Accessible thesis template now available!

Written by Ellen Wildman, Digital Accessibility Skills Developer (ISS)

If you support students who need to submit a thesis, let them know there is now a digitally accessible template available that is also aligned with the formatting requirements that the University set. 

Accessible theses are created in a specific way so everyone can use them – regardless of background, circumstance, or disability. An analysis of academic papers sourced from different research areas found that about 98% had accessibility issues (Menzies et al., 2022). Making research available to everyone puts into practice Lancaster University’s lived value of respecting a diverse and inclusive community of communities.  

Student benefits 

As shown in the first page of the template below, by using this template, students will:  

  1. Align their thesis with the necessary layout stipulated by the Manual of Academic Regulations and Procedures. 
  2. Ensure their research is digitally accessible (when used appropriately). 
  3. Enable ease of navigation by using features of Microsoft Word, for example automatically create a dynamic table of contents with heading-use.

Thesis template document in Microsoft Word. The text shows the opening lines of the template which are customisable.

Direct relevant students to visit the Accessible thesis page on ASK to download the template and top-tips to make their thesis accessible. There is also a video to assist those students who might need support to use a Microsoft template. 

Reference  

Menzies, R., Tigwell, G.W. and Crabb, M. (2022). Author Reflections on Creating Accessible Academic Papers.ACM Transactions on Accessible Computing. doi:https://doi.org/10.1145/3546195.  

Improving Peer Online Forums Project

Written by Sam Pilgrim, Learning Technologist (FHM)

As Learning Technologists, we are asked to become involved in a wide variety of projects. One recent example is a research project I started working on in my previous role in Information Systems Services (ISS) and continued after my move to the Faculty of Health and Medicine (FHM).

The IPOF (Improving Peer Online Forums) Project on Mental Health Forums is a research project led by Professor Fiona Lobban in conjunction with NHS Berkshire’s SHaRON team, to investigate mental health forums and ways to improve them. More information on IPOF, its aims and outputs, can be found on the Lancaster University FHM research pages.

I worked with the research team and co-design group to develop a forum moderator training package using Xerte, online software that allows a user to create interactive learning packages. The package consisted of nine modules developed by lived experience experts and forum moderators along with LU academic and research staff on different topics including:

  • the moderator role;
  • moderator support;
  • mental health on online forums;
  • expressing empathy through language;
  • managing risk;
  • managing challenging situations;
  • encouraging activity; and
  • a final quiz.

Each module was reviewed and amended by the co-design group at monthly meetings, and the final design and content emerged from the feedback discussions.

Graphics and animations created by others in the team were embedded into the training package to aid understanding and increase engagement.

The final package was handed over to the NHS Berkshire who are now in the process of publishing it to their website.

Front page of a Xerte package created for IPOF. The package is called "Mental Health Forum Moderator Training".
The front page of one of the Xerte packages entitled ‘Mental Health Forum Moderator Training’

Add GenAI RAG categories to Moodle at the click of a button

Written by Dr. Richard Floyd, Digital Learning Facilitator (ISS)

Each assignment in Moodle needs to have a Red, Amber, or Green category for the use of generative AI. The University has provided some guidance for staff covering what these categories mean and how this should be communicated to students.

To make it easier for staff to share this information with students, we have now added a set of custom components to the text editor in Moodle. This will allow you to choose your category and automatically insert the official icon and text into your assignment description.

How to add an AI RAG category to your assignment description

  1. Edit your assignment settings
  2. In the description field, click the three dots to expand the toolbar, then select the Components for Learning (C4L) option (the Lego brick):The TinyMC text editor in Moodle with the 'Components 4 Learning" (C4L) lego brick icon circled in red.
  3. Under the Custom tab, select the relevant category and then click save:The custom tab for components in the C4L section of the TinyMC editor. The 'RAG AI - Red)' option is selected.
  4. The component will then appear in your assignment description:An example of an assignment with the Generative AI category applied in Moodle in the "description" section of the settings.

If you require any further support, get in touch with a Faculty Learning Technologist or a Digital Learning Facilitator.

eStream 2025 update: What’s new?

An update to Planet eStream will be launched across Lancaster University on 23rd April 2025. It is quite a big change and users will be automatically moved to the new version on this date.

