from a web page or a Word document. This is an easy and quick way to migrate content onto your Chamilo course.

To add a link, you need to copy the URL of the target somewhere. We suggest that you open 2 browser windows simultaneously, one with your chamilo course and the other to browse the web. Once you find the page you are looking for (note that this page can be inside your chamilo course), copy its URL (CTRL+C or APPLE+C), go back to your page editor, select the word that will be the link, click on the small chain icon, paste the URL of your target there and validate. Once your page is saved, test the link to see if it opens the target. Note that you can decide in the Link popup menu if the link will create a new page or replace your chamilo page in the same window.
To add an image, the principle is similar to the link feature : browse the web with a 2nd window, find the image (if the image is inside your course's documents area, select 'No frames' to get the image only and not the context), copy its URL (CTRL+C or APPLE+C in the URL bar after selecting the whole URL) then go back to your web page editor, position your mouse in the form where you want your image to appear, then click on the small tree icon and copy the URL of the target image into the URL field, Preview and validate. Note that in web pages, you can not redimension your images like in a PowerPoint presentation, neither can you re-locate the image anywhere in the page.
To add a table, position your mouse in the field where you want the table to appear, then select the table icon in the Wysiwyg editor menu, decide for a number of columns and lines and validate. To get nice tables, we suggest that you choose the following values : border=1, cellspacing=0, cellpadding=4. Note that you will not be allowed to redimension your table or add lines or columns to it after its creation (sorry about this, it is just an online editor, not a word processor yet).

Upload a document

Select the file on your computer using the Browse button \ton the right of your screen.
\t\t\tLaunch the upload with the Upload Button .\t\t
\t\t\tCheck the checkbox under the Upload button if your document is zip file or a so-called Scorm content. Scorm contents are special tutorials which were designed according to an international norm : Scorm. This is a special format for learning contents which enables the free exchange of these materials between different Learning Management Systems. In other words, Scorm materails are platform independent, their import and export are simple.\t\t

\t\tRename a document (a directory)\t

\t\t\tclick on the \t\t\tbutton in the Rename column\t\t
\t\t\tType the new name in the field (top left)\t\t
\t\t\tValidate by clicking .\t\t

\t\t

\t\t\tDelete a document (or a directory)\t\t

\t\t

\t\t\t\tClick on \t\t\t\tin column 'Delete'.\t\t\t

\t\t

\t\t\tMake a document (or directory) invisible to users\t\t

\t\t

\t\t\t\tClick on \t\t\t\tin column 'Visible/invisible'.\t\t\t
\t\t\t\tThe document (or directory) still exists but it is not visible by users anymore.\t\t\t
\t\t\t\tTo make it invisible back again, click on\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tin column 'Visible/invisible'\t\t\t

\t\t

\t\t\tAdd or modify a comment to a document (or a directory)\t\t

\t\t

\t\t\t\tClick on in column 'Comment'\t\t\t
\t\t\t\tType new comment in the corresponding field (top right).\t\t\t
\t\t\t\tValidate by clicking \t\t\t.

\t\t

\t\tTo delete a comment, click on ,\t\tdelete the old comment in the field and click\t\t.\t\t

\t\t

\t\t\tYou can organise your content through filing. For this:\t\t

\t\t

\t\t\t\t\t\t\tCreate a directory\t\t\t\t\t

\t\t

\t\t\t\tClick on\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t'Create a directory' (top left)\t\t\t
\t\t\t\tType the name of your new directory in the corresponding field (top left)\t\t\t
\t\t\t\tValidate by clicking .\t\t\t

\t\t

\t\t\tMove a document (or directory)\t\t

\t\t

\t\t\t\tClick on button \t\t\t\tin column 'Move'\t\t\t
\t\t\t\tChoose the directory into which you want to move the document (or directory) in the corresponding scrolling menu (top left) (note: the word 'root' means you cannot go upper than that level in the document tree of the server).\t\t\t
\t\t\t\tValidate by clicking on .\t\t\t

\t\t\t\t\t\t\tCreate a Learning Path\t\t\t\t\t

This learning path will look like a Table of Contents and can be used as a Table of Contents, but it will offer you much more. See Learning Path."; $langHUser = "Help Users"; $langHExercise = "Help tests"; $langHPath = "Help Learning Path"; $langHDescription = "Help Course Description"; $langHLinks = "Help Links tool"; $langHMycourses = "About the startpage"; $langHAgenda = "Help Agenda"; $langHAnnouncements = "Help Announcements"; $langHChat = "Help Chat"; $langHWork = "Help for Student Publications"; $langHTracking = "Help Tracking"; $langUserContent = "

Adding users

You can subscribe existing students one by one to your course, by clicking on the link 'Subscribe users to this course'. Usually however it's better to open your course for registration and let the students register themselves.

