Center for Excellence in Teaching and Learning Mr. Philip Daoud Introduction to Moodle Beginner s guide Center for Excellence in Teaching and Learning / Teaching Resource
This manual is part of a serious of teaching resources on e-learning. The focus of this manual is on the basic tools of Moodle. Its target group is faculty member s who are not familiar with Moodle By the end of this teaching unit you should be able to: Know about Moodle and eclass in general Access the eclass site Create a new course Configure student enrollment in a course Edit the course Add various resources to a course Add assignments to a course Grade an assignment on a course Add announcements to students Backup a course to be used for later semesters We hope you will be able to follow the manual s guidance easily. Please do not hesitate to Constance us to share you comments on its content and structure CETL team 2
What is eclass? Bethlehem University recognizes the importance of creating a learning environment outside the classroom. This environment will play a supporting role for the in-class teaching by providing additional tools, resources, and ways of communication between the students and their Instructors, as well as between the students themselves. After reviewing several Learning Management Systems available on the market, the University has selected a system named Moodle as its official online courses platform. Moodle is a software package for producing Internet-based courses and web sites. Moodle is referred to variously as a course management system (CMS), learning management system (LMS), virtual learning environment (VLE), or more recently a learning content management system (LCMS). It is a global development project designed to support a social constructionist framework of education. Moodle is provided freely as Open Source software. Basically this means Moodle is copyrighted, but that you have additional freedoms. You are allowed to copy, use and modify Moodle provided that you agree to: provide the source to others; not modify or remove the original license and copyrights, and apply this same license to any derivative work. Read the full license for details and please contact the copyright holder via the Moodle.com helpdesk if you have any questions. Why Moodle? The word Moodle was originally an acronym for Modular Object-Oriented Dynamic Learning Environment. It is also a verb that describes the process of lazily meandering through something, doing things as it occurs to you to do them, an enjoyable tinkering that often leads to insight and creativity. As such it applies both to the way Moodle was developed, and to the way a student or teacher might approach studying or teaching an online course. It is mostly useful to programmers and education theorists. Anyone who uses Moodle is a Moodler. The heart of Moodle is courses that contain activities and resources. There are about 20 different types of activities available (such as forums, glossaries, wikis, assignments, quizzes, choices (polls), scorm players and databases) and each can be customized quite a lot. The main power of this activity-based model comes in combining the activities into sequences and groups, which can help you guide participants through learning paths. Thus, each activity can build on the outcomes of previous ones. There are a number of other tools that make it easier to build communities of learners, including blogs, messaging, participant lists, as well as useful tools like grading, reports and integration with other systems. 3
How to access the eclass site? 1. Go to the eclass platform site: eclass.bethlehem.edu. 2. In the middle of the main page, you can see the site news and announcements. This space is used by the site Administrators to communicate with the users of this platform. 3. On the right, you will find the login form. To access the site you need to use your university username and password (the ones you use for accessing your email account). For the username, DON T include @bethlehem.edu 4. When you login for the first time, you will be directed to a page where you can update your profile information. You must provide your First Name, Last Name, University email, City and Country before saving your profile. You can keep the rest of the options as they are, or you can change them if you wish. 5. If this is the first time you have logged in to the eclass platform, you need to contact the Computer Center Staff to assign you a Course creator role. This is an important step and needs to be done only done once. 6. After logging-in, you will see a new page with a list of different categories, and semesters as shown below. 4
1. List of available courses organized in various categories. 2. Link to logout from the eclass platform. 3. List of online users. You can send instant messages to any of the online users by clicking on the icon to the right of the user name. 4. Use this link to edit your profile settings. 5. Use this link to create new courses. If you cannot access this link, go back to Step 5 on the previous page. What is an online Course? Courses on Moodle are the spaces where teachers add learning materials for their students. Teachers can create a course then add the content and re-organize it according to their own needs. The homepage of a course is divided into three sections: left, middle, and right. 5
The middle section of a course is the space where resources and activities are created and can be accessed by learners. This section can be configured into two formats: 1. Weekly Format - in which the course is divided into blocks and each block will represent a week of the semester as shown. 2. Topics Format - in which the course will be divided into several blocks. Each block can be given a title such as the Topic Discussed or the Book chapter. 6
