A Student s Guide To Using The wording of this guide is targeted to students however the content applies to all users of Moodle.
Table of Contents What is Moodle?... 3 How do I access my Moodle classes?... 3 Can I access Moodle from home?... 5 The Interface of a Typical Moodle Course... 5 Course Content Area... 6 RESOURCES... 6 ACTIVITIES... 7 What if I cannot open or download a file?... 8 Course Calendar... 8 Navigating your course... 9 Moodle Grades... 10 Can members of my course access work I upload to Moodle?... 11 How do I change my picture?... 11 Communication in Moodle... 12 Using Quickmail... 12 Using Forums... 16 Forum Types... 16 Submitting Your Homework File in Moodle... 18 Quizzing in Moodle... 19 Summer 2011 Page 2
What is Moodle? Moodle is a Virtual Learning Environment (VLE) used by colleges, universities and schools Worldwide. This is web based application which is a safe and secure environment, where students can access learning materials and communicate with their instructors and other students. It is organized into areas called courses which are stored in categories and subcategories according to campus and topic. Moodle is basically a web site like any other and is therefore available wherever there is an Internet connection. It is a pretty intuitive tool and is easy to use. How easy you find it will depend on your own background in computer use. That said, a general rule of have a go and see what happens can be applied in most cases. If you do not have a personal computer at home, public libraries typically have computers for use. Your Moodle account is linked to your South College email account to which messages are sent, you should check this email account regularly in case your instructor has sent you important information. Access to your courses on Moodle is available 24/7 How do I access my Moodle classes? Access your Moodle course site(s) as soon as you can to be sure your accessibility is set up correctly. Access offcampus as well as on-campus. If you have any issues, please report them to your instructor as soon as possible. You must access your Moodle course site(s) from the South College Student Portal: 1. Go to the South College Homepage http://www.southcollegetn.edu/ 2. Click on the Student Portal Link on the dropdown menu. Summer 2011 Page 3
3. On the Student Portal page, enter your username and password and click Login. NOTE: If you have not created a Portal Account you must complete this step FIRST. If you have forgotten your password, click the Forgot you password link, enter your South College email and your password will be emailed to you. 4. On the next Portal screen, click on the Moodle link (in white text) in the upper right corner of the window (on blue bar): Summer 2011 Page 4
You are now viewing classes in which you are registered. 5. Click a course title link to enter the Moodle course site (the ones in the image are for sample purposes only your titles may be different). Can I access Moodle from home? Yes, this is the beauty of Moodle, it enables you to keep up-to-date with your course when you are away from College. Simply, connect to the Internet and type the web address in your browser: http://www.southcollegetn.edu. You should see the South College homepage, where you can access the menu with the Student Portal Link. The Interface of a Typical Moodle Course Each course in Moodle contains similar objects, but may look completely different depending upon how your instructor has set it up and what resources it contains. There are two basic elements on a Moodle page, content and blocks. Blocks can go on either side or both, and usually show information relevant to the user, while the content occupies most of the space in the middle of the page, and display or link to a majority of the course content. The example to the right is from a typical Moodle course. The BLOCKS are course tools that your instructor uses to manage the course. The COURSE CONTENT area is where you will find your instructor s contact information, Office hours, link to course syllabus, and the actual course content. South College Moodle courses are arranged by weeks beginning with the first week of the term. Summer 2011 Page 5
The Blocks that appear in your course site contain course management information regarding: Administration display a link to grades and profile. People listing of course participants. Student Technology Links Links to areas of importance at South College. The Student Tech Page contains many items students will need access to. Activities quick access to activities in the course such as Resources, Activities, and Forums. Course Categories Navigation to other Moodle course sites in which the student is enrolled. Upcoming Events monitors and displays calendar events in a summarized list. Latest News monitors the Forums. Quickmail email tool within Moodle. Instructors and students have access to Quickmail. Course Content Area Resources and Activities There are two types of content in a course site; Resources and Activities. Typically, resources are course files that are not graded by the instructor such as a PowerPoint presentation. Activities are files that are graded by the