Common Moodle Tasks

• Downloading Course Content
• Participating in Discussion Forums
• Replying to Q and A Forums
• Submitting an Assignment
• Checking Grades and Feedback
• Viewing Final Grades

Downloading Course Content

Instructors often provide course content to students in the form of PDFs, Word Documents, or PowerPoint presentations that can be downloaded and viewed. Please use the following instructions to download course content.

---

• Log into Moodle and enter your course site.
• Downloadable content can be identified by the icon to the left of the name. Some commonly seen icons are:
  • - Microsoft Word Document
  • - Microsoft PowerPoint Presentation
  • - PDF
• Click the icon or the name of the file to download the content to your computer.
• Depending on your computer settings, the file might automatically download to your downloads folder. You might also get a pop-up window asking where you'd like the file saved. Follow whatever process you normally use to download files to your computer. 
• Locate where the file has been saved and use the appropriate program (i.e. Word or Adobe Acrobat Reader) to view the file.
• If you are unsure of what type of program should be used to open the file, check the icon next to the title on the Moodle Course page. If this does not help, contact your course instructor.

Participating in Discussion Forums

Discussion forums are often used by instructors to facilitate discussion about course topics or provide course announcements. Please read below to participate in a discussion forum.

---

Discussion Forum Overview

• Discussion forums are indicated by the speech bubble icon. 
• Online courses typically have several standard discussion forums.
  • Announcements: A one-way forum for the instructor to make announcements to the whole class. You cannot post in this forum. You will receive an email of all announcements posted to this forum.
  • Instructor's Office: Many course instructors use this discussion forum for students to post questions about the course that may apply to the whole class. See the course syllabus and Moodle course page for specific information about how the instructor wants questions communicated.
  • Extended Absences: Many course instructors will ask you to post in this forum if you are going to be away from the course site for a longer period of time. See the course syllabus and Moodle course page for specific information about how the instructor wants absences communicated.
• Instructions for other course-specific discussion forums will be found within the course content.

Posting in a Discussion Forum

• Log in to Moodle and enter your course site.
• Click on the discussion forum you want to post in.
• Instructions for what to post will often appear on the resulting page. You may also find posting instructions on the unit lesson page or course syllabus. If you are not sure about what to post, first check the course content and then contact your instructor.
• When you are ready to post in the forum, click Add a new discussion topic. 
  • If you do not see this option, it might be a Q&A Forum. 
• On the next page, enter a subject for your discussion post in the top text box. The subject will appear on the discussion's main page. 
• The main body of your post should go in the Message box underneath the subject. Please see the Text Editor Features page for more information about entering text.
  • Please note that your Moodle account will time out after two hours of inactivity. If you feel it might take you longer than two hours to post, or if you need to leave your post and come back to it later, copy your post into a text document (Word or Google Docs) to save it and then paste it back in Moodle when you're ready to post.
• If you need to attach a file to your post, click Advanced and follow the instructions for adding a file.
• When you're done, click Post to forum.
  • You will have 15 minutes before your post is finalized. If you want to edit your post, click the subject of your post and click Edit in the bottom right corner of your post. Once the 15 minutes are up, the edit option will no longer appear. 

Posting Audio/Video in a Discussion Forum

• Follow the directions above to start your discussion post. 
• In the Message box, click either the microphone or video camera icon to begin your recording.
  • Please note that you need to have a microphone and webcam (for video) to use this feature. Most recent laptops come with both.
• Click the red Start Recording box. 
• Your audio/video will start recording. If recording a video, you should see a camera preview in the box. The timer counts down the amount of time you have left.
• When you're finished, or if you need to start over, click Stop Recording.
• You can preview your recording if desired. If you wish to try again, click Record Again and follow the same process.
• Once you are satisfied with your recording, click Attach Recording. 
• Your audio/video will start uploading to the discussion forum. Depending on the length of the media and internet connection speed, it could take some time.
• You can also add text or images to your discussion post.
• When you're done, click Post to forum.
  • You will have 15 minutes before your post is finalized. If you want to edit your post, click the subject of your post and click Edit in the bottom right corner of your post. Once the 15 minutes are up, the edit option will no longer appear. 

