TANGAZA UNIVERSITY COLLEGE

Transcription

1 TANGAZA UNIVERSITY COLLEGE MOODLE REFERENCE MANUAL FOR 2017

2 Contents 1.0 Section One What is Moodle? Who can access Moodle in Tangaza College? How do you access Moodle in Tangaza College? Section Two Logging On What will you see when you log into Moodle? The Navigation bar Turn editing on Module Content area Blocks Adding Handouts/Notes "Adding a Resource" "Add an activity'' Process of creating an assignment Editing Your Profile Further Help... 19

3 1.0 Section One 1.1 What is Moodle? Moodle is a Virtual Learning Environment (VLE) utilized by Tangaza University College to support lecturers and students in creating effective online learning communities. Moodle, a software package designed using sound pedagogical principles, has a range of functionality which can combine and enhance the traditional learning environment in an online setting. This functionality includes content management, , discussion, calendar, assignment and chat room to enhance teacher to student communication. It is intended to complement and enhance face-to-face lecturing in Tangaza University College. 1.2 Who can access Moodle in Tangaza College? All registered Tangaza University College staff and students, using their assigned username and password, can access Moodle both on and off-campus once they have access to the Internet. 1.3 How do you access Moodle in Tangaza College? To access Moodle go to from any web browser. (Web browsers include Google Chrome, Internet Explorer, Mozilla Firefox or Safari) Kindly note that there is no www after the Alternatively, you can access Moodle via Tangaza University College website ( in different ways: First, open your web browser and type to launch the website. On the home page you will see Academic Resources on the right hand side of your screen as you scroll downwards as indicated in Figure 1.1 below. Click on the Moodle link and proceed as in section 2.1 below.

4 Figure 1.1: Moodle Login Link in Academic Resources Alternatively, from the Tangaza University College home page, click Staff Portal on the top right menu as illustrated in Figure 1.2 below and in the resulting window as in Figure 1.3 below login to Tangaza staff portal using your staff number and the right credentials. Once you are logged in to the staff portal, click on the Moodle tab as indicated in figure 1.4 below and proceed to section 2.1. Figure 1.2: Tangaza Website Home Page

5 Figure 1.3: Staff Portal Login page Figure 1.4: Moodle tab on Tangaza Staff Portal

6 2.0 Section Two 2.1 Logging In Once you are on the Moodle homepage as illustrated in Figure 2.1 below enter your username and password. Figure 2.1: Tangaza Moodle Login page In case you do not remember your username and or password, contact the ICT helpdesk or your respective institute. (For lecturers/ faculty members the username is usually the initial of your first name combined with your last name/ surname and that also applies as your password the first time you logon to Moodle. For example, if your name is Michael Black the user name and password for the first time would be 'mblack' for username and mblack for password. You would however be forced to change the initial password to one of your choice after your first login.) 2.2 What will you see when you log into Moodle? Once logged in you will see a list of all the institutes in Tangaza University College as shown in Figure 2.2 alongside other Moodle screen blocks (Main Menu, Navigation, Settings, Calendar, Online users and Logged in users) You can then navigate to the desired institute amongst the ones listed below in figure 2.2.

7 Figure 2.2: Moodle Home Page after login The basic Moodle screen elements that are important to understand are: 2.2.1The Navigation bar The Navigation bar displays hyperlinks showing where a user is in relation to the course or the Moodle homepage Turn editing on Turn editing on button (seen by course designers only) enables lecturers/faculty members to edit their module in Moodle Module Content area The central area of the screen will act as a placeholder for the content of a module Blocks Blocks are the boxes located on the left and right hand side of the screen. Blocks provide a variety of information for the students during the module. 2.3 Adding Handouts/Notes How do you add handouts created using Microsoft Word or PDF files to Moodle so that your students can easily Print / Save documents?

8 Although it is easy to generate content directly in Moodle, you can also upload any type of electronic file you like. However, it is highly advised that you upload contents in PDF format for purposes of Intellectual property protection. 1. First, ensure that you have saved the materials you want to upload in a location that you can easily access. This can be in your flash/ removable drives, desktop or my documents. 2. Next, when logged on to Moodle and in the relevant module, click on 'My Home' in the Navigation block. Being a lecturer already registered in the system you will see all the courses assigned to you appear on your screen. Alternatively, you can simply click on 'My Courses' on the navigation bar and all the courses that you've been enrolled to as a lecturer would be lined up in the resulting Course Overview page as shown by way of example in Figure 2.3 below: Figure Editing Your Course Click on any of the courses listed in the course overview in order to edit, enter or upload the desired content. The resulting page would be as in figure 2.4. However, in order to edit or upload any content you have to click on the 'Turn editing on' button on the top- right corner of your screen as illustrated in Figure 2.4 below.

