Moodle Help

What's New with Moodle 4.1?

During the summer, we shifted from Moodle 3.11 to Moodle 4.1. Keep reading or watch the video at the bottom of this section to learn about the most important changes.

My Courses

Moodle redesigned the dashboard to help students focus on time management. The Dashboard focuses on a Timeline and Calendar highlighting upcoming deadlines. Courses are now accessed under my courses at the top of the page.

Edit Mode

You now toggle edit mode on and off with the click of a button at the top right of the screen. You no longer have to scroll to the top of the page to edit your course.

Course Formats

Spacing within Moodle has changed considerably. If you have a course with lots of content, consider using collapsed topics or tiles formats. Access this via course settings. Click here for further instruction.

Course Reuse

Access the course reuse button to backup and restore courses or import material from other courses. Click more, followed by course reuse. After clicking this button, you will arrive at the appropriate menu. Scroll to the bottom of this section to access links on the different ways to reuse your courses.

Notifying Learners of Changes

Any time you edit an activity, you can now inform learners of the change by selecting the check next to “select content change notification” at the bottom of the page, as shown below.

Blocks

Blocks are now accessed by clicking an arrow on the right side of the dashboard.

Text and Media Area

The text and media area (formerly known as label) can be used to add text, image, and code to your course. This is accessed via activities and resources. 

Where's My Old Course?

Old courses were not migrated to Moodle 4.1. To find your old courses, click here. After finding the course, you may use the course reuse button to backup and restore the course yourself, using these instructions to do so. Some non-curricular Moodle courses (example: Registrar’s Corner or Animal User Guide) were moved over to the new Moodle site. If you do not see your non-curricular course in the new Moodle, but would like it to be there, please email helpdesk@earlham.edu with details.

Frequently Asked Questions

• How do I access my course?
• How do I hide my course from students/show it to students? 
• How do I reuse content from a previous semester? 
• What if my course is too big to reuse?
• How do I add my course syllabus?
• How do I format my course?
• How do I upload a file?
• How do I add a link (files or videos)?
• How do I set up attendance?
• How do I add an assignment?
• How do I add a TA or co-teacher to my course?
• How do I add or drop students from my Moodle course, or is that taken care of for me?
• How do I create a quiz?
• How do I communicate with my class?
• How do I set up Gradebook?
• How do I keep the highest or drop the lowest grade? 
• How do I combine more than one section of the same course in Moodle ? (Also called Metacourse)
• How do I export my Moodle course calendar into Google?
• How do I export my Moodle course calendar into Zimbra?
• Where does the funny name, Moodle, come from?
• How do I grant extensions to assignments and/or course access?

More Help with Moodle

You can contact an Earlham librarian for support at helpdesk@earlham.edu. In addition, you can go to Moodle.org to explore documentation, user forums, example videos, and more. Finally, you can work with the instructional designer.

Shannon Barnes is Earlham’s Instructional Designer, and has been working for the college since 2022. As the Instructional Designer, she supports faculty by:

• Identifying technological tools that align with course objectives.
• Discussing ways to engage students in and out of the classroom.
• Providing tutorials on Moodle Gradebook usage.
• Hosting professional development workshops on topics such as accessibility and general Moodle usage.
• Resolving Moodle queries

Shannon hosts open office hours Mondays from 9-10:30 and Thursdays from 10-11.