Description

Description has no computer related function. It does not give rights on the system. It just indicates to Humans, who is who. You can modify it by clicking on the pencil, then typing whatever you want: professor, assistant, student, visitor, expert...

Admin rights

Admin rights, on the other hand, correspond to the technical authorisation to modify the content and organisation of this course area. You can only choose between giving all the admin rights and giving none of them.

To allow an assistant, for instance, to co-admin the area, you need to be sure he/she is already registered, then click on the pencil, then check 'Teacher', then 'Ok'.

Co-teachers

To mention in the header of the area the name of a co-teacher (cochairmen, etc.), use the tool 'Course settings'. This modification does not register your co-teacher as a user of the course. The field 'Teachers' is completely independant of the Users list.

Tracking and Personal Home Pages

In addition to showing the users list and modifying their rights, the Users tool also shows individual tracking and allows the teacher define headings for personal home pages to be filled-in by students.

"; $langGroupContent = "

Introduction

This tool allows to create and manage workgroups.At creation (Create groups), groups are empty. There aremany ways to fill them:

automatically ('Fill groups (random)'),
manually ('Edit'),
self-registration by users (Groups settings: 'Self registration allowed...').

These three ways can be combined. You can, for instance, ask users to self-register first.Then discover that some of them didn't register and decide to fill groups automatically (random) inorder to complete them. You can also edit each group to compose membership user by user after or before self-registration and/or automatical filling.

Groups filling, whether automatical or manual, works only if there are already usersregistered in the area. Users list is visible in Users tool.

Create groups

To create new groups, click on 'Create new group(s)' and determine number of groups tocreate.

Group settings

You can determine Group settings globally (for all groups).Users are allowed to self-register in groups:

You create empty groups, users self-register.If you have defined a maximum number, full groups do not accept new members.This method is good for teachers who do not know the users list whencreating groups.

Tools:

Every group possesses either a forum (private or public) or a Documents area(a shared file manager) or (in most cases) both.

Manual editing

Once groups are created (Create groups), you see at the bottom of the page, a list of groupswith a series of informations and functions

Edit to modify manually Group name, description, tutor,members list.
Delete deletes a group.

"; $langExerciseContent = "

The tests tool allows you to create tests that will contains as many questions as you like.

There are various types of answers available for the creation of your questions :

Multiple choice (Unique answer)
Multiple choice (multiple answers)
Matching
Fill in the blanks

A test gathers a certain number of questions.

Test creation

In order to create a test, click on the link \"New test\".

Type the test name, as well as an optional description of it.

You can add an audio or a video file, for listening comprehension etc. It is up to you to choose these files as light as possible so that they download easily through the web. Prefer .mp3 files to .wav file for instance, because of a better compression and then smaller file size.

You can also choose between 2 test types :

Questions on an unique page
One question per page (sequential)

and tell if you want questions to be randomly sorted at the time of test running.

Then, save your test. You will go to to the question administration.

Adding a question

You can now add a question into the test previously created. The description is optional, as well as the picture that you have the possibility to link to your question.

Multiple choice

In order to create a MAQ / MCQ :

Define the answers for your question. You can add or delete an answer by clicking on the right button
Check the left box for the correct answer(s)
Add an optional comment. This comment won't be seen by the user untill he/she has answered to the question
Give a weighting to each answer. The weighting can be any positive or negative integer, or zero
Save your answers

Fill in the blanks

This allows you to create a text with gaps. The aim is to let the user find words that you have removed from the text.

To remove a word from the text, and so to create a blank, put this word between brackets [like this].

Once the text has been typed and blanks defined, you can add a comment that will be seen by the student when it replies to the question.

