Moodle for Faculty

Tips and instructions for instructors using Moodle in online and face-to-face courses at MLC.

Beginning Moodle Videos

Course Layout and Design

Course Layout and Design

Best Practices for Teaching Online Courses

Some Best Practices for Teaching Online Courses, based on prior experience with teaching online courses through MLC and student feedback from various courses.

Length of lessons

Weekly or every 2 weeks. In EDU9502: Designing and Constructing Online Courses, everyone learned that course material should be "chunked" into small segments within a lesson and that lessons should normally be only one or two weeks in length. Students prefer new lessons beginning on the same day of the week throughout the course.

 

Which day of the week should a lesson begin/end?

During the fall and spring terms, most students in the graduate program are teaching full-time, which gives them little time to work on their grad course on school days. Therefore, they complete the bulk of their work for a given lesson over the weekend. For this reason, many of them indicated that in the spring and fall they prefer that new lessons begin on a Wednesday and end on a Tuesday since it places the weekend in the middle of the lesson time period. 

However, during the summer term, they prefer that lessons run from the typical Sunday through Saturday (or Monday through Sunday) since they prefer to do the bulk of their work during the week and not on the weekends. Some instructors simply prefer to run courses from Sunday through Saturday even during the school year, which is okay. Ultimately, it is up to the course instructor.

 

Preparing to teach a course during the 8-week summer term

When transforming a regular semester-long online course (15-16 weeks) and teaching it in the summer term (8 weeks), there is no need to redo or combine any of your lessons. The idea is to simply take each two-week period from the fall or spring semester offering and cover the same material in one week in the summer term. For most instructors that means they cover two lessons per week in the summer, often running one lesson from Sunday-Wednesday and the other lesson from Wednesday-Saturday. (Remember, in the summer term most students prefer a Sunday-Saturday "week", as explained earlier.)

 

Keep all students working through the course at the same pace

Typically, some students prefer to work ahead while others seem to wait to do things at the last minute. In an online course, it is important that students are working on the group aspects of the lesson at the same time. One good method to attempt to satisfy both extremes is to make the "lesson guide sheet" document visible to students about a week prior to the start of the new lesson, but don't make the posting or submission areas visible until the official start date of the lesson. If following a "Wednesday-Tuesday weekly format," some instructors make the next week's lesson guide sheet available on a Friday evening, so students that want to work ahead can use the weekend to do so, but they can not submit their work until the lesson officially begins on the following Wednesday. (Also, see the sections on Post due dates... and Group discussion forum due dates below.)

 

Post due dates to inform and pace student work

A schedule of activities can be posted in a variety of ways. Some instructors provide a document listing all of the activities and the due dates at the start of the course. Others provide general dates for lessons in the Moodle heading areas of topical blocks, and specific activity due dates within the instructions for the activity, or in the activity set up in Moodle. Others make use of the Moodle calendar. Many instructors use more than one method. If your lesson is spread across more than a week, it is wise to make some activities due before the end of the lesson so students cannot save everything for the last minute. (Also, see the suggestion below on Group discussion forum due dates.)

 

Group discussion forum due dates

Set a posting due date for the original contribution to a forum, and then a later posting due date for replies. For example, if a new weekly lesson starts on Wednesday, some instructors set a due date of Saturday for the initial post and a due date of Tuesday for all reply posts. This forces all students in a group to make their initial contribution to the forum by the middle of the weekend, which allows those that want to take care of their reply posts obligations on the second half of the weekend and without having to stay up late into the evening to do so.

 

Provide a "Student Expectations" document

Different online instructors have different expectations of students. It is very helpful to your students if you post your expectations of them at the very start of the course. It is also a good idea to include what students can expect from the instructor!

 

Use the Moodle Grade Book

Students are used to seeing grades, and comments, on various activities posted to the grade book in Moodle. The current grade book can accommodate many different methods of grading. However, if you have not used it before or recently, getting it set up can be confusing. However, Rachel is always able, willing, and happy to assist you in setting up your grade book and understanding how it works. Simply let her know how you would like grades to be calculated and she will set up the grade book for you!

 

Use "Choice" for students to select activities

The "choice" activity feature in Moodle is very good at allowing (forcing) students to select from a list of possible choices for a given activity so you do not have more than one student selecting the same project or activity in a given lesson. It can also be used to get student feedback (vote) on a particular question.

 

Use "Groups" for discussion work

Small groups are often used in discussion forums to greatly cut down the amount of reading and posting that students need to do during the course. At the end of a group activity, it is a good practice to set the group setting to "Visible groups" so all participants will be able to view the discussion that occurred within other groups. When the change is made, it is a good idea to add some text in the forum introduction such as: Please note: The setting in this forum has been changed from "Separate Groups" to "Visible Groups." To see the work from a different group, select the group by using the "Visible groups" button located below. Generally, viewing or reading these additional posts should be optional. 

In Moodle, it is less confusing to students to have them in only one group at a time. If students are members of more than one group at a time, students need to exercise additional care so that they post to the correct group for each activity. They need to specify the correct group prior to selecting the "Add a new discussion topic" button.

There is not a perfect group size, but groups of four or five seem to have worked well in discussion forums for many instructors. If one person is late in posting, the others still have two or three different people they can make their reply post to.

 

Grading discussion forums

It is important that students understand the grading rubric that is being used for discussion forum work. A convenient way to assign points is to use the "Sum of ratings" setting in the forum setup, and then assign a certain number of points for the initial post and a certain number of points for each reply post. It is also good to include a general message in the forum introduction area so students understand the rating being used, such as (This forum is worth 10 points. You will receive up to 5 points for your initial post and up to 3 for each reply post.)

 

Use the "Folder" resource to allow students to see work produced by others

If you want to share work produced by class participants with others in the class, the "Folder" resource is the best way to accomplish this.

On the course homepage, create a "Folder" resource and then upload student files into it. (You may zip student files into a single file, upload the zipped file into the folder, and then unzip.)

 

Instructor participation/presence

It is important to let students know that you are actively reading their work and checking in on the course on a nearly daily basis. This is especially important in discussion forums. A least one instructor makes a post during the week of the first group discussion forum similar to the following:

Instructor participation/presence: Generally, I will not actively participate in small-group discussion work. Think of these discussions as they might occur in a regular face-to-face classroom. The instructor walks around the room and listens in on the various groups, but does not necessarily participate in the discussion. If I am asked a specific question in a group discussion, I will always respond. Please realize that I normally check in on the course numerous times each day, 7 days a week. If I am going to be off-line for more than a day or two, such when attending conferences, I will let everyone know ahead of time.

 

Be consistent in how materials are to be turned in

Most instructors make use of the assignment activity upload features in Moodle to receive student work and provide comments back to the students. Others might use a different method. There is no one method that needs to be followed, but it is good to be consistent throughout the course.

 

Scanned files

Scanned pages from books should be scanned directly in a PDF (not jpg) format with multiple pages combined together in a single document. This will greatly reduce the overall file size, make the text and/or images clearer, and be much easier for the students to work with. (Feel free to contact Rachel for assistance.)

 

Lesson Feedback after each lesson/unit

Waiting until the end of the course for summative feedback is not as useful as gathering feedback after each lesson. You can use the Feedback activity at the end of each lesson where students are asked to complete 3 statements;

The most useful thing in the lesson was…

The most challenging part of the lesson was…

The lesson could be improved by...

Although this is still gathering information after the fact, such feedback can be very useful information for the next time the course is offered and sometimes even useful for making adjustments to future lessons in the current offering of the course.


Faculty assistance

Many useful screencasts and documents have been placed here on KnightHelp. Also, feel free to contact Rachel for assistance.

Course Layout and Design

Layout and Navigation Basics

Course Layout Explained

Turning Editing On

1. Enter the course site you want to edit.

2. Click the blue Turn Editing On button in the upper right corner.


Adding Course Content

1. Turn editing on for the course site.

2. Click Add an activity or resource in the topic where you want to add content.

3. From the resulting window, choose the activity or resource type you'd like to add and follow the prompts.

4. Clicking each choice will show a description of the activity or resource on the right side of the window. 

5. After making your selection, click Add and follow the prompts for the activity or resource.


Deleting Course Content

1. Turn editing on for the course site. 

2. Click edit underneath the content or activity you want to remove. 

3. Choose Delete.

4. Choose Yes.

Image from Gyazo

 

 

 

Course Layout and Design

Using Topics

MLC courses use collapsed topics by default. These topics can be used to organize course content, help students locate assignments, and efficiently hide and show groups of content to students.


