Technically speaking, the users need only their browser to use Chamilo forums.

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

Category > Forum > Topic > Answers

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."; $HDropbox = "مساعدة مستودع الملفات"; $DropboxContent = "

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 build your course, it might proove relevant to follow these steps:

1. In Course Settings, check Course Acces : Private and Subscription : Denied. This way, nobody can enter your course area during building process,
2. Show all the tools clicking on the grey link below the ones situated at the bottom of the page,
3. Use the tools you need to 'fill' your area with content, events, guidelines, tests etc.,
4. Hide all tools : your home page is empty in Student view,
5. Use the Path tool to structure the way students will visit it and learn with it. This way, you use the other tools, but you don't show them at first sight.
6. Click on the eye icon besides the path you created : this path will then show on your home page,
7. The preparation of your course area is over. Your home page shows an introdution text followed by one link only and this link drives students through the course. Clic on Student view (top right) to see things from a student point of view.

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.

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...').

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.

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.

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

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)

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.

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

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.

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.

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.

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

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

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

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.

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.

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.

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

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

• 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?\").

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.

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.

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.

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."; $MycoursesContent = "

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.