instructor such as an assignment. There are two ways to access your course resources and activities which are files that contain your course content, assignments, communications, etc. The first is through the main course content in the middle of the page. Clicking on these links will take you directly to the activity or resource. RESOURCES One type of resource is your course syllabus. The syllabus contains information about what will be done in a course and the dates of completion. Your course syllabus is linked in the midsection of the main course page. Other resources are course content files linked by your instructor. You are responsible for accessing the files and completing the directions associated with them. The files in the image below are PowerPoint presentation files, but they can be any file type. Summer 2011 Page 6
ACTIVITIES As mentioned above, activities are assignments are typically graded by the instructor. Here is an example of an activity file link: Throughout the course content area, file links are associated with icons. See the icon lists below for different items that can be included in your Moodle course site. The icons below are application resources and will require you to have the relevant software application installed on your computer or viewers (explained below) which can display the files. Summer 2011 Page 7
What if I cannot open or download a file? If you are using a college computer, ask advice from a member of staff. If you are away from the college, it is possible that your computer does not have the correct software installed to read that type of file. Is your computer telling you what type of file it is? Most people should be able to open Microsoft Word documents, but you may not have the software to open an Adobe Acrobat file. Have you downloaded the Open Office version of our Documents, Microsoft Word cannot open this type of file as it is in the Open Document. Format, however, you can download open office from http://office.microsoft.com and it s a free open source project and is comparable with Microsoft s office package. Popup blockers: Check that your computer is not blocking pop-up windows from the Moodle site. Depending on which browser you are using you can add http://virtual.cornwall.ac.uk to your trusted sites. Application Viewers Some resources in Moodle require you to have specific software installed on your computer in order to view the files. Free downloads for these viewers can be found on the Technical Requirements page. The link is in the course site on the main course page in one of the resource boxes. Course Calendar The calendar is one of the more interactive blocks. It allows you to see events created by your course instructor and allows you to add your own entries. This means it can be used as a personal organizer that has the benefit of being accessible anywhere you can get online. The elements of the calendar are: Events that are logged on the calendar are: Global events: Schoolwide events Group events: Course group events (must be set up by instructor) Course events: Added by instructor User events: Personal events added by the user Summer 2011 Page 8
To enlarge the calendar, read the detail of an event, or add your own event, click the Month text in the image above. You will notice a button in the upper left with the Text: New Event. Click to add your personal Event. The user can export the calendar to their desktop to Sync up with a handheld device. Simply click the Export button. Navigating your course There are a number of ways to move around a course. The example shown below is from the actual course Criminology. CMJ1230_L00130 is its short name. (Note: If you were to receive a forum message via email from this course, you would see the course short name at the start of the subject line). 1 - Breadcrumb Trail - this is a menu positioned below the course title which shows your position in the course. The notes below will make this clearer. Breadcrumb Trail in Moodle Main: Clicking on this link would take you back to the South College Moodle homepage will all courses listed. CMJ1230_L00130: This is the short name for the course, clicking on this will take you the homepage of the course. Resources: Clicking on this would display a list of all of the Resources in this course. The above is only one example of how the breadcrumb trail menu may appear; it will be different in each course. Keep an eye on this as you navigate around, you will notice that it changes to reflect your current position. Jump to If your course contains a lot of topics it can be tiresome having to scroll up and down the page. You can collapse all of the topics by clicking on the square box to the right of the topic heading Summer 2011 Page 9
Moodle Grades If your course has been set up with an Activities block, you can click on each of the activities and view your progress. For example, if you click on Assignments you will be able to view all of the assignments available in your Moodle course, you will also be able to see your grades. For example, if you click on Assignments you will be able to view all of the assignments available in your Moodle course, you will also be able to see your grades (see below). You can also check your grades by clicking on the link to Grades in the Administration block. Summer 2011 Page 10
