You are here:

Moodle Unit Preview

The Moodle Unit Preview enables Monash students to search and view unit and assessment information in a clear, simple and consistent way. The Unit Preview is generated when at least one unit offering is linked to a Moodle site via the Callista block, and when the Unit Preview has been enabled for the unit from the Manage Unit Preview page.

The Unit Preview draws from the existing Moodle site and unit Handbook in a dynamic way, so that the unit preview information displayed will always be up-to-date. Academics can choose what information is displayed from the Manage unit preview page, such as weekly section headings, content warnings, assessment tasks and accreditation specific information. All assessment tasks should be represented in the Moodle Unit Preview. Formative tasks and resources are not required.

Moodle Unit Preview Checklist

In your Moodle unit, ensure your learning sections have meaningful names. These will be reflected in the Moodle Unit preview.
Create all Moodle activities for your major assessment tasks. In the Preview section of the activity settings, enter assessment details.
From the Manage unit preview page, select which learning sections and content will be visible in the Moodle unit preview.
Add the Chief Examiner/Unit Coordinator as primary contacts for the Moodle unit. Primary contacts will be displayed on the Moodle unit dashboard page under Key contacts.
Preview your Moodle unit preview and review if needed, then publish your Moodle unit preview.
Add additional information (optional) including:
- an introductory video in the 'Manage unit overview' section.
- Unit preview description for each of the sections you have activated and content warnings, if applicable.
Note: As a part of the Moodle Unit roll over process, review the information in your Moodle unit preview to ensure all information is accurate and up-to-date before republishing the Moodle unit preview.

The Moodle Unit preview can be accessed by clicking on the magnifying glass icon on the navigation bar. This will display the Unit preview search page.

You can search for a unit by typing the Unit code or Unit Title into the search bar, then clicking the magnifying glass icon.
On the right hand side, search results can also be filtered by teaching period and faculty using the checkboxes. Click Apply Filters to apply search filters.
On the left hand side, students will see a list of units in which they are currently enrolled. Clicking on the Unit code will display the Moodle unit preview for their unit.

Moodle Unit Preview interface

The Moodle Unit Preview draws from the existing Moodle site layout in a dynamic way, so the unit preview information displayed will always be up-to-date. Academics can choose what information is displayed with the ‘Manage unit preview’ page, such as unit lecturers, weekly sections heading, content warnings and assessment tasks. All assessment tasks should be represented in the Moodle Unit Preview. Formative tasks and resources are not required.

The navigation menu on the left hand side of the Moodle unit preview page displays a list of quick links to Unit Overview, Unit Content and Accreditation entries. Clicking on the links in the navigation menu will jump you directly to the corresponding section. Academics can modify what appears in the Unit Overview and Unit Content list in the Manage Unit Preview settings.
The Handbook Synopsis will automatically be displayed in the Unit Overview, as well as a link to the handbook entry for the unit.
The Year, Applicable Teaching period(s) and Location details will be automatically displayed, based on the Callista Unit Offerings that are linked to the Moodle unit.
You can choose to embed an optional introductory video. Introductory videos will be housed in a public root folder in Panopto called MoodleUnitPreview-IntroVideos, so that all Monash students, regardless of their unit enrolment, will be able to view the video. Only users with the Administrator role in Moodle and Panopto can add or create videos in this folder. Contact your faculty administrator to coordinate the upload of the introductory video.
For more information, see Manage unit preview (below).
Section descriptions (limit of 1000 characters) can be added to provide further details about the section topic, or any assessments that appear in that section. If required, content warnings can be added to sections where unit content may be distressing to students.
If content warnings have been added, a content warning section will appear at the bottom of the content panel list. For more information, see Manage the Moodle unit preview (below).
Academic details, such as names and email addresses of educators, can be added in the top panel on the right hand side of the Moodle Unit Preview. Multiple Lecturers and unit contacts can be added. Academics can select which Lecturer(s) to display as the Primary contact. Additional information can be added to provide context, for example “Clayton” or “Malaysia” to specify a contact per campus.
The Learning Outcomes from the Handbook will be automatically displayed in the Learning outcomes block on the right hand side of the Moodle Unit Preview.
The assessment overview automatically displays the Assessment regime Details from the Handbook. This will include the Handbook assessment summary, Assessment name(s), Short descriptions(s), Value, Hurdle requirement, Hurdle type, Hurdles description and offering(s).
You should include assessment details for any Moodle activity that represents an assessment task. This is done in the individual activity settings. For more information, see Assessment Details(below). This information will then be displayed under the name of the assessment task in the Unit Contents section where the assessment sits.
The assessment description should contain the following information:
- Format
- Purpose
- Value (for example, 20% weighting)
- Group or individual assignment
- Assessment conditions (online, open book, invigilated, etc.)
- Assessment parameters (word count, duration, video submission, etc.)
- Activities with due dates, deadlines or closing times will be automatically displayed as set in the activity settings. For more information about which Moodle activity types these include, see the Moodle Activities Guide.
If you have added content warnings, they will be indicated by an exclamation mark in the top right corner of the weekly topic/section in the content panel and a content warning section will appear at the bottom of the content panel. This will link to the Content warning description in the preview panel, which displays the content warnings added for the weekly section, as well as standard resources for students.
Students, academics and professional staff can download and print the Unit Preview including accreditation details as a PDF file.