If you aren’t already familiar with the platform, Planet eStream is the recommended method of embedding on-demand videos into Moodle courses. You can also use it for multimedia student submissions without file type or size limits. Another feature is Planet eStream Connect which makes it easy to record upcoming TV and radio programmes, with access to an extensive archive of pre-recorded shows that can also be embedded directly into Moodle. The TV and radio archive currently goes back to 2007 and eStream are aiming to backfill the archive to 1987.

This new update doesn’t just provide a new look; there are great improvements to a user’s experience through a more streamlined navigation and recording is now available across all browsers without the need for additional plugins.

In this post, I’m going to introduce you to some of the key changes and a couple of features you may not have noticed.

The new look

Your area in eStream is now a side bar that can be opened and closed and appears on the right hand side of the screen. It automatically pops up when you enter the site and can be closed via the ‘X’ sign. To reopen the sidebar click on your profile/initials icon in the top right hand corner. The default section of your area is the “favourites” tab but you can also access other tabs relevant to you such as your watch history, your media area, quizzes, video edits and conversions. You might remember that your personal eStream area used to default to the quizzes tab so the default to the favourites tab is a small change.

The Lancaster University eStream homepage also looks quite different and in my opinion, more attractive. The most popular videos for eStream users at Lancaster University are displayed on this page for easy access.

The icons to search categories, create new media or open tools are slightly different but can still be found at the top of the page to the right of the search bar.

The Lancaster eStream homepage as shown with the users area side bar open.

Creating new media

To create or record media in eStream go to the cloud icon at the top of the page and this will open the “Create Media Options”.

From here you can access the web recorder as well as other ways to add content to eStream such as the options to create a playlist, upload media, add external links and access the TV and radio archive (eStream Connect). eStream also has a separate option where you can import Microsoft Teams Meetings from your OneDrive which is useful for captioning and sharing online lectures or events with students and other staff.

The web recorder no longer needs additional browser plugins to work and can work on any browser. For example, when using Chrome as your browser, to use the web recorder you had to enable a Planet eStream extension – this no longer applies in the updated version.

Continue reading eStream 2025 update: What’s new?

Lent Term 2025: Training Offering

We will be offering the following lunch-time training sessions to staff in the Faculty of Health and Medicine (FHM) but staff from across the University are very welcome to join:

Wednesday 5th March (12-12:30): Making Resources Digitally Accessible in Microsoft Word and PowerPoint

In this session, we will look at how to use the accessibility checks in Microsoft Word and Microsoft PowerPoint. We will look at some of the common problems with document accessibility and also look at how to use ALLY in Moodle to view and improve the accessibility score of documents. Due to the length of the session, this will be a demonstration session rather than a workshop. Follow-up appointment details will be shared in the session to book a 1:1 support meeting to put what you have learned into practice if required.

Use this link to book your place: https://lancaster-uk.libcal.com/event/4347623 

Wednesday 12th March (12-12:30): Quizzes in Moodle

An introduction on how to set up a quiz in Moodle either for formative or summative assessment. We will look at a some example question types and also show an example of an online exam. Due to the length of the session, this will be a demonstration session rather than a workshop.

Use this link to book your place: https://lancaster-uk.libcal.com/event/4347630

Wednesday 19th March (12-12:30): Assessment Feedback in Moodle

This session will showcase three different ways to mark and provide feedback on assessments in Moodle. The session will cover how to set up 3 different types of feedback in Moodle: feedback criteria, rubrics and marking guides. Due to the length of the session, this will be a demonstration session rather than a workshop. Follow-up appointments are available should you wish to discuss a particular assessment.

Use this link to book your place: https://lancaster-uk.libcal.com/event/4347643

Wednesday 26th March (12-12:30): Video Production in eStream

We will look at how to record a video (including screen capture) and then how to automatically caption the video using eStream, sometimes referred to as ‘Planet eStream’.

This session is useful if you wish to record welcome videos, lectures or show students how to record videos of their own for assignment submissions. Due to the length of the session, this will be a demonstration session rather than a workshop.

Use this link to book your place: https://lancaster-uk.libcal.com/event/4347647

Wednesday 2nd April (12-12:30): Groups, Groupings and Group Choice in Moodle

We will look at how to set up a group and groupings of students in Moodle as well as how to set up an activity where students can make a choice about which group they want to be in. This is useful for setting up Learning Sets, group work tasks and more! Due to the length of the session, this will be a demonstration session rather than a workshop.

