Moodle I--Getting Started

Version 1.9

I. Browsers

Firefox is the preferred browser for Moodle. A free download is available at: http://www.mozilla.com/firefox/

Firefox is best because the HTML editor doesn't work on Safari or some versions and settings of Internet Explorer. Internet Explorer is no longer supported by Microsoft for Macintosh, so there will no longer be any security upgrades for it.

However Mac Firefox can have a problem in printing forms in that it will sometimes truncate at one page. You can either use Safari to print or while in Firefox, click the Control key and click the mouse and go to This Frame. Then select Show Only This Frame. You will then be able to print the entire document.

II. Logging in

1. Log into:https://moodle.oakland.edu
2. Username: Use the beginning name of your Oakland University email, e.g. if your email is cheal@oakland.edu, the login would be cheal.
3. Password: Use whatever your Oakland University email password is.
4. You will be taken to a page that shows only your courses. Click on the title of a course to go inside and work with it.

III. Adjusting Course Settings

The homepage of a course can be divided into three areas. The central area is for the course content and the areas on the sides contain blocks that can help you manage the course. You may arrange them however you like with the arrows. 2. Under Administration, click on Settings.

Although much of this information will be filled out automatically from Banner, you may want to change a few items.

Format--Choose whether you want a format on your homepage that is by weeks, topics, or social (discussion boards only).

Enrollment Duration--Leave at Unlimited.
Number of Weeks/Topics--Pick the number of of weeks or topics you need for your course. Remember the homepage is like a chronological syllabus. The first topic area is for the first weeks or modules of work and the last topic area is for the final week or modules.

Week Format--choose the number of weeks of the semester lasts and the dates will be automatically included. This only works with single, consecutive weeks.
Topics--Topics are like module areas. If you simply want to add a few files to a course, just choose 1 topic. If you want files and activities to be organized sequentially in multiple topic areas, choose any number of topics.

Social Format

Weekly Format

Headings

*Note--Headings can be created by clicking Turn Editing On and then click on the hand holding a pen, that is in the empty topic or week area.This will bring up an html editor and text box which will allow you to add text. First create a heading, by typing a phrase in the html editor, selecting it, and choosing Heading 1, 2 , or 3 from the drop down menu at the top of the editor. Next click on the Insert Image icon.

editheading

Upload an image: Browse for the address of the image on your local computer and then click Upload. The image will then appear in the File Browser (your file database on the Moodle server). Click on the image filename, so that the image appears on the right. Fill in the alternate text. Click OK.

boccioni

Topic Format

Maximum upload size is for the students, not you. It would be best to leave it at a small amount to prevent any possible problems with the Moodle server crashing.

Metacourse--when a course is designated as a meta course, it allows the instructor to pull student enrollment from other courses into their course. Most courses should not be meta courses.

Availability--By default, we allow the students access to Moodle courses one week before the first day of the semester. You may alter this setting by choosing: This course is available to students.

IV. Your Profile

Click on Participants, then your Name, and Edit Profile
To avoid having that happy face or question mark next to your postings in your Moodle course, upload an image of your own face. Click on the question mark for instructions and then Browse your computer to find and upload an image. Click Update Profile.

mypicture

V. Managing Students and TAs

A. Add Students--You will not add your own students. All courses will be imported from Banner 1 month before a semester starts and all students will be imported from Banner and have access to their registered courses one week before a semester starts. If you need to add a student contact eLIS at Request Help.

B. Add TAs or other Faculty:

Click on Assign Roles in the Administration area. Click on Editing or Non-editing Teacher.

Search by last name among all the users on the Moodle database (brought in from Banner). Type the last name of the TA or instructor in the box at the bottom of the right-hand column and click Search.
Click on the name in the right-hand column and then click the Add arrow. This will put the TA or instructor into the left-hand column and into your class so they will have access the next time they login to Moodle.

C. Email-You can email individual students or all the students at once.

	FEATURES
MAIL TYPES	Internal/ External	Send to all, some, or individual students	History of student mailing to you	Attachments
News Forum	Internal & External	To all	History exists in the forum	Yes
QuickMail	External only	To all, some, or individual	Only shows history of what you send out	Yes
Internal Email	Internal only	To all, some, or individual	Shows history of outgoing and incoming mail.	Yes
Messaging (under Participants and a name)	Internal only	To an individual	History exists in Participants and inside a student name	No

**QuickMail is a block that allows send-out only, simple mail system.

**Messaging is found through Participant names and acts like instant messaging with a popup window for the recipient if they are online or later when they login.

Internal means that students have to log into Moodle to receive their email.

External means that mail is sent to students oakland.edu email address.

1. News Forum

Email the entire class--This is done through the News Forum, that is a forum in which everyone is forced to be subscriped. Click on Turn Editing On. Choose Add an Activity and select Forum. Title it News Forum

On the dropdown menu, Can a student post to this Forum?, Choose No discussions, no replies, if you want student to just receive your postings as announcements. For Force everyone to be subscribed, choose Yes, forever or initially.

Choose Force Subscription. This means that everyone will receive a copy of all postings in their external email account, usually the oakland.edu address or whatever address is pulled into Moodle automatically from Banner. Be aware that email addresses can be disabled in the Edit Profile by students.

2. Quickmail

Click Add under Blocks and then choose Quickmail. Choose Compose Email and the check the box(es) by the names of the recipiants. Fill out the Subject, Message, and Send Email. The students will receive this mail in their oakland.edu email.

3. Internal Email

Internal email acts much like a forum. Click on Add an Activity and then click Internal Email. Click open the Internal Email link and then Compose New Email. Instead of using email addresses, click on Contacts... Choose the student names that you want to send the mail to and then click the appropriate arrow to put them in the right hand column. The students will need to login to the Moodle course to see their email.

4. Instant Messaging

Email individuals-- From your homepage, click on Participants. Click on the name of one of your students, and click Send Message.

Type in the message box and click Send Message again. This message will become a popup message window when the recipient is online and in the class or it will become an email message if the recipient is offline and that default setting is still in place. Message Settings can be found by clicking on Participants and then your own name.

***See what your students see. You may also login as any of your students by clicking on their name and then Login as... This will allow you to see the course as that particular student does.

C. Student Tracking

From your homepage, click on Participants. Click on the name of one of your students, Click on Activity Reports.

Choose any of the tabs to see what activity the student has accomplished.

VI. Semester-End Transition

There are three types of backup (copies) of Moodle courses.

Server backup by UTS of the entire system: These can't be used to find individual courses but exist in case of emergency to the entire system.
End of the semester backups: These are your individual courses. These are the archives and e-LIS can search them for specific courses, identifiable by their CRN. It is a good practice, in addition, for you to make a backup of all courses at the end of the semester and download them to your computer.
Faculty backups: These are your best protection. You can create copies of your entire course at any time, download to your own computer, and then restore the content to a new shell the next semester or anytime in case some data was accidentally lost by you or your students.

Empty course shells will be automatically transferred from Banner one month before classes start each semester. You will need to restore old course content to this new course shell.Students will be automatically imported from Banner one week before a new semester starts and then continuously updated.