Assessment details

Information about major assessment tasks should be included in the Moodle Unit preview. Formative tasks and resources are not required. Assessment details must be entered in the Moodle activity settings. This can be done for existing activities or newly created activities.

Navigate to the activity settings by clicking Edit and then Edit settings.
The Name and Due date(if applicable) set for the activity will automatically be displayed in the assessment information in the Moodle Unit preview.
Scroll down and click on Preview to expand the Preview section.

Note: For the eExams(eAssessment grade sync activity) or paper-based final Exams(Final Grade item), an additional field for Examination Material or Equipment will appear. For more information about these unique activity types, see Adding an eExam or paper-based Final Exam activity to Moodle or see the eAssessment Grade sync activity guide.
If your unit is used for multiple different unit codes, select Applicable unit codes from the Select Unit code dropdown box. The assessment task will appear in Moodle Unit Previews for the selected unit code. By default this is set to All unit codes, which means that if the Moodle site includes multiple units(e.g. 101,102), the assessment task will appear in all connected Moodle unit previews.
Enter text (up to 500 characters) in the Unit Preview Description box. The assessment description should contain the following information:
- Format
- Purpose
- Value (for example, 20% weighting)
- Group or individual assignment
- Assessment conditions (online, open book, invigilated, etc.)
- Assessment parameters (word count, duration, video submission, etc.)
- Activities with due dates, deadlines or closing times will be automatically displayed as set in the activity settings. For more information about which Moodle activity types these include, see the Moodle Activities Guide.
Enter text (up to 500 characters) about Exam material or Equipment in the text box.
Click Save and return to unit button.

Manage the Moodle Unit preview

From the Manage Unit Preview page, you can turn on and off ‘active’ Unit Previews from the search or decide which sections will be displayed in the Moodle Unit Preview. The following roles can access the Manage unit preview settings: VLE Administrator, Administrator, Lecturer, Non-primary lecturer, Designer or Chief Examiner.

Click on More in the top unit banner and select Manage unit preview.
In the Unit section column, all of your unit’s section headings will be displayed. By default, they will be set to Hidden. You should add descriptions, content warning, and assessment tasks details before making the section preview visible to students by changing the include in preview status to Shown. Once set to Shown the section information will be displayed in the Moodle Unit Preview.

Under Manage unit contents, you can:

1. In the Manage unit overview row, click on the pencil icon to the right. The Manage overview window will appear.
2. Click on the Panopto icon.
3. Introductory videos will be housed in a public root folder in Panopto called MoodleUnitPreview-IntroVideos, within this folder there will be Faculty level sub-folders. Check that you have selected the correct folder from the drop down list. Select a video that exists in the folder or upload an existing .mp4 file.
  Note: Only users with the Administrator role in Moodle and Panopto are able to add and create videos in this folder. Contact your faculty administrator to coordinate the upload of your video.
4. Then click Insert video.
5. Add an introductory title. This will appear above the video in the Unit Preview.
6. Click Save changes to close the window.
7. The introductory video will default to a public folder so that all Monash students, regardless of their unit enrolment, can access the video when viewing the Unit Preview.
1. In the Manage unit educators row, click on the pencil icon to the right. The Manage educators window will appear.
2. All individuals assigned the role of Lecturer and tutor for the Moodle unit site will be displayed.
3. To display the full name and email of the Lecturer or tutor, tick the Display in preview checkbox. Multiple users can be selected.
  Note: To quickly find a user, you can use CTRL+F or command+F to search for them by name.
4. Select the applicable unit code for the drop down list. By default, All unit codes is the default. If the Moodle site has multiple units included. The Lecturer details will only display in the unit codes selected.
5. To indicate which individual(s) is the primary contact, tick the Primary contact checkbox. If required, you can differentiate between multiple primary contacts (e.g. for different campuses) by typing text into the primary contact information field.
6. Click Save changes to close the window.

