A COURSE TEMPLATE FOR UNDERGRADUATE COURSES Vitor Rocio, Universidade Aberta, Portugal Co-Authors: José Coelho, Universidade Aberta, Portugal Alda Pereira, Universidade Aberta, Portugal Summary We present in this paper a template for Moodle courses according to Universidade Aberta’s pedagogical model. The template for first cycle (undergraduate) courses enables teachers with little technical knowledge to deliver their online courses according to a pre-defined format. UAb's pedagogical model defines several features that can be directly implemented in a VLE, particularly in Moodle: course plan, learning card, assessment decision, and assignments, with proper configurations. This gave origin to a template that saves work and avoids technical problems caused by misconfigurations. Procedural guidelines were written to help teachers in their handling of the mechanisms implemented in the template. We found that the use of the template allowed teachers to concentrate on their pedagogical activity rather than on technical details. Some teachers that already had given online courses felt an improvement in their interaction with the VLE, since they didn't have to build things from scratch, especially those resources that weren't directly connected to their teaching activities, and were common to the University's model. An institution that is changing rapidly from paper-based distance learning to online learning must provide resources and mechanisms so that teachers and students may accomodate to the new model. Change, particularly the re-organization of the institution and the training of staff takes time, so any pre-configured package such as the proposed template is welcome. 1. Introduction Universidade Aberta’s (UAb) pedagogical model (Pereira et al., 2007) is based on four principles: • student-centred learning • flexibility • interaction • digital inclusion The model has variations according to the study cycle to which it is applied. In the first cycle, since there are many more students than in subsequent cycles, the interaction component is smaller. Discussion forums are opened throughout the course for limited time periods, some