Beginning Moodle An introduction to the Moodle basics for Students Rome, GA 30165 Revised 6/11/2013
Table of Contents GETTING STARTED...1 LOGGING IN TO MOODLE...1 SETTINGS BLOCK...2 GRADES... 3 PROFILE... 3 ATTENDANCE...3 PARTICIPANTS...4 SENDING QUICK MAIL...4 NAVIGATING MOODLE...5 COURSE CONTENT...6 RESOURCES... 6 ASSIGNMENTS... 6 ON-LINE QUIZ... 8 ADDITIONAL INFORMATION... 10
Getting Started Welcome to the Quick Start Guide to Moodle for students. This document is a brief overview of navigating and understanding Moodle. Logging in to Moodle From the Scholar Home page, select the Moodle link on the left side of the page to display the Moodle home page. Your ID and PIN are needed to login to Moodle, so contact the HelpDesk at (855) 429-5743 if you have any questions. 1
Once you are logged in to Moodle, your homepage is displayed and you will notice that your courses are listed in the center section. You can now select the course you need. On either side of the page are helpful Links and information that may be of use to you. Settings Block Once you select a course, you can access your course grades and update your Moodle profile by selecting the Course Administration and My Profile settings from the SETTINGS block. 2
Grades By selecting grades, you can display the gradebook for the specific class. If the teacher is posting grades in Moodle, you will see the items grade, any feedback as well as your course total. If you have assignments that have been graded and returned but you do not see the grades listed in your Moodle course, please speak with your instructor. It is the instructor s decision as to whether grades are to be displayed in Moodle. Profile In this section, basic profile information is listed. Also, you have the ability to EDIT your profile by uploading a picture. YOU CANNOT CHANGE ANY OTHER INFORMAITON ON THIS PAGE! The picture must be jpg or png format and has a size limitation. Once you upload the picture, you can finish the page and then select Update Profile at the bottom. Note: if the new picture doesn t appear, you may need to reload/refresh your web browser. Attendance Should your instructor wish to record Attendance for a class, the Attendance activity should be located at the top of your individual Courses on Moodle. Students are advised to monitor their attendance in class to make sure they are being counted as present and/or absent. To check your attendance, click on the activity to view your standing. 3
Participants If you wish to see who is enrolled in your class, click on the PARTICIPANTS link on the left side of the course page. Once you open the Participants dialogue box, you will see everyone that enrolled in the class. Sending Quick Mail Moodle offers a quick and efficient means of sending a mass email to the students in a particular course. From the Course home page in the Quick Mail block, choose COMPOSE. 4
Once the dialogue box opens, select the individual you want to send an email to and select ADD or select ADD ALL if you Wish to email everyone in your class. Once your email is sent, you will be returned automatically to your course s home page. All emails will be delivered to the recipient s official Shorter email account, @hawks.shorter.edu. You can also view the emails you have sent previously by selecting HISTORY under the Quick Mail Block. Navigating Moodle Navigating Moodle is pretty straight forward. At the top left of your screen, you will notice that there is a map of the pages you have chosen. These pages, more commonly known as Bread Crumbs. By clicking on one of these bread crumbs, you will go back to that page or clicking on the Course name bread crumb returns you to the specific Course home page. 5
Course Content Resources Instructors will place a variety of course materials, documents or files as resources in your Moodle class. These resources will be placed in the middle section of your Moodle course. To view any of these resources, you simply click on the resource to display its contents. Many resources will be in a variety of formats, such as, pdf, jpg, PowerPoint, so you must have certain software available on your computer to open and display these resources. If you discover you have a problem with opening a resource, please speak with your instructor. Assignments Assignments in Moodle designate a gradable item. By selecting an assignment/activity, you will be able to review the instructions for submitting your work and also determine the assignment s due date-if any- and grade value. Assignments can be in the form of submitting documents, completing an on-line quiz, forum discussions etc To view any assignment, click on the Assignment and a page will be displayed that describes the assignment and instructions on either submitting or uploading the work for grading. In the screenshot below, the assignment indicates that the assignment is available from March 18, 2013 and due March 25, 2013 10:00am. Select the Upload Files button that is to upload your work/document for this assignment. This upload works similar to attaching a document to an email. If you see the note, No files submitted yet, then you have not attached any document or file for submission. Once you select the Upload Files button, you can add your file in 2 ways (1) using the Drag/Drop feature (only available in Internet Explore ver 10) or select the ADD option to Upload a File/Browse. 6
2 1 This page will appear if you select (2) Add a file. Once you attach the document, the document name will be displayed in the Attachment field. Then select Upload this File. 7
After uploading the file, the page displays the document in the blue-shaded attachment field and is now ready to be SAVED for submitting and grading. Select SAVE CHANGES. The next page displays that your file has been submitted. As long as the option to Edit or ADD is displayed and no due date has occurred, you may continue to delete and/or upload files. If you have reached the maximum number of submissions or the due date of the assignment is met, the option to Upload this file will not be displayed. Once the submission has been made, Moodle will date and time stamp the submission so there is no question as to when the work was submitted. The instructor can then proceed with the grading of the submitted work. If students have questions regarding any assignment or how the assignment is to be submitted, please speak with the instructor. On-Line Quiz Instructors often will create quizzes for students to take on-line. These quizzes are NOT to be confused with a quiz that the instructor may give manually or as an uploading of a file. These on-line quizzes are to be taken at a computer. These quizzes often carry specific settings and are displayed as. Many have time limits and are only available during certain time periods. Once a quiz is opened, the instructions for the will be displayed. It is important to review those instructions prior to taking the quiz. Below are screenshots of a quiz from Moodle. Notice that the instructions for the quizzes are displayed PRIOR to taking the quiz. 8
Once you attempt the quiz, you will see a dialogue box display that advises you of any time limits and number of attempts. Once you begin the quiz, if a time limit is established, you will see a clock (located on the upper left of the page) displaying the time remaining on completing and submitting the quiz. On the last page, you will see a review of your attempt and can go back to check or answer questions you may have skipped or you may Submit all and Finish. If you are through with the quiz and wish to submit it for grading, you MUST select this option. Should you close and reopen the quiz before submitting for grading, your previous answers will be saved and the clock will begin the countdown from your last time. The Submit all and 9
Finish option indicates that you are finished taking the exam and you are turning it in for grading. This submission counts as your attempt. Should you try to take the test again, you may receive a warning that you have No more attempts. This screenshot displays that my attempt has been obtained and I can longer open the quiz. If the instructor has placed restrictions such as time and availability of completing a quiz, once you submit your exam, you may not be able to re-open it. If a quiz has a deadline due date and you do not submit your quiz for grading, Moodle will score your quiz as a 0. If you have any questions regarding an exam and its settings, you must speak with the instructor. Additional Information In addition to this general overview of Moodle, you can find additional FAQ guides posted on CAPP Moodle homepage and on the STUDENT tab and in the Student Resources page of the OIT tab of Scholar. Shorter s is constantly working on improving the flow of information and communication regarding the use of Moodle and any other Shorter University technology issues and we welcome your input. If you have a question about using Moodle, please contact the HelpDesk at (855) 429-5743 or email us at helpdesk@shorter.edu. 10