Basic Moodle skills for Teachers

Transcription

1 Basic Moodle skills for Teachers Moodle v2.6 Contents Logging in... 2 Getting started... 2 Lynda.com training... 3 Turning editing on... 3 Editing your section headers... 3 Enabling Completion Tracking for each Resource or Activity... 4 Inserting images... 5 Adding files... 7 Adding Labels to provide directions and to break up text... 8 Making a Moodle Book... 9 Adding a URL link...10 Switching to Student view...10 Adding extra sections to your course page...11 Activity completion tracking (examples)...12 For help with Moodle contact: Teaching and Learning Initiatives unit Phone: or VoIP TLI.Illawarra@tafensw.edu.au

2 Logging in Open the Staging Moodle at or the Live Moodle at Or if you are at TAFE, click on the Moodle Staging or Moodle Live link on the TAFE Illawarra Intranet home page. Log in to the Moodle using your DEC username (the long version) and password. The login block is on the right hand side of the Moodle website. The Staging Moodle is used for the development of Moodle courses by teachers. The Live Moodle is where students are able to access their courses. Getting started To edit a Moodle course you need to be assigned the role of Teacher in your Moodle course. Talk to the Teaching and Learning Initiatives unit if you haven t already been added to the course. Or, if SELF-ENROLMENT has been activated, search for the course or unit name in the Search Courses box. Click on the course or unit name from the list and you will be taken to the enrolment page. Scroll down to the Self enrolment (Teacher) box and enter your Enrolment key. Teaching and Learning Initiatives Page 2

3 You can click the Unmask box to check that you have typed your Enrolment key correctly. Click Enrol me and you will be redirected to the course home page. In future you can find your course(s) by clicking on the My Home link (in the top left of your screen) or the TAFE Illawarra logo in the page header. Lynda.com training We recommend all teachers who are new to Moodle complete the Moodle 2.6 Essential Training course on Lynda.com before starting to set up their course. This course runs for 1h 40m and will give you a good overview of how to use Moodle. Turning editing on When you are ready to start editing your course page, you will need to Turn editing on by clicking on the green icon in the top right of your screen. Editing your section headers Edit the header of each section in your Moodle course by selecting the COG ICON that is located on the left hand side, below the section header. Un-tick the Use default section name box and type in your Section name - this title will appear in the course navigation menu and should be a maximum of 3 words in length. Use the TEXT EDITOR to start adding and formatting text in the Summary box: Click on the TOOLBAR TOGGLE button for more editing options. Teaching and Learning Initiatives Page 3

4 In Moodle, you can hold your mouse over each icon to see what it does. A full list of all of the text editor functions can be found here: TIPS: Keep it simple and use the built in Heading Styles and the options shown in the Font, Font size and Paragraph drop-down lists Include relevant images in the section headers to brighten up your page Don t put too much information into your summary section. If you need to add lots of content, add extra labels to the section instead (see the adding labels section of this guide for instructions) Add and format your header content and when you are finished, select SAVE CHANGES. Enabling Completion Tracking for each Resource or Activity You can do this for all or just some Resources or Activities. You can set the criteria for completion or you can allow students to manually flag an item as complete. TIPS: The default setting after you create a resource or activity is manual completion by the student. In most cases you will probably want to change this. If you create something that you don t need to track (e.g. a Label containing a heading or introductory text) you must go in and change the setting to Do not indicate activity completion, otherwise it will crowd your activity report unnecessarily. For additional information and examples of how you might like to use completion tracking in your course, refer to the Activity Completion Tracking instructions at the end of this document. Teaching and Learning Initiatives Page 4

5 Inserting images You can insert images within any text box by selecting the INSERT IMAGE button. Click on the FIND OR UPLOAD AN IMAGE link. Selecting this brings up the FILE PICKER this is the tool you will use to insert most content into Moodle. For most resources you will follow this process: 1. Select UPLOAD A FILE 2. BROWSE for the file on your computer 3. Select UPLOAD THIS FILE Once you have uploaded your image, give it a meaningful IMAGE DESCRIPTION. If you want your text to automatically wrap around the image, simply select the APPEARANCE tab and set the alignment to either LEFT or RIGHT. If the picture is too big, you will need to resize it outside of Moodle and then re-add it. For instructions on how to resize images, see the Resizing Images for Moodle handout. When you are done, select INSERT. If you make a mistake, you can always select the image and then click on the INSERT IMAGE button again to edit the image or the image settings. When you are finished, select SAVE AND RETURN TO COURSE. Teaching and Learning Initiatives Page 5

