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Introduction to Moodle Preparing for a Moodle Staff Development Session ........................................................................... 2
Logging in to Moodle ..................................................................................................................................... 2
Adding an image to your profile .................................................................................................................... 4
Navigate to and within a course .................................................................................................................... 6
Content of the basic template (Including specification of ‘Minimum Content’) ........................................... 6
Checking your browser .................................................................................................................................. 9
Moodle Staff Development Introductory session ............................................................................. 12
Navigating within and across Moodle courses ............................................................................................ 12
Structuring Your Work ................................................................................................................................. 12
Adding Content ............................................................................................................................................ 14
Switching roles ............................................................................................................................................. 15
Adding Topic headings ................................................................................................................................. 15
Navigation Block .......................................................................................................................................... 16
Adding Labels and pages .............................................................................................................................. 16
News forum (Announcements) .................................................................................................................... 18
Adding a file (method 1) .............................................................................................................................. 19
Adding a file (method 2) .............................................................................................................................. 20
Adding a folder of files ................................................................................................................................. 21
Adding a Turnitin link ................................................................................................................................... 22
Importing content ........................................................................................................................................ 23
Adding a web link (URL) ............................................................................................................................... 24
Adding and removing blocks (beware docking) ........................................................................................... 25
Communications in Moodle ......................................................................................................................... 26
Messages...................................................................................................................................................... 27
Enrolling other staff on your module .......................................................................................................... 28
Further help ................................................................................................................................................. 29
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Preparing for a Moodle Staff Development Session: Pre‐sessional Information
Before any Moodle workshop, can you please check that you:
1. Can log in to Moodle. 2. Can access your profile and have an image in place that people can recognize you
by on posts and messages etc. 3. Have a basic understanding of how to navigate to courses from the Home page and
between courses via the ‘Navigation Block’ on the sidebar. 4. Know what a simple Moodle module site (based on the basic template) looks like
when students access it and the minimum content you need to upload to a module course in order to satisfy QAE requirements.
5. Know which browser to choose to suit yourself and Moodle, and how to update the browser if necessary.
You can do this through the linked ‘teach yourself’ materials below or you may prefer to do this with a tutor. If you would like to do this, please contact [email protected] with the request as we may be able to do an individual session or arrange to meet half an hour before the main workshop that you have booked for starts.
Logging in to Moodle
1. To launch Moodle, open your web browser (e.g. Mozilla Firefox or Safari) and go to the UEL Home page:- http://www.uel.ac.uk
2. Click the link to UEL Direct and enter your UEL network ID and Password. Then click Login and enter your UEL Network ID and password. (IMPORTANT: If you are new staff who do not have a UEL ID, you need to speak to your Module or Subject leader as soon as possible in order to obtain this from IT Services as you cannot log on to Moodle without this UEL Network ID).
3. Click the link to Moodle.
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The Home page appears listing all the courses you are enrolled on as well as various blocks on the left and right.
IMPORTANT: If you have problems logging on or do not see the following in your courses in your Home page, please contact the E-Learning Mailbox at [email protected] and briefly tell them the problem. The courses you should see on your Home page are:
Welcome to Moodle Everyone at UEL gets the Welcome module with ‘student’ access.
(Your Name) Module This gives you full access to create a new module. You can either (a) use it just as an area to experiment or (b) create a real module and then ask the E-Learning Mailbox to change the name from ‘(Your Name’ Module’ to the real module number and name.
Simple Moodle Course You have student access to an example course.
Moodle Features You have student access to a Moodle resources which provide information on using a wide variety of tools and features so if you don’t find what you need in the UEL Moodle support materials at http://www.uel.ac.uk/aple/staffsupport/moodle then look in Moodle Features.
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Adding an image to your profile
It’s a very good idea to add an image to a profile as then when you post a message it is personalized with your image and so it’s easy to see who it has come from – and looks better too than the default silhouette.
For example:
To edit your profile and add a photo/avatar of yourself
1. Click My Profile settings in the Settings block to your left.
2. Expand this (by clicking the dropdown arrow) and select Edit Profile.
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3. You will see a page with a lot of different options. Scroll down to User Picture and select Add… Then attach your chosen image by browsing to where it is on your computer (just like an email attachment) and follow the prompts to upload a photo/avatar of yourself. The photo will appear when it is uploaded.
