How to create a Lesson activity

This refers to Moodle 4.3 from August 2024 onwards.

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How to: Create a Lesson activity

This activity can be used as an alternative to the Book resource (sequential content pages) or as branched content pages with the option of quiz question pages (graded).

A lesson is a sequence of learning texts – basically a series of HTML pages containing some sort of choice underneath the content area for the learner to select. The branched content pages thus linked are particularly useful for scenario based information whereby the student has to make choices after reading each stage of the scenario.

You can create a programmed learning pathway in which the learner moves through the material and is given questions periodically which moves them on to the next piece of information and the next question. The learning path can be linear or branched and the lesson can be timed.

Adding a Lesson to your module

In your module click on the 'edit mode' toggle switch at the top right of the page.

2. Go to the section where you would like to place the lesson activity and click on the + Add an activity or resource link.

3. A window will appear. Click on 'Lesson' and you will be taken to the lesson's Settings page.

the activities and resources pop up menu.

Lesson settings explained

General

This section requires you to add a "Name" and a "Description" to your lesson.

General section of Lesson settings.

Expand the 'Appearance' section by clicking the floating arrow

In the 'Linked media' section (Appearance > Show more) a media file may be uploaded for use in the lesson. A 'Click here to view' link will then be displayed in a block called 'Linked media' on each page of the lesson.
'Display ongoing score': If enabled, each page will display the student's current points earned out of the total possible thus far.

"Minimum grade to display menu": If enabled, the student must go through the lesson once, and gain the required score, and can then access the menu.

'Slideshow': If enabled, the lesson is displayed as a slideshow, with a fixed width and height.
'Maximum number of answers': If branching, this restricts the number of buttons allowed on a page directing to the next page in the branch.
'Use default feedback': If enabled, when a response is not found for a particular question, the default response of "That's the correct answer" or "That's the wrong answer" will be shown.
'Link to next activity': To provide a link at the end of the lesson to another activity in the module, select the activity from the drop-down list.
'Progress bar': If enabled, a bar is displayed at the bottom of lesson pages showing approximate percentage of completion.
'Display menu': If enabled, a list of pages is displayed.

The subheadings in the appearance section.

Expand the Availability section by clicking the floating arrow, then select 'show more'

The 'show more' button in the availability section.

This allows you to restrict availability if necessary. The 'Time limit' function is useful if you have quiz questions in the Lesson. You can also add a 'Password' if the 'Password protected lesson' is set to "Yes".

The time limit section and the password protect section in the availability section.

Expand the Flow control section by clicking the floating arrow, then select 'show more'.

The 'show more' button on the flow control section.

'Allow student review': Allows students to review answers. Could be useful if using quiz questions.
'Provide option to try a question again': For quiz questions; allows student to correct a wrong answer for no points.
'Maximum number of attempts per question': Allows multiple attempts at quiz questions, when maximum reached the next page is displayed automatically.
'Action after correct answer': Choose from 3 options: Normal - follow lesson plan, show an unseen page or show an unanswered page.
'Number of pages to show': This setting specifies the number of pages shown in a lesson. It is only applicable for lessons with pages shown in a random order (when 'Action after correct answer' is set to 'Show an unseen page' or 'Show an unanswered page'). If set to zero, then all pages are shown.

The sub headings in the flow control section.

Expand the Grade section by clicking the floating arrow, then select 'show more'.

'Grade': This is only relevant if quiz questions are present
'Grade category': This setting controls the category in which this activity's grades are placed in the gradebook.
'Grade to pass': This sets the minimum grade to pass. The value is used in activity and module completion, and in the gradebook.
'Practice lesson': A practice lesson does not appear in the gradebook.
'Custom scoring': If enabled, then each answer may be given a numerical point value (positive or negative).
'Minimum number of questions': This setting specifies the minimum number of questions that will be used to calculate a grade for the activity. If the lesson contains one or more content pages, the minimum number of questions should be set to zero.
'Re-takes allowed': If enabled, students can attempt the lesson more than once.
'Handling of re-takes': If re-takes are allowed, this setting appears and specifies whether the grade for the lesson is the mean or maximum of all attempts.

Next steps

Once you have set up the area for your lesson you then need to add content.

See How to Create pages in Lesson for help about this.

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