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Table of Contents

Introduction 3 About this document 3

What is Moodle? 3

To use Moodle, you will need 3

Log in to Moodle 4

Course homepage 5 Adding Resources or Activities 6

Adding Resources 6

Adding Activities 8

Forum 10 Creating and Modifying Groups 13

Grades 17

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Introduction

About this document

This document is part of a Moodle documentation set and stands as a complement to Quick Start Guides for Lecturers.

What is Moodle?

Moodle is an online Learning Management System (LMS) enabling educators to create dynamic courses that extend learning, anytime, anywhere.

The heart of Moodle is courses that contain activities and resources. The main power of this activity-based model comes in combining the activities into sequences and groups, which can help you, guide participants through learning paths. Thus, each activity can build on the outcomes of previous ones.

To use Moodle, you will need:

A computer or smart device (tablet, phone, etc.) with an Internet connection.

An up-to-date browser. Your username and password.

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Log in to Moodle

You can log in to the system by using the given user name and password.

Once you are logged in below screen will appear.

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Course homepage

There are many course options that determine a course's appearance and make it look very different from our examples. In this example, the course has a header, footer (both content largely determined by a theme) and 2 columns in the middle.

Using the above image, here are the parts of a typical course homepage.

1 - User profile settings 2 – Messages menu 3 – Notifications menu 4 – Course navigation bar 5 – Site navigation bar 6 – Site administration 7 – Course full name 8 – Section header & Announcements 9 – Sections – current and future weeks 10 – Turn editing on and Course administration

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Adding an Resources or Activities

A lecturer can add activities & resources by turning on the editing and by clicking Add an activity or resource in a course section. Resources usually appear in the central area of the course.

Adding Resources

A Resource in Moodle is an item that a lecturer can add to a Moodle course to support learning, such as a file, a video or link to a website. A resource differs from an activity in that it is static; i.e. the student can merely look at or read it, rather than participate.

A lecturer can add resources by turning on the editing and by clicking Add an activity or resource in a course section. Resources usually appear in the central area of the course.

Book

Multi-page resource with a book-like format, the book module allows you to have main chapters and sub chapters. The book module is not interactive. You can, however, link to choices; forums etc; or include multimedia content.

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File

When you wish to share with your students a simple file such as a Word-processed document or slideshow (e.g. created in MS Word, PowerPoint, or Open Office) you use the file resource type. How your students access them depends on your choices in File resource settings. Note also that they will only be able to open your files if they have the appropriate software on their own computers. There is now the possibility to drag & drop files directly from your computer to the core course page.

Folder

For helping organize files. The resources may be of different types. Using a folder to display resources is neater and takes up less space than displaying files one by one in a list. The downside is that at present you are forced to download files stored in a folder resource.

IMS content package

Add static material from other sources in the standard IMS content package format.

Label

A label serves as a spacer on a Moodle course page. It can be used to add text, images, multimedia or code in between other resources in the different sections. It is a very versatile resource and can help to improve the appearance of a course. Banners or descriptions may be added to labels to distinguish between and highlight different areas.

Page

The student sees a single, scrollable screen that a lecturer creates with the robust HTML editor. A page resource creates a link to a screen that displays the content created by the lecturer.

URL

You can send the student to any place they can reach on their web browser.

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Adding Activities

An Activity in Moodle is a feature where students learn by interacting with each other or with their lecturer. They might for instance contribute in a forum, upload an assignment, answer questions in a quiz or collaborate together in a wiki. Activities can be graded.

A lecturer can add activities by turning on the editing and choosing an activity by clicking Add an activity or resource in a course section. Activities usually appear in the central area of the course.

Assignments

Enable lecturers to grade and give comments on uploaded files and assignments created on and off line. The work students submit is visible only to the lecturer and not to the other students unless a group assignment is selected. Very useful. Note that deadlines set in the assignments settings will appear automatically in the course calendar.

Chat

Allows participants to have a real-time synchronous discussion. Not useful: distracts students, does not keep logs.

Choice

A lecturer asks a question and specifies a choice of multiple responses.

Database

Enables participants to create, maintain and search a bank of record entries. The format and structure of these entries can be almost unlimited, including images, files, URLs, numbers and text amongst other things.

External tool

Allows participants to interact with LTI compliant learning resources and activities on other web sites.

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Forum

Allows participants to have asynchronous discussions. Very useful (more than you can think at first).

Glossary

Enables participants to create and maintain a list of definitions, like a dictionary. Quite useful but does not offer the possibility to export the content in a well-formatted format.

Lesson

For delivering content in flexible ways. Basically a set of organized pages.

Quiz

Allows the lecturer to design and set quizzes tests, which may be automatically marked and feedback and/or to correct answers shown. Very useful.

SCORM

Enables SCORM packages to be included as course content. SCORM packages are interactive e-learning capsules created by specific software such as Articulate Storyline.

Survey

For gathering data from students to help lecturers learn about their class and reflect on their own teaching. Not very useful: the questions are pre-defined and not modifiable.

