Creating new topics

Once you've added a module, you can add topics to it with the Content tool by:

• creating a new file with the HTML Editor
• using a course file
• uploading a new file
• Quicklinking to another resource

Create a new topic

Note  You must create at least one module before creating a topic.

1. Click Content on the navbar to access the Manage Content page.
2. Click one of the New Topic icons beside the module that you want to add a topic to, or in the top tool menu.
3. Choose one of the following:
   • Create New File
   • Course File
   • Upload New File
   • Quicklink
4. Choose the Parent Module you want to add this topic to.
5. Type a topic Title.
6. Type a Short Title as an option. Learning Environment uses the short title in the Content Map widget to help users navigate through modules. If you don’t specify a short title, Learning Environment uses the Title field.
7. Select the Hide Enumeration check box to exclude this topic from the numbering system. For example, you can hide enumeration on an introductory topic.
8. Do one of the following:

   Option	Procedure
   Create New File	If you want to change the file’s name, type the new name in the File Name field. Create your content in the content area using the HTML Editor.
   Course File	Click the Browse button to locate the course file. Select the course file you want by clicking the radio button beside it.
   Upload New File	Click the Browse button to locate the file. Browse for the file on your computer, and select it.
   Quicklink	Do one of the following: Type the URL in the URL field. Click the Insert Quicklink icon beside the URL field, select a Category and Item, and click Insert.

9. Set further options and click Save, or to continue creating topics, click Save & New.

   Option	Procedure
   Hide a topic from participants’ view	Click the Restrictions tab. Select the Hide this topic check box.
   Set date/time restrictions	Click the Restrictions tab. Set the Start Date and End Date that you want.
   Set release conditions	Click the Restrictions tab. Do one of the following: To set pre-existing release conditions to the topic, click Attach Existing and select the conditions from the list in the pop-up window. To create new conditions and attach them to the topic, click Create and Attach. For details on creating release conditions refer to Release Conditions. Choose whether access to the topic is dependent on meeting all or any of your conditions.
   Associate a discussion topic	Click the Discussions tab. Select a discussion from the Topic Discussion drop-down. You can also select a discussion from the Topic Help Discussion drop-down. If you don’t have any discussions set up for the course, refer to Discussions.
   Add comments	Click the Comments tab. To add comments that only you can see, type your comments into the Personal Comments text field. To add comments, type your comments into the Shared Designer Comments text field.
   Associate topic with learning objectives	Click the Objectives tab. Click the Associate Learning Objectives button. Browse or Search for the learning objective you want to associate with the topic. Click Add Selected.

Create multiple new topics at once

1. Click Content on the navbar to access the Manage Content page.
2. Click the Add Multiple Topics icon beside the module that you want to bulk add topics to, or in the top tool menu.
3. Select from the Parent Module drop-down list to choose a module.
4. Select the files you want to create topics from.
5. If you want to update a topic’s title or add a short title, edit the Title field and add a Short Title.
6. Click Create.

Methods of creating new topics

Creating a new file with the HTML Editor

Create your topic file completely online using the HTML Editor. Refer to Creating content in the HTML Editor for more information about using the HTML editor.

Using a course file

Browse your Manage Files area to create topics from existing files. You can use the following types of files as topics:

Notes

For web documents, Learning Environment strips the <title> tag and text within that tag from user created web documents.

You can use WMA and WMV files for topics, but they're not recommended, as users who access them through Firefox require a plug-in for them, and the plug-in does not guarantee the file plays for them. You can download the plug-in here: http://port25.technet.com/pages/windows-media-player-firefox-plugin-download.aspx

Uploading a new file

Upload files from your computer directly into the Content tool. The following file extensions are not supported by Learning Environment:

Note  For web documents, Learning Environment strips the <title> tag and text within that tag from user created web documents.

Quicklinking to another resource

Create Quicklinks to external sites or other areas of your course site, such as quizzes, discussions, dropboxes, etc.

Note  If your course is SCORM 2004-compliant then any new topics you create are outside the sequencing and navigation built into the SCORM package. SCORM topics have the SCORM icon beside their titles.