Using a page for each week, module, or unit, is a great way to help student keep on track, because ideally it includes all the info and links they need for that week.

In an Overview page, you may want to include the following:

• Context: Draw students attention, interest, and curiosity with a quote, story, illustration, or piece of media that highlights why students should care about upcoming learning activities. Explaining how this week builds on prior content and sets up for future content can further build a sense of relevance.
• Tips: Any procedural reminders or encouragement appropriate to this particular part of the course.
• Week/Module Outcomes: How does this week's learning equip students for the overall course outcomes ("So what's in it for me?")
• Requirements (Tasks and due dates): What is expected and by when? Keeping assignment information consistent (ideally identical) with the syllabus can considerably reduce student uncertainty and anxiety.

An overview page works well when you are using Activity Names Auto-linking.

See the first 3 minutes of the following video for further guidance on setting up an Overview Page to help students keep on track.

• Using Course Design to Keep Students on Task

Using embed code from YouTube/Vimeo videos work well in a page resource rather than a URL resource because it keeps students within Moodle which may lead to less distraction from related videos.

Embed code goes in the HTML of the page, and usually starts with an <iframe> tag.

Using Built-in Heading Styles to Keep Students' Attention

Within pages, please use the built-in paragraph heading styles (the editor calls them Large, Medium, Small, and Normal for standard text). These headings enhance the experience for users by grouping content and helping readers jump to key information quickly (especially if they're using screen readers). Using the editor's heading styles also make your content more readable and consistent.

Pasting content directly from Microsoft Word or other programs can bring a bunch of messy HTML code that makes your text act strangely. To avoid this, either use Ctrl+Shift+V to "paste without formatting" or click the Paste without formatting button in the editor toolbar.

Colors and Web Accessibility

For web accessibility purposes, avoid using text colors or highlighting to signify meaning. Many people have various forms of color-blindness, so if you need emphasis, italics, and/or bold are generally better options.

If you use images in pages, be sure to

1. give your image a description/alt-tag so it can be understood by those who cannot see it (due to disability or poor internet bandwidth).
2. Provide a caption with copyright, creative commons, and/or fair use information.

Less is More

Helping Students Pay Attention

If you want students to actually read your material, generally keep paragraphs short and bullet lists no longer than 5-7 items. Adhere to the adage "Less is more" in web writing. Longer paragraphs and lists encourage readers to skip ahead or skim, which often means students miss key information that may be within a "wall of text."

If you're considering using bold/colored font or highlighting to get students attention, you probably should instead reduce the text and use some of the following techniques to respect student's attention:

• Bullet lists are more attractive than paragraphs
• Images can convey a concept more clearly than many sentences
• Bite-sized chunks using headings as described above feels more manageable.
• Expected reading time displayed in a page's title helps students know what they're getting into, so they're more likely willing to commit the time when they have it.
• Comprehension check questions (especially interactive ones, perhaps created with H5P) help students know if they paid enough attention to the content to move on.