{"id":684,"date":"2025-10-20T10:37:43","date_gmt":"2025-10-20T07:37:43","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blogs.aalto.fi\/opit\/?p=684"},"modified":"2025-10-20T10:37:44","modified_gmt":"2025-10-20T07:37:44","slug":"tips-on-how-to-create-multilingual-courses-with-mycourses","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.aalto.fi\/opit\/2025\/10\/20\/tips-on-how-to-create-multilingual-courses-with-mycourses\/","title":{"rendered":"Tips on how to create multilingual courses with MyCourses"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p>Multilingual teaching and learning has been a topic of reflection at Aalto for a while, and significant effort has been made to find suitable solutions for its implementation. The concrete requirements of multilingualism at the course level are being delineated at the different schools, but tools are already available to support the creation and display of multilingual course content.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>In addition to AI-powered tools for creating and translating content, MyCourses has been integrating features that aim to support multilingual course workspaces. While using these features is straightforward and easy to integrate into a course, their implementation requires planning to ensure that students benefit from them. When a course offers multilingual options for the first time via MyCourses, it might be worth reflecting on:<\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>How students are informed about the course\u2019s <strong>ground rules<\/strong>, incl. language practices (e.g. via course general section, Announcements forum, course\u2019s first contact session, etc)<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>The course\u2019s <strong>core content <\/strong>availability in different languages (e.g. via Sections, Article Folders, Book activity, etc)<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Possibility to complete the course\u2019s<strong> required work <\/strong>in different languages (e.g. via Assignment and Quiz)<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<p>In this post, we will focus on two of MyCourses features: the mlang button\/filter and the Restrict access per profile language option, and how they can be utilized in the course&#8217;s communications, assessments, and resource sharing.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-medium-font-size\"><strong>Mlang<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The <a href=\"https:\/\/wiki.aalto.fi\/display\/mchelp\/Create+language+versions+of+an+entire+course\">mlang button<\/a> simplifies the use of the mlang filter, allowing you to create language versions of a text within the same activity\/section\/etc. \u00a0In practice, the text is written on the MyCourses text editor as:<\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>{mlang fi} sis\u00e4lt\u00f6\u00e4 suomeksi {mlang}<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>{mlang en} content in English {mlang}<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>{mlang sv} inneh\u00e5ll p\u00e5 Svenska {mlang}<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>{mlang other} content for other languages {mlang}<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<p>Once saved, the text is displayed in the language corresponding to the user&#8217;s MyCourses language preference. Note that when writing content in only English and Finnish, you should use <strong>{mlang other}{mlang} <\/strong>and <strong>{mlang fi}{mlang}<\/strong> to display English text to students using MC in Swedish. Using mlang en &amp; fi filters will leave description fields empty for Swedish language profiles.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-medium-font-size\"><strong>Restrict access per profile language<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Restrict access per profile language is a way to show certain contents only when the user has selected a specific language in their MyCourses preferences. This is a flexible method as students can switch their profile languages back and forth. <img decoding=\"async\" src=\"\" alt=\"\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"\" alt=\"\"><\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-full is-resized\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"486\" height=\"688\" src=\"https:\/\/blogs.aalto.fi\/opit\/files\/2025\/10\/image-10.png\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-2008\" style=\"width:391px;height:auto\" \/><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-full is-resized\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"734\" height=\"308\" src=\"https:\/\/blogs.aalto.fi\/opit\/files\/2025\/10\/image-9.png\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-2007\" style=\"width:706px;height:auto\" srcset=\"https:\/\/blogs.aalto.fi\/opit\/files\/2025\/10\/image-9.png 734w, https:\/\/blogs.aalto.fi\/opit\/files\/2025\/10\/image-9-680x285.png 680w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 734px) 100vw, 734px\" \/><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-medium-font-size\"><strong>Course communications<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The<strong> General section<\/strong> is a good place to state a course\u2019s language policy, using the mlang filter.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>You can create the link to other languages by copying a page url and adding &amp;lang=FI or &amp;lang=EN , and linking the language versions, as seen in the example below:<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-full\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"1037\" height=\"500\" src=\"https:\/\/blogs.aalto.fi\/opit\/files\/2022\/07\/image.png\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-1996\" srcset=\"https:\/\/blogs.aalto.fi\/opit\/files\/2022\/07\/image.png 1037w, https:\/\/blogs.aalto.fi\/opit\/files\/2022\/07\/image-788x380.png 788w, https:\/\/blogs.aalto.fi\/opit\/files\/2022\/07\/image-768x370.png 768w, https:\/\/blogs.aalto.fi\/opit\/files\/2022\/07\/image-680x328.png 680w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1037px) 100vw, 1037px\" \/><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li><em>Example from a course where students were allowed to submit individual assignments in English or Finnish.<\/em><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<p>The<strong> first teaching session<\/strong> is a moment to restate how should students proceed; for instance, how does multilingualism apply to assessment in the course and how to view language versions on MyCourses.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>When using the <strong>Announcements forum, <\/strong>pay attention to the fact that forum subscription sends emails and the mfilter might not render correctly in the email text. In this case, it might be best to write the messages in the two\/three languages used in the course without using the mlang filter.