Can members of my course access work I upload to Moodle? The short answer to this is no. When you submit assignments, only staff who are instructors on your course can see what you have submitted and feedback delivered to you by a instructor is confidential. All of your results to tests and quizzes are also protected and cannot be viewed by other students. However, you must be aware that your instructor can track where you have been in the course and can view all of your activities. If your instructor has set your course into groups on Moodle, say to work on a particular project and you upload work to a forum as an attachment to a message, this can only be accessed by other members of your group and your instructors. Every activity in Moodle is recorded and can be accessed by the Moodle Administrators if necessary. How do I change my picture? You can upload a picture from your computer to Moodle, this picture will be used in various places to represent you. For this reason, the best images to use are a close-up of your face, but you can use any image you like. When using images you should be aware of copyright law. The picture must be in JPG or PNG format (ie the names will usually end in.jpg or.png). You can get a picture file using one of three methods: 1. Using a digital camera, your photos will most likely already be on your computer in the right format. 2. You can use a scanner to scan a printed photograph. Make sure you save it as JPG or PNG format.. 3. If you're artistic, you might draw a picture using a paint program. To upload your picture, open your profile and if necessary click on the Edit profile tab. Scroll down the page until you see area which displays the default smiley picture. To upload the image, click the "Browse" button on this editing page, and navigate to where the picture is stored on your computer. NOTE: Make sure that the file is not larger than the maximum size listed, or it will not be uploaded. Then click "Update my Profile" at the bottom - the image file will be cropped to a square and resized down to 100x100 pixels. Summer 2011 Page 11
When you are taken back to your profile page, the image might not appear to have changed. If this is so, just use the "Reload/Refresh" button in your browser; also check that you have written a description about yourself. When you return to your profile you should see your new picture. IMPORTANT: Please make sure that any picture you upload is not copyrighted, rude or offensive as your picture can be viewed by all users of Moodle. Communication in Moodle There are two main types of communication tools for students in Moodle: Quickmail and Forums Whilst in a course you can read messages sent to the forum(s) and reply to messages. If you receive an email message from a forum, you will see that the course short name is shown at the beginning of the email subject line, this is so you can identify which course/forum the message has come from, if you click on the reply option, you will be prompted to log into to Moodle and taken to the reply section of the forum. When you receive an email message from Quickmail in your South College email, the beginning of the message will read: Quickmail Dispatch. You can send a message to all or some classmates and the instructor, and add an attachment. Using Quickmail To send an email message from Moodle to South College email accounts: 1. Click Compose Email in the Quickmail Sticky Block (lower left area of your Moodle class screen). 2. Quickmail window Recipient(s) Lists: a. Potential Recipient(s) members of the class who could potentially receive the message b. Selected Recipient(s) members of the class you choose to receive the message Summer 2011 Page 12
3. Buttons and List: Potential Recipients List 4. To add one potential recipient to the list to receive the email message, click the recipient s name (1 click) and click the Add button 5. The recipient will move to the left column Selected recipient Summer 2011 Page 13
6. To select multiple recipients BUT NOT ALL, click (1 click) the first name, hold down the CONTROL key and Click (1 click) the remainder names 7. Recipients moved to Selected Recipient list 8. To remove a single recipient from the Selected Recipient list after added, click the recipient name (1 click) and click the Remove button moves the recipient back to the right column Potential Recipient Summer 2011 Page 14
9. To remove a multiple recipients from the Selected Recipient list after added, click the recipient name (1 click) and click and hold down the CONTROL key and click the remainder names to be removed. Once names are selected, click the Remove button moves the recipients back to the right column Potential Recipient 10. Too add all Potential Recipients to Selected Recipients (everyone is to receive the message), simply click the [[addall]] button 11. To Remove all recipients from the Selected Recipients (after you added them) Click [[removeall]] 12. Once you get your recipients chosen that you want to receive the message, the compose the message a. Type a subject in the Subject line (required) b. Enter your message in the message body Summer 2011 Page 15