Tips for Using Topics


Working with Topics

Editing Topic Names

  1. Enter your course and turn editing on.
  2. Scroll to the topic you want to edit and either
    1. Click on the pencil at the end of the topic name, type the new topic name, and press enter.
    2. Click Edit at the end of the topic box and choose Edit section. Edit the section name and click Save changes.

Showing/Hiding Topics

  1. Enter your course and turn editing on.
  2. Click Edit at the and of the topic name.
  3. Click either Hide section or Show section from the edit menu.
  4. Hiding a section will remove both the topic and all the content in the topic from student view. To indicate this, the topic name will appear in italics and a Hidden from students message will appear under the title.

Highlighting Topics

  1. Enter your course and turn editing on.
  2. Click Edit at the and of the topic name.
  3. Click either Highlight or Remove highlight.
  4. When a topic is highlighted, a thin blue line appears to the left of the topic content.

Adding Topics

  1. Enter your course and turn editing on.
  2. Scroll to the bottom of the course page.
  3. Click the blue + underneath the last topic currently in the course.
  4. A new topic will appear at the bottom of the course. It will automatically be called Section # (whatever number comes next). Follow the additional directions on this page to edit the topic.

Deleting Topics

There are two options for deleting course topics.

Option 1

  1. Enter your course and turn editing on.
  2. Click the Edit menu next to the topic you want to delete.
  3. Choose Delete section.
  4. If prompted, click Delete on the confirmation screen.
  5. Note that if a topic is deleted using this method, all activities and resources within the topic will also be deleted.

Option 2

  1. Enter your course and turn editing on.
  2. Scroll to the bottom of the course page.
  3. Click the blue - underneath the last topic currently in the course.
  4. The last topic in the list will be removed.
  5. Note that if a topic is deleted using this method, all activities and resources within the topic will be tagged as orphaned and will not be visible to students. The content must be moved to an existing topic in order for students to see it.

Rearranging Topics

  1. Enter your course and turn editing on.
  2. After turning editing on, compass arrows will appear to the left of each topic.
  3. Click the compass arrow next to the topic you wish to move and drag it to the proper location

 

Course Layout and Design

Using Blocks

Course blocks are the boxes of information on the right side of the course page. These blocks can be edited to fit the needs of the course. Many of these blocks can also be added to your Moodle Dashboard.

Adding New Blocks

  1. Log into Moodle and enter your course site.
  2. Click on the Edit mode toggle in the upper right corner to turn editing on.
  3. Click the arrow button on the right side of the page to expand the blocks drawer.
  4. Click the name of the block you want to add to your course
  5. The block will be added to the list of blocks on the right side of your course page. Information on specific blocks can be found below.

Editing Existing Blocks

Instructor Information Block

Students find having a block with information about the instructor on the course home page is helpful, especially in an online course. Please follow these instructions to add this block to your course. If you already have an instructor block but need to update it, please see the next section.

  1. Log into Moodle and enter your course site.
  2. Click on the Edit mode toggle in the upper right corner to turn editing on.
  3. Click the arrow button on the right side of the page to expand the blocks drawer.
  4. Choose Text from the list.
  5. A block with the title (new Text block)should appear at the top of your course blocks.
  6. Click the Gear in the HTML block and choose Configure (new Text block) block
  7. On the next page, enter the title for the block. Your Instructor is typically used.
  8. In the Content textbox, enter the information you'd like your students to see. This could include your name, photo, email address, preferred method of communication, etc. See the sample below. Use the toolbar in the textbox to format your text.
  9. Scroll to the bottom and click Save changes.
  10. Repeat steps 6-9 to adjust the formatting as needed. Note that some formatting will depend on the size of the screen the student is viewing your course from.

Instructor-Block.png

Updating the Your Instructor Block

  1. Log into Moodle and enter your course site.
  2. Click on the Edit mode toggle in the upper right corner to turn editing on.
  3. Click the arrow button on the right side of the page to expand the blocks drawer.
  4. Click the Gear in the Your Instructor block and choose Configure Your Instructor block. Note: If your block is named something different, the Configure option will include the name of the block. 
  5. In the Content textbox, edit your contact information.
  6. Scroll to the bottom and click Save changes.
  7. Repeat steps 3-5 to adjust the formatting as needed. Note that some formatting will depend on the size of the screen the student is viewing your course from.

Available Blocks

The most commonly used blocks are listed below. Please follow the link for more information on the block.

Course Layout and Design

View Course as Student

This feature allows instructors to see the course home page and activities as if they were a student.

Instructions

  1. After logging in to Moodle, enter the course you'd like to view as a student.
  2. Click the down arrow to the right of your profile picture in the upper right corner and choose Switch role to...
  3. Click Student
  4. You can now view your course from the perspective of a student. This is visually indicated by the blue word student under your username.
  5. To return to your normal role, click the down arrow to the right of your profile picture in the upper right corner and choose Return to my normal role
Course Layout and Design

Course Organization Tips

Having an organized Moodle course site can go a long way in helping students succeed in online learning. Some things to consider:

Course Layout and Design

Fixing Orphaned Content

Orphaned content can appear when the number of sections in a current course does not match the number of sections from an imported course. To fix this, follow the directions below to change the number of sections in the course.
 

Interactive Tutorial

** Best experienced in Full Screen (click the icon in the top right corner before you begin) **

9 STEPS

1. The first step is to open your course and click to turn on Edit mode

Step 1 image

2. Scroll and click Close all. This will make scrolling to the bottom of the page faster.

Step 2 image

3. Scroll down to the bottom and find the last orphaned section. In this example, it's section 10. Remember this number.

Step 3 image

4. Click Settings

Step 4 image

5. Scroll and click to expand Course format

Step 5 image

6. Scroll down and click the dropdown menu next to Number of sections

Step 6 image

7. Select the number of sections you made note of in the previous step. For this example, choose 10

Step 7 image

8. Scroll down and click Save and display

Step 8 image

9. That's it. You're done.

Step 9 image

Course Layout and Design

Showing Hidden Content

Hidden content cannot be seen by students. Content needs to be made visible before students can see it.

Instructions

  1. Log into Moodle and enter your course site.
  2. Click the gear in the upper right corner and choose Turn editing on.
  3. Locate the hidden item you wish to make visible.
  4. Click the Edit menu to the right of the item.
  5. Choose Show.
  6. The item will now be shown to students. There is no save button.
Course Layout and Design

Using Master Copies

Master Copies of courses are used in both the undergraduate and graduate programs to help keep track of the most current course content and also facilitate sharing content without compromising student data. They are similar to a backline master used to make worksheet copies, except for a whole course. The following information will help you successfully navigate and work with your course master copy.

Activities

Activities

Activity Types

Activities are things that you want the students to do in your online classroom. Unlike Resources, which are how instructors giving information to students, Activities are typically students giving information/feedback/etc. to the instructor.

The activities below are available to all instructors. Some activity blocks, like EdPuzzle or Perusall, are dependent on the resources used in your course. 

 

Assignment

Allows students to turn in digital assignments, like documents, images, or media. 

 

Big Blue Button

An online video conferencing option to support synchronous classroom activities. You can watch the training on how to use BBB at MLC here.

 

Chat

Allows for synchronous text-based chatting within the online classroom.

 

Choice

Posts a single multiple-choice question for students to answer.

 

Database

The instructor creates a database framework that students can add entries to.

 

EdPuzzle

Allows linking of EdPuzzle activities from the EdPuzzle website. 

 

External Tool

Used with some external websites and curricular tools. This is also how you can use Google Assignments in Moodle.

 

Feedback

A way to collect student feedback on a lesson or other learning experience.

 

Forum

Supports asynchronous discussions among students and instructor. Forums can include text, audio, video, and other media.

 

Glossary

Students can collaborate on a list of definitions or other resources. 

