This guide explains the next steps to take once you have acquired a course area in QMplus. New course areas will usually have your School or Faculty template applied by default when created, you should check with your local/school e-learning contact whether there are any guidelines for how QMplus areas should look.

Setting up your topics

In order to edit the module area you must first

• Turn editing on (top right – pencil icon)

The default course format for QMplus module areas is the ‘Topics’ format. In this format the topic sections within the page are closed by default and can be opened by clicking on the section title or ‘bar’. You can turn off the “collapsible” feature by changing the setting in your course settings.

It is possible to change the format of your QMplus area. You can read more about this on the Changing the look of your course with formats guide.

How many topics you have and what they are called is up to you. You should check that all your topic sections have meaningful names, e.g. if you are using week numbers, it’s useful to include some description of what is being covered that week as well as the week number:

• Turn editing on
• Edit the topic section by clicking on the ‘Edit’ drop down arrow (or click on the pencil icon beside the topic title).
• Add a Topic/Section name of your choice
• Click ‘Save changes’

• The results will display in the header of the topic  

Adding a module image and welcome text

You can add a module image and welcome text which will appear at the top of your QMplus area:

• Turn editing on (pencil icon)
• Select the edit drop down arrow to the right and click on  ‘Edit section’ cogwheel.

You can now make changes to the top area, such as:

• Change the static text – e.g. add a welcome message to introduce the course or you can introduce yourself to your students.
• Alternatively, you can change this area from static text, and make this area more dynamic. You can choose to display the module announcements instead – this means that whenever you post a message to the module announcement section (referred to later in this guide) the most recent message will automatically appear at the top of the page. By default this message that will display at the top of your module page will be the first 80 words, unless you choose to ‘show full news text (no truncation) in the settings.
• These other features in the editing screen can be used if you do not display the latest module announcement. You can display static text if you wish and insert that text into the text box – remember to uncheck the ‘Module announcements’ check box at the top of the page if you want static text.
• Selecting an image to represent your module page. You can source and upload one to appear in the top of the module page. Please ensure that you have permission to use it. (Please see the Library advice on copyright if you are unsure). Flickr Creative Commons is a useful place to look if you don’t have an image.
• To upload the image, you must click ‘edit settings’ in the Settings block on the right hand side of your page. Scroll to the ‘Description’ area and upload your image – you can either drag and drop the file, or click the blue arrow to upload it.
• If you wish to change the image after you have uploaded it then select ‘delete image’ and save changes. Select the ‘edit’ icon again reopen and upload another image.

• When you have completed everything, save your changes.
• If you have chosen to display the module announcements, remember to post a message in the announcement forum.

Assessment Information

By default there will be a two-column assessment information area added to your QMplus module area. Please refer to ‘Using the assessment Information block in QMplus to organise assessments’ for more information.

The Module Information Block

By default you should get a ‘Module Information Block’ added to your new QMplus module area. Normally this will appear on the top right. This block contains core information for students about the Module, who is teaching it and how they can be contacted, where the module is taught and other useful information, like documentation., etc

You will need to update this block so that it has the appropriate information for your module. Please refer to the ‘Using the Module Info Block‘ guide for information on how to update this block.

Additional Blocks

Apart from the Module Information block, there are several other blocks that may come by default with your QMplus template, or you can add them (and remove them). To learn more about blocks in QMplus, please refer to the ‘Customising your course page with blocks‘ guide.

Making Final Checks

One you are finished building your module page, you can begin to add content, such as documents and activities (under the ‘Add a resource or activity’ links within each section/topic area)

You can also check what the module will look like for students by clicking on the ‘Switch Role to…Student’ – you can find a link to switch role to student from the profile menu at the top right of the page.