Wiki

A collection of web pages that anyone can add to or edit. Quite complex – I recommend to use this kind of activity only with students who are comfortable with computers.

Workshop

Enables peer assessment. Students submit their work via an online text tool and attachments. There are two grades for a student: their own work and their peer assessments of other students' work.

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Forum

The forum module is an activity where students and lecturers can exchange ideas by posting comments. Forum posts can be graded by the lecturer or other students.

A forum can contribute significantly to successful communication and community building in an online environment. You can use forums for many innovative purposes in educational settings, but teaching forums and student forums are arguably the two more significant distinctions.

The forum module is very useful as you can customize it and adapt it to many activities such as general discussion, group activities, general information, FAQ… In addition it is very easy to use, even by students who are not very comfortable with computers.

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Forum type

There are five forum types to choose from:

A single simple discussion - A single topic discussion developed on one page, which is useful for short focused discussions (cannot be used with separate groups)

Standard forum for general use - An open forum where anyone can start a new topic at any time; this is the best general-purpose forum

Each person posts one discussion - Each person can post exactly one new discussion topic (everyone can reply to them though)

Q and A Forum - Instead of initiating discussions participants pose a question in the initial post of a discussion. Students may reply with an answer, but they will not see the replies of other Students to the question in that discussion until they have themselves replied to the same discussion.

Standard forum displayed in a blog-like format

Note: News forum is a special type of forum that is automatically created with a new course.

Subscription mode

When a user is subscribed to a forum it means that they will receive notification (via popup and/or email) of each new posting. By default, posts are recorded about 30 minutes after the post was first written.

People can usually choose whether or not they want to be subscribed to each forum. However, the lecturer can choose to force subscription on a particular forum then all course users will be subscribed automatically, even those that enroll at a later time.

There are 4 subscription mode options:

Optional subscription - Participants can choose whether to be subscribed 1. Forced subscription - Everyone is subscribed and cannot unsubscribe 2. Auto subscription - Everyone is subscribed initially but can choose to unsubscribe at any time 3. Subscription disabled - Subscriptions are not allowed.

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Group mode

The group mode setting has three options:

1. No groups

2. Separate groups - each group can only see their own group; others are invisible

Lecturers can start discussion topics for all participants or for a selected group.

Students can only start and participate in discussions for their own group.

3. Visible groups - each group work in their own group, but can also see other groups

Lecturers can start discussion topics for all participants or for a selected group.

Students can only start and participate in discussions for their own group.

Lecturers can view and post in all forum discussions, regardless of the group mode setting.

Note: Single simple discussions cannot be set to separate groups. If required, a permissions override may be set to prevent students from starting new discussions.

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Creating and Modifying Groups

Moodle allows instructors to create groups of students for specific purposes. Groups may be created manually or automatically, and can include students, instructors.

Managing Groups

1. Select Users under the Course administration. The Users menu will expand.

2. Select Groups from the expanded User menu. You will be redirected to the Groups page.

3. On the Groups page, you may (1) Edit group settings (e,g, group name, description), (2) Delete groups, (3) Create group(s), and (4) Auto-create groups.

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Editing Group Settings

1. Select Users under the Course administration block. The Users menu will expand.

2. Select Groups from the expanded User menu. You will be redirected to the Groups page.

3. On the Groups page, select the group you want to edit from the Groups list.

4. Select Edit group settings. You will be redirected to the Edit group settings page.

5. Make any changes you would like. 6. Select Save changes.

Deleting Group(s)

1. Select Users under the Course administration block. The Users menu will expand.

2. Select Groups from the expanded User menu. You will be redirected to the Groups page.

3. On the Groups page, select the group you want to delete from the Groups list.

4. Select Delete selected group. You will be redirected to the Delete group page.

5. Select yes to confirm deletion of the group.

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Creating Groups

1. Select Users under the Course administration block. The Users menu will expand.

2. Select Groups from the expanded User menu. You will be redirected to the Groups page.

3. On the Groups page, select Create group. You will be redirected to the group creation page.

4. On the group creation page, enter a Group name. Optional: You may also enter a group description.

5. Select Save changes.

Adding/Removing group members

1. Select Users under the Course administration block. The Users menu will expand.

2. Select Groups from the expanded User menu. You will be redirected to the Groups page.

3. On the Groups page, select the group you want to add members to from the Groups list.

4. Select Add/remove users. You will be redirected to the Add/remove users page.

5. Adding members 1. On the Add/remove users page, under the Potential

members list, select the user(s) (e.g. student, teaching assistant, lecturer) you would like to add to the group.

2. Select the < Add button (located at the center). 3. When done adding members, select the Back to groups.

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6. Removing members 1. On the Add/remove users page, under the Group

members list, select the user(s) (e.g. student, teaching assistant, lecturer) you would like to remove from the group.

2. Select the Remove > button (located at the center). 3. When done adding members, select the Back to groups.

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GRADES

Moodle's Gradebook can help organizing and managing grades for students in your course.