 

H5P

Used to create interactive activities and resources, including flashcards and interactive videos.

 

Lesson

A combination of content and assessments that can be differentiated and graded.

 

Pearson MyLab & Mastering Link

Used with some textbooks from Pearson Publishing.

 

Perusall

A social annotation tool that can be used with a variety of documents and open educational resources. A cost may be involved depending on the resource being used.

 

Quiz

Create a quiz or test with a variety of question types. Objective questions can be automatically graded by Moodle. 

 

SCORM Package

Used with SCORM learning objects.

 

Survey

Choose from a pre-defined list of surveys related to student reaction to learning. 

 

Wiki

Build a class wiki.

 

Workshop

Facilitate peer review of documents. 

Activities

Explanation of Activity Options

General

Assignment Name
Description
Additional Files

Availability

Allow Submissions From
Due Date
Cut-off Date

Resources

Resources

Resource Types

Resources are how you give students access to information on your Moodle course page. You can also use resources to add organizational and visual elements to your Moodle course page. The resource options below are available to all instructors. 

 

Book

Create multi-page resources organized like a book in chapters, subchapters, and pages. Book pages can contain both text and media elements.

 

File

Allows you to add a file, like a PDF, slide presentation, or Word document, from your computer to the course page for students to download, view, and edit. Students will need the appropriate software to work with the file. 

 

Folder

Used when you want to add several files to a course page that can be grouped together. Using a folder instead of listing the files on your course page takes up less visual space and reduces scrolling on the course page.

 

IMS Content Package

Sometimes used for content that comes from a textbook publisher.

 

Label

Used to add words, images, or videos to your main course page. A label can be as simple as a line to visually separate course page elements. 

 

Page

Creates a separate page for content, which can include text, media, and links. Often used for lesson guides. 

 

URL

Inserts a link to an external website on your course page. This can also be used to share access to Google documents. 

 

 

 

Resources

File Resource

PDFs, Word Documents, Images, Spreadsheets, and more can be added to the course page for students to download and view.

Add a New File

  1. Log into Moodle and enter your course site.
  2. Click on the gear in the upper right corner and select Turn editing on.
  3. If you're using sections, scroll to the section where you want to add the file.
  4. Click Add an activity or resource underneath the section where you want to add the file.
  5. Scroll down under the Resources heading and select File
  6. Click Add.
  7. On the next screen, enter the Name that students to see on the course page. The Description is optional.
  8. Under Select files, click the Add files Capture.PNGbutton.
  9. In the resulting window, choose Upload a file on the left and click the Choose File button.
  10. Locate the file on your computer and click Open
  11. Click the blue Upload this file button.
  12. Scroll to the bottom of the page and choose either of the blue Save buttons.
  13. The file should now appear on your course page. If it is not in the exact location that you want, follow these instructions to reorder the course items.

Update an Existing File

  1. Log into Moodle and enter your course site.
  2. Click on the gear in the upper right corner and select Turn editing on.
  3. To the right of the menu item you want to update, click Edit and choose Edit Settings.
  4. On the next screen, next to Select files, click on the existing file.
  5. A window should appear. Click the grey Delete button near the top of the window.
  6. Follow steps 8-12 above to add the new file.

Moodle Assignments

Moodle Assignments

Asssignment Overview

The assignment activity is how students can turn in a variety of files to be graded. There are a variety of settings that impact how a student can upload files and how the assignment is assessed. Please view the rest of this chapter to learn how assignments function in Moodle.

Chapter Contents

Moodle Docs

 

Moodle Assignments

Moodle Assignment Settings

When adding a new assignment activity to a Moodle course, there are a variety of settings that impact how the activity looks and functions. These settings can also be adjusted after the assignment is created by turning editing on in the course and choosing Edit settings from the Edit menu to the right of the assignment. Below is an explanation of what the settings do and how they impact the assignment.

General

Assignment Name

Description

Additional Files

Availability

Allow Submissions From

Due Date

Cut-off Date

Remind Me to Grade By

Always Show Description

Submission Types

Submission Types

Maximum Number of Uploaded Files

Accepted File Types

Word Limit

Maximum Number of Uploaded PDFs

Maximum Submission Size

Coversheet to Attach

Coversheet Template

Feedback Types

Feedback Types

Comment Inline

Submission Settings

Require Students to Click the Submit Button

Require that Students Accept the Submission Statement

Attempts Reopened

Group Submission Settings

Students Submit in Groups

Require Group to Make Submission

Require All Group Members Submit

Grouping for Student Groups

Notifications

Notify Graders About Submissions

Notify Graders About Late Submissions

Default Setting for "Notify Students"

Grade

Grade

Grading Method

Grade Category

Grade to Pass

Blind Grading

Hide Grader Identity from Students

Use Grading Workflow

Common Module Settings

Availability

ID Number

Group Mode

Grouping

Add Group/Grouping Access Restriction

Restrict Access

Date

Grade

Group

Grouping

User Profile

Restriction Set

Activity Completion

Completion Tracking

Tags

 

Moodle Assignments

Adding Moodle Assignments

  1. Follow the instructions for adding course content.
  2. In step 3, choose Assignment.
  3. Enter the information for the assignment. See the Moodle Assignment Settings page for explanations of the various options.
  4. Scroll to the bottom of the screen and click Save and return to course or Save and display.

You can also view this video from Moodle for more information. Please note that the version of Moodle in the video looks slightly different than ours, but the options are the same.

Moodle Assignments

File Submission Types

Instructors can limit the file types that a student is allowed to submit for an assignment. This setting helps instructors ensure that they can open the files that students submit and that students are using the desired file format. 

Commonly Used File Types

Document Files
Presentation Files

 

Moodle Assignments

Grading Moodle Assignments

Using Feedback Files

When this option is enabled in an assignment, instructors can upload a completed rubric, a document with comments, or some other file to provide feedback to students.

Moodle Assignments

Uploading a Google Doc to a Moodle Assignment

A very useful feature in Moodle Assignments is the ability for students to upload a Google Doc directly into Moodle.  The instructor can have all the documents and grading materials (rubric, grading scale, comment boxes, etc) all on one screen.  The grade is added to the Moodle gradebook automatically.

Moodle Assignments

Using Google Docs Commenting for Grading Within Moodle

The commenting and editing features within Google Docs can sometimes be more user-friendly than the Moodle interface. There are two main ways to utilize the Google Docs interface while still keeping your work within Moodle.


1 - Using a Regular Assignment and Online Text

Considerations when using this approach:

 

2 - Using The External Google Assignment Tool

 
Adding an Assignment
Turning In an Assignment
Grading an Assignment
Considerations when using this approach:

Google has more information on CourseKit here.

 

 

 

Moodle Discussion Forums

Moodle Discussion Forums

Discussion Forum Settings

An explanation of the various settings that can be utilized in a Moodle discussion forum. These settings can be accessed when first adding a discussion forum to the course page or by turning editing on in the course page, clicking edit next to the discussion forum, and choosing edit settings.

General

Forum Name
Description
Forum Type

Availability

Due Date
Cut-off Date

Attachments and Word Count

Maximum Attachment Size
Maximum Number of Attachments
Display Word Count

Subscription and Tracking

Subscription Mode
Read Tracking

Discussion Locking

Lock Discussions After Period of Inactivity

Post Threshold for Blocking

Time Period for Blocking
Post Threshold for Blocking
Post Threshold for Warning

Ratings

Roles with Permission to Rate
Aggregate Type
Scale
Restrict Rating to Items with Dates in this Range

Common Module Settings

Availability
ID Number
Group Mode
Grouping
Add Group/Grouping Access Restriction

Restrict Access

Date

Grade

Group

Grouping

User Profile

Restriction Set

Activity Completion

Completion Tracking

Tags

 

 

Moodle Discussion Forums

Q and A Forums

Question and Answer forums can be used when you don't want students to see the responses of others before they respond to the discussion prompt. The setup for these forums is slightly different than a typical discussion forum.

Adding a Q and A Forum to a Course

Replying to a Q and A Forum

The process for replying to a Q and A Forum is different for students than a standard forum. It can be helpful to share the directions below with your students when first using a Q and A forum. Instructions can be found here - https://help.mlc-wels.edu/books/moodle-for-students/page/replying-to-q-and-a-forums. You can also share the link with your students.