4. Click Update Profile at the bottom of the window to save it. Your picture should now appear in the top right corner. If it doesn’t, refresh the browser window to update the page (the F5 key is a shortcut for this).
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Navigate to and within a course
Click Home to return to the Moodle Home page and course list. The Home button appears in the top left under the UEL Logo or also as a link in the Navigation block.
To enter a course from the Home page, click on the title under My courses. In this case, click on Simple Moodle Module– an example Moodle course containing typical module materials on which you have student access to show you how Moodle looks to the student.
Content of the basic template (Including specification of ‘Minimum Content’)
Every new module is based on a basic template. This includes:
Within the ‘General Topic’ at the top:
‘News and Announcements’. This is similar to ‘Announcements’ in UEL Plus and is ‘read only’ for students.
‘General Discussions’ which you can use how you want and which students can post to.
A topic called ‘Module and Assessment Information’ which contains:
A ‘hidden’ link to the content online which the QAE requires (you can see its hidden because its greyed out).
‘Hidden’ links to the mid and end-of-semester evaluations. A link to the student guide for using Turnitin.
12 Topics for you to edit or delete.
The wide column in the middle of the course contains the main course content and activities. This column is usually divided into a number of topics (or weeks). Topics help to organise content into sections, each topic containing a related group of resources and activities such as web pages, quizzes, files and web links.
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Note that Moodle has a General topic fixed at the top of the home page where you can add the module title and introductory information.
By default, all topics are displayed on the course home page but there are ways to hide topics, provide menus of topics, collapse / expand them, or display them on more than one page. The Simple Moodle Module uses a simple Topics structure. As you can see from the screen shot above, ‘Topic 1’ has been edited to ‘Some useful starter resources’. ‘Topic 2’ to ‘Moodle Workshops’ and Topic 3 hasn’t been edited yet. ‘Collapsed topics’ allow for each section to only show the heading, as below:
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Clicking on the blue drop down arrow beside the section title opens or closes the section. Here is one section opened in the ‘Collapsed Topics’ view.
To access one of the resources in a section, you simply click on it.
To navigate around a Moodle course, you click on links in the topic list or in a block. To retrace your steps you can use the browser Back button or the breadcrumb trail at the top. You can also use the Navigation block on the left to link to different parts of a course, to the Moodle Home page or to another course. Here are the parts of the interface illustrated on an actual course:
General topic – module
title, introductory info
etc.
Other topics –
containing resources
and activities
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Checking your browser
The following are the current ‘minimum requirements for Moodle:
“Minimum browser: Firefox 4, Internet Explorer 8 (IE 10 required for drag and drop of files from outside the browser into Moodle) , Safari 5, Google Chrome 11, Opera 9”
Collapsed topics – click
blue drop down arrow to
expand them
Expanded topic – click
blue drop down arrow to
toggle between
General topic – always
expanded
Links in topics and blocks
– open pages and
resources for viewing
Navigation block –
links within and
between courses
Breadcrumb trail – to retrace
steps (n.b. not quite like web
page)
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You will therefore want to be working with Safari 5 and upwards or Firefox 4 and upwards. On your personal computer(s) you may have Internet Explorer 10 or upwards but the UEL build is far lower than this, so if you are using a PC on-campus, you will need to use Firefox . Please encourage your students to also do the same on-campus.
Accessing and updating Firefox
To access Firefox go to Start > Programs > Firefox. For information on how to update Firefox (or check the version) please see ‘Updating Firefox’ below.
Please note that Firefox does not allow ‘cut and paste’ using the mouse, so you have to use keyboard shortcuts. ‘Copy’ is CTRL+C and ‘Paste’ is CTRL+V.
If you installed Firefox on your own computer (rather than using the UEL installation) then you probably set it up to update automatically. To check the version on the computer you are using:
1. Open Firefox, go to the Help menu and select About Firefox.
2. The About Firefox window will open and Firefox will automatically start checking for updates. If updates are available, they will begin to download automatically. If Firefox is already up to date, then just close the About Firefox window.
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3. When the download is complete and ready to be installed, click Restart to Update and the browser will close and quickly open again but this time running the new version.
