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Instructional Media Lab
Getting Started with Moodle Workshop Handout
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OIT Academic Computing
Lederle Graduate Research Center Room A205
University of Massachusetts Amherst
Phone: (413) 545-2823
Email: instruct@oit.umass.edu
http://www.oit.umass.edu/academic
OIT Academic Computing, University of Massachusetts
http://www.oit.umass.edu/academic
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Moodle – Getting Started in Moodle
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Moodle Overview
Moodle is a widely-used open source learning management system (LMS), that can be used to
deliver course content and host online learning activities. UMass Amherst is transitioning oncampus courses with an online component to Moodle by January 2013. Instructors can begin
converting their courses from SPARK to Moodle as soon as Fall 2011. SPARK will be available
for teaching until the end of Fall 2012.
Moodle promises to be a more efficient and rewarding online learning environment for instructors
as much as students. It offers a variety of ways for students to communicate with each other and
collaborate on projects; and its design is simple and user-friendly compared to similar systems.
With so many tools, Moodle will be an asset to instructors who do everything online, as well as
those who use it to simply post grades.
If you don’t have a clear idea of how you wish to use Moodle in your course, please contact the
Instructional Media Lab at 545-2823 to set up an appointment with one of our consultants. The
consultants can give you an introduction on how Moodle can help you reach your individual
instructional goals.
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Moodle – Getting Started in Moodle
Log in to Moodle
Go to the Log in page: https://moodle.umass.edu
For easy access to Moodle, save this URL as a Bookmark or Favorite in your browser.
To log in, enter your NetID (OIT Account user name) and UMail password and click Login. The
Moodle Home screen will open.
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Moodle – Getting Started in Moodle
Navigating in Moodle
The Moodle Home Page
The first screen you will see when you login to Moodle is the Home page. The column at left
contains links to the Navigation Block. The center column is a list of information from the system
administrators. The column at right contains additional information about Moodle.
Accessing a course via the My Courses block
Once you have logged in, at the top left of the Moodle home page you'll see the My Courses
block. At the beginning of the semester before courses are open to students, click Show hidden
courses (at bottom of My Courses block) to show links to your upcoming courses.
Note: All instructors are enrolled in the Instructor Community course, and our (fake) sample
course, Intro to Cryptozoology, Crypto 101-Sec01 FA11_1.
From time to time, Academic Computing will use the Instructor Community News Forum to
broadcast announcements about additions, bugs and fixes to our Moodle installation. All
instructors using Moodle are subscribed to this News Forum—which means you will receive an a
email of our announcements.
The Navigation block
The Navigation block is the most reliable way to find your way
around Moodle.
• Home is the entry page for all of Moodle.
• My Home is a page that lists the courses in which you are
currently enrolled. Anyone can customize their My Home
page by adding blocks, such as the Calendar or Upcoming
Events, to show deadlines and events for the classes they are
teaching or taking.
• Click My Courses for links to your current courses.
The Navigation Bar
In the Navigation bar (or “breadcrumb links”) at the top of the page, Home links to the entry
page for all of Moodle. Click the course name to return to the course home page from a sub
page.
Link to Moodle
entry page
Link to Course
home page
Note: Grayed-out text in the Navigation bar is for reference only, and is not clickable.
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Moodle – Getting Started in Moodle
Moodle Course Layout
Moodle is structured around "Blocks" and "Sections"
In Moodle, a course is delivered via a single page, divided into columns. The side columns
contain Blocks and the center column contains Sections.
Blocks
Sections
Blocks
Docked Block
Click tab to open
Sections
The central column is divided into Sections where course content and activities are displayed.
You can use the sections in a similar manner to Folders in SPARK; to organize your course
by topic, or you can have Moodle automatically create a section per week.
Inside each Section, you can put links to Resources (PDFs, HTML pages, URLs, etc.), and
Activities (e.g. discussion forums, assignments, quizzes, etc.). The Label resource can be used
to add text, pictures, or links to other resources on the web.