Moodle Discussion Forums

Discussion Forum Overview

Discussion forums allow students to interact with each other asynchronously. There are a variety of settings that impact how students and instructors use discussion forums. Please view the rest of this chapter to learn how discussion forums function in Moodle.

Chapter Contents

Moodle Docs

Moodle Discussion Forums

Discussion Forum Types

There are five types of discussion forums to support participant collaboration and learning. Each type is described below and further explained on the Moodle Forum Activity page.

Standard Forum for General Use

Standard Forum Displayed in a Blog-like Format

Q and A Forum

Each Person Posts One Discussion

Single Simple Discussion

Moodle Quizzes

Moodle Quizzes

Types of Quiz Questions

Multiple Choice
Matching
True/False
Essay
Calculated
Calculated Multichoice
Calculated Simple
Drag and Drop Into Text
Drag and Drop Markers
Drag and Drop Onto Image
Embedded Answers (Cloze)
Gapfill
Numerical
Ordering
Random Short-Answer Matching
Select Missing Words
Short Answer
Essay (Auto-Grade)
Description
Moodle Quizzes

Adding a Google Form to Moodle

1. Create your Google Form or Google Forms Quiz

2. Click the purple Share button in the upper right corner of your quiz.

3. If not already checked, check Collect email addresses so you know whose answers are whose.

4. Next to Send via, click the icon of the link to the right of the envelope. 

5. Click Copy in the bottom right corner of the window to copy the link to the form.

6. Follow the instructions for adding a link to a webpage in your Moodle course.

Communication Tools

Communication Tools

Class Announcements Forum

The Announcement forum is available by default in all courses. It has some unique features.

Instructions
Communication Tools

Video Conferencing - Big Blue Button

You can find some information at the EdTech blog in the post titled BigBlueButton Basics.

Communication Tools

Video Conferencing - Google Meet

Communication Tools

Recording Video in Moodle

Anywhere that instructors or students have a textbox to enter text, they can also record audio or video. This can be used for students to introduce themselves or explain their learning, or for instructors to give project directions or assignment feedback. You need a webcam and microphone to use this feature. Most recent laptops have these.

Instructions

  1. Enter the activity where you want to record the video. Examples of this include a discussion forum post or assignment.
  2. In the textbox, click the video camera icon. Note that if you are in a discussion forum, you might need click advanced for that option to appear.
  3. After you click the icon, a window should appear with a red Start recording box. Click that box. 
  4. If prompted by your browser, allow Moodle to access your webcam and microphone.
  5. After you click Start recording, a screen showing what you are recording will appear. Below that screen is the Stop recording button and a countdown timer. The timer indicates how much time you have left in the recording. 
  6. When you are finished with your recording, click Stop recording. 
  7. If you want to start the video over without saving what you've done, click the in the upper right corner of the window.
  8. After you click Stop recording, a preview of your video will appear if you want to watch it. If you want to redo the recording, click Record again. Otherwise, click Attach recording to insert the video in the activity. 
  9. Depending on the length of the video, it might take a while to process and appear in the textbox. When it does, submit the assignment or feedback like you usually would.

Video-Icon.png

Troubleshooting

 

Grading

Grading

Initial Gradebook Setup

Gradebook Overview

 

Categories

Weights

Moving Items

Grade Scale

Aggregations

Moodle allows you to aggregate your grades in different ways, depending on how you want your grades calculated.  There is a detailed list of aggregation strategies accompanied by the examples and the mathematics used to calculate grades.  Whether an instructor employs the Moodle grade book or not, having a clear understanding of exactly how a grade is calculated is essential to assigning grades.   Moodle allows for granular control of categories and weights in aggregating grades.  Moodle's documentation goes into detail. 

Moodle Grade Aggregation

aggpic.png

Example Calculations

 

Raw Scores

Normalized Score

Assign 1

75/100

.75

Assign 2

35/50

.70

Assign 3

10/10

1

Assign 4

85/100

.85

All raw scores are first normalized to a value between 0 and 1:

mean.jpgMean of Grades

Simple average of normalized grades:

meancalc.jpg

 

Simple Weighted Mean

Normalized grade multiplied by weight, divided by sum of weights:

swmcalc.jpg

This is equivalent to:

mean.jpg

Natural

If the weights are not adjusted, the default weight for each item is the maximum points possible, and the calculations are identical to Simple Weighted Mean. Natural aggregation allows for weights to be overridden.

 

Weighted Mean

Sample Grades

Category

Percentage

Weight

Category Subtotal

Daily Work

90%

30%

.90 * 30 =  27

Participation

25%

10%

.25 * 10 = 2.5

Tests

75%

50%

.75 * 50 = 37.5

Final

65%

10%

.65 * 10 = 6.5

 

First, Moodle calculates the percentage score in each category.  You may select whichever aggregation method you prefer for each category.  Categories may have different aggregation methods, which may be different from the overall aggregation method.

Final Calculation:

wmcalc.jpg

The calculation may seem redundant because the weights add up to 100.  Moodle does not require that weights add up to 100 in this method:

 

Category

Percentage

Weight

Category Subtotal

Daily Work

90%

1

.90 * 1 = .9

Participation

25%

1

.25 * 1 = .25

Tests

75%

3

.75 * 3 = 2.25

Final

65%

2

.65 * 10 = 1.3

wmcalc2.jpg

(Note:  there was no attempt to use equivalent weights between the two examples)

 

Grading

Student View of Grades

Showing Letter Grades

 

 

1. The first step is to open Course: ASL8001 01: American Sign Language and ... and click Grades

Step 1 image

2. Click Grader report

Step 2 image

3. Select Course grade settings

Step 3 image

4. Click Default (Real)

Step 4 image

5. Select Letter (percentage)

Step 5 image

6. Scroll down and click Save changes

Step 6 image

7. That's it. You're done.

Step 7 image

** Best experienced in Full Screen (click the icon in the top right corner before you begin) **

Grading

Grading Moodle Assignments

Grading

Grading Moodle Quizzes

Grading

Grading Moodle Discussion Forums

discussion-forum-icon.png 

A Moodle Discussion forum can be graded within Moodle. The grades are automatically entered into the Moodle grade book. Students are able to view their grades and can receive individual feedback. There are two main ways of grading a discussion forum; whole forum grading and ratings. Whole forum grading allows you to see all of a student's contributions (posts and replies) to the discussion forum on one page and assign them a single grade. When the ratings option is used, each individual contribution is graded and then those grades are used to calculate a grade for the whole forum.

 

Whole Forum Grading

Adding Whole Forum Grading to a Forum

 

Grading a Forum using Whole Forum Grading

WholeForumGrading2.png


Ratings

Adding Ratings to a Forum

Grading

Other Grade Items

You can also add your own entries to the gradebook that aren't linked to a Moodle activity like an assignment or discussion forum. This could include in-class activities for face-to-face classes or other activities completed outside of Moodle.


Adding Other Grade Items

Grading Other Grade Items

GradingOtherItem.png

Bulk Insert Grades

Grading

Grading Methods

Detailed View

Quick Grading

Feedback

audio/video feedback

Grading Guides

Rubrics

Feedback Files

Grading Workflow

Grading

Overriding Existing Grades

Grading

Excluding Individual Grade

Grading

Exporting Grades

Importing Final Grades to Portal from Moodle

  1. Log in to Moodle and enter your course site.
  2. Click Grades in the top menu.
  3. From the dropdown menu, click Export.
  4. On the next screen, from the "Export as" menu, choose MLC Portal.Screenshot 2024-10-15 at 4.13.33 PM.png
  5. Click Export Grades.
  6. A new tab will open with the Portal website. If prompted, log into Portal using your MLC username and password.
  7. The listing of students will be populated with letter grades based on their grade in Moodle. You can make adjustments to the grades as needed.
  8. Click Submit on the bottom of the page.

     

** This method will use the Letter Grade scale that's set for your course in Moodle to translate percentages into letter grades. To check or edit that scale, please follow these instructions.