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Moodle Staff Development Introductory session
During this session you will learn how to:
Navigate within and across Moodle courses Structure your module delivery Add content Communicate via Moodle Manage your course – i.e.track work, add people, change role etc Access further help.
Navigating within and across Moodle courses
1. Login to Moodle via UELDirect. Please refer to the pre-session guide for basics (breadcrumbs, browser back button, Navigation block).
2. Note how you can move to specific sections within other courses as well as to the Home page. E.g. below, under My courses in the Navigation block, I can navigate from GCM255 to the topic ‘Module information and assessments’ on another module - GCM251.
Structuring Your Work
1. Expand the Course administration tab of the Settings block so it looks as follows:
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2. Click on Edit settings and scroll down to Format. Click the drop down to reveal the choice of formats.
3. The most common one is Topics format or a variant called Collapsed Topics which avoids the ‘scroll of death’ often attributed to Moodle courses with a long list of contents. In Collapsed Topics format each topic can be expanded/collapsed as required by clicking the drop down arrows:
Weekly format labels topics as weeks, based on the Course start date. Social format sets the course up as a discussion forum. SCORM format would apply if you import a SCORM package from a publisher or
other external source.
4. Under Course Layout you can choose whether all topics (sections) should be on one page or have a page each. The latter is unlikely unless each topic has a significant amount of content.
You can also set the Number of weeks/topics to display – try to ensure this is accurate. If you set it too high students will see topics without content. If you set it too low all topics will not be visible to students.
5. Explore other options as required. Once you have made all your changes, click Save changes.
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6. Other formatting options are available from the inside each topic/section. You have to scroll to the bottom of the topic list to add or remove topics.
Adding Content
Before you start editing (including adding/deleting blocks), make sure to turn editing on.
Click the button below your profile photo in the top right hand corner or use the link in the Settings block. When you do this, small editing icons (symbols) appear below or alongside many elements on your page. You also see the Add an activity or resource prompt via which you can add a range of course elements to any topic.
To make changes, use the icons that appear next to the file title. Hover over each icon with your cursor to see a description of what it does:
Edit title
Move right
Move up or down
Update settings
Duplicate Delete Hide / Show*
No Groups / Separate Groups
Assign roles
*The hide/show feature enables you to add content and hide it from students until you are ready. if the eye is closed next to a resource it means it is hidden from students. You can also check content is hidden via ‘Update’ ‘Common Module Settings’:
Highlight a section
Hide a section
Add/remove a section
Click the ‘eye’ to show your content or change the drop down to ‘Show’.
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Switching roles
1. If you want to see how your course looks to a student (or another role), go to the Settings block and click Switch role to...
2. Click on one of the roles offered. To return to your normal role, click on Return to my normal role in the same location.
Adding Topic headings
To edit a topic name and summary, click the yellow pencil icon below it. The Edit window appears. Untick ‘Use default section name’ to provide your own name. Use the Summary text box (which has full formatting options) to add any additional information about the topic. (If at any time you are not sure how a feature works when editing in
Moodle, click on the blue question mark icon to open a Help window with a description of the feature and its settings.)
You can edit the fixed General topic (known as topic 0) at the top of the course home page in the same way.
You should introduce your Module and provide your contact details and availability. Refer to the UEL Moodle Templates guide for a complete list of information you must provide to students.
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Navigation Block
As you add topic headings they will populate the Navigation Block on the left of the module page, enabling you and your students to go directly to that topic, rather than scrolling down the page.
1. Using the process shown above, edit the section name and when you Save Changes you will see that the Topic 1 title has changed to the name you have chosen.
Adding Labels and pages
If you need to add text headings at other points inside the topic, you can use labels. To add a label, use Add an activity or resource , at the bottom right of each topic when you turn editing on. (The same menu you use to add a range of activities and resources, like files, web pages, discussions, to a Moodle course.) Scroll down and select Label. An explanation of the tool appears on the right. Click Add to proceed.