Blocks
The columns on each side of a Moodle page contain Blocks. The Navigation and Settings
blocks are required, but other blocks are optional. You can also rearrange the blocks in the
sidebars and set whether particular blocks show only on the course homepage, or on all
pages.
Most blocks update themselves automatically with information about the course. For
example, blocks such as Calendar and Upcoming Events update themselves as date-based
activities are added to the course.
Blocks are displayed at any given moment depends on your location in Moodle. The blocks
displayed on your Course homepage are different from those displayed when viewing an
assignment or forum page. These blocks also depend on your Role. For example, instructors
may see blocks that students don't see.
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Course Settings
Settings > Course Administration > Edit Settings
The overall settings for your course are found in the Settings Block of your
Course homepage. Click Edit Settings to make changes.
Some settings are populated automatically with information from SPIRE
when the course is created. Other settings are up to the instructor.
The Edit Settings page is where you format the course by Topic or by Week,
choose how many sections appear in the center column, choose a theme
(visual style), and make grades visible to students.
Note: The Settings block is context-aware and provides access to a different
group of settings based on your location in your Moodle course. To edit the
settings for your course, you need to be on your Course Home page. To edit
the settings for a forum, go to the forum and then to the Settings block.
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Five Things to Remember
1. The Back Button Works!
You can use the navigation in your browser to move around in Moodle. But be careful! If you are
editing a settings screen, Moodle will not warn you if you leave the page without clicking Save.
2. Use the "Eye" Icon to hide things.
To hide sections, blocks, activities or resources from your students, click Turn Editing On and
click the Eye icon next to the course element (e.g. block, activity, etc.) you wish to hide or show.
3. URLs can link directly into your course site.
If you want to bookmark your course, or put a link to it in an email or Web page, you can use the
URL displayed in your browser's location bar to link directly to that part of your Moodle course.
A log in screen will control access, and only those enrolled in the course will be allowed in.
4. Moodle doesn't have a File Manager.
In Moodle, when you upload a file to your course it goes into the System Files for your course.
Moodle does not provide a tool for managing those files; rather, if you delete the link to a file
from your Moodle course, it deletes the file from the course's System Files. Be sure you have a
local backup copy on your computer!
5. Need help? Click the yellow circle.
Throughout Moodle, you will see yellow circles with question marks (?) or the letter (i) in
them. Click these to get information about the associated element. Some are simple glossary
entries, while others offer more details or links to help documentation on the Moodle
website (Moodle.org).
The "i" at the bottom of a page links to the Moodle Docs help for the page-type. moodle.org
offers many pages of documentation and forums which should provide answers to most
questions about Moodle. Just keep an eye on the date of the posts, and the version of Moodle
being referenced--we are using Moodle 2.0.
As this project evolves OIT will provide additional handouts and tutorials to help you use
Moodle. Instructors and TA's can contact the Instructional Media Lab with questions: (413)
545-2823 or instruct@oit.umass.edu.
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Moodle – Getting Started in Moodle
News Forum
The News Forum is really an Announcements tool.
Every course comes with a special forum, the News Forum, that acts something like the
Announcements tool in SPARK.
The News forum has some unique behaviors:
•
Subscribing to the forum sends new posts as emails.
o By default, the News Forum forces all members of the class to subscribe, which
sends an email of your posts to the entire class. You can make subscription
optional or disable it, but when subscription is forced, the News Forum is a great
way to email notices to your entire class, as there is no mail tool in Moodle.
o Moodle gives you half an hour to edit a new post before it is sent out as email—
unless you are feeling very confident and check the Mail Now option before
posting.
IMPORTANT! If you post an announcement on the News Forum before courses are
made available to students the beginning of the semester, emails will be sent to all
students enrolled in the course!
•
•
•
It can only live in the top section.
The News Forum is always located in the top section of your course.
The Latest News block and News Forum are interconnected.
The Latest News block displays the titles of your most recent posts to the News Forum,
and links to those posts.