Replying in a Discussion Forum

• Log in to Moodle and enter your course site.
• Click on the discussion forum's name.
• Click on the subject of the discussion post you want to reply to.
• After you have read the post, click on the Reply button in the bottom right corner of the post. 
• A text box will appear underneath the post. Write your reply in the box and click Submit.
  • If you want more text formatting options, click Advanced.
• You will have 15 minutes before your reply is finalized. If you want to edit your reply, click the subject of the post and click Edit in the bottom right corner of your reply. Once the 15 minutes are up, the edit option will no longer appear. 

Other Discussion Forum Options

• You can subscribe to most discussion forums by clicking the gear in the upper right corner and choosing Subscribe to this forum. You will then receive emails when people have posted to this forum, based on your preferences in your Moodle profile. Note that your instructor can override these settings in individual forums. You are automatically subscribed to the course announcement forum.
• Clicking the star to the left of a discussion subject will star the discussion thread. This can be useful when tracking which posts you've replied to.
• There are several options for how the post and replies are organized. You can set your preference by clicking the subject of a discussion post and using the dropdown menu at the top of the post. See the Moodle Docs about display options for more information.
• Moodle will track how many unread posts and replies you have in each forum. You can turn this off by clicking the gear in the upper right corner and choosing Don't track unread posts.

Grades in Discussion Forums

• Often instructors will assign ratings to discussion forum posts and replies. 
• Once the instructor has graded the post or reply, the rating will appear in the bottom left corner of the post.
• Grades can also be viewed from the grades option in the left menu.
• Instructors often use the sum of ratings option for discussion posts, where the points awarded for your initial post and replies are added together to make your final grade. Please note that if your instructor grades the initial posts before the replies are due or if you happen to check your grade before your instructor is finished going through all the posts and replies, your grade might seem lower than expected. Check the bottom left corner of your initial posts and replies to see if all of them have been rated yet. 
• Instructors can reply either to the whole class within a post, or to just you. If a reply is private, a message will appear above the reply indicating that you are the only one who can see the reply. Students do not have the option of replying privately to other students or to the instructor. If your instructor posts a private reply you'd like to respond to, please see the course materials for how your instructor would like to be contacted.

Replying to Q and A Forums

When instructors use a Q and A Forum, the process to reply to the forum prompt is slightly different. Please see the instructions below for how to post in this type of forum.

Instructions

• Enter the course in Moodle and click on the Discussion Forum. If it is a Q and A Forum, a blue box will appear under the forum title indicating this.
• You should see one post from your instructor. Click the subject to enter that post. 
• Read the prompt your instructor has written and click Reply in the bottom right corner.
• Type your reply in the resulting textbox. For more formatting options or to enter pictures, audio, or video, click the Advanced button.
• When you are done with your response, click Submit.
• You have 15 minutes to make any edits to your response. 
• You will not see your classmates' posts immediately after posting. You are able to see them after the 15-minute editing window has ended. If you are not able to see them, refresh your browser page or come back to the discussion later.
• Once you see the posts from your classmates, you can reply to classmates as you do in a typical form. See the instructions from your instructor for specific requirements.
• Note that instructors might post more than one question that needs your reply. Additional questions will appear on the first page of the discussion forum. See the assignment directions for specific instructions.

Submitting an Assignment

Moodle assignments are a common way students submit files to instructors for grading. These files might include documents, slide presentations, videos, images, etc. The pink assignment icon indicates where the assignment should be turned in.

---

Adding a File

• Log into Moodle and click on your course.
• Locate the assignment name you want to turn in and click either on the assignment name or the assignment icon.
• Instructions for the assignment might be included on the next screen. Instructions might also be listed in the lesson guide sheet. If you are unsure of the instructions for the assignment, please get in touch with your course instructor.
• Click the Add submission button near the bottom of the screen.
• The next screen is where you will add your completed file to the assignment. There are two options for how to do this.
  • Locate the file on your computer and drag and drop the file into the box with the grey arrow. You can do this by clicking on the file on your computer desktop or in the file explorer and dragging the mouse cursor to the box with the blue arrow on the Moodle page. You can let go of the mouse when the dotted line around the box turns blue. 
  • Click the add file icon in the upper left corner of the file submission area and use the file picker to locate your assignment. 

