How To - Use the Learning Site for Content Management

What can I do on the Learning Site?


The TLM Learning Site is a powerful content management system which has customised assessment tools built into the tools and functionality.  The content links directly to the Markbook Site, which means that students can see what units they are working on, as well as the criteria that make up that unit's assessment.  Students can therefore create resources and upload work and link this directly to assessment criteria, and they can assess this themselves.  Assessors can then check this work and either agree or disagree and give some feedback.  All of the material is securely stored and any revisions made are fully tracked.  This means that learners and assessors can track any progress made if they use these facilities.


What resources can I make on the Learning Site?


The Learning Site has a number of generic pages as well as custom pages which can be used.  For example, you can make a blog page in order to quickly post and share some of your thoughts on the work you are doing.  You can make a regular page just to share some material, either as an assessor or as a learner.  There are also some custom pages, such as the Evidence Page or Public Page.  The Evidence page is linked directly to the assessment criteria for your units so it means that you can create a page and add some material, i.e. a presentation or image file.  You can then explain what the resource is and even assess whether or not you think it meets the criteria you link to it.  The Public Page is for you to create a page that can be edited by anyone else, a bit like a Wiki. You can within the site make a series of pages that you link together to make an electronic portfolio of all of your work eg by linking to evidence pages, blog entries and any other sources.  There is also a Book Page which creates a series of pages in the format of an electronic book with chapters and navigation buttons.  This could be useful if you create a user guide to support one of your extended projects.  In addition to these pages, you can also participate in a Forum, by creating a discussion, or replying to someone else's discussion.  You can also makes a Quiz or a Webform.  The quiz or webform would be useful as a questionnaire or for feedback on your work from your peers or people in the wider community. All of these tools are optional and can be used in conjunction with other web resources. 


How do I make a page?


As indicated already, there are different pages that can be made and each has a slightly different set of options, but the process is very similar.  For a regular page:

  1. Go to the "Learners" link on the home page
  2. Go to Create and then Regular Page
  3. Click Regular page
  4. Put a title for your page in the Title Box
  5. In the larger box below with the name Body: type some text
  6. Scroll to the foot of the page and click "Save"

Note that pages you create are listed in your account in the tab My Pages. You can also create new pages from here and do things like revert to earlier versions of them. 

For an ePortfolio:

First you need to create an account (How do I create an account?). An e- portfolio is basically a collection of web pages organised together. To create a new page hover your mouse over "Users", then "Learners" in the menu bar above and a pull down menu will appear as shown below, then select "Create Pages" and choose "E-portfolio".

 

 

Type in a title and the body text of the page (you can change these later). Note that you must provide a title and a body.

 

NB: Once you create the basic page, you can then go back and edit it with the full HTML tool bar.

 

 

In HTML, headings are marked with the tags <h1>, <h2>, ... down to <h6>. These tell the browser to put a heading style to the text when it is displayed. The top-level heading is <h1>. For example:

 

How it will look in a web page HTML tags that the web browser uses to change the style

Section  1

Hello

Section 1.1

Section 1.1.1

<h1>Section 1</h1>

 

Hello

<h2>Section 1.1</h2>

<h3>Section 1.1.1</h3>

 

 

You make links with the <a> tag, like this: Please visit <a href=”https://theingots.org”>The INGOT</a> website. The "href" attribute ("hypertext-reference") contains the Internet address you want to link to. You can link to another web page or to a file you uploaded. See How do I let people download a file?.

 

There are two kinds of lists in HTML. Ordered lists are used to list a sequence of items with a specific order. For example, a recipe for boiled eggs:

 

How it will look in a web page  HTML tags that the web browser uses to change the style
  1. Put eggs in a pot with water.
  2. Boil for 5-10min.
  3. Remove from heat.
  4. Remove the egg shell.
  5. Enjoy.

<ol>

<li>Put eggs in a pot with water.</li>

<li>Boil for 5-10min.</li>

<li>Remove from heat.<li>

<li>Remove the egg shell.</li>

<li>Enjoy.</li>

</ol>

 

Unordered lists are for listing items that have no particular order. For example, the primary colours:

 

How it will look in a web page HTML tags that the web browser uses to change the style
  • Red
  • Green
  • Blue

<ul>

<li>Red</li>

<li>Green</li>

<li>Blue</li>

</ul>

 

An index page helps the user find all the pages and documents on a web site. A good index page will use headings to organise the content into sections, and use a bullet point list of links. Each link points to a page that forms part of your e-Portfolio.

 

For example:

		<h1>e-Porfolio Index Page</h1>

<h2>Silver Ingot Work</h2>
<ul>
 <li><a href="/community/blog/12">My Ingot blog</a></li>
 <li><a href="/community/node/342">My project proposal</a></li>
</ul>

<h2>My Art Work</h2>
<ul>
 <li><a href="/community/node/435">My paintings</a></li>
 <li><a href="/community/node/463">My final project</a></li>
</ul>

Note that node/342 is the identity of a page where the project proposal is located. Whenever you make a page the system will automatically create a unique node and number for it. You can give the page a name too if you want to. If you name your My paintings page paintings, the reference would be <a href="/community/paintings"> Note that if someone else has named a node paintings, you would have to use a different word. There is a field in every page creation to put in a word to replace the node number. 

For a blog page:

To create a blog entry, first login to the site and then click on "Create Pages" under the Users > Learners pull down menu as shown above (main manu on the page). Then choose "Blog Entry". Type in a title and the body text of the blog. Note:

  • The title is only for this entry. This is not the title of the entire blog. The title for the entire blog will be something like "Joe's blog".
  • You must provide a title and some information on the page.

How do I use the rich-text editor?


