Midlands State University
e-Learning User Guide
For
Lecturers
Ver 1.0.0 (March 2006)
Prepared by
The
Information Technology Services Department
Preface
This document serves as a manual for using facilities provided by the e-learning section
of the Midlands State University website.
This document will cover all areas found on the e-learning web-section, i.e.,
 Lecturer Account creation.
 Logging in for the first time.
 Managing Modules
o Uploading Learning Materials
o Posting News
o An introductory Note about the module.
o Timetable Management
o Coursework Management
 Communication with Students
o Chatting
o Private Messaging
o Forums
Basic Internet Knowledge is assumed
NB: Most features described and explained in this document are likely to change in the
near future as the e-learning system is continuously improved.
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CONTENTS
Preface
ii
1
Accessing the MSU website
1
2
Accessing the E-Learning Section
2
3
Creating an e-learning account
3
4
Checking your mail
6
5
Account creation – Last Stage
9
6
Logging in for the first time
11
6.1
12
7
8
The Control Panel at a glance
Lecturer’s Control Panel in detail
14
7.1
Module Management
14
Item 1 – Module Home
15
Item 2- Upload Learning Material
16
Item 3 – Add module news & updates
17
Item 4 – About the module
17
Item 5 – Managing Module Timetable
17
Item 6 – Managing Coursework
17
COMMUNICATION
18
8.1
Chatting
18
8.2
Private Messaging
21
8.2.1 Sending a Private Message
22
8.2.2 Reading Private Messages
23
Forums
23
8.3.1 Accessing Forums
24
8.3.2 Features of the Module Forum Homepage
24
8.3.3 Starting a new topic
24
8.3.4 Accessing a forum topic
24
8.3
iii
1. Accessing the MSU website
To access the Midlands State University website you need to have a web browser on
your computer.
In you browser, visit the URL (Universal Resource Locator) http://www.msu.ac.zw .
When you visit this URL you will be welcomed by the MSU homepage. On the MSU
homepage there are a lot features. Among the features there is the link to the E-learning
section of the MSU website.
Figure 1
1
2. Accessing the E-learning section
To access the e-learning section of the website, locate the e-learning hyperlink under the
Navigation Menu that is to the left of the homepage. Click on the hyperlink to reach the
e-learning section as illustrated in Figure 1 or you can directly visit the e-learning section
at http://www.msu.ac.zw/elearning/
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3. Creating an e-learning account
In order to benefit from the e-learning website, you need to have an e-learning account.
Also in-order to create an e-learning account you must have your email registered in
the e-learning database. If your email is not registered in the database, then you must
organize with your department to prepare a list of all the teaching staff in your
department and email it to webmaster@msu.ac.zw. The list must be prepared into a
Microsoft Excel document found at http://www.msu.ac.zw/elearning/stafflist.xls.
Figure 2
After your department has submitted the excel document, you will soon be able to create
your e-learning account.
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Figure 3
To start creating your e-learning account you need to visit the learning website section,
by following the illustrations in Figure 1 and explanations made under the topic
Accessing the E-learning section. When you reach the e-learning home page, locate
where it is labeled Create Lecturer account here . See illustrations made in Figure 3 for
locating this label. Use your mouse to click on the Label.
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Figure 4
After clicking on the Label, you should reach a page identical to the one shown in Figure
4. Enter the email address that was submitted to the Webmaster when the Lecturers’ list
was prepared. If your email is registered in the database, then a page identical to the
page below (Figure 5) will be displayed and you will also receive an email to the email
address that you will have entered.
Figure 5
NB: Only MSU email accounts ( *@msu.ac.zw ) are to be used when doing e-learning
business.
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4. Checking your mail
You will receive an email message with a unique hyperlink. In order to check your MSU
email, visit the URL http://216.104.194.219/.
Figure 6
As illustrated in Figure 6, enter your username and password and click on the Log In
button.
6
Figure 7
When you successfully log into your account, a page similar to the one in Figure 7 will
appear in your browser. Click on the hyperlink labeled Mail to view your mail box.
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Figure 8
When you reach your Inbox, you will find a new message From MSU E-Learning
Services, with the subject as Account Activation. See Figure 8 for illustrations on how
to locate the message.
Figure 9
You will open a message similar to the one shown in Figure 9. Click on the
hyperlink(URL) in the message to activate your account.
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5. Account creation – Last Stage
After you have clicked on the URL, you will see a web page with all your details ( See
Figure 10) . On this page you will confirm your details.
