Planner

In the planner settings you decide how you want the planner to work and what information to show.

Settings

Use topic: Topics are used to group or otherwise organise the plans in the planner. In an English course, topics might include 'Grammar' and 'Spelling'. Unticking this option removes the other options.

Create a folder for each new topic: Creates a folder for each topic in your navigation tree. When this option is not ticked, all resources and activities appear at the root of the navigation tree. Most teachers find it tidiest to create a folder for each new topic.

Activation: You can automate the activation of plans by selecting any other option from the ‘Activate plans’ pull down. For example, you can choose to make a plan visible on its start date.

Activate connected elements when the plan is activated: ticking this box will automatically activate all inactive content connected to the plan. If you for example want a test to be activate on a given time, you can still set up individual activation for this element.

Enable anonymous access: It's possible to create a link to the course planner that can for example be made available on the school’s website. To get this link, select this option and then click the link Copy public link. This will open a dialog in which you can select this link. Note: you need to save the planner settings before this link becomes active.

Topic and plan fields

You can set up which kind of information you want to provide around the topics and plans in the course. This can for example be the topic objectives, a summary of what will be discussed during this topic, the learning objectives of a plan, the resources a student needs, etc.

Feel free to Add and Remove columns. You may, for example, want to add a column for Teacher notes, Lab exercises, or similar.

Note: you can only delete custom planner fields. For default planner fields – such as date – you can set the visibility to Nobody.

Title: The title as it appears for teachers and students in the planner. You are allowed to change the titles if you want.

Type: (Topics only) Decide if you want to add Learning objectives to this field or write Text in it.

Visible for: Select from the drop-down list those you want the columns to be visible to when the plan is published. The options are 'everyone', which includes both teachers and the course participants, 'nobody', and 'teachers only'. By selecting the latter, you can make fields visible to only you and other teachers.

Show on dashboards and calendars: (Plans only) Choose if you want this field to appear in the ‘summary’ of a plan that can be seen on the course dashboard and from a calendar event.

You can drag and drop to reorganise the order of the fields.

By clicking the Add topic button, you can enter the name of a topic. Just type directly in the cell. When you have added a topic, a new button, Add plan, allows you to add a plan. All fields for topics and plans can be edited directly inline.

To make it easier to schedule plans, you can activate plans based on their start date, two days in advance, one week in advance or two weeks in advance. With a simple click it's also possible to activate connected elements when the plan is activated. This is accomplished from the Settings cog wheel >> Activate plans.

Activities are elements that require active participation from users, such as assignments and test. Activities can also be assessed. Resources are elements such as notes, files, and links that provide information about a subject.

You have 3 options when adding elements; you can create a new element, connect an existing course element to the plan or search for elements in the library. See the How-tos below for detailed instructions for adding resources and activities.

Plans can be exported and imported (in XML format). This feature simplifies matters for a teacher who wants to reuse a plan for other sites, for example if this teacher switches jobs. Note that you cannot import an arbitrary XML file. It must have the same structure as the itslearning planner files.

Note: Learning tools that are connected to the plan are not included in the export.If you want to reuse (parts of) the planner in other courses on the same site, you can simply use the copy action in the toolbar or use course templates.

1. Enter a course.
2. Click Settings in the navigation tree.
3. Click Course properties and features.
4. Under "Functions", check the box in front of "Planner".
5. Click Save. The Planner link now appears in your navigation tree.

1. Click + Resource or + Activity.
2. Click on either the Select from course tab or the Search library tab.
3. Check the boxes in front of the elements you want to add.
4. Click Add resource (or Add activity). The elements are now connected to your plan.

1. Click + Resource or + Activity.
2. Click on the Create tab.
3. Select the type of content you want to create.
4. Enter the required information.
5. Click Save.