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Embedded audio files can often help your audience better understand you or the ideas you're trying to convey.
Sometimes it's best to embed audio media inline - within a sentence, or in the middle of a secondary page in your course.
Note: Audio files may come in a multitude of file formats, and not all file formats are accepted in Moodle at VCC.
Accepted Audio File Formats
MP3 is the most universal of audio formats. Moodle recognizes and handles MP3 files very well, and will automatically provide an onscreen player when it detects an MP3 audio file. Your MP3 file should have a file header of "audio/mpeg" and the filename should end with the extension ".mp3"
M4A audio files are also handled well by Moodle, similarly to MP3. M4A files should have a file header of "audio/x-m4a" and the filename should end with the extension ".m4a"
WAV audio files are not accepted in VCC's Moodle. WAV is an uncompressed audio format, so files may require much more storage space than more modern, compressed formats like MP3 or M4A.
Generally, if you want to upload audio to Moodle at VCC, try to use files in the MP3 or M4A formats. Audio files can be converted to MP3 or M4A from other formats using conversion utilities that are freely available online.
How to upload pre-recorded audio files to a course Page or Assignment
- Edit the activity or resource where you want your Students to be able to listen to your audio. This will put you in the Moodle editor.
- In the editor's Contents box, select or type in a name or descriptive phrase (e.g. "audio for assignment 2"). This text will be used to make a link to the MP3 audio file you want students to be able to play. Users will not see this text - it is just a placeholder for the purposes of adding the audio file.
- Make sure that text is selected, and click the "Media" icon in the editor's toolbar. It will be on the second row of the toolbar, and looks like a little film camera (expand the toolbar to see it if necessary).
- In the "Insert Media" dialog box that appears, click "Browse repositories..."
- In the File Picker dialog that appears, click "Upload" on the left, and then click "Browse..." or "Choose" on the right, to select your audio file (WAV format may not be accepted, as it is uncompressed and takes up a lot of storage space. MP3 and M4A use compression to reduce file size, so those formats are preferable).
- Click "OK" to accept your way out of all the file dialogs.
- You should now see a blue hyperlink under your text in the Moodle editor. Don't forget to save your changes here too...
When viewed in the course by you and your Students, this link will appear as a little black audio player. This is because Moodle has a "filter" for MP3 files, meaning that it automatically replaces hyperlinks to MP3 audio files with a built-in audio player widget. In the Moodle editor, it just resembles a link.
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