Grading

Reordering Gradebook Items

When viewing the gradebook, items are listed in chronological order, based on when the assignment or activity was added to the course site. This order might be different than the order the activities appear on the course site and/or the order you'd like them to appear in the gradebook. If a course uses categories for grading, this method can also be used to put assignments into the proper grading category.

Instructions

  1. Log into Moodle and enter the course you want to adjust.
  2. Click Grades in the left menu. If that menu is not visible, click the three lines in the upper left corner to make it appear.
  3. Click the dropdown menu and choose Gradebook setup.
  4. Click the up/down arrow to the left of the item you want to move.
  5. The screen will change, showing numerous checkboxes indicating where the item can be moved.
  6. Click the checkbox that corresponds to the location you'd like the item to be.
  7. Repeat steps 4-6 until all the items are in the desired order.
  8. Note: If you are using categories, make sure to keep each gradebook item within the proper category.

 

Gradebook Order

Grading

Using Grading Guides

Grading

Beginner's Guide to Moodle Gradebook

If you haven't used Moodle Gradebook before, this would be a great time to try it out. Some benefits include:

If you'd like to get started, please follow the instructions and links below. 

Setting Up Your Gradebook
  1. Make sure your grade scale in Moodle matches the grade scale for your course.
  2. Decide if you want to do weighted categories in your gradebook or not.
  3. If you're using weighted categories, set up the categories and put existing assignments into the correct categories.
  4. Grade your assignments.
Grading

Setting the Grading Scale

The grading scale is how Moodle translates percentages into letter grades. It is also the scale that is used when exporting grades from Moodle into Portal. The default grading scale can be changed in your course to match the grading scale in your syllabus. Grading scales to transfer with other course material when importing a course from a previous semester, but it is still wise to check this grading scale for accuracy at the beginning of each semester.

Checking the Current Grading Scale
Changing the Course Grading Scale
Default Grading Scale
A   95-100
A- 93-94
B+ 91-92
B 87-90
B- 85-86
C+ 83-84
C 79-82
C- 77-78
D+ 75-76
D 72-74
D- 70-71
F 0-69

Grading

Adding Extra Credit

Extra credit can be added to the Moodle gradebook as a gradebook item that adds points to the student's number of accumulated points, but not to the point total for the course. This ability is dependent on some settings in your gradebook. For additional help with this, please contact support. 

Instructions

Rubrics in Moodle

How to Use Rubrics in Moodle

Rubrics in Moodle

Set Up Rubric in Moodle

This screencast shows the user how to set up a rubric in Moodle. 

 

 

Rubrics in Moodle

Grading a Moodle Assignment Using a Rubric

This screencast shows how to grade an assignment onecethe rubric has been established.

Rubrics in Moodle

Re-Using a Rubric in Moodle

This screencast shows how to use a rubric established for one assignment in another without retyping the whole thing.

Groups

Groups

Group Types

No Groups

Groups will not be used for this activity. This is the default setting.

Separate Groups

Groups will be used for this activity. Students can only see the content of their own group. The other groups and their content are not visible to them.

Visible Groups

Groups will be used for this activity. Students can see the content of their group and all the other groups, but can only interact with the content from their own group.

 

Moodle-Groups.png

Groups

Setting Up a Group

In Moodle, groups are set up for the whole course, but only impact those activities that are set to use groups. Groups can be changed throughout the course as needed.

Instructions
Auto-Create Groups
Create Group
Groups

Adding or Removing an Individual Student from a Pre-Existing Group

Adding a Student
  1. Log in to Moodle and enter your Moodle course.
  2. Click on Participants on the left-side column. 
  3. Click the Gear Menu on the right side near the top and choose Groups.
  4. Select the group you want to add the student to from the list of groups.
  5. Click Add/Remove Users on the right.
  6. On the resulting screen, find the student in the Potential Members list on the right and click to select them.
    • If your course has lots of students, they might not appear in the list. Use the search box below the box.
  7. Click Add.
  8. Repeat as necessary to add additional students.
  9. Click Back to Groups at the bottom of the page.
Removing a Student
  1. Follow steps 1-5 above.
  2. Locate the student in the Group Members list on the left and click to select them.
      • If your course has lots of students, they might not appear in the list. Use the search box below the box.
  3. Click Remove.
  4. Repeat as necessary to remove additional students.
  5. Click Back to Groups at the bottom of the page.

Moodle Profile

Moodle Profile

Update Your Moodle Profile

Your Moodle profile shares biographical and contact information with other Moodle users. Please follow the instructions below to add new information or update the existing information in your profile.

Instructions

  1. Log into Moodle.
  2. In the top right corner of the screen, click the down arrow to the right of your name and profile picture.
  3. Choose Profile
  4. In the User details box, choose Edit profile
  5. Scroll down to see the information you can edit. Sections with a red exclamation mark are required.
    1. First Name/Last Name: This is the name that will appear in Moodle. It is automatically populated and cannot be changed.
    2. Email address: By default, this is set to your MLC account. This is the address that will be used for all notifications within Moodle. It is suggested that you leave the email address set to your MLC address, but it is possible to set it to some other preferred email address. 
    3. Email display: By default, this is set to Allow only other course members to see my email address. This means that others in your courses can see your email address, but Moodle users outside of your courses cannot. It is suggested that you do not change this option.
    4. City/town and CountryPlease update to indicate your geographical location.
    5. Timezone: Please leave this set to Server timezone (American/Chicago).
    6. Description: You can fill in a short description of your position at your school, congregation, or place of work. It does not need to be a long description, as courses will have an introductory activity to share more about yourself.
    7. User picture: See the page on Moodle Profile Pictures.
    8. Additional names: Phonetic spellings or nicknames can be added in this section.
    9. Interests and Option: You do not need to add anything in these sections.
Moodle Profile

Moodle Profile Picture

Your Moodle profile picture is visible to Moodle users you interact with, helping to put a face with a name. Please follow the directions below to add or update your profile picture.

Instructions

  1. Access your Moodle profile by following these instructions

To add a new profile picture:

  1. Locate an ID-type picture of yourself (not a picture of your family, pet, logo, etc.) on your computer. JPG or PNG files are recommended.
  2. Next to New picture, either drag and drop the picture into the upload box, or click the Add button in the upper left corner of the upload box to add a new picture. 
    1. If you choose the Add button, a file picker window will appear.
    2. Choose Upload a file on the left side of the window.
      1. Note: If your picture will not upload, it is likely too large. Please resize the picture and try uploading it again.
    3. Click Browse.
    4. Locate the picture you would like to upload and click Open
    5. Click Upload this file at the bottom of the window.
  3. Click Update profile at the bottom of the page to save the changes.

To edit an existing profile picture:

  1. Check the Delete picture box underneath your existing profile picture.
  2. Click Update profile at the bottom of the page.
  3. Click Edit profile and follow the directions above to add a new picture.

How Do I?

How Do I?

Activate My Course

Courses need to be activated before they appear in Moodle. You may activate any course that you are listed as the instructor for.

Instructions

  1. Visit portal.mlc-wels.edu
  2. Log in to your MLC account by clicking the Login button in the top right corner. Use the same username and password as you do for Moodle.
  3. From the Scheduling tab, choose Moodle Courses
  4. Click the Activate button next to the name of the course you'd like to activate. 
  5. The Activate button will disappear and a message indicating the course has been activated will take its place. 
How Do I?

See Moodle as a Student

Requesting a Sample Student

Enrolling a Sample Student

 

How Do I?

Uploading a File from Google Drive

How Do I?

Set Course to Hide

At the conclusion of a course or the semester, courses should be hidden from student view to protect copywritten material.

Instructions

  1. Log into Moodle and click on the course that you'd like to make viewable.
  2. From the course homepage, click on the gear menu in the upper right corner and choose Edit Settings.
  3. Under the General heading, locate the dropdown menu to the right of Course visibility.
  4. Choose Hide.
  5. Scroll to the bottom of the page and choose Save and display.
How Do I?

Import Course Content

Course content from previous offerings can be imported for reuse. The entire course can be imported or just selected parts. 

Importing a Whole Course

If something is not appearing correctly in your course, please do not import your course again. This will create a duplicate of everything in your course. First, try adjusting your course section numbers. If that doesn't fix the problem, please contact support.