6 Making hyperlinks within text You can make a link to a website or to a document in your paragraph of text. Open the TEXT EDITOR as before and type in your instructions for students. HIGHLIGHT the text you want to make into a link. When you do this, the LINK buttons become active in the toolbar. Click the left LINK ICON (the closed chain image) to create a new link. Copy your web link address and paste it into the LINK URL field. Alternatively you can use the BROWSE button (the red and blue icon to the right of the Link URL field) to upload a file and link to that. Set the TARGET to Open in a NEW WINDOW. Give the link a TITLE (this is the text that students will see when they hover over the image). Select INSERT. The text becomes a link to your site and will be shown in blue on your Moodle page. Finally, select SAVE AND RETURN TO COURSE. Teaching and Learning Initiatives Page 6

7 Adding files At the bottom of each section within the Moodle you will see a menu to Add an ACTIVITY or RESOURCE. Scroll down the menu and select FILE. You can use this method to upload lots of file types including PDF, Word documents, Spreadsheets etc. NAME your file this will be the words that appear as the link on your course page. Consider using directive language (include a verb in the title), such as View this reading guide rather than just the name of the file. Add a DESCRIPTION this may be displayed on the Moodle (by ticking the box below) or may just be for the teachers to see. Under CONTENT, click the ADD button this will bring up the FILE PICKER as before. BROWSE for your file and select UPLOAD THIS FILE. Under APPEARANCE, always choose NEW WINDOW. That way your students will not lose their place in your Moodle site once they click on the link Add in any Restrict access and Activity completion settings you need. Finally, select SAVE AND RETURN TO COURSE. Teaching and Learning Initiatives Page 7

8 Adding Labels to provide directions and to break up text In Moodle sections, you usually have a paragraph of text with the resources or activities that you add appearing underneath it. If you want to add another paragraph of text below your added resource, you will need to insert a LABEL. Go to ADD AN ACTIVITY OR RESOURCE and select LABEL. The TEXT EDITOR appears under the heading LABEL TEXT. Create your label in this box. You can include headings, text, images, YouTube videos or hyperlinks to websites or files. Add in any Restrict access and Activity completion settings you need, and then select SAVE AND RETURN TO COURSE. Moving resources If you need to change the order of your activities and resources on the page, you can use the MOVE tool. Left click and hold on the Move tool, drag the resource to the position you want and then release the left mouse button. You can use multiple labels to give students information that will guide them through their course and also to provide visual interest (e.g. with images inserted into the labels). Teaching and Learning Initiatives Page 8

9 Making a Moodle Book A Moodle Book is a self-contained content package that has its own internal page-by-page navigation. If you have a lot of written, photographic or even video content on a particular subject you can save space on the main course page by putting all your content into a Moodle Book Once again go to ADD AN ACTIVITY OR RESOURCE and choose BOOK. THIS BIT IS TRICKY! First you need to create your book and save it. ONLY THEN can you edit the book and build content into it. Give your book a NAME and a DESCRIPTION and make changes to any of the other settings as required. Then select SAVE AND RETURN TO COURSE. Now click on the title of your new book this will take you in to editing mode so you will be able to start adding chapters and content to your book. NOTE: Clicking on the EDIT option will only take you to edit the title and settings for the book resource not the content! Name the first Chapter in your book and add content to your first page using the usual TEXT EDITOR. Now SAVE CHANGES. You will see that a TABLE OF CONTENTS menu has been created on the right, with your First Chapter Title included. Teaching and Learning Initiatives Page 9

10 Click the GREY PLUS to add a new chapter. Click the EDIT HUBB icon to edit an existing chapter. Use the UP ARROW to navigate back to your course Home Page. Adding a URL link You may want your students to refer to an external website or to access a recording of an Adobe Connect session that is stored online. To do this you will need to add an URL link. Go to ADD AN ACTIVITY OR RESOURCE and select URL. NAME your link this will be the words that appear on the Moodle page. Consider using directive language for your students such as Go to this website and. rather than just showing the URL address. Add a DESCRIPTION and tick the box below if you would like this description to be visible on the course page. Copy your web link address and paste it into the External URL box. Alternatively you can use the CHOOSE A LINK button to find a YouTube video link. Under APPEARANCE, choose NEW WINDOW or IN POPUP. That way your students will not lose their place in your Moodle site once they click on the link. Add in any Restrict access and Activity completion settings you need. Then select SAVE AND RETURN TO COURSE. Switching to Student view Once you have made your changes in the Moodle, you should check to see how the page will look to your students. You may find you need to add in more spaces or more instructions or explanations. Go to the ADMINISTRATION block and click on the SWITCH ROLE TO. Link. Choose STUDENT. Teaching and Learning Initiatives Page 10