Navigate to the page you wish to edit and click on Edit.

The rich-text editor provides a user interface similar to a simple word processor. It has many of he standard buttons that you see in a word processor (bold, italic, lists, undo/redo, etc). But it also provides some functions that are geared toward HTML editing:

  • Source Edit HTML code directly.
  • Horizontal rule.
  • Link, unlink, anchor.

The rich-text editor comes with a basic hint to what the icons do, hover your mouse over each icon to see what it does. This is a third-party application called CKEditor. It is Open Source and integrates with the Open Source Drupal content management system. You can visit its website.


How do I disable the rich-text editor?


This site uses a "rich-text editor". It lets you create and edit HTML pages in an environment that feels similar to a word processor (How do I use the rich-text editor?).

The rich-text editor is enabled by default, if you wish to get raw html again then simply click either the  button in the top left-corner OR click the  link underneath the text area. Using this is a good way for beginners to become familiar with HTML tags and how they work.


How do I insert an image into my pages?


Note: Unless you have a good reason, follow these guidelines: Only upload JPEGs or PNGs. Make the image no more than 200KB in size and 300 x 200 pixels (width x height).
 
If you are using the Rich-Text editor in a page you are editing
 
First upload the image to your user account on the learning site server
  1. Click in the page in the edit window where you want the image.
  2. Click on the "Insert Image" icon in the toolbar. A pop-up appears.
  3. Click on the Browse server button.
  4. Select the directory under "My files" where you want to store the picture once it is uploaded.
  5. Go to Upload, top left and click.
  6. Find the picture file you want to upload on your computer and select it and Open it. It will upload to the file directory you chose. 
Now display the image on the web page
  1. Double click the file in your file directory and it will appear in the image properties dialogue ready to go into the page. 
  2. Set any of the properties such as the border or size and fill in the alt field with a description of the image
  3. Click ok to insert.

See also: How do I upload a file?, How do I use the rich-text editor?, How do I write HTML?


How do I let people download a file from my pages?


  1. Upload the file.
  2. Write down the file name (e.g. myPicture.png) and the name of your personal files directory. Go to the same page where you upload files. On the second part of the window you will see something like "Directory: files/uploads/u12".
  3. Navigate to the page where you want people to download the file from.
  4. If you are using the Rich-Text editor:
    1. Type some text such as "click here to download my file".
    2. Highlight the text.
    3. Click on the "Insert Link" button (Chain on the globe icon) A pop-up appears. There are several options, but the only important one is "Link URL".
    4. Use browse server to find the file in your file space and double click on it.
    5. Click ok - note you have made a hyperlink to the file in your user directory.

How do I upload a file to my pages?


Every user has a personal directory with sub-directories to which you can upload and organise your files. All your files are kept here. To access your files, or upload new files, do the following:

  1. After you log in, click on "My account" on the right side-bar.
  2. Click on "File Browser tab" (at the top of the page as shown below).

File browser image

Here you can see your personal files directory (graphic above). From here you can upload files, delete old files and preview image files. To upload a file, click on Upload at the top, a new box will then appear, click on Browse, select a file and click on Upload. The upload takes one step, its simple, and all your files are in one place. To delete a file, click on the file you wish to delete and then click the word "delete" at the top of the page next t Upload. To preview a file, click on the file name. A preview appears on the second half of the window.

Note: The maximum size of file that you can upload is 4Mb
 

How do I add large files to my pages?


If you wish to include large files in your pages, please consider the following alternatives:

  • You can upload movies to YouTube and large images to Flickr. These services are designed to hold large amounts of data.
  • Instead of massive PowerPoint presentations, consider using a Google Apps account and making a link to your document. Google offers a free on-line presentation program.

Google Apps is free and it will run in any web browser so your audience does not need to buy MS Office or download special software to view your work. It's good to learn to be efficient with storing and using files and to learn to use the internet flexibly. If you are smart you don't need masses of space and all the tools you need are free on the internet.


How do I view my files?



How do I delete a file?



How do I find the pages I have created?


Sometimes you write a page and you lose the URL. There is an easy way to find all the pages you've created:

  1. Go to
  2. At the top of the page, next to the "Edit" link, you will see save image. Click on that.

This will give you a list of all the pages you have created, starting with the most recent.


How do I edit or delete my pages?


Find the page you wish to edit (How do I find my pages?). Once you have arrived at the page you wish to edit, click on  at the top of the page. If you wish to make edits, make the changes and re-submit the page. If you wish to delete the entry, scroll to the bottom of the page and click .


How do I view my blog?


On the right side-bar, click on . This page lists all your blog entries in reverse chronological order (i.e. most recent first). If the blog entry is long, you might only see the first paragraph or two. Click on the entry title to see the entire entry.

Note: If you want to edit or delete a blog entry, you must first click on the entry title to go to that entry.
 

How do I edit or delete a blog entry?


On the right side-bar click on  to get a list of all your blog entries. Scroll down until you find the entry that you wish to edit or delete. Click on the title of the entry. This takes you to the page for that particular entry. Now you should see an  link at the top of the entry. Click on the button. If you wish to make edits, make the changes and re-submit the page. If you wish to delete the entry, scroll to the bottom of the page and click .


How do I find somebody else's blog?


There are two ways you can find somebody's blog:

  • Click on  on the right side-bar. Here you can see the blog entries from all users mixed together. You can scroll until you find an entry from the blog you are looking for.
  • Use the search box in the navigation bar at the top of the page . You can search for text that appears in the contents of the blog or you can search for the person's user name if you know it.
Note: You cannot search for a person's real name unless they chose to use their real name as a login name. Privacy on the internet is important. It's better to not give your name to people you meet online.