• Repeat  if you need to add more files to your assignment. Thumbnails of all the files to be turned in will appear in the file submission area.
• Click Save changes.
• Your assignment has now been submitted. Your instructor will be notified that your assignment is complete and will be able to view the file(s) you have turned in.

---

Deleting a File

Follow these instructions to delete a file prior to submitting the assignment.

1. Click on the thumbnail in the file submission area of the file that you want to delete.
2. On the resulting window, click Delete near the upper left corner.
3. Click OK on the confirmation screen.
4. The file will disappear from the file submission area. Note that this only deletes the file from the file submission area, not from your computer.
5. Follow steps #4-5 above to add the correct file to the assignment.

---

Editing a Submission

Follow these instructions to edit a file after submitting the assignment. Note that this option is only available if the instructor allows it for the assignment.

1. Locate the name of the assignment you want to turn in and click either on the assignment name or the assignment icon.
2. At the bottom of the screen, click Edit submission. Note that this button will only appear if the instructor allows this option for the assignment.
3. This will bring you to the file submission area. Follow the steps for deleting a file. Then add a new file following the instructions above.

---

Deleting a Submission

Follow these instructions to delete a file after submitting the assignment. Note that this option is only available if the instructor allows it for the assignment.

1. Locate the name of the assignment you want to turn in and click either on the assignment name or the assignment icon.
2. At the bottom of the screen, click Remove submission. Note that this button will only appear if the instructor allows this option for the assignment.
3. Click Continue on the confirmation screen to remove the submission. 
4. Your instructor will see that you have previously submitted something, but will no longer be able to see what you previously submitted.
5. Click Edit submission and use the file submission area to add a new file to the assignment.

---

Online Text Submission

Follow these instructions to submit online text for an assignment. Note that this option is only available if the instruction allows it for the assignment.

1. Locate the name of the assignment you want to turn in and click either on the assignment name or the assignment icon.
2. If online text submission is an option for the assignment, a textbox will be visible underneath the file submission area.
3. Type your response in the textbox. Additional formatting options can be accessed by clicking the down arrow in the upper left corner of the textbox. Note that if your Moodle session times out (this happens after 2 hours of inactivity), your entry will not be saved. If your assignment will take longer than two hours, consider using another program to write your entry and then copy and paste the text into the online textbox.
4. After you are done typing, click Save changes. 
5. Your assignment has now been submitted. Your instructor will be notified that your assignment is complete and will be able to view the text you have turned in.

 

---

Possible Errors

• Document filetype cannot be accepted
  • The file being uploaded does not match the file type that the instructor has specified for the assignment. For example, if the assignment asks for a .docx (Word) file, you will not be able to upload a PDF or other text document. The accepted file types are listed underneath the file submission area. For questions regarding the accepted file types, please contact your instructor.

Checking Grades and Feedback

Viewing Final Grades

After your instructor has submitted your final grade for a course, that grade can be viewed on Portal. You can also access grades from previous semesters through Portal.

Grade Report

1. Visit portal.mlc-wels.edu and log in using your MLC username and password.
2. Choose Grades from the top menu and click Grade Report.
3. Your grades for the current semester will be displayed. Click on the blue semester heading to see grades from previous semesters.

Unofficial Transcript

1. Visit portal.mlc-wels.edu and log in using your MLC username and password.
2. Choose Grades from the top menu and click Unofficial Transcript.
3. Your unofficial transcript for the courses you've taken at MLC will be displayed. Please see the MLC website for information on how to request an official transcript.

Grade Card

Grade cards are only issued for Continuing Education Courses. Grade cards are printable and can be used to provide proof of credit or clock hours for licensure or other certification purposes.

1. Visit portal.mlc-wels.edu and log in using your MLC username and password.
2. Choose Grades from the top menu and click Grade Card.
3. The grade cards for the continuing education courses you've taken at MLC will be displayed.