Working through an e-learning module

E-learning is at E-learning. A module runs in the browser, takes as long as it says on its page, and needs nothing installed.

How a module is built

A module is a series of steps down the left-hand side, and you work through them in order. A step might be something to read, a picture or diagram, a short film with a transcript under it, a box drawing attention to something, a document to download, or a knowledge check. Which of those a module uses is up to whoever wrote it.

The list on the left is also the progress indicator: it shows where you are, what you have done and what is left.

Your progress is kept

Progress is saved as you go, on the server rather than in the browser. Close the laptop at step four on a Tuesday and open the module on a different machine on Thursday, and it opens at step four.

That works with scripting switched off, too. The Continue button posts to exactly the same place the script does, so the site cannot behave differently depending on how your browser is set up.

Films

Every film step carries a transcript underneath it. If the film will not play — a filtered network, no sound, a policy on video sites — the transcript carries the same content, and it is quicker to read than to watch.

Downloads

A step may carry a document: a checklist, a template, a one-page summary to put on a wall. Those are yours to keep and are worth taking as you pass them, because you will not want to work back through the module to find one.

Knowledge checks

Many modules end with one, and some have them part way through. See knowledge checks for what happens if you do not pass first time.

Finishing

Completing the last step completes the module. A certificate is issued immediately, with the date it was earned and, where the module has a lifetime, the date it runs out. See certificates, and when one runs out.

Doing it again

You can reopen a module you have completed and read it again whenever you like. That does not cancel the completion or take the certificate away. Where the module has run out, or where your school has asked you to do it again, the site says so on the module's own page rather than leaving you to work it out.

If a module will not open

Some modules come with a subscription your school holds. Where yours does not, the page says which service includes it rather than only refusing. See guidance and documents.

Modules somebody has asked you to do

Anything assigned to you, with its deadline, is on your school's learning page and in your alerts. See assigning e-learning for what your school sees at the other end.