Here's an interactive tutorial

** Best experienced in Full Screen (click the icon in the top right corner before you begin) **

12 STEPS

1. The first step is to open your Moodle Dashboard and click on the course for the current semester (the one you want to import content into)

Step 1 image

2. Click More

Step 2 image

3. Click Course reuse

Step 3 image

4. Click Import

Step 4 image

5. Scroll and click Search courses

Step 5 image

6. Type the course number of the course you want to import

Step 6 image

Step 7 image

8. Scroll and click to select the course you want to import

Step 8 image

9. Click Continue

Step 9 image

10. If you want to import all of the course content, scroll and click Jump to final step

If you only want to import part of the content, follow the other tutorial

Step 10 image

11. Click Continue

You can safely ignore all technical information and warnings

Step 11 image

12. That's it. You're done.

Step 12 image
Tutorial completed.
Congratulations on finishing this tutorial.

Important Notes

Importing Specific Items

1. Follow steps 1-9 above.

2. After the proper course has been chosen in step 9, use the checkboxes to mark what kind of material you'd like to import into the course. Include activities and resources is the most common option.

3. Use the checkboxes on the next page to indicate which specific materials you want to import. By default, all the materials are checked. Use the Select All/None options at the top to quickly check or uncheck the boxes. Then choose the individual items to import. 
     * If you are not able to click on a specific box, look above it for a category header in bold. Check that category header to choose the items underneath it.

4. Click Next.

5. Confirm your choices on the next screen. If they are correct, choose Perform import. You can also choose Previous to go back and choose different items.

6. Continue with steps 8 and 9 above.

How Do I?

Remove Course Sections from a Meta-Site

Meta-courses can be reused from one semester or year to the next by removing the sections that are attached from the previous semester and then attaching the sections for the new semester. 

Instructions

  1. If you have not previously used a meta-site, please see these instructions.
  2. Log into Moodle and enter the meta-site.
  3. Click on the Participants tab on the left menu.
  4. Click on the Gear in the upper right corner and choose Enrollment methods
  5. From the resulting list, locate the section names from previous semesters.
  6. Click the trash can to the right of the course section you want to remove.
  7. On the resulting page, verify you have chosen the correct section and click the blue Continue button. 
  8. Repeat steps 5-7 until all previous sections have been removed. Do not remove Manual enrollments or Guest access.
How Do I?

How Students Can Contribute Files or Links

If you wish to have students contribute to your Moodle site, it is possible, but not very intuitive.   This method allows students to post files and links without altering access rights and permissions.

 

How Do I?

Adding a Link to a Webpage in your Moodle Course

Nearly anything with a web link can be shared to your Moodle course page.

Instructions
How Do I?

Use Groups in a Discussion Forum

Groups can be used in a Discussion Forum to limit the number of posts an individual student interacts with. This can be especially helpful in courses with a large number of students.

 

Using Separate or Visible Groups

Instructions

  1. First, you need to set up groups within the course. 
  2. After groups have been set up, you need to set the discussion forum to use groups. This can be done either from the Discussion Settings or the course home page.
Method #1 - Discussion Settings
  1. Either add a new discussion forum or turn editing on and choose Edit settings from the forum's edit menu to edit an existing forum. 
  2. From the settings page, scroll down to Common module settings. Click the title to expand the menu if the options are not visible.
  3. Next to Group mode, choose the group setting you want for the forum. 
  4. If you have set groupings in your course, an option for choosing the grouping will appear.
  5. After you have chosen the group settings, scroll to the bottom of the page and click one of the Save buttons.
Method #2 - Course Home Page
  1. Turn editing on within the course.
  2. Next to each discussion forum, a small person icon should appear. Hovering the mouse over the icon will indicate which group mode the forum is currently set to.
  3. Click the icon to cycle through the 3 group settings. See the image below for what each icon represents.

Removing Groups

If a student is unable to post to a discussion forum and gets an error about not being in a group, likely groups have inadvertently been set within the discussion forum. Follow these instructions to remove the group setting from the discussion forum. This can be done either from the Discussion Settings or the course home page.

Method #1 - Discussion Settings
  1. Turn editing on in your course and choose Edit settings from the forum's edit menu. 
  2. From the settings page, scroll down to Common module settings. Click the title to expand the menu if the options are not visible.
  3. Next to Group mode, choose No groups
  4. After you have chosen the group settings, scroll to the bottom of the page and click one of the blue Save buttons.
Method #2 - Course Home Page
  1. Turn editing on within the course.
  2. Next to each discussion forum, a small person icon should appear. Hovering the mouse over the icon will indicate which group mode the forum is currently set to.
  3. Click the icon to cycle through the 3 group settings. See the image below for what each icon represents.

Moodle-Groups.png

 

How Do I?

Turning In Grades

At the end of each semester, grades need to be reported for each student. Grades are reported on Portal by following one of the methods below.  

Manually Submitting Grades

  1. Visit portal.mlc-wels.edu and log in with your MLC username and password.
  2. Select Grades from the top menu and click on Enter Grades.
  3. Click on the name of the course you want to enter grades for and a listing of your students should appear.
  4. Next to each student's name, select the appropriate letter grade.
  5. Click Submit on the bottom of the page.

Importing Final Grades to Portal from Moodle

  1. Log in to Moodle and enter your course site.
  2. Click Grades in the top menu.
  3. From the dropdown menu, click Export.
  4. On the next screen, from the "Export as" menu, choose MLC Portal.
  5. Click Export Grades.
  6. A new tab will open with the Portal website. If prompted, log into Portal using your MLC username and password.
  7. The listing of students will be populated with letter grades based on their grade in Moodle. You can make adjustments to the grades as needed.
  8. Click Submit on the bottom of the page.

Other Information

Exporting the Gradebook

How Do I?

Adding a TA

A Teachers' Assistant (TA) can be added to courses to assist with various instructional duties.

Instructions

** Best experienced in Full Screen (click the icon in the top right corner before you begin) **

10 STEPS

1. The first step is to open the course and click Participants

Step 1 image

2. Click Enrol users

Step 2 image

3. Click Select users

Step 3 image

4. Type the username/email address of your TA

Step 4 image

5. Click the student's name

Note: Many students have similar names. Please be careful when choosing the student. The email address is the best unique identifier.

Step 5 image

6. Click to the side to close the search box

Step 6 image

7. Click in the Assign role drop-down menu

Step 7 image

8. Select Teaching Assistant - Grading or Teaching Assistant - Editing

Grading allows your TA to enter grades, but not adjust course content. Editing gives your TA the same course content editing options that you have as the instructor.

Step 8 image

9. Click Enrol users

Step 9 image

10. That's it. You're done.

Step 10 image
Tutorial completed.
Congratulations on finishing this tutorial.

Important Notes

How Do I?

Permanently Deleting Old Courses

Most online instructors do not want to delete a course site right after they have taught it since they might want to refer back to it the next time they teach the course. However, after teaching a course several times, several previous course sites will have accumulated, and it is appreciated if you mark the oldest ones for deletion.

Instructions

Rachel Feld will periodically search in Moodle for courses that begin with the word Delete and will permanently delete them from Moodle. You can also email Rachel and let her know you've marked some courses for deletion so that they're removed more quickly.

Caution: Once a course is deleted, it is erased and cannot be retrieved. 

How Do I?

Course Surveys

A common end-of-course survey is conducted at the conclusion of all online courses in order to gather valuable feedback for course improvement. The survey instructions are sent out to your students by Rachel Feld via the Announcement Forum in your course. The survey is conducted via the MLC Portal, where you will be able to view a compilation of the survey results.  

Accessing Results
Additional Notes
How Do I?

Set Course to Hide/View

By default, all courses are initially hidden from student view. Courses are automatically made visible to students 1 week prior to the beginning of the semester. If you wish for your course to be hidden after the 1-week mark, follow the instructions below. 

Instructions

    ** Best experienced in Full Screen (click the icon in the top right corner before you begin) **

    4 STEPS

    1. The first step is to open your course and click Settings

    Step 1 image

    2. Next to Course visibility, choose show or hide.

    If show is selected, all students, instructors, and TAs can see the course on their Moodle dashboard. If hide is selected, only instructors can see the course on their Moodle dashboard.

