Introducing Glossary
Introducing Glossary
The name Glossary suggests an alphabetical list of technical terms and accompanying definitions, but that is only one of the possible uses of the Glossary within Moodle. It can be used as a repository for many relatively small units of knowledge.
Linking Words
You will notice that throughout this Course there are certain words which are highlighted with a blueish color over the word. These words are either words that have glossary definitions that you may click on and follow the link to read more about the word, or they are titles of activities that you can also click on to follow the link. You will be able to tell if it is a glossary link or an activity link by placing your mouse over the top of the highlighted word. When you do this, it will reveal the description of the kind of link you can follow in a small box of text. For example, Introducing Glossary is the title of this page and the link, therefore, simply stays on this page.
Browsing and Searching Glossaries
The entries can be searched or browsed in many different ways, including by:
- author
- date
- alphabetical
- category (assuming they have been categorised)
You can also search for a particular word using the search function.
Note that there are different display formats which can be chosen to complement different uses of the Glossary; e.g. dictionary or encyclopaedia style, which may affect which details are shown in a particular Glossary. These will have been preset by your Tutor.
Adding a New Entry to a Glossary
In this Course the Working Definitions Glossary has been set up to allow you to add to a Glossary by choosing the Add a New Entry option. You will then be presented with the opportunity to fill in the following details:
- the word or concept you wish to define
- as many key words as you wish to associate with your concept
- any attachments you wish to include (this can be an image or other relevant files)
- choose whether or not you wish to attach your entry to a category (if categories have been created by your tutor)
When you click the 'Save Changes' button your entry will appear in the Glossary after a short period of time. Glossaries here are set up so that I will approve entries before releasing them so although you will be able to see any entry you suggest, other students will have to wait a short while until it is approved.
Optional features of Glossary
Comments can be added in response to individual concepts, thus allowing for discussion of, for example, either the concept itself, or the way in which it has been defined.
Auto-linking which creates a link to items in the Glossary when they are mentioned in all other resources or activities in your Moodle course. This allows you to click on the highlighted term and be taken to the Glossary to see its associated definition.
Multiple Definitions for a single term are allowed where there is no definitive answer, or to allow different interpretations and opinions to be explored (this feature will be used often in this Course as there are very little, if any, definitive answers or interpretations to the issues we will be exploring).
Now that you have have had a chance to read through the information here, please follow this link to the 'Working Definitions: A Glossary' in the Introductory section of this course and write a definition for the term e-learning. You may include what you mean by this term, what this term connotes for you, your own experiences with elearning thus far and any other ideas you wish to include. Please note that the Glossary is a place for us to explore terms and ideas; there are no correct or wrong answers and you need not be 'formal' in your entries.