If you don’t wish to use the News Forum you can hide it (click the Eye icon), but many
instructors find it a useful tool in Moodle for posting announcements and updates.
Who can post to the News Forum?
By default, only the instructor can post to the News Forum and there is no commenting. The
instructor can extend the ability to make posts to any class member by setting Locally assigned
roles.
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Moodle – Getting Started in Moodle
Adding Content
Click "Turn Editing On" to add content to your course homepage
There are two ways to turn editing on and off, the Turn editing on
button in the upper right-hand corner, and the Turn editing on link
in the Settings block.
When editing is on, small icons will appear next to
each editable element on the page. Place your cursor over an
an icon to find out its name and what it does.
Add Resources and Activities to Sections
To add content or activities to your
course, first go to a section, and then
use the drop-down menus in that section
to add a resource or activity.
The Activities Block
Use the Activities block in your course to help students find all the
activities or resources of one type (for instance all assignments, or
quizzes).
Each new type of activity you use will be added to the Activities
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Moodle Activities
Moodle has a number of built-in activities you can use to build your course and interact with your
students.
Assignments allows you to collect and manage student homework. Options for assignments
include online homework collection and offline homework tracking.
Chat allows participants to have a real-time, browser-based conversations. These chats can be
logged for reference.
Checklist allows a instructors to create a checklist for their students to work through. The
students can tick off each item on the list, as is it completed.
Choice allows you to create a simple, one-question survey to poll your students. Choice survey
results can be open or anonymous.
Database allows you to create an organized collection of content or media that you and your
students can populate. Content in the database can take almost any form: files, images, text, links,
etc.
Forum, also known as discussion boards and bulletin boards, allow for asynchronous group
communication between students and instructors.
Glossary allows instructors and students to create and maintain a list of terms and definitions.
Lesson provides a highly customizable structure for presenting course material based on student
responses to questions and choices. Lessons combines the functionality of course content,
quizzes, and surveys.
Questionnaire allows instructors to create a wide range of questions to get student responses to
survey-like questions. With Questionnaire you do not test or assess the student, you gather data.
Quiz allows an instructor to deliver online quizzes consisting of a range of question types,
including multiple choice, true-false, and short answer questions.
SCORM (Sharable Content Object Reference Model) are packages of online course materials
and activities you might receive from a text book publisher.
Turnitin Assignment lets you connect to the UMass Library's Turnitin "originality detection"
service which checks student writing against the Web and against a database of previously
submitted works.
Wiki allows you to create collaboratively-authored Web documents with your students. Wikis
can be individual or group activities.
Workshop is an assessment activity that allows for peer evaluation of student work through
phased review.
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Moodle – Getting Started in Moodle
Assignments
An Assignment can be added to a course section by an instructor. When you add an assignment
you can configure it through the Assignment Settings page. You also access these settings through
the Update Assignment button.
Assignment name
Give your assignment a name (e.g. “Report on Topic Content”). The name entered here will be
the title that students see in the course content area. Students will click on this name to view the
details of the assignment and, if applicable, submit their work.
Description
The description of the assignment, which should include precise instructions for students
regarding the subject, the format, and grading criteria for the assignment, etc.
Available from
This date prevents students from submitting their assignments before the indicated time.
Due date
This date is the deadline for the assignment your students will see.
Prevent late submissions
If set to "No", assignments submitted after the due date will be marked as late, but students will
still be able to submit them. If set to "Yes", assignment submission will be blocked after the due
date.
Completion Tracking
When Completion Tracking is enabled, you can use the "Your Progress" check box feature for
Resources and Activities and either have students manually check-off activities, or have Moodle
check them off if online activities are submitted or resources are downloaded.
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Forums
Instructors and students can communicate and collaborate using Forums, sometimes called
"discussions." Instructors can create topics or, depending on the forum type, allow students to
originate topics, to which course members can "post" a reply, or "message."
Course members can subscribe to receive emails containing content posted to the discussion
forums of their Moodle courses.