Save your text, and you will enter the next step that will allow you to give a weighting to each blank. For example, if the question worths 10 points and you have 5 blanks, you can give a weighting of 2 points to each blank.

Matching

This answer type can be chosen so as to create a question where the user will have to connect elements from an unit U1 with elements from an unit U2.

It can also be used to ask the user to sort elements in a certain order.

First define the options among which the user will be able to choose the good answer. Then, define the questions which will have to be linked to one of the options previously defined. Finally, connect via the drop-down menu elements from the first unit with those of the second one.

Notice : Several elements from the first unit can point to the same element in the second unit.

Give a weighting to each correct matching, and save your answer.

Test modification

In order to modify a test, the principle is the same as for the creation. Just click on the picture beside the test to modify, and follow instructions above.

Test deleting

In order to delete a test, click on the picture beside the test to delete it.

Test enabling

So as for a test to be used, you have to enable it by clicking on the picture beside the test name.

Running the test

You can test your exercise by clicking on its name in the tests list.

Random questions

At the time of test creation / modification, you can tell if you want questions to be drawn in a random order among all questions of the test.

By enabling this option, questions will be drawn in a different order every time users will run the test.

If you have got a big number of questions, you can also choose to randomly draw only X questions among all questions available in that exercise.

Questions pool

When you delete a test, its questions are not removed from the database, and they can be reused into a new test, via the questions pool.

The questions pool also allows to reuse the same question into several tests.

By default, all the questions of your course are hidden. You can show the questions related to a test, by chosing this one in the drop-down menu \"Filter\".

Orphan questions are questions that don not belong to any test.

Adding a question

HotPotatoes Tests

You can import HotPotatoes tests into Chamilo portal, to this Tests tool. Results of these tests are stored the same way as Chamilo tests. You can explore the results in User Tracking. In case of single tests, we recommend to use html or htm format, if your test contains pictures, a zip file upload is the most convenient way.

Note : You can add HotPotatoes Tests as a step in the Learning Path, as well.

Method of the import

Select the file on your computer using the Browse button \ton the right of your screen.
\t\t\tLaunch the upload with the Upload Button .\t\t
\t\t\tYou can open the test by clicking onto its name.\t\t

\t
Useful link

Hot Potatoes home page : http://web.uvic.ca/hrd/halfbaked/

"; $langPathContent = "The Learning Path tool has two functions :

Create a learning Path
Upload a Scorm or IMS format Learning path

What is a Learning Path ?

A Learning Path is a sequence of learning steps included in modules. It can be content-based (looking like a table of contents) or activities-based, looking like an agenda or a programme of what you need to do in order to understand and practice a certain knowledge or know-how.

In addition to being structured, a learning path can also be sequenced. This means that some steps will constitute pre-requisites for others ('you cannot go to step 2 before step1'). Your sequence can be suggestive (you show steps one after the other) or imperative (you add pre-requisites so that people are forced to follow the sequence).

How to create our own Learning Path ?

The first step is to arrive to Learning Path Builder section. Inthe Learning Path screen, there is a link to it. There you can createmany paths by clicking onto Add a new learning path. But they areempty, till you add modules and steps to them.
If you make a pathvisible, it will appear as a new tool on the homepage of the course. Thisway their access is easier.

What are the steps for these paths ? (What are the items that can be added?)

All Chamilo tools, activities and contents that you consider to be useful and connected to yourimagined path can be added :

Agenda items
Separate documents (texts, pictures, Office docs, ...)
Announcement items
Forums as a whole
Topics
Individual topic messages
Links
Dokeos Tests
HotPotatoes Tests
(note : those invisible tests, that you put in a path, become visible for students, but only in the Path tool)
Assignments page
Dropbox page
External links, which point out of Chamilo system

Other features of Learning Path

Students can be asked to follow (read) your path in a given order, as youcan set prerequisities in the path. This means that for example studentscannot go to Quiz 2 till they have read Document 1. All items have a status :completed or incomplete, so the progress of students is clearly available.

If you alter the original title of a step, the new title will appear inthe path, but the original title will not be deleted. So if you wanttest8.doc to appear as 'Final Exam' in the path, you do not have to renamethe file, you can use the new title in the path. It is also usefulto give new titles to links as they are too long.

When finished, do not forget to check the student view, where the table ofcontents appears on the left and the path steps usually appear on the right,one by one.