9 Figure 2.4 The resulting screen will be as shown in Figure 2.5 below: Figure 2.5 At the top of each block, you ll see an icon of a hand holding a pencil. When you click on it, you will be presented with a Summary text area. You can use this to label and summarize each topic or schedule blocks in your course. You should keep the summary to a sentence or two for each block to avoid making the main page too long. Click Submit when you ve added your summary. You can go back and change it later by clicking the hand-and pencil icon again. On the left hand side, next to the label for the People block, you ll see the icons described in table 2.1.

10 Table 2.1 ICON FUNCTION Hand holding pencil; This enables you edit a heading/ title / a given section in Moodle. Show or hide item. If you want to keep an item in your course, but don t want your students to see it, you can use this to hide it from them. Delete item. Removes the item or block from your course. Items will be permanently removed; blocks can be added again using the Blocks menu. Move item. Clicking this will allow you to move an item to another topic or schedule block. Move right or left. You can move blocks to the left- or right hand columns. You can also use this to indent items in your content blocks Move up or down. Moves items and blocks up or down in their respective areas. In addition to the icons for manipulating the blocks, each content block in the middle column has two dropdown menus. You can proceed by either adding a resource or by adding an activity as shown in Figure 2.6 below: Just before that it would be important for lecturers to know how to arrange their courses and content. If you look at the Moodle home page you will find a heading section together with provision of 15 numbered sections. These 15 sections can either be arranged as weeks or topics depending on the lecturer s taste. For example number 1 can either be topic 1 or week 1 depending on the lecturer s preference.

11 Figure 2.6 On the left, the menu labeled Add a resource gives you tools for adding static content, such as web pages, files, and folders such as word-processing documents and PDF files. On the right, the Add an activity menu gives you tools to add activities such as forums, quizzes, lessons, and assignments "Adding a Resource" The Add a Resource drop down menu gives you access to tools for adding content and these include file, folder, page and URL as explained in the table 2.2. Table 2.2 Resource type File Folder Page Function A picture, a PDF document, word document, power point document, a spreadsheet, a sound file, a video file For helping organize files and one folder may contain other folders The student sees a single, scrollable screen that a teacher creates with the robust HTML editor

12 URL Website link or address for example e-books or e-journals To add a file such as a PDF, click on the arrow pointing down next to 'add a resource' and on the resulting drop down Menu select 'file' as in figure 2.7 below. Figure 2.7 Give the file a name and a description as in the fields shown below then click on 'Add' tab in the contents section to select a file saved in another location as shown in Figure 2.8 below. Figure 2.8

13 On the resulting screen after clicking the 'Add' click on upload a file from the different options available as shown Figure 2.9 below: Figure 2.9 Click on browse to select the file from a given location on your computer or removable disk then once you've selected the file click open to be redirected back to the upload page. You can choose to give your file a different name by typing a desired name in the save as space or even renaming the author of the file in the available spaces. By default, the system uses the name in the logged in account as the author and picks 'All rights reserved' as the license type. It is advisable that you leave the two fields (author and Choose license) as they are unless you are sure of the changes that you want to make. Once all these is done click on the 'Upload this file' button. Before completing the upload you can also control access to file that you are uploading within given dates as shown Figure 2.10 below:

14 Figure 2.10 Once you have filled all the required fields you can click on 'save and return to course' or 'save and display' to complete the file upload process. The same process outlined above can be used to add different types of resources such as word documents, PDF files, power point presentations, pictures, videos, websites etc "Add an activity'' The Add Activity Menu allows you to add interactive tools to your course. The table below explains each tool very briefly. Table 2.3

15 Tool type Assignment Chat Forum Quiz Survey Workshop Description A basic task with which you can describe what you want the students to do or record a grade. You can also have the students upload a response and score it later. A group chat room where people can meet at the same time and send text messages. Threaded discussion boards. They are a powerful communication tool. A good, old-fashioned web quiz with a lot of flexibility. Gathers feedback from students using pre-packaged questionnaires. A very nice tool for student peer assessment. Students upload their work and score their peers work using a scoring guide you create. For the case of Tangaza University College, this guide would be limited to assignment as an activity given that the process of creating an assignment would applicable to all other activities. Assignment can be uploaded in different ways: Table 2.4 Assignment type Advanced uploading of files Description Options include multiple file submission, allowing students to type a message alongside their submission & returning a file as feedback.

