We have talked about – and practiced – how to upload files to a module and how to link to files from pages. We have also been through what the modules overview is and compared it to the contents of a textbook.

Then the question is: Should we save our files in modules or have them placed on e.g. page? Below are two examples of two different modules overviews from two related courses.

Click the links to see the actual courses:

Each content-element in a module can be compared to a sub-chapter in the current main chapter (the module).

Let us say that each lecture contains 5 files. These 5 files could be placed directly in the relevant module. But if a semester contains 15 lectures, this would give 75 content-elements in the course contents. And that is just the files! In other words: If we put all our files directly in the modules it will be pretty chaotic, for both students and teachers. A more elegant solution is to collect all related files on one page.

You can create a page named “Files from lecture, week xx” and place the links to the files there. Then you suddenly only have one BIOSTAT1100instead of five. And the title of this element (the page) clearly informs about the content. Another advantage, is to provide context to the files:

“Here are the five files from the previous lecture. The PowerPoint is specially important to read thoroughly, since it will be crucial for next week’s coursework requirement.”

Then the students understand why these files are there, not just that they are there. This makes the material more available, and is useful for both the students who went to the lecture – and even more important – the students who were not there.