What is a Scorm or IMS format Learning path and how to upload (import) it?

The learning path tool allows you to upload SCORM and IMS compliant coursecontents.

SCORM (Sharable Content Object Reference Model) is a public standard followed by major e-Learning actorslike NETg, Macromedia, Microsoft, Skillsoft, etc. and acting at three levels:

Economy : Scorm allows whole courses or small contentunits to be reusable on different Learning Management Systems (LMS)through the separation of content and context,
Pedagogy : Scorm integrates the notion ofpre-requisite or sequencing (e.g. \"Youcannot go to chapter 2 before passing Quiz 1\"),
Technology : Scorm generates a table of contents asanabstraction layer situated outside content and outside the LMS. Ithelps content and LMS communicate with eachother. What is communicated is mainly bookmarks(\"Where is John in thecourse?\"), scoring (\"How did John pass the test?\") and time (\"How muchtime did John spent in chapter 1?\").

How to create a SCORM compliant learning path?

The most natural way is to use the Chamilo Learning Path Builder. However, you may want to create complete Scorm compliant websites locally on your own computer before uploading it onto your chamilo platform. In this case, we recommend the use of a sophisticated tool like Lectora or Reload

Useful links

Adlnet : authority responsible for Scorm normalisation, http://www.adlnet.org
Reload : Open Source free Scorm player and editor, http://www.reload.ac.uk
Lectora : Scorm publisher authoring software, http://www.trivantis.com
HotPotatoes home page, http://web.uvic.ca/hrd/halfbaked/

Note :

The Learning Path section lists all the self-built Learning Pathsand all uploaded Scorm format Learning Paths, as well.

"; $langDescriptionContent = "

This tool will help you describe your course in a synthetic way and from the outside. It may help your future students get a clear view on what they can expect from this course. It is also an opportunity for you to rethink your course scenario.

Items are given here as proposals. If you want to create a course description with your own items, use only the 'Other' item and decide for its title.

To fill the course description, select Create and edit with forms > Scrolldown menu and select the item of your choice > fill the form > Validate. You can always edit or delete the content of every item by clicking on the pencil or red cross icons.

"; $langLinksContent = "

The Links tool allows you to create a library of resources for your students. Especially resoucrs that you have not created yourself.

When the list grows, it might proove relevant to organise it into categories to help your students find the right information at the right place. You can edit every link to re-assign it into a new category (you need to create this category first).

The Description field can be used to give pre-information on the target web pages but also to describe what you expect the student to do with the link. If, for instance, you point to a website on Aristotle, the description field may ask the student to study the difference between synthesis and analysis."; $langMycoursesContent = "

Once logged in into the platform, you are in your personal startpage.

In the main area (center) you see \"My course list\", a list of all your courses. Depending on your user rights you can also have the possibility to create new courses (via the right hand menu).

In the top banner you see

\"My e-portfolio\": use this to modify your password, username, picture, or other settings. You can also check your personal platform statistics;
\"My agenda\": this contains all agenda events of the courses you are registered in.

Edit my course list, in the right hand menu, allows you to enroll in new courses as far as the tacher or the organisation has left these courses open to enrollment. This link lets you unregister from courses too.

The links Support Forum and Documentation that point to the main Chamilo website, where you can ask technical or pedagogical questions, find more information.To enter a course (main area of your startpage), click on its name. Your profile can vary from one course to the other. It is possible that you are teacher in one course and student in another.

"; $langAgendaContent = "

The agenda appears both in each course area and as a synthetic tool for the student ('My agenda' in top banner).

In the course, the agenda appears as a list of events. You can attach documents or activities to a date so that the agenda becomes a chronological programme for your learning activities.

In addition to being present in the agenda, the new events are indicated to the student when he/she logs in the next time. The system tells what has been added in the Agenda (and in the Announcements) since his/her last visit : icons appear on the portal home page besides the courses where events and announcements hve been added.

If you want to go further in the logic of structuring learning activities one after the other, we suggest that you use preferably the Learning Path that offers the same principles with more advanced features. The Learning Path can be considered as a synthesis of a Table of Contens tool + an Agenda + sequencing (imposed order) and tracking.

