What is Moodle?

Moodle is a Learning Management System, Course Management System, or Virtual Learning Environment, depending on which term you prefer. Its goal is to give teachers and students the tools they need to teach and learn. Moodle comes from a background of Social Constructionist pedagogy, however, it can be used to support any style of teaching and learning. There are other types of software systems that are important for educational institutions, for example ePortfolios, Student Information Systems and Content repositories. Generally, Moodle does not try to re-invent these areas of functionality. Instead, tries to be the best LMS possible, and then interoperate gracefully with other systems that provide the other areas of functionality. It is, however, perfectly possible to use Moodle as a stand-alone system, without integrating it with anything else. Moodle is a web application written in PHP. Moodle is open source. Copyright is owned by individual contributors, not assigned to a single entity, although the company Moodle Pty Ltd in Perth Australia, owned by Moodle's founder Martin Dougiamas, manages the project.

What Is Moodle?

Moodle is a free, online, open source course management system

used in an increasing number of universities to conduct online and

blended courses as well as to enhance traditional classroom

courses..

Getting Started

Moodle allows instructors to add all content and activities on the course homepage. Students are able to see

and access all related content and activities from the main course page rather than having to navigate between

various areas of the course to access different types of materials. Instructors group content and activities into

modules which can be organized by topics or by weeks.

Different areas in a Moodle course include: the Activities block , the People block ,

the Administration block , Settings , Editing , Add a Resource area , and Add an Activity .

Moodle: Introduction

The Activities Block

The Activities block allows users to view a list of all course activities arranged by

category. This block will only display categories that have items available to participants.

The People Block

The People block displays the names, assigned roles, and profiles of every currently

enrolled participant in the course. You can access a user’s profile by clicking on their

name. You can edit your own profile by clicking on your name and choosing the Edit

Profile option.

The Administration Block

The Administration block is the most important block in your course. The Turn Editing

On option enables you to add activities and resources to the course. After turning editing

on there will be several small icons in each block and topic. These include arrows for

altering the position (left, right, up, or down), the update icon, the delete icon, and the eye

icon.

Changing Your Settings

To adjust the course settings, click the Settings item located under Administration block.

Here you can set the course availability to students. Additionally you may add a short

summary of the course, as well as change the number of topics.

Icons

*Note: You must create groups and set the activity to group mode to have an impact on this. Once something is in group mode, the

icon will look like .

Using the eye icons: When eye icon is ‘open’ the item is visible and accessible to participants. When the icon

is clicked the eye will ‘close’ and the item becomes hidden and inaccessible to participants. This function is

useful when you want to keep an item in your course (rather than deleting it), but do not want participants to

have access to it.

Icon Effect Icon Effect Icon Effect Icon Effect

Edit item

Close/Hide

item Delete/Remove Groups Icon*

See all

weeks/topics

Open/Show

Item Indent/shift right Move here

See one

week/topic

Help Move Icon*

Make Current (highlight)

week/topic

Making a Course Visible to Students

1. Click on Settings under the Administration block.

2. Under the Availability block, set the Availability

drop-down to This course is available to

students.

3. Click on

Note: Your course will remain in gray on the Moodle

homepage until your next login.

Changing the Number of Modules (aka Topics)

Each Moodle course, by default, is created with 10 modules (topics).

To change the number of modules, follow these steps:

1. Click on Settings under the Administration panel.

2. Under the Notes box, you will see a drop-down menu for

Number of weeks/topics. Click on the menu and select

the number of modules you want.

3. Click on .

Changing the Course Theme

Each Moodle course is created with the default Adelphi Moodle

theme. To change the theme, follow these steps:

1. Click on Settings under the Administration panel.

2. Under the Notes box, you will see a drop-down menu for

Force Theme. Click on the menu and select the desired theme.

3. Click on .

Changing the Course Description on the Moodle Homepage

1. Click on Settings under the Administration panel.

2. In the Notes box describe the course in no more than

three sentences.

3. Click on .

Navigating the Course

In order to return to the course homepage from any

other place in the course (e.g. a discussion forum,

or a resource), click on the course name (or ID) in

the upper left corner underneath the Adelphi logo,

or click on the course number on the bottom of the page.

Organizing Modules

The default view shows all course materials organized by modules as the instructor has organized them.

Modules can be displayed in different ways:

 Change visibility to students by clicking the eye icon.

 Collapsed modules by using the collapse button of the

module that should be the last one visible.

 Expand modules by using the expand button of the module

that should be the last one visible.

 Highlight the current module by using the highlight icon.

Display by Type of Content

The activities block provides a list of the types of activities deployed in the course. Clicking on a category, such

as forums, resources, or assignments, will bring up a list with all items in that category.

Display by User Activity

1. In the People block, click on Participants.

2. The following page will have the information on the

student like Address and Last Access.

3. To have a more in-depth view of student’s activity, click

on the student’s name.

4. From the students profile click on

the Activity Reports tab.

5. Orgnanized by each topic is the student’s

activity in your class. You can see the

number of times a student accessed an

activity, and the last time of access.

Allowing Pop-Up Windows to Appear in Mozilla Firefox

When Firefox prompts you that it has blocked a

popup, click Options (or Preferences) and

select Allow popups for moodle.adelphi.edu.

Assigning Roles

The Assign Roles option allows you to enroll users in your course and provide them with a specific role.

Teachers can typically assign the roles of Teacher, Non-editing teacher, and Student.

 Note: Your students will be put on your Participants list as they register in the C.L.A.S.S. system. The

list will be updated regularly throughout the day. However, if a student is not showing up in your Moodle

Course, use the Assign Roles option to add them in (or add in another Teacher or Non-Editing teacher, if

you wish).

Teacher Non-editing teacher Student

Teachers can do anything

within a course, including

changing the activities and

grading students.

This role is similar to that of

Teaching Assistant. A nonediting

teacher can enter

grades for the students, but

he/she cannot edit the contents

of the course.

Students have access to the

course information provided by

the instructor and are able to

post responses in the forums,

contribute to wikis, etc.

Adding a User to Your Course

To add a user to your course and assign them one of the above roles,

follow these steps:

1. In the Administration block, click on Assign Roles.

2. Click on the role you wish to assign to the specific

user/users (Teacher, Non-editing teacher,

or Student).

3. Type in the name of the user you wish to add and

click on Search.

4. In the Search results box, select the name of the

user and click on the left-sided triangle. The user will

appear in the existing users box to the left.

5. The student’s name and email will now appear in the

existing users box.

Removing a User from Your Course

1. To remove a user from the course, select their name

from the existing users box and click on the rightsided

triangle.

Note: This step cannot be undone and a student’s data

will be erased from the course.

Quickmail

Sending an Email to Your Students

1. In the Quickmail block, click on Compose.

2. Check the box next to the name of the

student you wish to email.

3. Type in a Subject for your email

4. Type in the text of your email in the Message

box.

5. Optional: If you wish to send an attachment,

click on

6. Click on

7. Click on Continue. The email will then appear

in the inbox of the student’s designated email.