Use this link to book your place: https://lancaster-uk.libcal.com/event/4347650

Meetings will take place online and attendees will receive a recording.

We hope to see you all there!

Using Peer Assessment to support MBChB students in their coursework

Context

There are many benefits for students getting together to produce a poster, presentation or some other output to demonstrate their learning. However, peer assessment isn’t something I see very often. There could be a range of reasons for this from concern over cohort dynamics, workload, biased student feedback or lack of knowledge on how to set this kind of activity up. However, the benefits of peer assessment, in my opinion, outweigh the reasons why we, as educators, might shy away from it. Paul Chin highlights that one of the benefits of peer assessment is that students can “critique and review someone else’s work and thereby reflect on their own understanding or performance” (Chin, 2016). However, as we know, there are other professional skills that can be developed through peer assessment activities such as communication skills, leadership skills, organisation and teamwork (sometimes known as “soft skills” but the debate around that name can wait for another day!). Many of these professional skills are extremely important to our medical students, for whom this peer assessment was designed. The design of the assessment was done by myself, Liz Walkden,  lecturer Dr. Faye Tucker, our Faculty Librarian, Gem Sosnowsky and Learning Developer, Dr. Beth Caldwell.

The activities, which formed the peer assessment, were for Special Study Module 1 (SSM1). This module is for first year students on Lancaster Medical School’s MBChB programme. Special Study Modules make up the coursework part of Year 1 and Year 2 of the MBChB programme. Year 1 is an opportunity to teach students the skills that they need to succeed in the coursework in a scaffolded way. This then means that they are confident to conduct their own project in the second year.

What did the activity and assessment entail?

The peer assessment activity took place over several days. Students first took part in a 2.5-hour workshop where they met their group and learned what they needed to do. As part of this workshop, students set ground rules for their own group, assigned themselves roles within the group, discussed how and when they would meet and how they might use Microsoft Teams and other tools to coordinate, chat and share files.

Each group was given a set topic to research with relevant readings which they accessed through Moodle. The groups then worked together to create a poster to present to a selection of their peers. There were 27 groups in total, so the groups were split across 3 different rooms/lecture theatres for the live presentations. On the day itself, the cohort were split into three rooms for a conference style session, facilitated by the SSM1.  In this case, presentations were delivered in-person but, if suitable for the cohort or Programme, they could be delivered online using MS Teams or students could record themselves using the video platform eStream.

Not all students had to speak during the presentation of the poster and students could determine themselves who would present depending on the group dynamic and range of skills.

During the presentations, students filled out a short questionnaire providing their feedback on other people’s presentations. For example, a person in group A would give feedback on the presentation of a person in group B. The questionnaire supported engagement during the presentations and gave students a chance to provide constructive feedback to their peers. The set up of the questionnaire meant that students could not just give one-sided feedback; students gave their peers a “takeaway” and a “giveaway” (positive and negative feedback).

It is important that all types of assessment allow for reasonable adjustments for those students with additional needs. In addition, with first year students, it is especially important to offer flexibility as, for many students, delivering a presentation is nerve-wracking and often students are not that familiar with group work before they come to University. In the design process, we carefully considered how to make this an inclusive activity that would provide the flexibility and support to ensure that students could showcase their skills in a safe and positive environment.

“We are sometimes hesitant to do presentations with students as we don’t want students to feel uncomfortable or anxious. The group project allowed flexibility for students to self-organise, and gave them suitable tools to do so, so students could play to their strengths within the group. The way that technology was incorporated into content delivery, assessment, and feedback supported inclusion and learning away from the classroom. It helped students find their own roles in the group and take responsibility for the activity as a team.” – Dr. Faye Tucker

How was this set up in Moodle?

As the FHM Learning Technologist, the first thing I did was set up the relevant groups in Moodle to reflect the groups that students would be working in. I also set up groupings to reflect the three lecture theatres that the cohort would deliver their presentations in.

I then uploaded the resources from the workshop and I also created a help sheet on how students could use Microsoft Teams effectively when conducting a group project. This sheet included a suggestion that students could also use Microsoft Planner and other tools which might support their collaboration.

