Managing your Handouts and Files

This lesson explores the use of the Files section and covers how to upload large amounts of files and the most effective ways to display them to students.

Tip: To make the most of using Files in Moodle, it is advisable to organise your Files and Folders on your computer first.

Locating Files

If you are a tutor on a course, you will have access to the Administration panel on the left hand side of your Moodle course.

To access your files, simply click on the Files link.

The Files window

Here you can see some files that were used for Sequencing and Production for CMP2.

The tutor has arranged his files into an easy to understand folder structure (1), but also kept a few files outside of the folders (2).

Notice there is also a folder called moddata (3) - this folder stores all the submitted assignments, quizzes, forums etc and must not be touched!

Moodle also informs us how big the files are, when they were Modified (uploaded) and also gives you the option to Rename your files and folders (4), which is hopefully self explanatory.

Let's see how the folders were setup.

Making a Folder

To make a folder, simply click on the 'Make a Folder' button.

It will then ask you to name the folder. Give it a name and press Save.

Find your folder

Now that we've made a folder, we can simply Upload a File into that folder.

This image shows that I am in the FX_Units folder. I click on Upload a File, browse my computer for that file and then click Upload.

Upload a file

Simply click on (1) to locate the file on your computer and then hit (2) to Upload the file.

Notice that (3) tells you what Folder your file is being uploaded to.

Displaying an individual file

To display an individual file, please refer to the 'Linking to Files and Websites' handout.

Displaying a Folder

If you are working with lots of handouts and resources and want to help your students find the right file, it's a good idea to Display a Directory.

This time, when you Add a Resource... choose Display a Directory.

Choosing the Folder

As with other Resources, give your Folder a name (1) (pro-active names such as 'Click here for...' often help). You can also give your Folder a summary. (2)

Then, under the Display a Directory section, choose the folder you want to display (3). Here I will choose Logic Handouts.

Scroll to the bottom of the page and click Save.

The folder appears!

Our folder now appears on our Moodle page. And when a student clicks on it...

Inside the folder

...our files appear! Notice that the Summary is also present too (1).

One last thing

If you want to add more files or change the folder, simply use the two shortcuts in the top right-hand corner.