Moodle Help

Moodle 3.4 is Earlham's learning management system that assists with teaching and learning. Please use the navigation options to find a topic of interest. Each topic will expand to include more specific choices.

1. Add Syllabus

2. Format Course

1. Under the Course Administration section of your course, click Edit settings. 
2. On this Edit course settings page, you can change a great deal of information. Some commonly edited sections:
   General: Course full name, Visibility, Course start date, etc.
   Description: Course summary
   Course format: Format (Weekly vs. Topics)
   Appearance: Force Theme (to change Theme)

3. Other topics:  Groups; Role renaming 

   Choose the topic from above and make appropriate changes. Click Save and display. 

More on Course Format

3. Upload a file

1. Under Administration, click to Turn Editing On.
2. Drag and Drop the file into your course. OR
3. At the bottom of the block, click Add an activity or resource and choose Resources - File. -
4. Click the Add Button
5. For this page, you can add the Name of the file.
6. Scroll down and in the Content area, click the add button (piece of paper with a plus sign) to select and upload your file. (If you would prefer, you can drag and drop your file in the Content area. Either way will work.)
7. There are other features available as well, such as if you want the file to be visible or hidden under the Common module settings. 
8. Click Save and display. 

More on Uploads

4. Set up Attendance

1. Under Administration, click to Turn Editing On.
2. Click Add an activity or resource and choose Activity - Attendance.
3. Note: You can go back to the Sessions tab to choose the students and/or group you want to update. Click the green circle next to the listing. Then you should see where you can record attendance. Make sure you Save attendance when you are finished.
4. ​Select Attendance.
5. From this page, you can change the Name of the attendance activity (Note: Attendance is the default name). In addition, you can choose to add points to the Grade section. There are other features available as well.
6. From this page, you can change the Name of the attendance activity (Note: Attendance is the default name). In addition, you can choose to add points to the Grade section. There are other features available as well.
7. After you have edited the attendance activity, click Save and display.
8. Next, you will see various tabs, which include Sessions, Add Session, Report, Export, Settings, and Temporary Users. You will need to click Add session.
9. Set the start date and time.  If your class meets regularly at the same time (e.g.: Mon/Thu 9:00-9:50am), add Multiple sessions.  Select Repeat the session above as follows.  Choose the day(s) of week and an end date.
10. Click Add. After this, you can Delete any dates (for Spring Break, holidays, etc) under Sessions.
11. Then click the Settings tab. 
12. Select the scale you would like to use for your class. (Note: Present, Late, Excused, and Absent are the default options.) You can assign different point values for each category. 
13. Click Update. 

More on Attendance

5. Add Assignment

1. Under the Administration section of your course, click Turn editing on.
2. Add an activity or resource and choose Activity - Assignment.
3. On the Adding a new Assignment page, add an Assignment name (required).
4. You can add a description, additional files, dates the assignment is available and/or due, and submission types. In addition, you may select more options like grades (ex. points).
5. Select all of the options for your assignment, and then click Save and display.  

More on Assignments

6. Add Gradebook

1. Under the Administration section of your course, click Gradebook setup.
2. From the Gradebook setup page, you can add categories, change grade weights, hide assignments, add graded items, etc. 
3. Click Save changes. 

More on Gradebook

7. Add a TA or Co-teacher

1. Go to the Administration section of your course.
2. Click Users.
3. Click Enrolled Users.
4. Click Enrol Users.  Search for the user by name. Use the drop-down menu to select the correct role: (Teacher, TA, etc.) ****NOTE: Faculty should never manually add users as Students.  Speak with the Registrar's office if a student is missing from your roster.****
5. Click Enrol Selected Users and Cohorts.

More on Permissions and Groups

8. Restore Course Content from a Past Semester

1. Go to the previous version of Moodle and the course you want. - Link to Moodle 2013-18
2. Under the Course Administration section select "Backup"
3. Under Backup Settings, uncheck "Include enrolled users" if you are using content from a previous semester. If you want to bring over all course content, you can scroll down and click "Jump to final step".  To customize which items are included, click "Next" and check/uncheck to select and then click "Next" again..
4. Click "Perform backup".
5. Click "Continue"
6. From the User private backup area, click "Download" by your backup file.
7. Go to the current Moodle enter the course into which you want to restore. (Note: if you are restoring a special type of course such as "Viking Club" or "Viking Studies Dept", and you don't see the course in new Moodle, you will need to contact moodlehelp@earlham.edu to have the course shell built for you in new Moodle.)
8. Under the Administration section of your course, click Restore. 
9. Drag and drop the file that you downloaded into the Import a backup file or click "Choose a file" to navigate to where it is saved.
10. Click "Restore".
11. Scroll down and click "Continue".
12. Under Restore into this course select "Merge the backup course into this course" and click "Continue".
13. Next, you will see Restore settings. Select the options you want to import. Click Next. 
14. Next, choose where you want the selections to import to in your course. Click Next. 
15. Review the settings, and click "Perform restore."
16. You should see a message that reads: "Restore complete. Click continue to return to the course." You can select Continue. If you do not see this message, then you will see an error message.

More on Restore (with a video on backing up and restoring course content)

9. Communicate with Your Class

Send a Message using Announcements

All students are automatically subscribed to the Announcements forum in your course, so it is an easy way to communicate with your class.

1. Click Announcements on your course homepage. 
2. Click Add a new topic. Fill out the information on the page and select Post to forum. Note: There is a 30 minute delay before the post will be sent out.  Select Mail Now if you prefer that the post be shared immediately.

Note: Students are unable to post or reply to Announcement posts.  If you would like for them to be able to do so, create a separate Forum under Add an activity or resource.

More on Class Communication (including other methods such as Quickmail or Messages)