16 Online text Upload a single file Offline activity This assignment type asks users to compose and edit text, using the normal editing tools. The online text assignment can be set up to allow learners to compose, revise and edit over time or such that the learner only has one opportunity to enter his or her response. Furthermore, with the online assignment, instructors can grade the work online and even edit and/or provide comments within the learner s work. A student can upload a single file, such as a Word document, spreadsheet or anything digital. Multiple files can be zipped and then submitted. After learners upload their files in this arrangement, the instructor will be able to open the submission and then use the Moodle interface to assign a grade and offer comments as feedback. This is useful when the assignment is performed outside of Moodle. It could be something elsewhere on the web or face-to-face. Students can see a description of the assignment, but can't upload files. Specifically, an instructor in a hybrid or blended environment (combination of face-to-face and online instruction) may use the offline activity type of assignment to assign a project that the learner will physically present to the instructor at a face-to-face session. 2.4 Process of creating an assignment Click on the 'Add an activity' and on the resulting drop down menu choose between the different options (Advanced uploading of files, Online text, Upload a single file, Offline activity) according to your need based on the explanations above. For this case we will use the advanced uploading of files. On the resulting screen, give the assignment a name and a description. You will also have an option of defining the days that you would like the assignment to be

17 available limiting the availability as shown in the diagram below. This would mean that the assignment would only be available to students within a specific timeline and after the deadline; students would not be able to submit their assignments. Kindly note that the 'Grading', 'Advanced uploading of files', and 'common module settings' are set on default values and you'd rather not change them unless you are sure. More so, you can restrict access of the assignment to particular days of your choice. Figure 2.11 Once you are done, click on 'save and return course' button in the bottom-left corner to save the assignment. You would receive notifications on any attempted assignment via the on your profile and also short messages anytime that you log in. More so, by clicking on the assignment itself you will see the number of attempts clearly outlined for you to read and or download. Other things you can do in Moodle: 2.5 Editing Your Profile By clicking on 'My profile' in the navigation tab, you will be able to edit your profile. By default, the names reflecting on the profile would be those registered officially in Tangaza systems.

18 1. You ll see your username and address already filled in. You will not be able to change these here as they are linked to your other logons on campus. 2. display allows you to choose who can see your address. Your choices are to hide your from everyone, allow only the people in your classes to see it, or display it for everyone who logs in to the site. If you choose to hide your from other people, they will not be able to send you directly from Moodle. 3. After setting your city and country (which by default are Nairobi and Kenya respectively), you can choose your preferred language. Setting your language here makes it your default language for all pages (by default this is International US English). 4. The time zone setting can be very important, especially if you re on holidays and have to upload or download notes while outside the country such as during holidays. Be sure to set the time zone to your local time, not the server s local time. 5. The description box gives you a place to tell your Moodle community a little about yourself. If you don t feel comfortable writing a description, just put a couple of characters in here and the system won t complain. 6. The remaining optional fields allow you to include personal details about yourself, including your photo or a representative image, and contact information. Your picture will appear by your postings in the forums, in your profile, and in the course roster. 7. You can also upload a picture. For all other students and faculty, to upload a new picture, follow these steps: a) Prepare the picture you want to use by converting it to a gif or jpeg if you haven t already. It should be smaller than the maximum upload size of 2MB. b) Click the Browse button and locate your prepared picture. Then click Choose in the dialogue box. c) Then click Update Profile at the bottom of the screen. Moodle will crop your picture into a square and shrink it to 100-by-100 pixels. Now your profile is all set to go. You won t have to edit this again unless you want to change something.

19 2.6 Further Help For further assistance, queries or feedback, kindly send an to either, or Alternatively, if you are within Tangaza University College you can call the computer services helpdesk in the Nuru building extensions 129 & 128 or 505 for Imani building.