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Vanier Moodle Basics 1

Statement of Competencies and Competency Elements

Workshop Description

This workshop will introduce you to the basic elements of Vanier’s DecClic Moodle. It will teach you how to login, navigate through

the Moodle environment, manage groups, upload resources to your course pages and create discussion forums. This workshop is

intended as an introduction to Moodle and does not cover all of the pedagogical resources provided by Moodle.

For further information on Moodle resources, as well as suggestions on ways to use the resources, please see the Moodle 1.9

discussion forums at http://docs.moodle.org/19/en/Teacher_documentation

Statement of the Competencies

1. Logging in and navigating to your courses

2. Locate and identify different options in the interface

3. Understand the basic options in settings

4. Create and manage groups

5. Use Editing features

Competencies Competency Elements Page

The Following Competencies are available in Vanier Moodle Basics 1

1. Logging in and navigating

to your courses

1.1. Navigating to the Vanier DecClic Moodle site

1.2. Logging in

1.3. Navigating to personal courses

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2. Locate and identify

different options in the

2.1. Identify course name and number

2.1.1. Use the submenus list to navigate

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course interface

2.2. Identify weekly outline/topic outline view

2.3. Identify class participants list

2.4. Identify the forums list

2.5. Identify the resources list

2.6. Identify the news feed on the main page

2.7. Identify the course settings option

2.8. Identify the groups list

2.9. Identify your courses list

2.10. Identify Turn Editing On options

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3. Understand the basic

options in settings

3.1. Identify and change course full and short name

3.2. Identify and change course summary

3.3. Identify and change course format

3.4. Identify and change number of weeks/topics and set start date

3.5. Identify and change Availability: Enrolment Key

3.5.1. Unmask Enrolment Key

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4. Create and manage groups

4.1. Identify and access the groups list

4.2. Add a new group

4.3. Remove a group

4.4. Change group settings

4.5. Add students to a group

4.6. Remove students from a group

4.7. Check student list for a group

4.7.1. using “show members for group”

4.7.2. using Overview page

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The Following Competencies are available in Vanier Moodle Basics 2

5. Use Editing features 5.1 Uploading resources

5.1.1. Upload a file to an appropriate place on the course site

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5.1.2. Use a file you have already uploaded as a resource

5.1.3. Add an internet link to an appropriate place on the course site

5.1.4. Remove a resource

5.2. Forums

5.2.1. Identify and understand information about forums

5.2.1.a. week/section, forum, description, discussions, subscribed

5.2.2. Identify and access the news forum

5.2.2.a. Add new topic to news forum

5.2.2.b. Email all students with update

5.2.3. Add a new forum on a particular topic

5.2.3.a. start a new discussion topic within a forum

5.2.3.b. respond to a discussion topic in a forum

5.2.4. Make changes to an existing forum

5.2.5. Add a group discussion forum

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1. Logging in and navigating to your courses

1.1. Navigating to the Vanier DecClic Moodle site

There are two ways to navigate to the Vanier Moodle site.

1- Go to the Vanier home page at http://www.vaniercollege.qc.ca/. Click on Teachers and then on Pedagogical Tools on the

left hand side of the page. Then select Moodle.

2- Go directly to http://vanier.moodle.decclic.qc.ca/

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1.2. Logging in

When you navigate to the Vanier Moodle page you will see all the courses available. To Login, click on the (login) in the top right

corner. You will be taken to the Login page where you will enter your username and password. If you do not yet have a username or

password click on “create new account,” fill in the form and choose “create my new account.”

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1.3. Navigating to personal courses

To navigate to your own courses first select your department from the Vanier Moodle Homepage.

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Then, select one of your courses from the list of options.

Note: Once you have entered one of your courses you will have a box on the bottom left entitled “My Courses.” You can use this to

navigate to your other courses.

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2. Locate and identify different options in the course interface

2.1. Identify course name and number

Once you have entered one of your courses, you will find the full name of your course in the upper left hand corner. Your short course

name, usually the course number, will be just bellow the Vanier College logo.

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2.1.1. Using the submenus list to navigate

Notice that just left of your course number is Vanier. If you click on this you will be taken back to the Vanier Moodle homepage.