On the left and right side of a course page, you will find a couple of blocks. Each one has its own function and set of links. 1. Settings Block - this block provides you with links to tools where you can manage and edit your course. Following are some of the most commonly used tools. Turn editing on/off this will enable you to add resources and activities to the course. Edit settings edit the course basic settings as discussed in the How to create a new course? section of this document. Users control your course enrolment and security. For more details, refer to How to configure course enrolment? section. Backup make a backup of your entire course. This will back up all files, settings, resources, and activities in your course into a single downloadable file. Restore restore a backup course file as described in the previous point. Reset - this allows you to empty your course of user data, while retaining the resources, activities and other settings. 2. Latest News Block this block is used to provide the students with any announcements related to the course. The course teacher can add announcements such as exam dates, new assignments, class cancelation, etc. 3. Upcoming Events Block in this section upcoming activities will be displayed for the students. This includes: scheduled exams, deadlines for submitting assignments, and other activities added to the course calendar. 4. People Block - it contains a link to the list of course participants. The participant s profiles can be viewed by clicking on their name or picture. The list can be sorted by first name, surname, city, country and last access. There is a pull down menu which can filter the list for a specific role (tutors, students). 7
How to create a new course? To create a new course: 1. From the front page, after you login, click on Site administration on the left side. 2. Click on Courses. 3. Click on Add/edit course. 4. A list of all available categories will be displayed as shown. 5. Click on the Add a new course button at the bottom of the page. 6. Now you will see the Course Settings page where you can set some of the basic properties of your new course. 8
On this page, and for the purpose of this introductory manual, you will need to change only a few options as follows: Category - select the Category which your course belongs to. Usually, it is the name of your Faculty or the semester. Course full name - enter the complete course name here as in the following example: ENGL325B - Literary Criticism Course short name - this must be a unique value throughout the site. To ensure this, use this format SemsterYear-CourseCode. Add a capital letter for the section, if applicable. For example, if you are creating a course for English 325 section B offered in the Spring semester of 2013, the course short name must be S2013-ENGL325B. Format - this option controls how your course will be divided. The available options are Weekly Format and Topics Format. Course start date - this should be the starting date of the semester. Number of weeks/topics - This controls the number of blocks to appear on the course page. For example, if you decide to use the weekly format and you set the number of weeks to 15, the course will be divided into 15 weeks. You can change this setting at any time even after starting the course. 7. Click on Save changes to save the settings and create the course. 8. You can change the above settings at any time by clicking on the Edit Settings link on the left side of the screen, under the Settings block. How to configure student enrolment for the new course? After creating your course you need to set an enrolment key for your students to enroll in your class. If you don t set this key, any student will be able to access and enroll in your course. To set the enrolment key, you need to configure the Self enrolment method, whereby users can choose to enroll themselves into a course, either immediately by clicking "enroll me in this course" or by typing in an enrolment key they have been given. To configure your Self enrolment. 1. Click on Users from the Settings Block on the left side. 2. Click on Enrolment methods. 3. Click on Self enrolment. 9
4. Set Allow self enrolment to YES. 5. Set Enrolment key to a key you remember. 6. Click Save Changes. After creating the enrolment key, you need to share this key with your students and ask them to enroll in the course. To check who has enrolled in your course, you can use the People Block as described earlier. How to edit the course content? To edit the course content, click on Turn editing on from the Settings Block on the left side. With the editing turned on, each item on your course homepage and each section/block will have icons next to it. Each icon performs a particular function such as: edit, move, copy, delete, add an activity or resource. the pencil icon allows you to rename your item directly on the course page without entering the settings for that item. the edit icon allows you to change the wording or settings of the item. the duplicate icon allows you to copy an activity or resource within your course. the open-eye icon means an item is visible to students. It will close when you click on it. 10
you click on it. the right arrow icon is used to indent course elements (there is also a left icon). the move icon allows you to move items or sections by dragging and dropping. the delete icon will permanently delete something from the course. this icon on the right side of a section will highlight an entire section of your course. This is usually used to highlight the current topic being discussed. this icon on the right side of a section will hide an entire section with all of its resources and activities. this icon on the right side of a section will unhide an entire section. How to change the title / summary of each section of the course? 1. Turn editing on. 2. Click on the Edit summary icon. 3. A new window will appear. 4. To change the title of the section, deselect the Use default section name check box. 5. Type the new title in the Section name box. 6. You can add more information or a summary of this section inside the Summary editor space. 7. Click on Save changes to exit and save your work. 11