    Step 2 image

    3. Scroll down and click Save and display

    Step 3 image

    4. That's it. You're done.

    Step 4 image
    Tutorial completed.
    Congratulations on finishing this tutorial.

    Notes

    uw2hiddendashboard2.png

    How Do I?

    View Class Roster

    Class rosters are available to view prior to the semester via Portal or during the semester via Portal or Moodle. 

    Instructions for Viewing the Roster in Portal

    1. Visit the MLC Portal by clicking Portal in the top menu of your Moodle page or by going to portal.mlc-wels.edu.
    2. If you are not automatically logged in, click the Login button near the top right corner and use your Moodle username and password to log in.
    3. After logging in, click Scheduling and choose Schedule Browser
    4. Click your name.
    5. Scroll down below the course schedule and click the blue people icon peopleicon.png to the left of the course name.
      • If you do not see any courses in the schedule, you likely need to switch the semester being shown. Click the semester name on the right side underneath the gear menu and choose a different semester.
        • The summer semester is semester 3.
    6. Your course roster will be displayed on the resulting page.

    Instructions for Viewing the Roster in Moodle

    1. After logging into Moodle, click on the course whose roster you want to view. 
    2. From the menu on the top, click Participants.
    3. If the resulting list is blank, the course has not yet been populated with students. Courses are typically populated with students 4 weeks prior to the start of the course. This process is automatic.

    Moodle Enrollment Process

    How Do I?

    Initial Communication with Students

    For online courses, please contact your students about two weeks prior to the start of the semester, following the guidelines below.

    Initial Email Communication
    Notes
    ** Best experienced in Full Screen (click the icon in the top right corner before you begin) **

    1. The first step is to go to portal.mlc-wels.edu and click Login

    Step 1 image

    2. Enter your Username

    Step 2 image

    3. Enter your Password

    Step 3 image

    4. Click Login

    Step 4 image

    5. Click Scheduling

    Step 5 image

    6. Click Schedule Browser

    Step 6 image

    7. Click Your Name

    Step 7 image

    8. Scroll down to the bottom of your schedule and click the blue people icon.

    Step 8 image

    9. Click E-mail All (Personal)

    Step 9 image

    10. The email addresses should populate into a new email from whatever email client you typically use.

    If it's not the right email address (i.e. it's not your MLC email address), copy and paste the email addresses into a new email from your MLC account.

    Step 10 image

    How Do I?

    Fixing Orphaned Activities

    After importing and opening up a course, sometimes activities appear as orphaned. Please follow these directions to fix the issue.

    Instructions

    1. Log in to Moodle as usual and click on the course.
    2. Click on the gear in the upper right corner and choose Edit Settings.
    3. Scroll down and click on the blue heading Course Format.
    4. Next to the second option, Number of sections, choose a number bigger than what is currently there. Many courses have 8 topics, but it depends on how you have organized your content. If you remember how many sections your course had, choose that number. If not, take your best guess -- the number can be changed again if needed.
      • Number of sections refers to the number of topics in your course. Depending on how your course is designed, this is likely the number of weeks in the semester or units in your class.
    5. Scroll to the bottom of the page and choose Save and display.
    6. Check to see that all your course content is displayed/no longer orphaned. If not, the course likely had more sections. Repeat steps 2-5 as necessary.

    Here's an interactive tutorial

    ** Best experienced in Full Screen (click the icon in the top right corner before you begin) **

    7 STEPS

    1. The first step is to open your course and click the gear icon.

    Step 1 image

    2. Click Edit settings

    Step 2 image

    3. Scroll down and click Course format

    Step 3 image

    4. Scroll down and click the dropdown by Number of Sections.

    Step 4 image

    5. Select a number larger than what is currently highlighted.

    Step 5 image

    6. Scroll down and click Save and display

    Step 6 image

    7. Check to see if all of your course sections are visible. If not, repeat the process with a bigger number.

    Step 7 image



    Next step

    Go Live
    How Do I?

    Using a Meta-Course

    Some MLC courses have several sections of the same course. These can be combined into a single course, called a meta-course. Using a meta-course eliminates the need for posting/creating content in multiple locations for multiple sections.

    Instructions

    1. Activate each course section via the MLC Portal. 
    2. Request a meta-course through this form.
    3. That's it :) 
    How Do I?

    Add Course Sections to a Meta-Site

    Meta-courses can be reused from one semester or year to the next by removing the sections that are attached from the previous semester and then attaching the sections for the new semester. 

    Instructions

    1. If you have not previously used a meta-site, please see these instructions.
    2. If you are reusing a meta-site from a previous semester, please remove the existing course sections before continuing. 
    3. Activate each course section via the MLC Portal. Continue with the next steps once the sections appear in Moodle. This can take up to 24 hours.
    4. Log into Moodle and enter the meta-site.
    5. Click on the Participants tab on the left menu.
    6. Click on the Gear in the upper right corner and choose Enrollment methods
    7. From the Add method dropdown menu, choose Course meta link.
    8. From the top Link course dropdown menu, search for the course name of the first section you want to add. Pay careful attention to the section, school year, and semester to ensure you choose the right section. If the search window won't disappear after you select the proper course, press the Escape button.
    9. From the bottom Add to group dropdown menu, choose Create new group. This will allow you to separate some assignments and activities by section. 
    10. Click the blue Add method at the bottom.
    11. Repeat steps 5-10 until you've added all your sections to the meta-site.
    How Do I?

    Edit Multiple Due Dates

    The Edit Dates report lets you review and update due dates, cut-off dates, and other timed events for multiple assignments, activities, or resources all on one screen. This feature is especially helpful if you’re reusing a previous course.

    Instructions

    How Do I?

    Open a Course for One Student

    In general, courses should be hidden after they are completed. Sometimes, a student might need access to a closed course if they have an incomplete or are studying for their comprehensive exam. Instead of setting the course to view, which opens it up for all students, follow the directions below to open the course for an individual student. The access should be removed when the student no longer needs the content.

    Instructions

    Opening the Course
    Closing the Course
    How Do I?

    Fix the "Not part of a Group" Error

    In discussion forums, sometimes a student will get an error that says they cannot post because they are not part of a group. There are two ways to address this problem.

    If the Discussion Forum IS Using Groups
     
    If the Discussion Forum is NOT Using Groups

    Moodle-Groups.png

    How Do I?

    Show/Hide Course Content

    When content is not ready for students to view, you can hide whole sections or individual items from student view. You can also use the bulk edit feature to hide course content.

    Instructions
    ** Best experienced in Full Screen (click the icon in the top right corner before you begin) **

    10 STEPS

    1. The first step is to open your course and click to turn on Edit mode

    Step 1 image

    2. Scroll to the item you want to hide/show and click the three dots

    Step 2 image

    3. Click Hide on course page to hide the item or Show on course page to show the item

    Step 3 image

    4. Once hidden, you can also adjust the availability by clicking Hidden from students and choosing Show on course page

    Step 4 image

    5. To change availability for multiple items, click Bulk actions near the top of the page

    Step 5 image

    6. Click the boxes to Select the items you want to show/hide

    Step 6 image

    7. After you've selected the items you want, click Availability at the bottom of the page

    Step 7 image

    8. Click Hide or Show, depending on what you want to do

    Step 8 image

    9. Click Apply

    Step 9 image

    10. That's it. You're done.

    Step 10 image
    Tutorial completed.
    Congratulations on finishing this tutorial.

    Glossary

    Glossary

    Course Short Name

    Course Short Name

    Glossary

    Course Name

    All courses are named following a standard convention.

    For example, EDT0001: 01 Introduction to Online Learning (201718 2) indicates that this is the first section of edtech course 0001, being taught in the second semester of the 2017-2018 school year.

    Semester Checklists

    Semester Checklists

    Beginning of Semester: Online Course

    Please use the following checklist to help get your online Moodle course up and running.

     
    Semester Checklists

    Beginning of Semester: On-Campus Course

    Please use the following checklist to help get your On-Campus Moodle site up and running.

    Semester Checklists

    End of Semester: Online Course

    Please use the following checklist to help guide you through the end of your online course.