c. Upload attachment if needed d. Click Send Email when complete. Message will route to South College email Using Forums Depending on the theme of your course, icons in course may vary, below is an example of different icons which may be in a course but all do the same thing. Forum Types There are essentially four different types of forum: 1. News/Announcement forum (Course Announcements) - This type of forum is used by the course instructor(s) to post messages to everyone on the course. Generally, this forum is for announcements only and you cannot reply to these messages. 2. General Forums - This type of forum can be named as anything, there is no limit to the number of forums which can be in a course. This type of forum is for discussion with your instructor and other course members. Anyone can start a new topic at any time. 3. Each person posts one discussion - Each person can post exactly one new discussion topic (everyone can reply to them though). This is useful when you want each student to start a discussion about say, their reflections on the week's topic and everyone else responds to these. 4. Q And A Forum - The Q & A forum requires students to post their thoughts/answers before viewing other students' postings. After the initial posting, students can view and respond to others' postings. You may receive a Post from your instructor or one of your peers that you will need to respond to. BE SURE TO PAY ATTENTION TO SET TIMELINES IN THE FORUM TOOL. If your instructor sets a timelimit, the software (Moodle) will prevent you from posting once the deadline has passed, possibly costing you points! To respond to a post from your instructor, in your course site, click on the link to the Forum. Once in the Forum, click the title link to the Forum post added by your instructor. Read the message, click the Reply link. Summer 2011 Page 16
Type your response in the editor. **READ THE NOTE IN THE BOX. Click Post To Forum Editor Toolbar Icons: Summer 2011 Page 17
Submitting Your Homework File in Moodle Submitting a homework file in Moodle is no more difficult than uploading your image. In fact, it is the same process. To submit your homework, Click the Assignment Link in your course site (whatever your instructor named the link) Read the directions given by the instructor. Click the browse button to locate the file you wish to upload from your computer for the assignment. Select the file you wish to upload in the File Upload window and click the open button. Once the file path is listed in the Browse field, click the Upload this File button. You have successfully uploaded your homework file. The process is the exact same, regardless of file type. Summer 2011 Page 18
Quizzing in Moodle Quizzing in Moodle is very user friendly and most students like it. Moodle quizzes are computer graded which allow the student to receive their grade immediately in most cases. However, there are a few very important things you need to know before taking your first quiz in Moodle. When your instructor is ready for you to take a test typically a link will appear. Be sure you've read any information provided by your instructor as to when you should take the test. Never enter a test unless you are prepared to complete it. It is important to plan the time you'll take your test. Once you start a test there is no "turning back". You should take your test at a time when you'll have few distractions. Your instructor may choose to password a test. If you are asked for a password when trying to enter a test you'll need to obtain the password from the instructor. Be very careful of capitalization when keying passwords. Your test may be timed. If so, you'll see a timer appear at the top left of the screen when you enter your test. This timer will count down the time you have left to complete your test. In Moodle you will be kicked out when the time limit is up so please be sure to finish your test and submit it PRIOR to the time running out. It's a good idea to save your answers frequently. You can click the Save button at any time to save your answers. You may still change these answers up until the time you submit them. When you've answered all questions scroll down to the bottom and click the "Submit All and Finish" button. Most of your test questions are graded as soon as you click Submit. Your instructor decides how much information you'll see next. You may only see your score or you may see each question and the correct answer. For each question, note how many points you were awarded. Your score will appear in the gray box at the top of the page. You may miss a fill in the blank question due to spelling. If so, contact your instructor. They may or may not give you credit for the question. If your test includes essay or short answer questions those must be graded individually by your instructor. You are not awarded any points for those questions until the instructor has graded them. To come back later and review your tests, simply click on the name of the test from your course page, then click your grade. Summer 2011 Page 19