Blog: Moodling at SJCC

Please let me know beforehand, if you plan to attend any of these workshops.

Introduction to Moodle (Logging In, Editing Personal Profile, Uploading Files, Setting Up the Homepage, Modifying Course Settings, Using QuickMail)
Friday, March 11, 1:00 pm - 3:00 pm, in L-113

Using Turnitin in Moodle (Creating and Modifying Turnitin Assignments, Accessing Originality Reports, Adding Digital Comments to Assignments Using GradeMark)
Friday, March 18, 12:00 pm - 2:00 pm, in in L-113

Using the Moodle Gradebook
Tuesday, March 22, 3:00 pm - 5:00 pm, in in L-113

Open Session: Get Answers to Your Moodle Questions
Wednesday, March 30, 2:00 pm - 4:00 pm, in in L-113

MAKE MOODLE COURSES AVAILABLE TO STUDENTS

Don’t forget that you need to make your Moodle courses available to students, when you’re ready for students to access them. If the course title appears in gray in your course list, it is not visible to students at all. To make it available:

1. From inside the course, click on Settings (in the Administration block on the left).

2. Scroll down to the section labeled Availability, and change the availability from ‘This course is not available to students’ to ‘This course is available to students.’

3. Click Save changes.
The courses that are available to students appear at the top of your list of courses.

TURNITIN INTEGRATED WITH MOODLE

Check the Moodle Resources page soon for information about using Turnitin entirely within Moodle.

STUDENT PASSWORD RESET ON JANARY 28 

ITSS resets student passwords in Moodle before the beginning of each term. (Faculty passwords are not reset.) This helps to reduce the number of students who can’t log in at the beginning of the semester, because they’ve forgotten their password.

The default Moodle password for both students and instructors is: Changeme1 (with capital C and numeral 1)

Note:  Never share your Moodle login information with students or others not authorized to have access to sensitive student information. If you need to allow access to your course to someone who is not enrolled, please contact me for assistance.

END-OF-SEMESTER HOUSEKEEPING FOR FALL COURSES

Make Fall Courses Unavailable. You may want to make your courses from last semester unavailable to students now, if they no longer need to access them.

Download Course Backups. It is good practice to back up and download each course after you’ve completed your grades for the semester. This ensures that you have access to student work and grades, in case you might need them later. It also gives you a backup of your content on your own computer. The instructions for transferring content to a new course explain how to make a backup. You can download the backup file from the bakupdata folder in your course files.

Instructions for both of these tasks are available here:
http://www.sjcc.edu/OnlineLearning/Moodle/MoodleRes-Faculty.html

ADDING BLOCKS TO YOUR COURSE

Moodle courses for this semester were created with fewer default “blocks” (the information and activity areas in the left and right columns). You can add blocks by selecting them from the available Blocks menu at the bottom of the right-hand column. You can rearrange blocks by dragging them up or down and from one column to another (left or right). Two particularly useful blocks are:

Quickmail - Allows you and students to send email to course participants

Calendar - Displays the due dates of any assignments, quizzes or other activities in your course, as well as important college dates. You can also add dates directly to the calendar.

MOODLE INSTRUCTIONS

Students: Printed copies of the revised login instructions for students will be available in the library and LRC, the adjunct faculty center (GE-119), and division mail rooms. If you need additional copies, please let me know. The login instructions and other information for students are also available online at:
http://www.sjcc.edu/OnlineLearning/Moodle/MoodleInfo-Students.html

Instructors : Faculty information about Moodle is at:
http://www.sjcc.edu/OnlineLearning/Moodle/MoodleRes-Faculty.html
(SJCC Homepage > Online Learning > Faculty Resources > Moodle Resources)

Be sure to have a look at the Frequently-Asked Questions page.

Introduction to Moodle: Logging In, Editing Personal Profile, Uploading Files, Setting Up the Homepage, Modifying Course Settings, Using QuickMail
January 27, 2:00 - 4:00 pm, in T-421

Open Session: Bring your Moodle questions
January 28, 1:30 - 4:30 pm, in T-421

Please let me know beforehand, if you plan to attend either session.

Jane, I see your new information post about 'New Course Formats' but I don't see a way to reply within the post.

a. How do you reply to your post?

b. Is there a hyper-link for this new way to format our course at the world wide moodle site.

As always, lost. Steve M.

NEW DEFAULT PASSWORD FOR STUDENTS AND INSTRUCTORS

The default Moodle password is now: Changeme1 (with capital C and numeral 1)

The default password now conforms to the new requirements for a more secure password, which must contain:

- At least 6 characters

- At least one lower-case letter

- At least one upper-case letter

- At least one number

ITSS resets student passwords in Moodle before the beginning of each term. (Faculty passwords are not reset.) This helps to reduce the number of students who can’t log in at the beginning of the semester, because they’ve forgotten their password.

If you cannot log in to Moodle with your usual password, try the default password.

Note: Never share your Moodle login information with students or others not authorized to have access to sensitive student information. If you need to allow access to your course to someone who is not enrolled, please contact me for assistance.

