Moodle is a learning management system (LMS) that has been in use at Middlebury since 2007 (under the name of Measure), primarily for online exams.  In the fall of 2011, Moodle was introduced to the college community as a platform for creating course web site.  Also see:

• LIS Wiki > Moodle Quickstart
• LIS Wiki > Moodle FAQs

Logging into Moodle

Midd faculty, students and staff can log into Moodle with the Midd username and password.

Creating a Site

Faculty can create Moodle sites from the  Course Hub. Please note that sites created through the Course Hub will NOT be available students until the site "Availability" in the site settings is updated (see: Setting up a Site below)

1. From theCourse Hub click on the manage resources button to the left of each course listing.

2. Click on the add a resource button:

3. Choose Moodle from among the different options available:

4. By default your Moodle site will be created as Not available to students to give you a chance to add content before students can see it.

Once you are ready to give students access, you can make the Moodle site available to students in either of two ways:

• Edit the Moodle Resource in the Course Hub and change the Available to students? option.
• Go to your Moodle site, then Administration » Settings » Availability, choose the This course is available to students option, and then click Save changes

Sharing a Site between multiple sections (aka Connecting Moodle sites)

If desired, Moodle sites can be shared by multiple sections. (Sometimes referred to as "connecting" sites or sections.) For example an introductory language course may have three lecture sections that are being taught in tandem and wish to share assignments, quizzes, and all other course content. A shared Moodle course is easy to set up:

1. One instructor will create the Moodle site via the Course Hub as described above.
2. They will then go to the Moodle site.

         Click on Assign roles

        add the instructors of the additional sections as "Teachers" of the Moodle site.

1. Note the id of the Moodle site -- it is the number at the end of the Moodle site's URL. E.g. http://moodle.middlebury.edu/course/view.php?id=251
2. Have the other instructors go to their Course Hub sites. On each of their Course Hub sites they will add a Moodle resource and enter the Moodle site's id in the "Connect to an Existing Moodle Site" field before saving the resource.

When the additional sections' Course Hub sites are connected to the existing Moodle site the Course Hub will automatically add their rosters to the shared Moodle site. Each Course Hub site will synchronize its own roster and add/remove students as they add or drop the section.

Reusing (importing) a Moodle site from a previous semester

We recommend the following process for reusing course content from Moodle sites in previous semesters:

1. Follow the instructions above, titled "Creating a Site." (You want to create a new Moodle site, not connect to an existing one.)
2. After the Moodle site has been created, follow the link to the new (empty) Moodle site.
3. Go to Administration » Import.
4. In the "Courses I have taught" menu, select the course you would like to reuse.
5. Click the "Use this course" button, then click the "Continue" button.
6. Review the sequence of pages that Moodle presents to you, clicking the "Continue" button when prompted.
   

Using the "Import" process will allow you to use the same content as a previous semester but without the old student data (grades, forum posts, permissions, etc).

Find more advice at Moodle Docs (version 2.3): Reusing Activities.

Setting up a Site

By default, new Moodle sites use the "Weekly format" and are NOT available to students. To update the default settings, go to the Administration panel (usually in the left sidebar) and chose "Settings."

Format

Moodle has a number of different site formats for different needs.

Weekly format. By default, new Moodle sites use the "Weekly format" which creates a section for every week and labels that section with the dates for that week. This allows faculty to organize resources and activities on a weekly basis. If you opt for the weekly format, you should then specify the number of weeks and set a course start date.

Topics format. The "Topics format" is designed to create sections for different topics. When choosing this format, specify the number of topics to be included.

For descriptions of all formats, click on the "?" beside format in Administration > Settings

Availability

By default, new Moodle sites are NOT available to students. To make sites available to students, do the following:

     1. Administration panel (usually in the left sidebar) and chose "Settings."

      2.  Within Settings, browse to "Availability and change "This course is not available to students" to "This course is available to students."

        3.  Click on "Save Changes" button.

Accessing a Course Site

Both faculty and students can also access existing course sites from the Course Hub. The owners of a Course Hub site (i.e. the instructors of the course) can decide whether links in the Course Hub to Moodle sites are visible to the public, to the Middlebury community or only to members in the class.

It is also possible to access Moodle course sites from the Moodle home page, which shows a list of all the courses a given user is a participant in.

Adding Participants to a Site

When a Moodle site is created via the Course Hub, all registered students are automatically added to the site as participants in the role of students. As additional students register for the course or decide to drop the course, the Course Hub will update the Moodle site participant list.

Participants in the Moodle site that have the role of "Teacher" (i.e., faculty) can add additional participants to a Moodle site as follows:

1. Under the Settings widget to the left, Click > next to "Users" to open the section
   
2. 
   