How to add a resource or an activity? 1. Click on Turn editing on from the Settings Block on the left side. 2. Click on Add an activity or resource to add a new resource. 3. From the Add an activity or resource window, select the item to be added to the course. 4. Click "Add". Resources A resource is an item that a teacher can use to support learning, such as a file or link. Moodle supports a range of resource types, which teachers can add to their courses. In edit mode, a teacher can add resources of various types such as: File: the file module enables a teacher to provide a file as a course resource. Where possible, the file will be displayed within the course interface; otherwise students will be prompted to download it. Note that students need to have the appropriate software on their computers in order to open the file. You can upload any type of files such as a PowerPoint presentation, a picture, a pdf document, a spreadsheet, a sound file, or a video file. Folder: the folder module enables a teacher to display a number of related files inside a single folder, reducing scrolling on the course page. 12
Label - the label module enables text and multimedia to be inserted into the course page in between links to other resources and activities. Labels are very versatile and can help to improve the appearance of a course if used thoughtfully. Page - the page module enables a teacher to create a web page resource using the text editor. A page can display text, images, sound, video, web links and embedded code, such as Google maps. Advantages of using the page module rather than the file module include making the resource more accessible (for example to users of mobile devices) and easier to update. URL - the URL module enables a teacher to provide a web link as a course resource. Anything that is freely available online, such as documents or images, can be linked to; the URL doesn t have to be the home page of a website. The URL of a particular web page may be copied and pasted or a teacher can use the file picker and choose a link from a repository such as Flickr, YouTube or Wikimedia. How to add a file resource? 1. Turn editing on. 2. Click on Add an activity or resource to add a new resource. 3. Select File under resources. 4. Click Add. 5. A new page will appear with the details. 6. Enter a Name for this file. This is the title which will appear on the homepage of the course. When the student clicks this title, the file will be displayed or downloaded. 7. Under Select files, click the Add icon. 8. Click on Upload a file on the left side. 9. Click on Choose file button. 10. Browse to the file on your Computer or USB flash, then click Open. 11. Click on Upload this file button. 12. You should see now the file name and logo. 13. Click on Save and return to course button. 14. A new resource is now displayed on the homepage of the course. 13
How to add a Page resource? 1. Turn editing on. 2. Click on Add an activity or resource to add a new resource. 3. Select Page under resources. 4. Click Add. 5. A new page will appear with the details. 6. Enter a Name for this resource. This is the title which will appear on the homepage of the course. 7. On Page content, you can type the content of this page or you can copy and paste content from the Internet or a Word document. 8. Click on Save and return to course button. 9. A new resource with the provided name is now displayed on the homepage of the course. How to add a URL resource to an external website? 1. Turn editing on. 2. Click on Add an activity or resource to add a new resource. 3. Select URL under resources. 4. Click Add. 5. A new page will appear with the details. 6. Enter a Name for this resource. This is the title which will appear on the homepage of the course. 7. Enter a Description for the link. 8. Type the URL link for a website in the External URL. 9. Click on Save and return to course button. 10. A new resource with the provided name is now displayed on the homepage of the course. 14
Activities In a Moodle course, an activity is a general name for a group of features. Usually an activity is something that a student will do that interacts with other students and or the teacher. There are 14 different types of activities in the standard Moodle, some of which are: Assignments: the assignment activity module enables a teacher to communicate tasks, collect work and provide grades and feedback. Students can submit any digital content (files), such as word-processed documents, spreadsheets, images, or audio and video clips. Alternatively, or in addition, the assignment may require students to type text directly into the text editor. An assignment can also be used to remind students of 'real-world assignments that need to be completed offline, such as art work, and thus do not require any digital content. When reviewing assignments, teachers can leave feedback comments and upload files, such as marked-up student submissions, documents with comments or spoken audio feedback. Assignments can be graded using a numerical or custom scale or an advanced grading method such as a rubric. Final grades are recorded in the grade book. Chat: allows participants to have a real-time synchronous discussion. Choice: enables a teacher to ask a single question and offer a selection of possible responses. Choice results may be published after students have answered, after a certain date, or not at all. Results may be published with student names or anonymously. Forum: the forum activity module enables participants to have asynchronous discussions; i.e. discussions that take place over an extended period of time. Glossary: enables participants to create and maintain a list of definitions, like a dictionary. Lesson: used for delivering content in flexible ways. Quiz: allows the teacher to design and set quiz tests which may be automatically marked. The teacher can choose whether to give feedback and/or show the correct answers. Survey: allows the teacher to gather data from students to help teachers learn about their class and reflect on their own teaching. Wiki : a collection of web pages that anyone can add to or edit. Workshop: enables peer assessment. 15