Activity and grade item scores will automatically display in the gradebook.

Students are able to view their grades. Each student only sees his/her own grade. The instructor can control what grades are visible/hidden.

Grades can be exported and imported, allowing instructors to use Excel for computing grades.

Create a Category

1. Select Grades from the Course administration block (on the left side of the page). You will be redirected to the gradebook.

2. In the gradebook, select the Setup tab. You will be redirected to the Categories and items page (e.g. 'quizzes', 'assignments', 'homework', etc.) Each category will then have its own total column in the gradebook. It will calculate all of the items in the category.

3. Select the Add Category button (located at the bottom of the page).

4. Enter a Category name and select a grade aggregation method. See Setting Aggregations in the next section for aggregation methods explanations.

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5. Select the Save changes button.

Selecting a Grade Aggregation Method

Moodle offers 3 methods of aggregating grades. Due to the number of options available and their complexity, it is recommended to use the Natural aggregation method.

Natural

The Natural aggregation method is the newest and recommend option. Natural initially sets up weighting based on grade item point values. If needed, weights can be overridden for categories or grade items. This method allows grade items to be marked as Extra Credit, and allows Categories to use the Drop the lowest option when specific criteria are met.

Other Aggregation Methods

Simple Weighted Mean of Grades

The Simple Weighted Mean of Grades method will weigh grade items based on the item's maximum possible points. Due to this reason, this method WILL NOT allow weights to be set for grade items. For example, if the course total is 1,000 points, a grade item worth 100 will be weighed at 10%.

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Weighted Mean of Grades The Weighted Mean of Grades method will weigh grade items based on the weight set in the 'Weights' box on the Categories and Items page. This method does not take into account the number of maximum points for a grade item. All grade item weights MUST add up to 100. For example, when the weight of a grade item is set to '10', it will be weighed at 10% regardless of the number of maximum points.

Setting Grade Preferences

Setting Grades to Show as Percentages or Points

This setting determines how grades are displayed in the grader and user reports to students.

1. Select Grades under the Course administration block. You will be redirected to the gradebook.

2. In the gradebook, select the Setup tab. You will be redirected to the Categories and items page.

3. On the Categories and Items page, select the "Course grade settings" tab.

4. Select a Grade display type. This setting determines how grades are displayed to students. Instructors can select one or a combination (limited to two) of the following three display types:

o Real - Actual grades (points) o Percentage o Letter

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Entering and Editing Grades

Editing grades in the gradebook only edits the grades. None of the available operations bear any relationship to editing the main course page (i.e. the appearance of your course page will not be influenced by anything you do in the gradebook. The 'Turn editing on' button functions separately from that on the main course page, so editing can be on in the gradebook, but simultaneously off on the course page. This is because editing grades and editing the course page are separate capabilities.

Tips on Grading

There are two options for grading in Moodle:

1. Grade in the Activity (e.g. assignment, quiz, forum) o This is the recommended method. o Allows viewing of assignment submissions, quiz answers, forum

posts of student. 2. Grade in the Gradebook

o View and/or enter multiple grades for a single student. o View and/or enter multiple grades for a single activity. o View and/or enter grades for all students.

IMPORTANT: If entering grades directly into the gradebook, the ability to grade and enter feedback from within the activity will be locked.

Entering grades in the Gradebook

1. Select Grades under the Course administration block. You will be redirected to the gradebook.

2. In the Grader report, select Turn Editing On (located at top-right). 3. Grade cells will display, allowing you to manually enter/change grades

for students.

Select the Save changes button to save changes when done entering/changing grades. NOTE: If editing/changing a grade for a Moodle activity (i.e. not manually created grade item), the activity's cells will be highlighted in orange color to show that the grade has been overridden.

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Add New Grade Item

There may be some instances where you wish to manually create a column/grade item. For example, you may wish to create one for an activity completed outside of Moodle.

1. Select Grades under the Course administration block. You will be redirected to the gradebook.

2. In the gradebook, select the Setup tab. You will be redirected to the Categories and items page.

3. On the Categories and Items page, scroll to the bottom of the page and select Add grade item.

4. Enter a name in the Item name.

5. If you wish to enter a numerical grade, set Grade type to Value. 6. Enter a Maximum grade (e.g. 100). 7. Select Save changes button.

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User Report View

The User Report view displays a grade report for a single or all students. It is useful for reviewing what students see when viewing their grades.

The User Report displays students’ grades in the current course. It includes:

A breakdown of grades for each activity/grade item in the course. The calculated weight of each activity/grade item. Any feedback for an activity/grade item. The overall grade for the course (i.e. course total).

NOTE: Any activities and/or grade items that are italicized on the User Report page are hidden from students (i.e. students are unable to see it).

How to access User Report

1. Under the Course administration block, select Gradebook setup. You will then be redirected to the Grader Report page.

2. On the Grader Report page, select User report. You will now then be redirected to the User Report page.

3. On the User Report page, you may select one student or all students to view their grades.