This is the submenus list. You can use this list to navigate through Moodle.

For example, let’s say you are looking at your list of students on the participants page. Once you are done with that, you want to

navigate back to the main course page. You simply have to click on the short course name in your submenus list and you will be taken

back to the course page.

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2.2. Identify weekly outline/topic outline view

If you look at the central part of your main course page you will notice that it is entitled Weekly Outline, followed by a sequence of

dates. This area is the main section of your Moodle site. It is here that you will place all of the resources and assignments for your

classes. The default setup for Moodle is to organize this information by weeks. You can change the number of weeks and have the

dates of the weeks align with the dates for your course. If you wish to have your course divided by topic, you can have Moodle display

them by topic instead.

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2.3. Identify class participants list

If you look to the left side of your course page, you will notice a box entitled People. Within that

box is a label called participants. If you click on participants you will be taken to a page that

shows all of the participants in the course.

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If you click on a students name you will be taken to a report on all of the student’s activity in this course. You can use this feature to

easily keep track of particular students. For example, if you would like to know if a student has been participating in any of the

discussions simply select form posts. Here you will see a list of all of the posts the student has made on forums in your course.

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2.4. Identify the forums list

If you look again at the left side of your course page, you will see another box entitled Activities.

Within this box you will find two labels, Forums and Resources. If you click on Forums you will

be taken to a page that shows a list of all of the discussion forums for the course. We will go into

more detail on forums below, in competency 5.2.

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2.5. Identify the resources list

Again, within the Activities box you will find the label Resources. If you click on Resources, you

will be taken to a page that shows a list of all of the Resources posted for the course. We will go

into more detail on posting resources below, in competency 5.1.

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2.6. Identify the news feed on the main page

If you look to the right hand side of your course page, you will see a box entitled Latest News. This box is related to your News

Forum for the course. By default, all members of the course are automatically subscribed to this forum. You can use this forum to

announce important information or changes for your course. When you make a new discussion topic in the News Forum, it will

automatically appear in this News Forum box for everyone to see. We will go into more detail about the News Forum in the forums

section below (competency 5.2.2.).

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2.7. Identify the course settings option

If you look again to the left side of the course page you will see a box entitled Administration. While there are a number of options in

this box, we will only be looking at a few in this course on the basics of Moodle. The first label that you should notice is the Settings

label. If you click on this, it will take you to the page that lets you change some of the settings for the course. We will go into more

detail on the settings options below, in competency 3.

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2.8. Identify the groups list

Again, in the Administration box on the left you will find the label groups. If you click on groups you

will be taken to a page where you can create and manage groups within the course. We will cover

creating and managing groups in more detail below, in competency 4.

2.9. Identify your courses list

If you scroll down until you see the last box on the left hand side, entitled My Courses. In this box you

will find a listing of all of the course for which you are enrolled, either as a student or as a teacher. If

you click on all courses it will take you to a list of all the courses in Moodle.

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2.10. Identify Turn Editing On options

If you look again at the Administration box, you will notice that the first label is Turn Editing On. If you also look to the upper right

hand side of your course page you will notice a tab entitled Turn On Editing. In order to make changes to your Moodle page you will

need to select this option. When editing is enabled, you will notice that you suddenly have new options on your menus and in the

weekly/topic outline. We will look at these options below, in competency 5.

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When you turn on the editing you will also notice that the option in Administration and the tab on the right change to Turn Editing

Off. Click on either of these if you would like to return to the basic view.

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3. Understand the basic options in settings

3.1. Identify and change course full and short name

If you click on the Settings label in Administration you will be taken to the settings page. Here you can change a number of settings

for your course. We will not look at all of the settings here; we will cover only some of the basic settings for the course.

The first things to notice in the Settings page are the course names. These options are highlighted in pink and are both required for the

course. You will see the Full name listed in the first box and the Short name list in the second box. Generally, the Full name is the full

name of the course. It is the name that is listed on your main course page, at the very top. The Short name is the course name and

number. It is the name listed in the in the submenus list.

You can change either one of these names in the Settings option by changing the name in the field and then clicking on Save Changes

at the bottom of the page. It is not recommended that you change this name once a course has started since this may cause confusion

for your students.

