Moodle

Faculty Moodle Guide

Faculty should comply with the ONLINE LEARNING POLICY in designing and delivering any online component for their courses.

Moodle is a Learning Management System (LMS) and its main web site is moodle.org. You can find useful information about how to maximize your course. YouTube also contains a plethora of tutorials.

A. System requirements

If you are NOT using a campus computer, we highly recommend that you perform a browser check before logging in to ensure your computer is ready to use Piedmont College - Moodle.

Minimum equipment and software requirements:

Any electronic device with speakers and headphones that supports current web browser, office suites and multimedia software (Flash Player, QuickTime, Java, etc.) with an adequate Internet connection.

Recommended current software:

Firefox, Flash Player, Quicktime and Acrobat Reader

B. Before term starts

Request and nomenclature

Send an email to This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it to request a Moodle course. This may take over 24 hours to be created. Every course on Moodle at PC must show five components in the following order and divided with an _ (underscore):

COURSE_NUMBER_SECTION_SEMESTER_YEAR

For instance:

SPA_101_1_F_11 which means SPANISH 101 SECTION 1 FALL 11

If the course is cross listed, courses abbreviations, numbers, and sections will appear in alphabetical and numerical order. When course numbers or sections are the same, they are not repeated.

For instance:

ENG_SPA_350_480_3_5_SP_11 which means ENG 350 SECTION 3, SPANISH 480 SECTION 5, SPRING 2011

This way every course will have a unique name.

C. During term

C1. Course settings

Under the ADMINISTRATION BOX click on settings to change number of weeks/topic and course start date. It is advisable to leave the rest of the options as is unless you are already familiar with MOODLE and understand the information under the icon .

C2. Student roster

After requesting a course on Moodle, your student roster will be frequently uploaded during the first week of the semester until the last day of add/drop.

If a student is enrolled in your course and still does not show on your Moodle course, send an email to This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it with student's name and email information.

After the last day of add/drop, you need to unenroll students that dropped your course:

2. Click on the student's name

D. After term ends

After the semester is over, it is recommended that you change your course setting to: THIS COURSE IS NOT AVAILABLE TO STUDENTS. This way, students will not enroll or access wrong or previous courses, sections or semesters. This practice will also help maintain Moodle from becoming overcrowded.

Site Interface

A. Editing on Moodle

B. Site interface after turning editing on

C. Add a Resource

D. Add an Activity

E. Editing Icons

G. Classroom functions on Moodle

EDITING ON MOODLE

Click on TURN EDITING ON

SITE INTERFACE AFTER TURNING EDITING ON

ADD A RESOURCE

TYPE OF RESOURCES*

Text page

This type of resource is a simple page written using plain text.
- Basic class notes

HTML page.

This sort of resource makes it easy to develop a complete single web page within Moodle, especially when you are using Moodle's WYSIWYG HTML editor.
- Complex pages

Files and web pages

This resource type allows you to link to any web page or other file on the public web.
- Interaction with other websites and any kind of files.

Directory

The directory resource can display a whole directory (and its subdirectories) from your course files area. Students can then browse and view all those files.
- Any kind of Files

IMS Content Packages

IMS content packages can be created and edited using a variety of content-authoring software. Content is usually displayed over several pages, with navigation between the pages.
- PowerPoint type presentation, eXe files, etc

Labels

- Organizer aid

ADD AN ACTIVITY

TYPE OF ACTIVITIES*

Assignments

Assignments allow the teacher to specify a task that requires students to prepare digital content (any format) and submit it by uploading it to the server. Typical assignments include essays, projects, reports and so on. This module includes grading facilities.

Chats

The Chat module allows participants to have a real-time synchronous discussion via the web. This is a useful way to get a different understanding of each other and the topic being discussed - the mode of using a chat room is quite different from the asynchronous forums.

Choices

A choice activity is very simple - the teacher asks a question and specifies a choice of multiple responses. It can be useful as a quick poll to stimulate thinking about a topic; to allow the class to vote on a direction for the course; or to gather research consent.

Database

The Database module allows the teacher and/or students to build, display and search a bank of record entries about any conceivable topic. The format and structure of these entries can be almost unlimited, including images, files, URLs, numbers and text amongst other things.

Forum

This activity can be the most important - it is here that most discussion takes place. Forums can be structured in different ways, and can include peer rating of each posting. The postings can be viewed in a variety for formats, and can include attachments. By subscribing to a forum, participants will receive copies of each new posting in their email. A teacher can impose subscription on everyone if they want to.

Glossary

This activity allows participants to create and maintain a list of definitions, like a dictionary.

Lesson

A lesson delivers content in an interesting and flexible way. It consists of a number of pages. Each page normally ends with a question and a number of possible answers. Depending on the student's choice of answer they either progress to the next page or are taken back to a previous page. Navigation through the lesson can be straight forward or complex, depending largely on the structure of the material being presented.

Quiz

This module allows the teacher to design and set up quizzes or tests, consisting of multiple choice, true-false, and short answer questions. These questions are kept in a categorized database and can be re-used within courses and even between courses. Quizzes can allow multiple attempts. Each attempt is automatically marked, and the teacher can choose whether to give feedback or to show correct answers. This module includes grading facilities.

SCORM/AICC Packages

A package is a bundle of web content packaged in a way that follows the SCORM or the AICC standard for learning objects. These packages can include web pages, graphics, Javascript programs, Flash presentations and anything else that works in web browsers.

Survey

The Survey module provides a number of verified survey instruments that have been found useful in assessing and stimulating learning in online environments. Teachers can use these to gather data from their students that will help them learn about their class and reflect on their own teaching.

Wiki

A Wiki enables documents to be authored collectively in a simple markup language using a web browser. This module is based on Erfurt Wiki.

EDITING ICONS

Move right Move Update / Edit Delete Hide Show Group Highlight this topic as the current topic

CLASSROOM FUNCTIONS ON MOODLE **

Physical Classroom Course	Web Equivalents	Moodle Resources	Moodle Activities
Lectures	Web presentations	Text page, web page, file, web site, IMS, etc.	Lesson
Handouts	Web pages, wikis, blogs, documents, etc.	Text page, web page, file, web site, IMS, etc.	Database, glossary
Whole-class discussion	Chat, email, and forums		Chat, forum, wiki, etc.
Small group meetings	Group chat, email		Chat, forum, wiki, etc.
Study groups	Chat, email		Chat, forum, wiki, etc.
Office hours	Chat, email		Chat (messages)
Assessments	Online quizzes, documents, wikis, etc.		Assignments, quiz, etc.

**Table based on Tools for Teaching and Literature Online, Elizabeth Hanson-Smith. * Source: moodle.org