"; $langAnnouncementsContent = "

The Announcements tool allows you to send an email to all your students or to some of them or to some groups. It can proove efficient to drive students back to your website if they do not visit it very often.

To send a message to some users and/or some groups, select 'Messages to selected users' then use CTRL+C to select more than one in the left hand menu, click on the right arrow to move them then type your message in the field below.

"; $langChatContent = "

The Chat tool allows you to discuss live with your students.

This chat is not similar to usual ones, like MSN or Yahoo Messenger because it is web based. The disadvantage is that it refreshes only after 10 seconds and not immediately. The advantage is that it is integrated in your course,it archives your discussions into the Documents tool and it doesn't require from your students any plugin to download.

If users send their pictures in 'My e-portfolio' (top banner), then this picture will appear in the discussion to help identify who is speaking.

Only the teacher is allowed to delete the discussion when he/she finds it relevant.

Pedagogical relevance

Adding a chat to your course is not necessarily a good idea. However, if this participates to your scenario, the chat can help. You can imagine, for instance, to hide the chat always except at a certain time when you have a dedicated meeting with your students to answer their questions live. It is less a 'free' dicsussion tool this way, but you give students a guarantee that they will benefit from this live meeting.

"; $langWorkContent = "

The student publications tool is a very simple one. It allows your students to upload any document in the course area.

Depending on your course scenario, you can set all files to be visible to all students by default, or only visible for you. Making all files visible is useful when for instance you want to ask students to give their opinion on each other's papers or let them learn to publish texts to the world. Keep files invisible if e.g. you ask the same question to everybody and want to avoid cheating.

This tool has an Introduction text area to allow you to write a question, detailed guidelines, a reminder of a deadline or anything else you may find relevant.

"; $langTrackingContent = "

The tracking helps you follow your students : did they connect to the sytem, when, how many times? How much do they get in tests? Did they already upload their Paper? When? If you use Scorm courses, you can evn know how much time a student spent on a module or chapter. The trackinggives information at 2 levels:

Globally: How many students access the course? What are the most visited pages and links?
Nominatively: What pages has John Doe visited? What score does he get in tests? When was hs last connection on the system?

"; $langHSettings = "Help Course settings"; $langSettingsContent = "

Course settings allows you to manage the global parameters of your course : Title, code, language, name of teachers etc.

The options situated in the middle of the page deal with confidentiality settings : is the course public or private? Can students register to it? You can use these settigs dynamically : open registration during one week > ask your students to register > close access to registration > remove possible intruders through the Users list. This way you keep control of who is in byt you don't have the administrative hassle of registrating them yourself.

At the bottom of the page, you can Backup the course and delete it. Backup will create a file on the server and allow you to copy it on your own Hard Disk locally. So that there will be 2 backups of it in different places. If you backup a course then delete it. You will not be allowed to restore it yourself but the system administrator can do this for you if you give him/her the code of your course. Backuping a course is also a good way to get all your documents back onto your own computer. You will need a tool, like Winzip to UNZIP the archive. Note that backuping a course does not remove it in any way.

"; $langHExternal = "Help Add a Link"; $langExternalContent = "

Dokeos is a modular tool. You can hide and show tools whenever you want, according to your project or to its different chronological phases. But you can also add on your home page tools or pages that you have created yourself or that come from the outside of your Chamilo portal. This way, you will make of your course home page YOUR page.

To take possession of your page that way, you will Add links on it. These links can be of 2 types:

External link: you create on your home page a link to a website situated outside your course area. In this case, you will select Target= In a new window because you don't want that website to replace your Chamilo environment.
Internal link: you link towards a page or a tool inside your Chamilo course. To do this, you go first to that page or document or tool, you copy its URL from the URL bar of your browser (CTRL+C), then you go to Add a link and you paste this URL in the URL field and you give it the name you want. In this case, you will select Target=Same window because you will keep the Chamilo banner on top and the remain in the same environment.

Once created, these links cannot be edited. To modify them, the only solution is to deactivate them then delete them, then restart from zero.

"; $langClarContent3 = "Clear content"; $langClarContent4 = "Clear content"; $langClarContent1 = "Clear content"; $langClarContent2 = "Clear content"; $langHGroups = "Groups"; $langGroupsContent = "Content of the groups"; $langGuide = "Manual"; ?>