    Semester Checklists

    End of Semester: On-Campus Course

    Please use the following checklist to help guide you through the end of your on-campus course.

    Semester Checklists

    Course Workflow for Online Courses - Updated February 2021

    Summary of Changes

     

    New Workflow Steps

    1. Make your course edits in the master course. This includes any edits to content, updating the syllabus, etc. The only thing you will not be able to do is to assign specific students to groups and set due dates. 

    2. Approximately 1 week before the start of the semester, copy course content to the current semester’s course page and set the page to view. At this time, you’ll be able to assign specific students to groups if needed. Assistance will be provided for this step.

    3. Teach the course! Throughout the semester, continue to update the master course as needed. Please note that changes to the master course will not appear automatically on the current semester’s course page. 

    4. Repeat.

    Helping Students Succeed

    Helping Students Succeed

    Monitoring Activity Using Course Blocks

    What are "Blocks?"

    Blocks are part of the Moodle Course Page.  These areas give the user information at a glance.  Courses are created with a default set of blocks enabled.  There are additional blocks available.  Blocks can be repositioned on the course page, or they may be deleted.

    blocks6.png

    There are two Blocks that are very useful for monitoring what is going on in your course.  Those Blocks are the recent Activity Block and the Online Users Block.  Recent Activity is displayed by default.  As things happen in the course, this block will display that for you.  You can also get a report by clicking on the link that appears in the Block "Full report of recent activity...".

    The Online Users block displays a list of students who are currently logged in to your course. This Block must be added if you wish to make use of it.  The instructions for adding this Block follow.

    Add a Block

     

     

     

     

     

    1.  Navigate to your Course Page.  Turn Editing on. blocks1.png
    2. At the upper left corner of the page, find the 3 horizontal line button (the "hamburger").  Click on that button to expand the left side pane. blocks2.png

    3. When the left side pane opens, scroll to the very bottom of the pane.  You will see a box, "Add a Block".  Select that button.

    blocks3.png
    4. For our purposes, we'll add a Block that tells us which users are currently logged in to our course. Scroll down the list of Blocks to find "Online users".  Select that Block. blocks4.png
    5. The Block will appear in the right pane of your course. You can change the position (up or down in the pane) by clicking and holding on the crossed arrow icon.  Your cursor changes to the crossed arrow.  You can drag the Block up or down to your desired position. blocks5.png
    Turn your editing off, your block is in place.  

     

    Delete a Block

    You may decide that you do not wish to use a Block, and want to remove it from the Course Page.  Directions follow:

    1. Turn Editing on (refer to step 1 of the directions above).

    2. Locate the Block you wish to delete.  Click on the "gear" icon.  From the menu, select the last item "Delete ___ block".

    3. Accept the confirmation dialog that appears.  The Block is deleted.  It may be re-added at any time.

    blocks7.png

     

     

    Helping Students Succeed

    Tracking Student Activity Using Reports

    Reports

    Moodle provides several tools for giving you feedback about student activity. Moodle's Reports offers some useful information about student activity.  Directions to access the Reports follows (clicking on an image will bring up a larger view in a new tab):

    1. In your Course page, select the small arrow next to your picture.  From the drop-down menu, select "More". reports1.png
    2. The Course Administration page appears.  Note that the middle section has the Reports options. reports2.png
    3. Selecting "Activity Report" brings up a Report of all activity on every item in your course. This report may take a few minutes to generate.  It allows you to see which items are accessed.  You have the option to Filter the Report by date range. reports4.png
    4. Selecting "Course Participation" allows you a very detailed report about activity in your course.  You select which Activity you are interested in, how far back to look, and which actions you are interested in.  When you click "Go,"  Moodle displays the requested information.  reports3.png
    5. In this example, the Announcements Forum is selected, for the last 4 days, by Students, and All actions.  The result is displayed.  One user accessed this activity, some did not. reports5.png

     

    Logs

    Moodle keeps logs of all activity in your course.  You can view these logs.  Logs enable you to see very granular information, and you have many options for viewing logs.  Generally, the logs are used when you want information about a specific student for a specific reason. Directions:

    1. Select Logs from the Reports section (refer to the directions above.)

    2. You will see a dialog box where you have quite a few options.  Note all the menus to select from.  Make your selections.  You will never hurt anything by viewing logs.  However, Moodle will take more time to process logs when you leave selection criteria broad.

    logs1.png

     

     

    Helping Students Succeed

    Class "Attendance" in Moodle

    It may be useful to know when a student last accessed your course.  Moodle keeps track of that for you. Directions follow (click on an image to open a larger view in a new window):

    1. In your Course page, look to the upper left corner to find the button with three horizontal lines (the "hamburger). Clicking the button will open the left pane. blocks2.png
    In the left pane, select "Participants." partic1.png
    A list of all the course participants will appear.  You can view when each participant last accessed the course.  
    If you have a large roster, you can apply a filter to search for a specific participant. partic2.png

     

    Helping Students Succeed

    Enabling Student Access to Logs and Reports

    You can allow students to access logs and activity reports.  Steps:

    Log in to the course.  Select "Edit Settings" from the gear icon:

    enable1.png

    Expand the "Appearance" tab.  Set "Show activity reports" to Yes:

    enable2.png

     

     

    Finding a Course

    Courses in Moodle can be found on your Moodle Dashboard and on the Site Home page. Use the following tips to quickly find the course you're looking for.

    Adding Library Resources to a Reading List

    How to add articles and other library resources to a reading list.

    Adding Library Resources to a Reading List

    How to add articles from library databases to Moodle reading lists

    The basics:  To add an article from a library database to a Moodle reading list, use its persistent link.

    The reason:  If you copy the address-bar URL of an article, it may "break" when you try to use it the next time.  Persistent URLs are stable and will lead your students to the article along with login options if needed for off-campus access.

    If you have existing Curriculum Builder reading lists in Moodle, see the instructions below for moving them to permalinks.


    Steps for adding individual articles to Moodle reading lists

    In Moodle:
    1. Turn editing on.
    2. Navigate to the section where you'll place the article.
    3. Add an activity or resource.
    4. Select URL.
    5. Enter a name for the article.
    6. Locate the permalink in Discovery (instructions below) and paste (Ctrl-V) it in the External URL box. You may also add a description or change other options.
    In Discovery
    1. Search for an article, ebook, or other digital content.
    2. Click on the title of an item you'd like to add.
    3. Find the permalink for the information.  In Discovery, it will be in the sidebar menu on the right side of the page.
    4. Click on the permalink button.
      pl3.jpg
    5. Find the link near the top of the page.  Highlight the entire permalink and copy it (Ctrl-C). pl2.jpg
    1. Create a new Google doc.
    2. Search for the article in Discovery.
    3. Click on the title of the article.
    4. On the right side of the page, click the Save icon.
    5. Adjust options (if wanted) and click the Save button.
    6. Copy the title, author, etc. and paste it into your Google doc.
    7. Go back to the article, and right-click on the persistent link, then click Copy Link Address.
    8. In your Google doc, highlight the article title, then click the link button and paste the link address. 
    Option: Add your Google doc to Moodle.  (Video demo)
    1. Use the Share button in Google Docs to change the permission to Anyone with the Link as Viewer.
    2. In Moodle, Add an Activity or Resource.
    3. Click All, then URL.
    4. Enter a name for the link, then past the link URL in the External URL box.
    5. Click on the button to Save and Return to Course.

     

    You may find permalinks on publisher article pages, but they may not contain the information that gives your students access to the article. 

    For example, https://www.jstor.org/stable/26695431 (found by going directly to JSTOR) may result in a "paywall" for access to the article.

    https://emil.mlc-wels.edu/login?url=https://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&AuthType=ip,url,cookie&db=edsjsr&AN=edsjsr.26695431&site=eds-live&scope=site (found by clicking on the article title in a Discovery results list) has all of the information needed to give our students access whether they are on- or off-campus.  emil.mlc-wels.edu is the key piece.

    Students may still have to find the "full text" button on the listing to get to the actual article content.

    Move existing Curriculum Builder articles to permalinks (easy method):
    Video demo

    Move existing Curriculum Builder articles to permalinks (alternative method):

     

    *These instructions supersede the use of Curriculum Builder, which has been discontinued.