   
3. Click Enrolled users.
4. 
   
   
5. Click on the Enrolled users button to open a search screen.
6. 
   
   
7. Pull down the menu tab at the top of the search screen to choose a role (Student, Teacher, etc)
8. 
   
   
9. Type in the name in the search box and enter.
10. 
    
    
11. Click the enroll button
12. Click "finish enrolling users"

• NOTE: Not everyone in the Middlebury community will be listed in the Moodle directory, only people who have logged into Moodle at least once. If your search for someone do NOT find that person, contact them and ask them to log into Moodle. Once they have logged in, they can be found in the directory and assigned roles.
  

[Alternatively, access to sites for your course can be managed in the same way that you manage access to your Courses Folders. This has the advantage of adding users once to give them permissions to any course platforms that need authorization. See Managing Access to Classes Folders and Other Folders on Middfiles.]

At this time Moodle site access to non-Middlebury or MIIS participants (people outside of the faculty, staff, student communities of Middlebury or MIIS) must be requested by contacting the Helpdesk (helpdesk@middlebury.edu, 802.443.2200) and requesting assistance from a Moodle Administrator.

Editing a Site

Most Moodle sites can only be edited by faculty. To edit your Moodle site, click on the "Edit this Site" button in the top right corner. Once in edit mode, faculty can add resources, activities and blocks.

Resources

Moodle resources can be web pages and links to files or other websites. To add a resources, click on the "Add a resource" drop down menu.

Web Page

To add a web page to your Moodle site, chose "Add a resource... > Compose a web page." For more documentation, see: Moodle Docs > Web Page

Files and Links

Adding files to your Moodle site has been simplified with the upgrade to Moodle 2.3. Simply drag and drop files into the content blocks on your Moodle page. For more documentation, see: Moodle Docs > File or website link

Directory of Files - Repositories

If you have a lot of files that you have already organized into a directory in the Moodle Files section of your site, you can simply include a link to that entire directory in your Moodle home page. Chose "Add a resource... > Display a directory." For more documentation, see: Moodle Docs > Repositories

Activities

Moodle activities can be assignments, forums or quizzes/exams. To add an activity, click on the "Add an activity" drop down menu. For an overview of activities in Moodle 2.3 see: Moodle 2.3 > Activities

Assignments

An assignment activity lets you create a location on your Moodle site for you to describe an assignment and for your students to submit files, text and/or media for that assignment.

Advanced uploading of files

Chose this type of assignment if you want your students to be able to submit multiple files for an assignment OR you want to be able to upload a "response file" which is your annotated version of their assignment file

Chose "Add a activity... > Advanced uploading of files." For more documentation, see: Moodle Docs > Advanced uploading of files assignment

Online Text

Chose this type of assignment if you want your students to be able type their assignment text online in Moodle.

Chose "Add a activity... > Online Text." For more documentation, see: Moodle Docs > Online Text

For all other assignment types, see: Moodle Docs > Assignment module

Forums

A forum is an activity for having discussions online. For more information, see: Moodle Docs > Forum module

Note that the News Forum is different from a forum module. The News Forum is a special forum for general announcements. It is automatically created for each course. By default, it is placed in the top of the center section and only teachers and administrators may add posts or reply to posts. For more information, see: Moodle Docs > Forum module.

Quiz

The Quiz module allows you to create online quizzes and exams. For more information, see: > Quiz module See also:

• Copy a Moodle Quiz to a new course

Questionnaire

The Questionnaire module allows you to create online questionnaires. For more information, see: Moodle Docs > Questionnaire module

Wiki

A wiki page is a web page that everyone in your class can edit, right in the browser, without needing to know HTML. There are many ways in which you might use a wiki. For example, you could use a wiki to create an online sign-up sheet where students can select a date/time for class presentations. For more information, see: > Wiki module

Adding Audio and Video to a Site

The best way to add audio and video files to Moodle @ Middlebury is to use MiddMedia. See: Using audio/video from MiddMedia in Moodle

Participating in Activities on a Site

Moodle sites may include activities such as forums, assignments, quizzes. Many of these activities are set up by faculty for students to participate in as part of their course work. Generally instructions for how to participate in the activity are included on the site itself.

More Documentation

Moodle has extensive inline documentation which is available whereever you see a "?" icon.  Click on the icon will pop up a window with documentation of that particular feature/function

Resources

In addition to this article and the inline Moodle documentation, below are links to additional documentation sites:

• go/lynda (Lynda includes short, instructional, video tutorials for both Faculty/teacher role and Student roles. Select tutorials for Moodle version 2.3. If you haven’t used Lynda before, start at this page for login advice: go/lyndainfo.)

• Moodle Docs (version 2.3)
  • Course Homepage v.2.3 (replaces "Getting Started for Teachers 1.9"
  • New features in version 2.3
  • Grade settings
• Download the book Using Moodle

• Middlebury Moodle Resources

• Moodle @ Middlebury

• Groupings