Introduction
In this blog post we will go through the process of creating a picture gallery in Moodle using a resource called Lightbox gallery. This feature is useful for a variety of reasons; many courses depend on pictures to illustrate new concepts or reinforce old ones. For example an Art History class could use Lightbox gallery for displaying pictures of Ancient Rome, or a foreign language class can make use of Lightbox gallery to show pictures of objects which students have to learn etc.Useful tips before going to Moodle
Before we go into Moodle and learn about creating a gallery in Lightbox, we first need to have a folder of pictures that we want to upload to our class in Moodle. For this purpose, you can create a folder on your desktop and paste all your pictures in that folder (or choose any other folder for that matter). After you have decided what pictures to use, you should consider creating a .zip archive of these pictures because it is easier to upload a single archive in Moodle rather than having to upload each individual picture to your course.
There are several ways to archive your pictures, but the easiest ways are the following:
On a MAC machine you can simply right click on a folder and select Compress.
On Windows you can right click, go to Send to and select Compressed (zipped) folder.
Creating the Lightbox Gallery in Moodle
After creating the .zip archive, log into your Moodle course and Turn Editing On by clicking the button with the same name on the top-right part of your screen.
Go to the Files link in the Administration tab. Click the Upload a file button, then the Choose File button. Navigate to your .zip archive containing your pictures and click Open and then click Upload this file. You should now see your archive in the list of uploaded files. You should see something similar to the following image:
The next step is to Unzip the archive so that we can tell Lightbox to use our pictures. To do this, you have to click on the Unzip button that's right next to your archive:
Click Ok in the following window. Your pictures will be located in a folder having the same name as the archive. You can later rename this folder if you want to.
The next step is to add a Lightbox picture gallery which students can have access to in your course. To add a Lightbox picture gallery, you need to click on the Add a resource ... drop-down menu and select Add a lightbox gallery. See the figure below for a visual aid:
The next step is to type all the relevant information in the Adding a new Lightbox Gallery window. Type the name of the gallery and its description and from the Image Directory drop down menu select the folder containing the pictures you just Unzipped. Click Save and return to Course. You should now be able to see a Picture Gallery appear in your course having the name you just gave it and containing the pictures you uploaded to Moodle. To start the picture gallery click on any picture and you will see it maximize. You can move to the next or previous picture by pressing the right/left keys on your keyboard. To exit the picture gallery simply click anywhere outside the borders of the image.
This completes the tutorial on how to create a picture gallery in Moodle using Lightbox. If you have any questions about this entry, feel free to call the Student Technology Assistant Program at Trinity College, x2589, or email us at sta-help@trincoll.edu.