Forum Types
There are multiple forum types in Moodle that structure student activities through different
layouts and arrangements. Some forum types allow only the instructor to start a new topic, and
others allow students to start new topics. Choose the types(s) of forums that make sense for the
activities you are asking your students to do:
•
•
•
•
•
•
Standard forum for general use allows for the “standard” usage of a discussion forum
with multiple topics arranged in a threaded conversation. Students may start new topics in
this format. (This is similar to the standard threaded discussion format in SPARK.)
Standard forum displayed in a blog-like format allows for the “standard” usage of a
discussion forum with multiple topics arranged in a “blog' style format with the first post
prominent and comments behind a link. Students may start new topics in this format.
(This is similar to the standard blog discussion format in SPARK.)
Single simple discussion allows for only one topic started by the instructor. This is best
suited for short-term, focused conversations.
Each person posts one discussion allows each student to only start one new topic or
conversation within the forum. Students are not limited in the number of replies they can
post within those topics.
Q and A forum allows an instructor to pose a question to students. Students must post
their response or answer before they can view other students’ responses.
News Forum is a special kind of forum automatically created with the course for
instructors to post announcements. Comments are not allowed in News Forums.
Read Tracking
To display an alert on your course page when there are new posts in a forum, in the forum
settings set Read tracking for this forum Turn tracking on, or make it optional.
Note: Forum tracking is also set at the individual level each user's Personal Profile: If the Forum
Tracking option is set to Yes: Highlight new posts for me, next to the Forum link on the course
page, a highlighted message, "# unread posts," will be displayed.
Subscription modes
Subscription mode controls if students receive email to be updated on forum activity. The default
setting (recommended) is Optional subscription. This allows students to subscribe to a forum if
they choose.
Other options are Forced subscription (all course members receive email copies of posts to the
forum—NOT recommended), Auto Subscription (course members receive emails until they opt
out—NOT recommended), and Subscription disabled.
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Moodle – Getting Started in Moodle
Roles
You have different "Roles" you can use to view your course
Within Moodle, each user has a default role.
•
Teacher (default role for instructors) - can add resources and activities, change course
settings, grade student activity.
•
Non-editing teacher (default role for TAs) - can view content, review and grade student
submissions.
•
Student (default role for students) - can view resources and participate in activities but
cannot create them.
Depending on your role in Moodle, you may be able to switch to other
roles; for instance, if you are a Teacher, you can switch to a Student
role to see how the course looks to a student.
Groups
The Groups feature allows an instructor to assign students and instructors to one or more groups
for the entire course or for individual activities.
Using groups allow the instructor to:
•
Set up groups of students that are completely separate from other groups.
•
Partially separate groups, where one group can see other groups' activities, but cannot
interact with the other group(s).
•
Identify each group with an icon.
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Moodle – Getting Started in Moodle
Communicating with Students
Moodle allows you to stay in touch with students in several different ways, but doesn't not have a
complete internal mail system comparable to Mail in SPARK (Blackboard Vista).
Moodle Sends Email to Your Official UMass Address
•
•
•
Faculty receive emails from Moodle at their SPIRE Preferred email address.
Students receive emails from Moodle at their official UMass email addresses (UMail).
If a student (or instructor) wants to have email delivered to a different address they can
set up a forwarding using the UMail Post Office.
Note: Moodle sends but does not receive email. You do not have an email inbox in Moodle.
Email Notifications
Subscribing to Activities
Subscribers to a Forum get an email when new posts are added. As with the News Forum
(described above) instructors can force subscription or make subscription optional.
Other activities also have options for email notifications. For example, you have the option to
receive an email when submissions are made to particular assignments, and students can receive
email when they feedback on an assignment is posted, or if they want a receipt confirming they
completed a quiz.
Mail settings in “My Profile”
Go to My Profile > Edit Settings to configure how Moodle sends email subscriptions. You and
your students can opt to receive email notifications as a daily digest or each time there's a new
notification.