11 You can then view the Moodle page as your students will. When you have finished checking your work, click the RETURN TO MY NORMAL ROLE option in the ADMINISTRATION block. TIP: if you want to continue to make changes to the Moodle page you will need to TURN EDITING ON again using the button on the top right of your screen. Adding extra sections to your course page If you need additional sections in your course, e.g. for extra topics, there are 2 ways to add them: 1. If you only want to add 1 or 2 new sections, scroll to the bottom of your Moodle page and click on the + icon TIP: you can also remove sections from your course page using the icon. Note that the last section on your page will be the one that is removed, so make sure you drag the section you don t want to the bottom, before you select the - icon 2. If you want to add a number of new sections, go to the ADMINISTRATION block and select EDIT SETTINGS. Scroll down to the NUMBER OF SECTIONS box (in the COURSE FORMAT section) and select the total number of sections that are needed in your course (so if there are already 6 sections and you need an extra 3, then you should change to the number in this box to 9). Scroll to the bottom and select SAVE CHANGES. TIP: Once you have added the extra sections you need, you will need to drag each section into the correct place on your page using the MOVE tool, which is located at the top left corner of each section. Teaching and Learning Initiatives Page 11

12 Activity completion tracking (examples) What is it? Activity completion tracking is a feature that has been available since Moodle 2. It shows you who has completed what in a table on a single page. It can be used to track any type of Resource or Activity. It allows you to set criteria that determine whether a Resource or Activity is shown as completed. To view the Activity Completion report You can see a report of who has completed what on your Moodle site. 1. Open your course page, 2. In the ADMINISTRATION block click REPORTS then ACTIVITY COMPLETION. TIPS: Hover over the ticks with your mouse to see the date completed. Depending on your web browser you may need to scroll sideways to see all of the columns. You can also download this report as an Excel spreadsheet. Teaching and Learning Initiatives Page 12

13 Enable Completion Tracking for each Resource or Activity You can do this for all or just some of the Resources or Activities in your course. You can set the criteria for completion or you can allow students to manually flag an item as complete. TIPS: The default setting after you create a resource or activity is Manual completion by the student. In some cases you may want to change this. If you create something that you don t need to track (e.g. a Label containing a heading or introductory text) you should change the setting to Do not indicate activity completion, otherwise it will crowd your activity report unnecessarily. Example 1: I want to know whether my students have accessed a file I uploaded 1. Turn editing on 2. Add a new file or edit the settings for an existing file 3. In the Resource/Activity settings scroll down to ACTIVITY COMPLETION 4. Next to COMPLETION TRACKING select Show activity as complete when conditions are met 5. Tick Student must view this activity to complete it 6. Click SAVE AND RETURN TO COURSE. TIPS: You can do the same for other Resources such as Book, Page, URL, etc. You should avoid changing the settings after students have begun to access the Resource. Teaching and Learning Initiatives Page 13

14 Example 2: I want to know that my students have posted an answer to my question in the forum, and also replied to another student s post 1. Turn editing on 2. Add a new forum or edit the settings for an existing forum 3. In the Resource/Activity settings scroll down to ACTIVITY COMPLETION 4. Next to COMPLETION TRACKING select Show activity as complete when conditions are met 5. Tick Student must create discussions and Student must post replies 6. Click SAVE AND RETURN TO COURSE. TIPS: You can do the same for other Activities such as Assignment, Database, Quiz, etc. You can also require a grade for completion see Example 3 below. You should avoid changing the settings after students have begun to access the Activity. Teaching and Learning Initiatives Page 14

15 Example 3: I don t want the activity marked as complete until I ve checked the student s work 1. Turn editing on 2. Add a new Activity or edit the settings for an existing Activity 3. In the Activity settings scroll down to ACTIVITY COMPLETION 4. Next to COMPLETION TRACKING select Show activity as complete when conditions are met and tick the box next to Student must receive a grade to complete this activity 5. Click SAVE AND RETURN TO COURSE. 6. Later after students have begun to upload assignments you can go to the Grade Book (the link is in the ADMINISTRATION block). You can see that in this example, four students have uploaded their assignment but the teacher has so far only graded Molly s and Oscar s. Teaching and Learning Initiatives Page 15

16 7. If you then look at the Completion Tracking Report you can see that only Molly and Oscar are marked as complete for this assignment, not Harry and Gracie. These notes have been adapted by Tracey Collins, based on resources originally prepared by Rory O Brien and Barry Reeves from TAFE ehub Nov Teaching and Learning Initiatives Page 16