1. A label/page gives you a ‘Text Editor’ with which you can creatively add content:
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‐ Text: Type directly into the text box or using the ‘paste from word’ function for large blocks of text
‐ Media including:
‐ Images- use the ‘insert/ edit image’ function
‐ Emoticons- use the ‘insert emoticon’ function
‐ Equations- use the ‘insert equation’ function
‐ Multimedia- use the ‘Moodle Media’ function
‐ Tables- use the ‘insert a new table’ function
2. Type and format the relevant text and click on Save and return to course.
Labels are ideal for simple/brief text but if you have a lot of content and want to avoid the ‘scroll of death’, it is recommended that you use a Page. By clicking Add an activity or resource and then Page you will be able to build your content into a webpage that sits seamlessly within Moodle. As with a label, content may include images/video/links/documents as well as text.
Be careful to add your content to the ‘page content’ section rather than description. Use the Toggle fullscreen mode icon to view the whole page and add your content.
For multiple pages of text/multimedia content you may choose to add a Book. Details of how to set up a book can be found on the APLE website.
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News forum (Announcements)
Every Moodle course automatically contains a News Forum which sits by default in the top general topic of the course homepage. This is the equivalent to ‘Announcements’ in UEL Plus and only tutors or administrators can add posts or reply to posts. All enrolled users are automatically enrolled to this forum.
1. To post an announcement via the News Forum, click on the name. The one below has been renamed to Module Announcements. (Editing can be on or off to post a new message.)
2. Click Add a new topic then enter your Subject and Message.
3. To reply to an existing post, click on it in the list of discussions, then select Reply from the links under the message.
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Adding a file (method 1)
1. Click on Add an activity or resource, scroll down the list and select File. Click Add. (Note the explanation that appears to the right of the selected resource/activity.)
2. Add a Name and Description.
3. Select whether to Display description on course page.
4. In the Content area, you are presented with several options to add files, the first of which is Add… (other options include drag & drop).
5. When you click Add… the Moodle File picker appears, offering some possible sources. To select a file on your PC, choose Upload a file
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6. Under Attachment, Browse... The usual Windows (or Mac) file manager appears. Find and click on the file you want then click on Open. Complete the remaining fields. Save as enables you to save it with a different name. Author will default to your name – change if necessary. Select an appropriate license. Then click Upload this file.
7. Then Save and return to course.
Adding a file (method 2)
Providing you have the right browser (see pre-session material) it is also possible to drag and drop files straight onto your Moodle course. To do this:
1. Reduce the size of your Moodle window so you can view your desktop and make sure the topic to which you wish to add the files is visible.
2. Navigate to a file or files you wish to add to Moodle and select it / them
3. Click and drag the files to the position where you want to insert them and drop them on – you need to make sure the cursor is shaped as an arrow with box underneath, not a
no entry sign. You should also see a placement box like this at the point where they can be inserted.
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Once the files are in place, you can reposition, rename them etc.
Adding a folder of files
1. Click Add an activity or resource inside any topic. Scroll down the list and select Folder. Click Add.
2. Provide a name and description for the folder and use Add… to add the required files individually or as a zip folder.
Use Add an activity or resource and select Folder. To drag and drop resources, use Create folder, give it a name and click it to open to the view that enables you to ‘drag and drop files here’. Save and return to course.
You can also add files from the main module page by clicking the folder and using Edit.
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Adding a Turnitin link
Note: The Turnitin integration described below is temporary until the Moodle interface is confirmed.
1. To add a Turnitin link, click Add an activity or resource, select Turnitin and click Add.
2. Ignore any error messages and click Continue. You will then be presented with the same interface as currently applies in UEL Plus. Complete the assignment creation process in the normal way.
3. When complete you are presented with this screen prompting you to SUBMIT, which is unlikely at this stage. Just return to the course and then click to view the newly created links which should appear like this:
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4. The student submission process is very similar to UEL Plus. They click the link and are presented with an initial request to Submit after which everything works as before.
Importing content
You can use a zip folder to import multiple files or migrate content from UEL Plus (see point 5).
1. From your desktop, right click the mouse and choose ‘compressed (zipped) folder).
2. Name your folder and drag all files you wish to upload into it (select multiple files with Ctrl+click). If you want to list the files in a certain order (the default is alphabetical), then rename them accordingly. E.g. 1_filename, 2_filename, etc is a good way to ensure the files appear in the order you specify.
3. Follow the instructions above to upload the folder.
4. Click the folder, select unzip and the files will appear as below.
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5. From UEL Plus, use the File Manager to zip your files and follow instructions from point 3 (above).