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-medium-font-size\"><strong>Assessment<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Assignment<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>In courses where only a few activities are available in more than one language, it is useful to link the language version to the activity description to remind students of the possibility.<img decoding=\"async\" src=\"\" alt=\"\"><\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-full\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"1037\" height=\"630\" src=\"https:\/\/blogs.aalto.fi\/opit\/files\/2025\/10\/image.png\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-1997\" srcset=\"https:\/\/blogs.aalto.fi\/opit\/files\/2025\/10\/image.png 1037w, https:\/\/blogs.aalto.fi\/opit\/files\/2025\/10\/image-788x479.png 788w, https:\/\/blogs.aalto.fi\/opit\/files\/2025\/10\/image-768x467.png 768w, https:\/\/blogs.aalto.fi\/opit\/files\/2025\/10\/image-680x413.png 680w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1037px) 100vw, 1037px\" \/><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p>It might be important to require students to add a language identification in the file title for easier differentiation by graders,  if e.g. a Swedish speaking TA will assess submissions in Swedish.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The Assignment\u2019s assessment rubrics can only be created in one language. When using rubrics in a multilingual assignment, the teacher can give additional feedback in other languages, as needed.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Quiz<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Mlang works well with most text question types, but some question types might not render the filter correctly \u2013 e.g. Drap and drop has a known issue &amp; Mathematical questions must be tested. In most cases, the mlang filter must be added to Question text, Answer options &amp; Feedback fields. You should avoid pressing Enter between mlang filter lines to ensure that the text will not contain extra spaces in the student view.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-full\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"1037\" height=\"393\" src=\"https:\/\/blogs.aalto.fi\/opit\/files\/2025\/10\/image-1.png\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-1998\" srcset=\"https:\/\/blogs.aalto.fi\/opit\/files\/2025\/10\/image-1.png 1037w, https:\/\/blogs.aalto.fi\/opit\/files\/2025\/10\/image-1-788x299.png 788w, https:\/\/blogs.aalto.fi\/opit\/files\/2025\/10\/image-1-768x291.png 768w, https:\/\/blogs.aalto.fi\/opit\/files\/2025\/10\/image-1-680x258.png 680w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1037px) 100vw, 1037px\" \/><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-full\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"817\" height=\"480\" src=\"https:\/\/blogs.aalto.fi\/opit\/files\/2025\/10\/image-2.png\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-1999\" srcset=\"https:\/\/blogs.aalto.fi\/opit\/files\/2025\/10\/image-2.png 817w, https:\/\/blogs.aalto.fi\/opit\/files\/2025\/10\/image-2-788x463.png 788w, https:\/\/blogs.aalto.fi\/opit\/files\/2025\/10\/image-2-768x451.png 768w, https:\/\/blogs.aalto.fi\/opit\/files\/2025\/10\/image-2-680x400.png 680w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 817px) 100vw, 817px\" \/><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-medium-font-size\"><strong>Resources<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>When providing different files per language, e.g. Finnish articles are different from English articles, you can create separated folders or sections and apply restriction based on\u00a0profile language.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-full\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"940\" height=\"342\" src=\"https:\/\/blogs.aalto.fi\/opit\/files\/2025\/10\/image-3.png\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-2000\" srcset=\"https:\/\/blogs.aalto.fi\/opit\/files\/2025\/10\/image-3.png 940w, https:\/\/blogs.aalto.fi\/opit\/files\/2025\/10\/image-3-788x287.png 788w, https:\/\/blogs.aalto.fi\/opit\/files\/2025\/10\/image-3-768x279.png 768w, https:\/\/blogs.aalto.fi\/opit\/files\/2025\/10\/image-3-680x247.png 680w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 940px) 100vw, 940px\" \/><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p>When you use the restrict access per language, you are creating separate sections\/folders, so the mlang filter is not needed, i.e. only Finnish text for students with Finnish language profiles and so on.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-full\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"1037\" height=\"306\" src=\"https:\/\/blogs.aalto.fi\/opit\/files\/2025\/10\/image-4.png\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-2001\" srcset=\"https:\/\/blogs.aalto.fi\/opit\/files\/2025\/10\/image-4.png 1037w, https:\/\/blogs.aalto.fi\/opit\/files\/2025\/10\/image-4-788x233.png 788w, https:\/\/blogs.aalto.fi\/opit\/files\/2025\/10\/image-4-768x227.png 768w, https:\/\/blogs.aalto.fi\/opit\/files\/2025\/10\/image-4-680x201.png 680w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1037px) 100vw, 1037px\" \/><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p>When sharing content via Book or Page type resources, the mlang filter can be used. &nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Multilingual teaching and learning has been a topic of reflection at Aalto for a while, and significant effort has been made to find suitable solutions for its implementation. The concrete requirements<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3876,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[17],"class_list":["post-684","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized","tag-mycourses"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.aalto.fi\/opit\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/684","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.aalto.fi\/opit\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.aalto.fi\/opit\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.aalto.fi\/opit\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3876"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.aalto.fi\/opit\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=684"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.aalto.fi\/opit\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/684\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2010,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.aalto.fi\/opit\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/684\/revisions\/2010"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.aalto.fi\/opit\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=684"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.aalto.fi\/opit\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=684"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.aalto.fi\/opit\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=684"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}