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3.2. Identify and change course summary

In the Settings option you can also change the course summary. The course summary is the description that you see before you enter

the main course page.

To change the course summary enter your summary in the large text box below the word summary and click on Save Changes at the

bottom of the page.

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3.3. Identify and change course format

The default format for a Moodle course is the Weekly Outline. In this outline, the central part of the course page will be divided into

weekly segments. When you add resources or assignments to your course you will have to add them into one of the weeks. If you

choose the topics format, the Moodle course will be divided by topics instead of by weeks.

To change the course format, locate the dropdown box labelled Format under the General section in Settings. Choose either Weekly

format or Topics Format from the menu and click on Save Changes at the bottom of the page.

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3.4. Identify and change number of weeks/topics and set start date

To change the number of weeks or topics that are listed on the main course page, locate the Number of Weeks/Topics dropdown box

under the General section of Settings. Choose the number of weeks or topics that you want and then click on Save Changes at the

bottom of the page.

If you choose to have your course displayed with the Weekly Outline make sure that your first week of classes matches your first

week on your Moodle page. To do this, locate the Course Start Date just below the Number of Weeks/Topics option and choose the

date for either the Sunday or the Monday of your first week of classes. Then click on Save Changes at the bottom of the page.

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3.5. Identify and change Availability: Enrolment Key

If you scroll down the Settings page you will find a section entitled Availability. Within this section is box labelled Enrolment Key. In

order to prevent unwanted users from adding themselves as students in your course, the course is given an Enrolment Key. When a

student tries to enrol in a course they will be asked to enter the Enrolment Key. Without this key they will not be able to enter the

course. Make sure that you give this key to all of the students in your course.

To change the Enrolment Key simply type a new key in the box labelled Enrolment Key.

3.5.1. Unmask Enrolment Key

If you forgot what the enrolment key was and would like to check it, check the box on the right labelled Unmask.

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4. Create and manage groups

4.1. Identify and access the groups list

As we saw above, the Groups page is located in the Administration menu to the left of your course page. When you click on Groups

you will be taken to the groups page.

4.2. Add a new group

To add a new group, click on the tab Create Group.

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On the Create Group page, give the group a name. Make sure that it is a name that will be easily identified by both you and your

students. Click on Save Changes when you are done.

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4.3. Remove a group

If you would like to delete a group that you have already created, select the group in the Groups box and click on the Delete Selected

Group Tab.

Select yes on the next screen to confirm your choice

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4.4. Change group settings

If you would like to change any of the settings associated with the group, select the group in the Groups box and click on the Edit

Group Settings tab. You will be taken back to the same menu you saw when you created the group. Here you can change the name of

the group and other settings.

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4.5. Add students to a group

To add students to a group, select the group in the Groups box and then click on the Add/Remove Users tab on the right side.

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You will be taken to the Add/Remove Users page. Here you will find two boxes: one labelled Existing Members on the left and one

labelled Potential Members on the right. The list of potential members shows all the participants in the course, divided by teachers and

students. To add a student to a group, select the student from the Potential Members box and click on the Add tab. To add more than

one student at a time, hold down the shift key and click on each student you wish to include. When you are done selecting students

press the Add tab.

Note: when you select a student you can see all of the groups to which they belong on the far right side under Selected User’s

Membership.

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4.6. Remove students from a group

To remove students from a group, select the group in the Groups box and then click on the Add/Remove Users tab on the right side.

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Select the student you want to remove from the Existing Members box and click on the Remove tab. To remove more than one

student, hold down shift while you select students and click on the Remove tab when you are done.

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4.7. Check student list for a group

There are two ways to check which students are in a particular group. You can use the Show Members for Group tab or switch to the

Overview page.

4.7.1. using “show members for group”

To see the members of a particular group, select the group in the Groups box and click on the Show Members for Group Tab. You will

see a list of the members appear in the box on the right labelled Members of: along with the group name.

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4.7.2. Using Overview page

To see all groups and their membership at once click on the tab to take you to the Overview page at the top.

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You will be taken to the Overview page where you can see all group information. You can also filter which groups you want to look at

by using the filter dropdown menu at the top left.