6. N.B. Remember to delete the zip file before saving, otherwise it will also appear in the folder to students.
7. Click Save and return to course to complete the process.
Adding a web link (URL)
1. Click Add an activity or resource, scroll down and select URL from the RESOURCES list. Click Add.
2. Enter a Name for the link (this is the text the user will click on). Add a Description (this is compulsory).
3. Tick the Display description on course page option if you want to show your Description below the link.
4. Type in or copy in an External URL for the site. N.B. make sure you include http://
5. Click on Save and return to course.
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Adding and removing blocks (beware docking)
The blocks which appear at either side of the topics provide additional functionality over and above what is available via Add an activity or resource. Standard blocks such as Settings and Navigation are always visible but you may want to add (or remove) others.
1. To add a block make sure to Turn Editing On and locate the block called Add a Block (usually on the bottom left hand side).
Click the drop down arrow and choose the block you want to add, e.g. Comments, and it appears above Add a Block.
2. At the moment, on the UEL Moodle set up, all blocks appear on the left. However by
clicking the pencil icon you can alter the settings for how the block appears on that page and on other types of pages.
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3. To delete a block use the Delete icon . To move a block use the Move (4 arrows)
icon that appears when you hover over a block.
4. One final block setting icon to be careful with is Move this to the dock on the far right of the block title. Clicking this minimises the block to the left hand side as a tab and can cause considerable confusion. To undock the block click the icon underneath it in the dock again.
5. The Show/Hide icon to the left of the ‘dock’ item enables you to hide the contents of the block but leave the title visible. Any user can do this to any block, for example, if they are not used often or to keep the page less cluttered . If you are sure you don’t need a block it might be best to delete it.
Communications in Moodle
1. There are a number of Forum types. You will see the 5 options when you set up a new Forum using Add an activity or resource. The two most commonly used are:
Standard forum for general use. This is the most typical Forum type where
anyone can start a new topic at any time. Question and Answer forum. Any new topic post is in the form of a question.
Students can only see the ‘answers’ that others have posted after they have posted an answer themselves.
For descriptions of the other forums, click the blue question mark next to ‘Forum type’.
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2. Email notifications
A useful feature of Moodle is the ability to receive email alerts to new forum posts, messages etc. However you may not want to receive all such alerts. Use Edit profile under Settings to adjust email notifications using Email digest type. The automatic setting is for individual emails – use the drop down to change to an ‘email digest’ that notifies you once a day.
3. Other forms of communication
The following can be added as blocks:
Messaging - to send messages to individual participants Latest News (posts from the News Forum) Recent Activity (file uploads, discussion posts etc) Events Calendar
Messages
Under the Navigation block click Participants
Select the participants you wish to message
Scroll to the bottom of the screen and choose Send a message.
You will see a text box in which to write your message and Moodle shows you a preview before enabling you to send the message.
You can view messages sent to you via the Settings block and My profile dropdown.
Or by adding the messages block
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Enrolling other staff on your module
1. To find out who is already enrolled, and enrol others on your course, click on Users / Enrolled users in the Settings block.
2. This will show all enrolled users, when and whether they have accessed the course or not, and their role (student, teacher etc).
3. Click the pencil icon under ALL PARTICIPANTS and then Enrol users on the right to manually enrol additional users (normally other staff, not students).
4. Choose a role from the Assign roles drop-down. Select Non-editing teacher for someone who does not need to add content to the course.
5. For someone who will need to edit content, select Teacher. 6. In the Search box, enter a part of their name and press Enter 7. Click Enrol against the relevant names in the list. 8. Click Finish enrolling users to complete.
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Further help
The Academic Practice and Learning Enhancement website can be found here: http://www.uel.ac.uk/aple/
If you create a lot of content on your Moodle module you may wish to take a back up. Information on how to do this can be found at
http://www.uel.ac.uk/aple/staffsupport/moodle/
Further examples of activities and resources can be found on the Moodle features course: https://moodle.uel.ac.uk/course/view.php?id=4
This site also has a Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ) Forum from which you can get help or ask your own question: https://moodle.uel.ac.uk/mod/forum/view.php?id=1620
You can also contact your Learning Technology Adviser directly or email: [email protected]
Please feedback your views on this course by using the link below:
https://moodle.uel.ac.uk/mod/feedback/view.php?id=36943