Under Manage unit sections, you can:

Under the Include in preview column, click the radio button to set the slider to green(Active) or red(inactive).
- Green(active) means this section will appear in the Moodle unit preview.
- Red(Inactive) will mean the section will not appear in the Moodle unit preview
The names of sections should be edited from the Moodle unit homepage, by clicking the pencil icon beside the section name. Type in the name you would like to use and hit enter to save your changes.
1. Click on the pencil icon the Manage section information for Unit Preview column for the topic/section you would like to edit. The Manage section information window will appear.
2. Enter a Unit Preview description(1000 characters, plain text). This will appear in the applicable section in the Unit Preview.
3. If required, enter a content warning. If you have added content warnings, they will be indicated by an exclamation mark for the weekly topic/section in the content panel and a content warning section will appear at the bottom of the content panel. This will link to the Content warning description in the preview panel, which displays the content warnings added for the weekly section, as well as standard resources for students.
4. When you are done, click Save changes.

Accreditation

From the Manage accreditation page, you can create one or more accreditation entries to be included in the Moodle Unit Preview. The following roles can access the Manage accreditation page.

Accreditation administrator	Can view, add, edit and delete accreditation content from the new ‘Manage Accreditation’ page without any restriction
Accreditation manager	Can manage accreditation contents until the content is made visible in the Unit Preview.

These roles are assigned by your Moodle faculty administrator. If you require this role, please contact your Faculty Moodle administrator.

Click on More in the top unit banner and select Manage accreditation.
Click Create new accreditation.
Enter a heading (250 character limit) and contents for the accreditation, which can contain, links, tables and more.
If the Moodle site has multiple Callista Unit codes enrolled, the applicable Unit Code(s) can be selected. The accreditation heading and content will only display in the selected Unit Code(s).
When the accreditation entry has been created, make sure to toggle the display to Shown(green) under ‘Include in preview’, in order for the accreditation to be displayed in the Moodle Unit Preview.

Note: Once the accreditation entry is visible (i.e. toggled to Shown) only the Accreditation Administrator can hide or edit the entry.

Preview the Moodle Unit Preview

On the right hand side of the page, under View your Unit Preview(s), click on the unit code you would like to preview. This will open the Moodle Unit Preview for your unit in a new tab.

Moodle Unit Preview Rollover

When a unit is rolled over, the Moodle Unit Preview, accreditation information and all sections in the Moodle Unit Preview will be hidden by default. Rolled over assessment activities will no longer be linked to the Moodle Unit Preview. To enable the Moodle Unit Preview after a Moodle site has been rolled over, ensure that you:

In the assessment activity settings
Reselect unit codes in the Preview section of the activity settings for each assessment item.
From the Manage Accreditation page
Switch the Accreditation information toggle from Hidden to Shown. If changes are required, accreditation information can be edited by the Accreditation Manager and Accreditation Administrator.
From the Manage Unit Preview page
Review and update Unit educator details if required. Review the content in each section and make any changes if required. When ready, switch the toggle from Hidden to Shown for sections you would like to appear in the Moodle Unit Preview. Switch the Publish Unit Preview toggle from Hidden to Shown, once you are happy with the Moodle Unit Preview.

Note: If you uploaded an Introductory Video for the unit, it will automatically be included in the Moodle Unit preview for your rolled over unit.

Your feedback matters

Let us know how we can improve this resource.

Back: Use the Moodle dates report Next: Use the Accessibility toolkit

Learning and Teaching: Teach HQ