Note: Digest settings do not effect messages sent via Quickmail.
Quickmail
The Quickmail block, when added to a course, provides a simple system for sending emails. You
can send an email message to your entire class, or filter by section, group or role (e.g. just TA's,
or just students). You may find Quickmail a good alternative to a SPIRE Class Email List.
You can choose whether to allow students to use Quickmail in your course, or to reserve its use to
TAs and instructors.
Note: Quickmail sends but does not receive email.
•
•
Messages from Quickmail are sent to instructor's SPIRE Preferred Email Address, and to
students' official UMail addresses.
The From field will be your name in Moodle, but the Reply to field will be Do not reply
to this email noreply@moodle.oit.umass.edu (unlike News Forum posts, for which the
reply to address is the instructor's personal email address).
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Moodle – Getting Started in Moodle
Messaging in Moodle
Moodle's Messages module (in My Profile) allows UMass Amherst Moodle users to engage in
synchronous one-to-one text messaging (like instant messaging, or messaging in Facebook). Once
you add someone as a contact, messages are logged and you’ll be able to access the history of
exchanges with a particular student.
Note: Messages are people-based, though you can search for people by course.
Containing Communications Within a Course
If you would like to keep all communications within each course, we have a few suggested workarounds:
•
For general questions from students that do not need to be confidential, use a Standard
Forum for General Use.
•
For confidential questions from individual students, set up a questionnaire. You can
check the Questionnaire for new submissions, or set it up to receive an email notice when
there is a submission.
The advantage of using a Questionnaire over allowing your students to contact you
through Quickmail, is that messages can be filtered in an email client according to the
Moodle Course the submission was made from. For assistance setting up filtering in your
email client, contact the Instructional Media Lab at (413) 545-2823 or
instruct@oit.umass.edu.
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Best Practices for Making Moodle Usable for Students
Use simple, consistent visual design
To avoid increasing cognitive load for your learners:
•
•
Make
•
•
•
Use no more than 3 font styles per page—this includes text color, size, font face, etc..
Use the same set of font styles across each course site.
your course universally accessible
Avoid low contrast text color or distracting highly saturated colors
Provide alternative text for images
Provide captioning for audio content
Tricks for avoiding the “Moodle scroll of death”
• Use the Collapsed topics mode for your course Format.
• Don't deliver course content right on the course page (in labels, for instance). Rather, use
the course page as a "launch pad” and link to content.
• Teach your students to use the Show Only [this] Topic/Week button, and limit the
content in each section to fit in one screen (without having to scroll down)
• Don’t use huge pictures, especially not in the top section. If you insert images, keep them
small and align them left or right so that text will wrap around them.
• Dock blocks: especially in a three-column layout, docking the blocks that would
normally be at the bottom of the right column will reduce the need for scrolling.
Avoid side to side scrolling
• Avoid placing large images or wide HTML tables in topic/weekly sections or on HTML
pages.
• When working in your grade book, dock blocks for a wider center column.
Keep Activity names & Topic Names short!
Don't use the Activity name to deliver instructions, use a section label or activity description for
that. Activity names are displayed in breadcrumbs and navigation so they may be truncated and
can make the breadcrumb bar too long.
Use Topic Names and Topic Summaries for course sections. Topic Summaries help to organize
your course page and show in various menus. Because they show in menus you’ll want to keep
them short. Use labels for descriptions, rather than topic Summaries.
Use Labels to guide students
Use headings, annotations, and indents to organize the content of each topic/weekly section.
Avoid using links in Labels
Links that are created in label text rather than as Resources are not logged, so their use can’t be
tracked.
Be careful if you copy & paste from Word
Moodle’s “clean Word” button helps, but can’t strip out all the junk code created by pasting text
from MS Word. If you are writing in word, you may want to wait and format text in Moodle. If
you experience problems, try copying text from Word into a new Word document using Edit >
Paste special: unformatted text. Then copy the next from the new page and paste it into Moodle.
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