MAKE MOODLE COURSES AVAILABLE TO STUDENTS

Don’t forget that you need to make your Moodle courses visible to students, when you are ready for students to access them. If the course title appears in gray in your course list, it is not available to students. To make it available:

1. From inside the course, click on Settings (in the Administration block on the left).

2. Scroll down to the section labeled Availability , and change the availability from ‘This course is not available to students’ to ‘This course is available to students.’

3. Click Save changes .

In addition, you may want to make your courses from last semester unavailable to students, if they no longer need to access them. The courses that are available to students will appear at the top of your list of courses.

USING QUICKMAIL

Quickmail allows you to send email to students from Moodle. To use it, you will need to do the following:

a. From your course, select Quickmail from the list of blocks available (in the Add Blocks block in the right-hand column).

b. When the Quickmail block appears (at the bottom of the right column), click on Settings (within the block).

c. Change the setting for ‘Allow Students to use Quickmail’ from No to Yes .

d. Click on Save changes .

Note: You can delete any of the blocks in the left and right columns and add them back using Add Blocks. You can also move them up or down and from one column to another.

MOODLE INSTRUCTIONS

Students: Printed copies of the revised login instructions for students are available in the library and LRC, the adjunct faculty center (GE-119), and division mail rooms. (The new version, with the new default password information, is printed on light yellow paper and has a date of August 2010 at the bottom.) If you need additional copies, please let me know. The login instructions and other information for students are also available online at:

http://www.sjcc.edu/OnlineLearning/Moodle/MoodleInfo-Students.html

Instructors : Faculty information about Moodle is at:

http://www.sjcc.edu/OnlineLearning/Moodle/MoodleRes-Faculty.html
(SJCC Homepage > Online Learning > Faculty Resources > Moodle Resources)

I will be adding instructions on other topics as they are completed.

Please let me know if you have any questions.

Introduction to Moodle (Logging In, Editing Personal Profile, Uploading Files, Setting Up the Homepage, Modifying Course Settings, Using QuickMail)

Moodle Open Session (Questions on Specific Topics for Instructors Already Using Moodle) This is an opportunity to get help with specific problems you’re having or get answers to other questions.
Friday, September 3, 11:00 - 12:45 pm, in T-421

I'll announce a Fall Semester Training Schedule soon.

- Friday, May 7, 2010, 12:00 - 2:00 pm , in T-421

- Tuesday, May 11, 2010, 5:00 - 7:00 pm, in T-421

- Thursday, May 13, 2010, 2:00 - 4:00 pm, in T-421

Please let me know, if you would like to attend one or more of these workshops:

Monday, February 8, 3 pm - 5 pm, in T-421
Introduction to Moodle (Logging In, Editing Personal Profile, Uploading Files, Setting Up the Homepage, Modifying Course Settings, Using QuickMail)

Tuesday, February 16, 5 pm - 7 pm, in T-421
Introduction to Moodle (Logging In, Editing Personal Profile, Uploading Files, Setting Up the Homepage, Modifying Course Settings, Using QuickMail)

Thursday, February 18, 5 pm - 7 pm, in T-421
Introduction to Moodle (Logging In, Editing Personal Profile, Uploading Files, Setting Up the Homepage, Modifying Course Settings, Using QuickMail)

Friday, February 19, 1 pm - 3 pm, in T-421
Using the Moodle Gradebook

Monday, February 22, 2 pm - 4 pm, in T-421
Creating Quizzes in Moodle

Friday, February 26, 12 pm - 2 pm, in T-421
Adding Moodle Activities (Assignments, Groups, OU Wiki, Forums, etc.)

In addition, I'll hold an open session on Friday, January 29, if PDD does not conflict.

These are the Moodle workshops scheduled for the remainder of the fall semester. If you plan to attend one or more workshops, please let me know beforehand.

I try to schedule workshops to fit accommodate as many people as possible. If you have a request for a different topic or time, please let me know what and when you would be available.

In the past, you've had two main course format options in Moodle:

1. Weekly format - To organize your course activities and resources by week
   
2. Topics format - To organize your course activities and resources according to topics (units, modules, chapters, etc.)
   

ITSS has just installed two new course formats:

3. Collapsed Topics format - This is a variant of the Topics format. It allows users to control the Moodle course display by collapsing or expanding each topic. It's especially useful for courses that have a lot of content and require you to scroll down several screens to get to the last topics.
   You can see an example of this format in the Using Moodle Tools course.
   
4. Monthly format - You can use this format to organize your course by months, rather than weeks.
   

To change your course format:

1. Click on Settings in the Administration block in the left column.
2. Locate the Format field, just below the Description text box in the first (General) section.
3. Select the new format from the drop-down menu.
4. Scroll to the bottom of the screen and click Save and Return to Course.

• Wednesday, October 28, 12-2 pm, in T-421
• Thursday, October 29, 2-4 pm, in T-421
• Wednesday, November 4, 3-5 pm, in T-421
• Friday, November 6, 1-3 pm, in T-421

• LMS adoption trends
• Historical representation of LMS use in the U.S.
• LMS use at Bay Area community colleges