How to add an assignment activity 1. Turn editing on. 2. Click on Add an activity or resource to add a new resource. 3. Select Page under resources. 4. Click Add. 5. A new page will appear with the details. 6. Enter an Assignment name for this resource. This is the title which will appear on the homepage of the course 7. Click on Description ; you can type your question or assignment details. 8. Allow submissions from is the date on which students can start submitting their work. 9. Due date is when the assignment is due. Submissions will still be allowed after this date but any assignments submitted after this date is marked as late. To prevent submissions after a certain date - set the assignment cutoff date. 10. Cut-off date is the last date on which an assignment can be accepted. After this date no assignments will be accepted without an extension. 11. File submissions set to Yes so that students are able to upload one or more files as their submission. 12. Maximum number of uploaded files If file submissions are enabled, each student will be able to upload up to this number of files for their submission. 13. Maximum submission size - Files uploaded by students may be up to this size. 14. Feedback files set this to yes if you would like to provide your feedback on the assignment as a file. This is most useful for grading an essay where you can add your comments and corrections on the submitted files then upload them again for the student to see it. 15. Click on Save and return to course button. 16. A new resource with the provided name is now displayed on the homepage of the course. 16
How to grade an assignment? 1. Click on the assignment name. 2. You will see a summary of number of students, number of submitted assignments, the due date, time remaining, and late submission. 3. Click on View/Grade all submissions. 4. You will see a list of all students Showing who have submitted the assignment and who have not. 5. Next to each name you will see if the assignment has been submitted, when, and a link to the submitted file. 6. Chick on the grade icon beside each student s name. 7. Enter the grade for this assignment. 8. Enter your feedback in the Feedback comments or upload your feedback as a file on the Feedback files section. 9. Click on Save Changes to save and go back to the list, or on the Save and show next to save and grade the next student. How to add an announcement? 1. From the Latest News block on the right, click on Add a new topic 2. Add a subject, the message, and an attachment if needed. 3. Click on the Mail now checkbox to send an email to all students about this new announcement. 4. Click on Post to forum to save the announcement. 5. The students will see the announcements when they access the course on the Latest News block. How to send a message to all students in a course? 1. From the People block on the right, click on Participants. 2. A list of all course participants will show up. 17
3. At the bottom of the page click on Select all. 4. On the dropdown list labeled With selected users, select send a message. 5. Type your message inside the box labeled Message body. 6. Click on Preview. 7. If the message looks good, click on Send a message ; otherwise click on Update to edit the message. How to backup a course? The backup tool will copy all of your course content, files, resources, activities, and formatting and put them into one downloadable file. The generated file can then be downloaded to your computer or USB flash drive. This file can be used to restore your course for a later semester. You are advised to backup your course and download the generated file to your PC at the end of each semester. How to make a course backup? 1. Click on Backup under the Settings block on the left side. 2. Select activities, blocks, filters and other items as required then click the Next button. Usually you will need to include all items. 3. On the Schema Settings page select/ deselect specific items to include in the backup then click the Next button. Usually you can keep everything as provided without changing any option. 4. On the Confirmation and review page check that everything is as you wish. You can use the Previous button to. 5. modify the options; otherwise, click the Perform Backup button. 6. On the Complete page click the Continue button A backup file (with a distinctive.mbz extension) is then saved in the course backup area. You can download the file by clicking on its name then save it to your computer or USB flash drive. 18
Now you have the reached the end of this unit. Please refer to page ٢ to check whether you were able to list of achieve the learning outcomes of this unit. It is worth mentioning that the CETL will soon make available guides on other topics such as: 1. Grading system on Moodle 2. Using multimedia resources and adding them to the course website. 3. How to create an online exams 4. Activating the interactive resources such as Chats and Forums 5. Using Questionnaires in your course Need assistance? You can always refer to this manual for help on the provided topics, but if you need additional help or individual support on performing a task on Moodle please feel free to contact the Center for Excellence in Teaching and Learning at telephone extension 2431. 19
Contact us: Email: cetl@bethlehem.edu Phone: + (972) 2-2741241 Ext.: 2431 Fax: + (972) 2-2744440 P.O.Box 11407, 92248 Jerusalem www.cetl.bethlehem.edu 20