Sign in Subscribe

Using objects

Last updated on 

Important areas in ILIAS

There are several large areas in ILIAS. On the left side there is the main menu with different entries: Click on an entry to open a context menu with further entries.

  • After you have logged in, ILIAS usually shows you the Dashboard page. From here you can control all your learning activities. The Dashboard page provides access to the learning content that is important to you and displays information about things you shouldn't miss.
  • Learning content provides direct access to learning content. It is comparable to a catalog or library. You can switch back and forth between the dashboard and the repository using the main navigation.
    Jump points to the items you used last are listed under last visited. This is often helpful for quick navigation.
  • Personal workspace manages your very own documents.
  • Learning achievements contains the history and evidence of your learning activities.
  • Communication bundles services like mail, contacts, news and comments.
  • Organization shows a list of your employees and their learning progress.
  • In the footer there is a link to the currently accessed page. You will also find the imprint and the contact details of the technical support.

How & what to do

If you want to do something in ILIAS, you use buttons, links and action menus to do it. ILIAS gives you feedback about what happened. You don't need to be afraid, you can't break anything - the system is robust.

  • Links open objects: To read a content or participate in a learning activity, click on the blue title of the desired object. ILIAS opens the corresponding object and displays its content.
  • Buttons send something or save it: For example, after writing a forum post or posting a file, click a button to save it.

Actions menus do something to the object: If you click on the Actions menu to the far right of an object's title, a drop-down menu opens with various options. The options vary depending on what your administration has enabled and also depending on the associated object.

  • Join: You join the course or group.
  • Add to Favorites: The object is added to Favorites on your dashboard - depending on how it is configured - so you can access it quickly, and/or displayed in the menu under Favorites .
    You can undo this at any time and remove the object from favorites.
  • Info: You can view information about the object such as title and owner.
  • Notes: you can make personal notes about the object.
  • Set tags: You can save keywords to the object.

Participate in courses and groups

You would like to join a course or group.

  1. You are in the repository.
  2. Click on the ▼ menu of the desired course or group.
  3. ILIAS opens a selection menu.
  4. Click Join.
  5. ILIAS opens a new page.
  6. You have three options to join the course/group. You can join the course/group
    - By logging in directly. Click on Join.
    - Join by logging in with confirmation. In this view, you can add a message to the application. Click Submit to finish.
    - Join by logging in with a password. Enter the password and click Join.
  7. ILIAS opens a new page and reports: You have been added to the course/group.

Object symbols/icons

You learn, work, and communicate in ILIAS using different types of objects. For example, there are forums, tests, or courses.

Depending on the object type, you can do different things with the content and have various other options for action.
You can recognize the different object types by the different icons, which are symbols that are the same by default for all existing objects of that type.

The icon of an object is visible at all conceivable positions where you have to do with the object:

When you look at the object from the outside, whether you ...

  • go to its location in the repository,
  • put it on your dashboard,
  • or it is offered as a search result. The icon is then displayed to the left of the title.
  • when you are inside the object: The icon is displayed to the left of the title.

Note: If you move the cursor over the icon, a quick info text will appear, telling you the object type.

To move around in the repository, i.e. to navigate, you can always use the following:

The usual, flat repository view.

  • To reach deeper levels, click on the title of an object. This will take you to its contents, which may contain other objects.
  • To access higher levels of the repository, you can use the navigation path, always available below the header.
  • The repository overview shows all courses and groups and often the objects contained in them.
    A small arrow in front of an icon indicates that you can expand the view further by clicking on this arrow. ILIAS will then display objects within it, which may be expanded further.
    If you click on the icon or the title, however, the actual object opens on the right, provided that you can access it.
  • The Last visited menu item provides a shortcut to the last objects you visited. The list remains for you even after you log out. However, you can selectively delete it after each session so that the next objects you visit are listed again afterward. You can find this option under General Settings.