Figure 10
As in Figure 10, verify your personal details and enter your desired/secret password.
Retype your password to confirm it. A username is suggested for you. Please memorize
it, or you can change it to something that you can easily memorize. Please note that this
is not your email username. Click on the Button labeled Create Account. If you have
entered your details correctly, you will be directed to the e-learning homepage. Your
account is now created.
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This is the end of the Account Creation process.
Welcome to the world of e-learning.
10
6. Logging in for the first time
In this section you will be introduced to the features in your e-learning control panel.
Figure 11
To log into your e-learning account, you visit the e-learning homepage at
http://www.msu.ac.zw/elearning/. Under the Lecturer’s Login Section, enter your
username and password and click on the Sign In button. If your login details are correct
then you will be able to go to the next level. If you are a departmental chairperson , then
you be prompted to select one of the following options.
 Perform normal lecturer operations.
 Perform chairperson duties,
In this section, you will only learn how to do normal lecturer operations. For performing
chairperson duties, see the chairperson manual.
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6.1 The control panel at a glance
Figure 12
When you have successfully logged into your e-learning account, you will see the
Lecturer’s control panel homepage. The control panel homepage is the central hub of all
the operations that you will perform in your account. The Control Panel Homepage
consist of links to the following:
 Modules management section – managing each module that you teach/lecture,
i.e., this is the section that will allow you to upload learning materials, set
timetables and manage course work for each module.
 Personal Data Management Section – this section lets you manage your
personal details and change password at any given time.
 Image (Avatar)- This is an image/picture that will be shown on anything
associated with you in the e-learning system. You must contact the IT
department to get a photo if you don’t have one in your control panel.
 Communication Tools – these communication tools allows you to communicate
with the students. There are three ways to communicate with the students i.e.
 Chatting – Lets you communicate with a student in real time
mode. This is a one to one mode of communication.
 Private Messaging – This allows you to send messages to
students. All the messages are sent to an inbox. Hence this kind
of communication is not real time, but maintains a one to one
mode of communication.
 Forums – this kind of communication is not in real-time mode,
and unlike other modes of communication, it is public. It is meant
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for public discussions, i.e., everyone doing the module can
discuss in the module forum. Each module has a forum.
After you have finished using this control panel, you must always logout. Click on the
logout menu Item.
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7. Lecturer’s Control Panel in detail
7.1 Module Management
All the learning materials, news, updates, timetables and coursework are managed
under a module. So this management is called Module Management. This is the most
important feature in the e-learning system. To start managing a module, you must click
on the menu item labeled My Modules as shown in Figure 13
Figure 13
After clicking on the My Module Menu item, you should see a page like the one in Figure
14
Figure 14
This web page will list all the modules that you will be lecturing during the current
semester. Your departmental chairperson assigns these modules to you. Each module
entry has a teachery id. A teachery ID helps the e-learning system to distinguish
between two or more lecturers teaching the same module. If there are missing modules,
you should contact your departmental chairperson or the ITS department. To start
managing a module, click on the module name or code.
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Figure 15
After clicking on the module link as illustrated in Figure 14, you will reach the module
homepage. Below the Control Panel Main Menu (Account Home | My Modules | My
Account | Logout) the name and the code of the module is displayed.
The Module Homepage has six main menu items. The six main components of the
Module Homepage menu are labeled in Figure 15. Below is an expanded explanation for
each component.
Item 1
Module Home
This is the link that will return you to the module homepage. The homepage is
shown in figure 5 and labeled 1 in a big transparent green circle. On the module
home page, you are shown the learning materials that you will have uploaded and
the news and updates that you will have posted for that module.
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Item 2 - Upload Learning Material
Figure 16
In order to upload your learning material, you need to click on item 2 in figure 15 labeled
Upload Learning Material. See figure 16. When you have reached the upload web
page, enter the Material Title (e.g. Assignment 1, Course Outline). If the material is an
assignment or something that can be due select Yes, under the question “Does this
material have a due date of submission or not?” otherwise select No for other learning
materials like course notes and outlines. Select the file with the learning contents from
your computer by clicking the Browse button. Click the button labeled “Click here to
upload” to upload the learning material file. After you have successfully uploaded the
learning material, you will be taken back to the Module home page (See figure 15) and
you will notice that there will be a new addition under the Uploaded Materials section.
