Moodle 2 Quick Start Guide

Transcription

1 Moodle 2 Quick Start Guide

2 Introduction This quick start guide covers setting up your first course using Moodle 2. It is not an exhaustive guide; however, it should help you understand some of the basic workings of your Moodle system. This guide will cover: 1. Blocks Settings block Navigation block Moving a block Adding a block 2. Content Adding content Adding courses Adding categories Adding a file

3 Blocks Settings Block The first step in getting to know your Moodle 2.4 is to understand the Settings block. This can be found on either the left or right hand side of the page and will look like the image on the right. The Settings block will be displayed on every page but only to site administrators. This block is designed to allow easy access to a specific areas of the Moodle from one place.when the Settings block is fully expanded it will look like this. The Settings block allows you to edit how your Moodle, and the areas within it, are set up.

4 Navigation block The Navigation block is designed to help you move around the site quickly and efficiently. The block will usually contain: - Home - Take you back to the home page - My Home - Shows all the courses you are enrolled on - My Profile - Allows you to edit your profile as well as view activity reports - Courses - A list of all courses on the Moodle Moving a block Settings > Turn Editing On > hover over the block header > When the mouse turns into a cross hold down the left button and drag and drop the block to the desired location. Adding a block Settings > Turn Editing On > Scroll to the bottom of page > in block Add a block > Select drop down > Select block to be added. Content Adding Content Categories - Course categories organise courses for all Moodle site participants, allowing for faster and easier navigation of the Moodle site. Courses - A course in Moodle is an area where a teacher can add resources and activities for their students to complete. It might be a simple page with downloadable documents or it might be a complex set of tasks where learning progresses through interaction. To navigate to the course area: Settings block > Turn Editing On > Site Administration > Courses > Add/edit Courses You will then see a page that will display all the courses currently available on the Moodle, along with two buttons:

5 Adding courses You are now ready to start adding courses. Courses are used to upload information and resources to. For example, if you enter the Maths department and select your year group, you should now be able to access all the resources for that year. Select Add a New Course (displayed at the bottom of the page).the category will contain the path you have taken. So it will be Maths, then Year 7 - you will then need to enter the new course information and save it. Each course must have a long and short name. For example: Long Name - Maths Year 7/Short Name - MAY7 (Please Note - the course short name must be unique for every course you create, if it isn t then it will not save and will not allow you to create the course) When you create a course there are lots of options below the main information about the course name etc. Helpfully, Moodle has small pop-up help boxes which explain what all these options do. It may be a good idea to click some of the help boxes to get a feel for what you can do with courses and how they are set up. Adding content to a course You can now can start to add resources and information to the courses and get them set up ready for students to use. Select the course created and select Turn Editing On from the site administration block. Click Add An Activity Or Resource. You should now see a pop up box appear with lots of options down the left hand side. These are all the various options for activities or resources you can add to courses. Again, if you click on them you will find a brief description as to what they are and what you can do with them.

6 Adding Categories Firstly you will need to create a new category to make it easier to find your course for users. When you click the Add A Category button you will see a screen like this. Parent Category - This can be used if you want to nest your new category under an existing category, creating a sub-category. For this example we will leave it as a top level category, however this can be changed at any time by going into this settings page. Category Name - Let's use Maths in this example. The category ID number is not mandatory so leave this blank for now. The description will be displayed to anyone who enters this category so you could add something along the lines of Welcome to Maths.

7 Adding a sub-category Now we have created the category, select it from the list. You can now create sub categories to allow for easier movement throughout the main Maths category, if needed. This could be done in the form of year groups/teacher groups/projects. We will use year groups in this example. You will be given the same image as before except the Parent Category will say Maths. Fill in the details as before and select Create Category. Adding a File As a starting point, here is how to upload a file to a course: Click Add Activity Or Resource. Scroll down the pop up window and select File, then click Add. You will then see the options in the image below.

8 - Name and Description are mandatory fields. Name is usually the name of the file (e.g Lesson Plan); Description would be what the file is (e.g this week s lesson plan for Biology). You can select whether the description is displayed using the tick box below the text box. - In Moodle 2.3 upwards you can use the inbuilt drag and drop feature to add files (unfortunately this is only available in version 10 of Internet Explorer, however, it works in Firefox or Google Chrome). Simply click the file and drag it into the box with the blue arrow to add the file. - The options allow you to set how the file is displayed (embedded, forced download, opened in a new window etc). You can also choose to show the file size and type. Further Information For more information about Moodle, go to For help, advice and training for Moodle, please speak to your Webanywhere Account Manager, or alternatively contact Webanywhere support at support@webanywhere.co.uk.

9 About Webanywhere Established in 2003, Webanywhere began as a school website design company. Since then we have expanded our products to include learning platforms, e-portfolios and other e-learning tools, alongside curricular content. We re an official Moodle Partner, as well as a Mahara Partner and Google Apps Authorised Reseller. Our product range supports schools in improving key metrics such as pupil achievement, quality of teaching, effective leadership and behavioural standards. Telephone: support@webanywhere.co.uk