On the presentation day, the questionnaire was set up in Moodle and made available on the day of the presentations for students to access. The restrict access rule was applied in Moodle to the questionnaire as well as the other activities/files to ensure that each group only saw what was relevant to them. For example, each group saw their own set reading materials but none of the materials related to the other groups’ work. This meant that the resources they needed were more clearly presented on the Moodle page making it easier for students to find.

Overall, set up was straightforward considering there were 27 groups of five students. For support on how to set up groups and groupings in Moodle, check out this help video.

How did staff and students feel that it went?

Dr Faye Tucker felt that the experience was rewarding and can inform future development in the MBChB curriculum:

“This was a great opportunity to introduce students to different learning, teaching, and assessment. And, although there was only one type of submission (a poster) the students could demonstrate they had met the LOs through self-refection, peer-review, and by providing module evaluation. It would be great to offer alternative formats across our assessments on the MBChB where possible, such as podcasts or group submissions, so this was a great opportunity to trial something new and there is learning we can feed-forward into future assessment design.”

Following the peer assessment, we set up a feedback questionnaire in Moodle to ask students about their experiences. 108/117 students agreed or strongly agreed that their skills synthesising information from multiple sources improved. 104 students said their teamwork skills had improved. 94 students stated they enjoyed the activity with another 14 students saying that they neither agreed nor disagreed. Many students made additional, positive comments about the experience; some are included below:

“I really enjoyed this project. I met students I hadn’t spoken to before and it was quite nice to develop team working skills.”

“The two-and-a-half-hour workshop on Monday was useful as I believed it effectively covered everything we needed to know, and it also helped with meeting our group members. I really like the aspect of assigning roles to each group member since it helped provide structure to completing the poster in a timely manner.”

“I enjoyed it as it’s improved my collaboration skills and honed my ability to extract vital information from various sources.”

“I think that the information of setting up teams group and shared files was incredibly useful.”

Thinking of setting up a group work or a peer assessment activity?

If you want to explore alternative forms of assessment and find some support for setting these up in Moodle, please get in touch. Learning Technologists can support with the whole design process including creating mark schemes, creating resources and activities, and providing support on settings options in Moodle.

References

Chin, P. (2016). Peer assessment. New Directions in the Teaching of Natural Sciences, (3), 13–18. https://doi.org/10.29311/ndtps.v0i3.410

What is ‘Open Learning’ and how might I use it?

At Lancaster University we use Moodle as our learning management system (LMS) or virtual learning environment (VLE). However, what isn’t often known is that we actually have several instances of Moodle used across the University for different institutions or activities such as exams. For example, our partner campus in Weihai, Lancaster University College at Beijing Jiaotong University (LUCBJTU), has its own instance of Moodle and so does our partner campus in Ghana, LU Ghana. Aside from these, there are three different instances in use at our Bailrigg campus: Lancaster Moodle, Training and Development Moodle, Exams Moodle and we also have Moodle ‘Open Learning’.

Open Learning has most of the same features as the ‘Lancaster Moodle’ which we use daily with our students. It is used by staff, including teaching staff and researchers, to host courses to external groups of people. For example, it is used by the Centre for Child & Family Justice Research for the Giving HOPE Project. Training is provided through Open Learning to those who take an active role in the project such as those who provide care to mothers and babies. Open Learning is also used by the Library to provide support to school aged learners who are completing an EPQ (Extended Project Qualification). The students use the Open Learning space alongside in-person library sessions to learn more about how to search for relevant literature, how to reference and other key project skills.

The main advantage to Open Learning is that enrolment is not limited to people with a Lancaster University IT account. It can be accessed by anyone depending on what enrolment type the creator of the course chooses. For example, you could choose that users can self-enrol with a key (password) or you could choose that users are automatically enrolled when they click a link to the course.

Open Learning has a wealth of activities which can be used with your learners including the ability to embed Xerte packages and videos. You can also create quizzes to test the knowledge of your learners and interactive H5P (HTML5 packages) activities.

Another feature of Open Learning which is popular is the ability to create badges and certificates for those learners who have successfully completed a course. A template for a certificate is provided and you can also import your own badge design so that learners can add the badge to their profiles for example, on LinkedIn.

To find out more about Moodle, visit the ASK page. To find out more about creating an Open Learning course, get in touch with myself or a member of the central Digital Learning Team via the IT Help Centre.