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Item 3 - Add Module News and Updates
Figure 17
To add a new Module News item, you click on Add Module News/Update Module
Menu label as shown in Figure 17. You will reach the page identical to the one in Figure
17. Enter the News Article Title and the News Contents in the form provided. Click on
the Button labeled Post Message to post a news item. You will be directed to the
module home page and you will also notice a change on the Module homepage.
Item 4. About The Module
Upon clicking on this Menu element, you be able to enter or adjust a brief description
about the module.
Item 5. Managing Module timetable
This section lets you manage your module timetable.
Item 6. Managing Coursework
This section lets you manage your students’ course work. You can add new coursework
components and enter the marks for the students for each module.
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8. COMMUNICATION
The e-learning system has 3 modes of communication, i.e., chatting, Private Messaging
and Forums.
8.1 Chatting
Figure 18
18
Chatting is a one-to-one real-time mode of communication. A student request for
a chat with the lecturer and the lecturer can either accept or reject the chat
session. This feature allows you to give and get response instantly to and from
students. The chat feature can only be utilized when both you and the student
are online. To locate the Chat Monitoring Section see Figure 18.
Figure 19
From Figure 19, in Scenario 1 (Before Chat), The chat monitoring section will
inform you that there is No student requesting a chat. When the student
requests for a chat, the Chat Monitoring section will transform to Scenario 2
(Chat Requested). In scenario 2, Names of students requesting for chats
appears. In order to chat with a student, you click on his/her name. After you
have clicked on the name, a web page like the one in Figure 20 will pop up into a
separate window. As you chat with the student, the name of the student will
appear to the left of the message he/she will have send. To the left of all your
message, the word you will appear. Analyze Figure 20, to digest the whole
chatting concept.
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Figure 20
20
8.2 Private Messaging
This form of communication, like The Chat, is a one-to-one mode of
communication, but unlike The Chat, it is offline. This means, the lecturer
can send a message to the student and the student can respond to the
message anytime and vice-versa. The Private Message works more like
an email service. Incoming messages are kept in the Inbox. To access
this feature, see Figure 21, which illustrates how to locate the Private
Messaging feature.
Figure 21
With the Private Messaging Service, you can send and receive private
messages. To send a private message, you click on the Send PM
hyperlink. See Figure 21 above.
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8.2.1 Sending a Private Message
Figure 22
After clicking on the Send PM hyperlink, a page identical to the one
shown in figure 22 will be opened. Enter the Student Registration
Number for the student that you want to message, the message subject
and the Private Message. Click the Submit button to send the PM to the
student. The student registration number must be valid otherwise you will
receive an error message.
8.2.2 Reading Private Messages
From the Control Panel homepage, using guidelines in figure 21, click on
Inbox-New() hyperlink to enter your Private Messages inbox. Referring to
Figure 23 (Overleaf), Web Page 1 resembles the Control Panel
homepage and Web Page 2 resembles the web page that comes when
you click the Inbox->New() . Web Page 2 shows all the messages in the
PM Inbox. All unread messages will be in bold, and each message will
have the name of the Sender (students), the subject and the date sent.
Upon Clicking the Subject you will be able to view Web page 3, which is
the web page that will display the Private Message Contents. You can
reply to the sender by clicking on the Reply hyperlink. Take a look at
Figure 23 and digest the Private Messaging concept.
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Figure 23
8.3 Forums
Figure 24
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The third method of communicating is the forum. A forum involves more
of discussions than sending messages. Unlike others, communication is
public, i.e., everyone doing the module views message sent. In forums,
anyone can start a topic, lecturers and students for that module can make
contributions to the topic, i.e., they can post suggestions, comments and
replies to topics started. Each module has a forum meaning all topics are
related to certain modules they have been started for. Follow the logic in
Figure 24.
8.3.1 Accessing Forums
Each Module that you teach has a forum. From the Lecturer Control
Panel homepage, as illustrated in Figure 24, you click a hyperlink labeled
go to forum to the right of the module name. Upon clicking on the link,
you will open the Module Forum Homepage. (see Figure 25)
Figure 25
8.3.2 Features of the Module Forum Homepage
For each module forum board, the module name is visibly displayed on
the Module Forum Home Page. The homepage also displays a listing of
all posts made by students and lecturers of that module. The homepage
also has a link to start a new topic labeled Start New Topic.
8.3.3 Starting a new topic
By clicking on the Start New Topic hyperlink, you can start a new forum
topic. You need to enter the Subject of the topic and an introductory
message.
8.3.4
Accessing a forum topic
To access a forum topic you must click on the subject of the topic.
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NOTES
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