Moodle Help

1. Add Syllabus

2. Format Course

1. In the Top Right corner of your course, click the gear symbol to access administrative settings. Select Edit settings. 
2. On this Edit course settings page, you'll find many commonly edited sections:

• Course full name, 
• Visibility (whether students can see course),
• Course Image (displays as image on Dashboard)
• Format (Weekly vs. Topics vs. more compressed options like Collapsed Topics or Tiles),
• Theme (Boost vs. Classic appearance)

More on Course Format

3. Upload a file

1. In the Top Right corner of your course, click the gear symbol to access administrative settings. Select 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. Add the Name of the file.
6. Drag and drop your file in the Select Files area. -OR- In the Select Files area, click the add button (piece of paper with a plus sign) to select and upload your file. 
7. Click Save and display. 

Note: Moodle limits file sizes. Larger files may need to be posted in Earlham Box, and shared as a link in Moodle.

More on Uploads

4. Set up Attendance

1. In the Top Right corner of your course, click the gear symbol to access administrative settings. Select Turn editing on.
2. Click Add an activity or resource and choose Activity - Attendance.
3. Ignore the Attendance settings for now, and click Save and display.
4. Next, you will see several tabs, including Sessions, Add Session, Report, Export, Set Status, and Temporary Users.
5. Begin with Status Set tab to designate your scale and marks. Present, Late, Excused, and Absent are the default options. You can assign different point values for each category. 
6. Next click Add sessions tab.
7. Set the start date and time.  If your class meets regularly at the same time (e.g.: Mon/Thu 9:00-9:50am), under Multiple Sessions select Repeat the session above as follows.  Choose the day(s) of week and an end date.
8. Click Add. After this, you can Delete any dates (for Spring Break, holidays, etc) under Sessions.
9. Click Update. 
10. When you're ready to take Attendance for a session, go to the Sessions tab to choose the students and/or group you want to update. Click the green circle next to the listing. Click Save.

More on Attendance

5. Add Assignment 

Use Assignments so students can submit files, text, or video/audio recordings within Moodle. Students will see due dates associated with each Assignment, and Grading/Feedback can be completed within Moodle. The assigned due dates will appear in the calendar to help students keep track of deadlines. 

1. In the Top Right corner of your course, click the gear symbol to access administrative settings. Select 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. Students can submit Assignments individually or as a Group. In addition, you may designate grades (ex. points).
5. Select all of the options for your assignment, and then click Save and display.  

Note: Moodle limits file sizes. Larger files may need to be posted in Earlham Box and shared as a link in Moodle.

More on Assignments

6. Add Gradebook

1. In the Top Right corner of your course, click the gear symbol to access administrative settings. Select Gradebook setup.
2. From the Gradebook setup page, you can add categories, change grade weights, hide assignments, add graded items, etc. 
3. Most faculty use Categories to organize and provide weights for graded assignments and activities. For example, you can designate a Category for Papers worth 20% of grade, Quizzes for 40% of grade, etc. At bottom of page, click Add Category. Choose a Name (e.g. Papers), and click Save changes. Repeat process for other Categories.
4. Once you have created all Categories, from the Gradebook Setup page you can set Weights for each Category.
5. Any graded Activity within Moodle (Assignments, Attendance, Quizzes, etc.) will automatically appear within your Gradebook. To include an item in a Category, you can 1) choose the Category when creating the item, or 2) move the item so it nests under the Category. Move an item by clicking the up/down arrow next to the item name in Gradebook Setup, or by clicking Edit and then Edit Settings to return to the Activity settings.
6. You can also add Grade items for items that are not submitted within Moodle (e.g. student presentations, items submitted in email or other systems, etc). Click Add Grade Item at bottom of Gradebook Setup page. Choose a Name.
7. Other popular settings include: Maximum Grade (the number of points it is worth); Hidden until x date; Parent category; and Extra Credit.
8. Click Save changes. 

More on Gradebook

7. Add a TA or Co-teacher

1. Go to the Participants section of your course.
2. Click Enrol Users. Search for the user by name.
3. Use the drop-down menu to select the correct role: (Teacher, TA, etc.) NOTE: Faculty cannot add Students. Speak with the Registrar's office if a student is missing from your roster.
4. Click Enrol Selected Users and Cohorts.

More on Permissions and Groups

8. Reuse Course Content from a Previous Semester

To reuse content from a separate course, you have two options:

• Backup + Restore: for reusing content from older versions of Moodle (e.g. Summer 2018 or earlier)
• Import: for reusing content from the current version of Moodle

More on Backup + Restore vs. Import (with video tutorials)

9. Communicate with Your Class

Send information 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, Messages, Chat, and Forums)