The home page for Open Learning which includes the users name and an image from Lancaster Bailrigg campus.
The ‘Home’ page for Open Learning.

Mentimeter: Have you got your account yet?

The University has purchased staff licenses to Mentimeter, an interactive polling solution. This gives staff free access to all the features of Mentimeter if they sign up for an account with the University. Since its launch in October, use of the tool has been growing across the University.

Mentimeter gets students more actively involved in sessions whether they be seminars, lectures or workshops. Students can type in a code or scan a QR code and get right to the activity. It is particularly useful for engaging large groups especially when some of those students may be anxious to speak out or ask a question in front of their peers.

Mentimeter offers a range of features and activities such as:

  • Multiple choice quizzes
  • Word Cloud creation
  • Pin on an image
  • Q&A sessions
  • Quick forms
  • Open ended questions and more!

How does it work?

Once you have requested your license and completed the sign up, you will find that the Mentimeter “Home” page has a simple interface. An activity or presentation in Mentimeter is known as a Menti.

The Mentimeter "Home" page.
A screenshot of the Mentimeter home page when a user is logged in.

To start your own Menti, click the black “New Menti” button. This will take you to a new presentation. The first slide of the presentation gives you three options:

  1. Start from scratch
  2. Use a template
  3. Import slides (from a PowerPoint, Keynote or PDF)

When you click “start from scratch”, this gives you the option to choose from a range of interactive questions, quiz competitions or content slides. Once you have chosen an option, you can use the right-hand menu to begin setting up the question/activity/presentation.

You can add as many slides to the presentation as you wish and have a range of content types. As with any presentation, you can change the size and colour of the text as well as the background. You can include images too. There are options to have “themes” and to adapt the participation options to your needs. For example, you can change the settings so students can select multiple options and you can show responses live or hide responses until everyone has answered.

It certainly is a solution that is easy to use and play around with. Nevertheless, there are lots of guides and support out there too. A good place to start looking for support is the ASK page on Mentimeter.

Why move from my free license?

You may have been using Mentimeter for years now and be using a free license like that you signed up for. It is worth switching your account to a University one for several reasons:

  1. With a license, you are no longer limited to 50 participants on your Menti at one time. You can have up too 10,000 participants!
  2. You can access the moderation feature to assess the suitability of responses
  3. You get access to a wider range of activities such as the “quick form”.
  4. You can export results to Excel
  5. You can collaborate with other colleagues to create presentations together

The University of Lancaster has also done due diligence when agreeing to purchase licenses from this company and therefore, it is more secure to use this one than any other third party solution that may not have been investigated.

How can I learn more on how to use it?

On Friday 22nd November, I gave a training session to Faculty of Health and Medicine (FHM) staff on how to use Mentimeter. It was part of a series of short, lunchtime sessions on a range of topics. The recording of this session is available to view on eStream. If you need further help or support on the use of this tool, get in touch with myself if you are in FHM or raise a ticket with the IT Help Centre.

Training Offering – Winter 2024

We are currently offering the following lunch-time training sessions to staff in the Faculty of Health and Medicine (FHM) but staff from across the University are very welcome to join:

Monday 25th November (12-12:30): Moodle H5P Activities: A Showcase

H5P activities are interactive and often gamified content on Moodle such as interactive videos, flashcards, image hotspots, Cornell notes, crosswords and more! In this session you can preview a selection of the activities and learn how to set one up in Moodle. Including H5P content in your Moodle spaces will help engage your students and many of the activities are great for revision.

Use this link to book your place: https://lancaster-uk.libcal.com/event/4293160

Thursday 5th December (12-12:30): A new Moodle layout: images, summaries and more!

Learn how to create a more engaging looking Moodle space by using the “one section per page” layout and adding images and summaries to each of the sections. You will also learn about student feedback on Moodle layouts and templates and what students like to see in a Moodle space.

Use this link to book your place: https://lancaster-uk.libcal.com/event/4293167

Monday 9th December (12-12:30): Making documents accessible

In this short session, we will look at how to use the accessibility features in Microsoft Word and Microsoft PowerPoint. We will also look at how to make .pdf documents accessible using Adobe Acrobat Pro. Due to the length of the session, this will be a demonstration session rather than a workshop. Follow-up appointment details will be shared in the session to book a 1:1 support meeting to put what you have learned into practice if required.

