Moodle is a web-based learning management system that allows teachers to create online courses, lessons, assignments, quizzes and more. Teachers can upload materials, create forums for discussions, collect and grade student work, and communicate with students in a controlled online environment. The guide explains how to access Moodle through the school district homepage, set privacy settings while building a course, and use various modules like resources, assignments, forums and quizzes to develop engaging online content and activities for students. Contact information is provided for technology support staff to assist teachers with any Moodle questions.

1. MOODLE A Guide for the Beginner

2. What is Moodle? Moodle is a course/resource development web space for educators.

3. What can I do with Moodle? Create a homework page for your class. Create online assignments for your students to complete. Create lessons with specific links.

4. What can I do with Moodle? Create an online quiz. Blog/chat with your students in a controlled environment. Create online projects for your students. Collect and grade student work online.

5. Where do I begin? Begin by going to the district homepage and click on the Moodle link on the left hand menu.

6. Next Login to Moodle On the login page enter your username (firstname.lastname) and password (teacher I.D. #)

7. Your work area: Your development space can be set to “unavailable” while you create your materials. This way you can create your site without anyone seeing it until you are ready.

8. Your work area: Set your space to “unavailable” by clicking on the “settings” link at the left of your main page. In the “Availability” section select “this course is not available” and “do not allow guests.” You can go back and change this setting once your development space is ready for students/parents to view.

9. Activity Types Available in Moodle: Moodle provides you with the means to create a variety of activities for your students. These activities include: resources, assignments, forums, and quizzes.

10. Resource Modules Resources are content: information the teacher wants to present to the students. These can be prepared files uploaded to the course server; pages edited directly in Moodle; or external web pages made to appear on the page.

11. Assignment Modules Assignments allow the teacher to specify a task that requires students to prepare digital content (any format) and submit it by uploading it to the server. Typical assignments include essays, projects, reports, and writing responses. This module also includes grading facilities.

12. Forum Modules Forums can be an important part of your page. Here discussions can take place outside of class time. Forums can be structured in different ways, and can include peer ratings of each posting. The postings can be viewed in a variety of formats, and can include attachments. Teachers can impose subscription to the forum on everyone in the class if they want it to be a required module.

13. Quiz Modules This module allows the teacher to design and set quiz tests, consisting of multiple choice, true/false, and short answer questions. These questions are kept in a categorized database, and can be re-used. Quizzes can be set to allow multiple attempts. Each quiz is automatically marked and scored. The teacher can choose to leave feedback or to show correct answers.

14. Other modules in Moodle: Chats: Allows participants to have a real-time synchronous discussion via the web. This is useful if you want to set up “office hours” for students to contact you outside of school. Choices: This activity is very simple; the teacher asks a question that specifies a choice of multiple responses. It can be used to poll the class on a particular topic or allow the class to vote on something.

15. Other modules in Moodle: Glossary: In this activity your students can create and maintain a list of definitions like a dictionary. The entries can be searched or browsed in different formats. Hot Potatoes: This activity allows teachers to administer Hot Potatoes quizzes via Moodle. The quizzes are created on the teacher’s computer and then uploaded to the Moodle page. Once the students are finished with the quiz a number of reports are available which show how individual questions were answered and the statistical trends in the scores.

16. Other modules in Moodle: Lesson: The lesson delivers content in an interesting and flexible way. It consists of a number of pages. Each page normally ends with a question and a number of possible answers. Depending on the student’s choice of answer they either progress to the next page or are taken back to a previous page.

17. Other modules in Moodle: Surveys: Can be used to gather data from students that help the teacher learn about their class and reflect on their own teaching. Wikis: This activitiy enables documents to be authored collectively. “Wiki wiki” means “super fast” in the Hawaiian language, and it is the speed of creating and updating pages in wiki. In Moodle wiki participants work together on web pages to add, expand and change the content. Old versions of the page are never deleted and can be restored if desired.

18. Uploading Materials to Moodle: The great thing about Moodle is you can easily upload materials for use on your page. If you already have a great handout or worksheet that you use in your classroom you can upload it to Moodle and use it anywhere on your Moodle page.

19. Creating a Resource Module: The resource module in Moodle is a generic activity that allows you to compose text, create hyperlinks or incorporate pictures or graphics.

20. Creating an Assignment Module in Moodle: The assignment module in Moodle allows students to upload files to the teacher. Students can compose the assignment in Word and then submit it to you for a grade. Assignment modules provide the teacher with space to submit written feedback to the student.

21. Creating a forum module in Moodle: The forum module in Moodle allows students to partake in asynchronous online discussions. Students can post messages to their peers and respond to ideas posted by the teacher and other students.

22. Creating a quiz module in Moodle: The quiz module in Moodle allows you to design assessments consisting of multiple choice, true/false, and short answer questions. Quizzes can be set for multiple attempts. Quizzes are automatically marked and scored.

23. Don’t forget: Don’t forget to set your space to “available” by clicking on the “settings” link at the left of your main page. In the “Availability” section select “this course is available”. You can keep “do not allow guests”, “allow guest with a key” (you assign certain individuals a password to gain access to your site), or “allow guests”. You should go back and change these settings once your development space is ready for students/parents to view.

24. If you have questions: Contact me at [email_address] or Trish at [email_address] Or contact Joe or Maureen.