Use this link to book your place: https://lancaster-uk.libcal.com/event/4293168

Monday 16th December (12-12:30): Resource Lists in Moodle

In this short session you will look at how resource lists in Moodle work and how to edit/manage them. You will also learn about how to add shorter weekly or topic based reading/resource lists to your Moodle spaces.

Use this link to book your place: https://lancaster-uk.libcal.com/event/4293173

Meetings will take place online and attendees will receive a recording. We hope to see you all there!

The rise of the “Weekly” Resource List

Every module space in Moodle has an associated resource list (sometimes called a reading list). Lancaster University uses the Leganto system which is a platform that holds all of the University Library’s resources in its database including books, e-books, journal articles, websites databases and more! It is important that teaching staff use the Leganto resource list system rather than for example, a list of resources on a .pdf because then the library can track what students are expected to read. This informs the material the Library purchases and the subscriptions they need to maintain. Leganto also takes care of issues around copyright so you won’t be in breach of any regulations.

At the start of every module, you might notice that the resource list appears at the top but is “hidden from students” by default. This is to give teaching staff a chance to check and update the list before they make it visible to students for their upcoming studies.

To be able to edit or add to the resource list, you need to be added to the module in LUSI (the student registry system) in an appropriate role such as administrative staff or teaching staff otherwise the add button and the ability to manage sections won’t be visible to you.

Options in Leganto to add, manage sections, filter or search.
Editing options at the top of a reading list in Leganto.

Resource lists can become very large especially with modules that span several weeks or in some cases, the whole academic year. As a result, it is worth knowing about how to use the embedded resource list activity in Moodle which allows you to make weekly or topic based resource lists based off the larger module one.

Why have “weekly”/“bitesize” reading lists?

We all know that students aren’t going to read all of the recommended resources and of course, we don’t expect them too. Resources may be added to the list to expand students’ horizons if they take an interest in a particular sub-topic but aren’t essential to completing the module with a positive outcome. However, when resource lists get very large they become unwieldy for both staff and students. It can be difficult for students to determine what is “essential” reading and what is most relevant to them at that point in their studies even if the material is organised into sections.

Adding a weekly reading list or an equivalent for a series of lectures or activities is helpful and encourages students to get stuck into their reading. It more easily highlights the essential resources for that week or topic. If there is a particular set text for a module, you can also select specific chapters to accompany the content delivered to students that week.

We know, from the survey I so frequently mention, the Moodle Student User Experience Survey from November 2023, that students like weekly reading lists and want to see more of them! 14 of the students who responded to the survey specifically mentioned in that they wanted to see better organised reading lists to help them navigate to the relevant material. One student said:

“It is helpful to see content in chronological order grouped by week and including slides, worksheets, recordings and resources together. Apart from that it I don’t find long lists of information helpful, especially when it seems to be unorganised. Suggested readings should also be clear and systematic.”

As a result, we should, where possible, try to utilise smaller resource lists to support students in their learning.

How do I set up weekly reading lists?

Firstly, you must have a resource list associated with the module, usually found at the top of the module space in Moodle. If resources are added to this list, you can then pull them through into a weekly/bitesize reading list. Therefore, it is important to make sure you have set up a complete module resource list in Leganto first.

Once this has been done, turn on edit mode in Moodle.

Click “add an activity or resource” to add the weekly reading list where you need it to be. You can always move them after creating them if required.

The activity to choose is the “Resource List (Embedded item)”.

Resource list (embedded item) activity option in Moodle.
The resource list (embedded item) activity option in Moodle.

Once selected, many of the activity settings are the same as other activities in Moodle. However, this activity has a section called “Select citations from [name of module resource list]”. This list reflects your Resource list and you can tick the boxes for the resources you wish to add to the smaller list for your topic or week.

You also get the option to change how this type of resource list will be shown in Moodle to students under the “appearance” section of the settings menu. You get three options:

  1. On a separate page
  2. Inline on the course page (initially collapsed)
  3. Inline on the course page (automatically expanded)

My recommended setting for the appearance of the resource list is “on a separate page”. That way, it does not clog up the main page and you can more easily track engagement with the list in Moodle through the activity logs if this setting is selected.

Once finished, click “save and return to course” or “save and display”.

For more information on resource lists you can visit the LibGuide for staff. You can also contact your Faculty librarians for support in managing resources for your module.