Moodle FAQ's at Dickinson College

Below are details about Moodle and commonly asked questions by students and instructors using Moodle.
 

Library and Information Services (LIS) is pleased to introduce a new option for learning management. Moodle is an open-source learning management system alternative to Blackboard. LIS will maintain Blackboard for one more year, discontinuing use in June 2010. You may continue to use Blackboard until then, however we encourage you to move to Moodle early. Moodle will also replace Gateway groups.

We know that many faculty members have added significant content to their Blackboard courses. Please be assured that you will not lose this content. Blackboard courses are archived at the end of each semester. When Blackboard becomes unavailable, your content will be available from those backups. Your Blackboard content can be moved to Moodle; you'll need to reorganization your course a bit but you will not lose your content.

Why is Dickinson moving to Moodle?

Moodle provides all the basic functionality of Blackboard without the annual $15,000 annual license fee. Additionally, we have been able to integrate Moodle into our campus systems such that it can automatically create your courses and load the courses with registered students. There has been a substantial investment of LIS staff time to implement Moodle; however we believe that the ongoing labor requirement to maintain Moodle will be approximately the same as our current labor investment to maintain Blackboard. Our goal is to provide a robust product with contemporary features at a reduced cost to the college. For more details on Dickinson College's LMS evaluation click here.

How to get started with Moodle

Come to a workshop: User Services will be offering several Moodle Quick start training workshops. These workshops will be advertised in the Dickinson Compass and posted on the LIS web site. Click here for dates and details.

Move your Blackboard content:
To have content moved from a previous course just email or call the helpdesk indicating the course you want to have moved (course number and/or name and semester) and the course you are moving the content into. We will retrieve your content from the Blackboard archive and it will be placed in the "Files" section of your Moodle course. From here you can organize it as you please.

Explore on your own:
Once in Moodle you'll see a list of all of your courses. You may also see some special 'meta-courses' if you are teaching a cross-listed or team-taught course. (these are special cases, please contact your IMS liaison and we'll go over the details of these special courses). Moodle is simple to use, but there are a few tricks. If you want to noodle with Moodle without any training or help, my #1 Tip for getting started is to get to know the "Turn editing on" button.

The most important detail!
 We want your experience with Moodle to be positive. We understand that transitioning to a new software application can be frustrating and we want to help if you have problems. Please call the LIS helpdesk or your IMS liaison immediately if we can be of assistance. I hope you will consider trying Moodle for at least one course this fall. All your Fall 2009 courses should be visible to you. Late in the Fall semester you'll see the Spring 2010 courses in Moodle. If you wish to work-ahead on a course for Spring 2010 or if you want to use Moodle for an administrative purpose (committee or departmental use), please call the LIS Helpdesk and we will create a course for you.

Why should I move to Moodle?

Moodle uses the same password as the campus Gateway (your network/email password) - there is no need to maintain and remember another password. When you log on to the campus Gateway you will see a new icon between the Email and Blackboard icons (top of the Gateway screen). Click on the Moodle icon and you should be automatically logged into Moodle.

Before the start of each semester, a Moodle course will be created for every Dickinson course. Students will be automatically enrolled into each course and the roster will be synced with registration data several times during the drop-add period to capture any enrollment changes. At the end of the semester you will notice your Moodle courses for the upcoming semester have become available for development.

Once in Moodle, students will see a list of all courses in which they are enrolled. A course will not be available to the student until the instructor makes it available. If you are not using Moodle, the course will appear in the student's course list, but they will not be able to enter the course, so there is no worry about students accessing 'empty' courses.

How do I login to Moodle?

Go to Gateway and use your Dickinson Username and Active Directory or Network password to login. If you have forgotten the password you may be able to reset it using the Password Self Serve Utility. Otherwise, contact the Help Desk by email at helpdesk@dickinson.edu, or call 717-245-1000 or stop in to the helpdesk which is located in the lower level of the Library. (Hours 8am till 5pm). Once you are logged into the Gateway you will see a Moodle icon on the upper right area.

What browser should I use?

Mozilla Firefox is the recommended browser for both Mac and Windows. Mac users will not see the formatting toolbar if using Safari.

What classes are using Moodle?

Beginning Fall 2009, a Moodle will be available for courses. It is up to the discretions of the instructor if they use Moodle for their courses. Once you are logged in to Moodle look for the My Courses block in the left column for a list of your courses currently using Moodle.

I've just enrolled into a class as a student; how long before I have access to it?

Drop/adds will be processed in the system within 24 hours of adding the course through Banner Self Serve.

I've dropped a class as a student that used Moodle but I'm still receiving email from it. How do I make it stop?

Drop/adds will be processed in the system within 24 hours of dropping the course through Banner Self Serve.

How do I find my courses?

After you log in you should see a content block on the far left labeled My Courses. Once you are looking at the course page, you will see the main navigation bar across the top along with three columns below. The navigation bar will show the name of the course, breadcrumbs, and a jump to navigation bar. These should help you move around the course site. As an instructor the arrangement of the blocks on the left and right can be different but the center column should always contain the primary content for the course.

When I log in, my name (or e-mail address) is misspelled; how do I fix that?

Easiest way is to email helpdesk at helpdesk@dickinson.edu or call 717-245-1000. For the problem description include the following information: Current (incorrect) spelling as it appears in Moodle and the Correct spelling. Please note that only inaccurate information will be corrected; we will not change proper names to nicknames.

How do I email in Moodle?

Messages is the term used in Moodle. There are several ways to get in touch with an individual in Moodle:

  • Go into Quickmail block and click on Compose, select the user(s) and type in your subject & message in the boxes provided. Click on Send Message. You have options for Select all/Deselect all and adding an attachment. This block also keeps a History of emails sent so you can resend the message if you want as an instructor. Click here for more details.
  • If your course has the Online Users block set and the person you want to contact is currently online their name will have a small envelope icon next to it. Clicking on the icon will allow you to send them a message.
  • If you want to make a more public announcement to all students in your course, you can create a discussion forum (from the Add an activity drop down, choose Forum). Just click in the forum, click Add new topic. Enter your topic and save changes. You will be able to edit the announcement for 30 minutes, after which it will be sent to all the students in your class.

How do I stops emails from a Forum in Moodle?

If you are receiving an email every time someone posts to a forum in Moodle, you can turn this off by un subscribing, but only if the instructor has turned on this option. First, log into Moodle and open the course that contains the forum. Then, click on the name of the forum. On the upper right hand side of the page, click the link Unsubscribe to this forum. This will only work if the students are allowed to be un subscribed to the forum. An instructor can do so in the settings of the forum by making sure that Force everyone to be subscribed? is set to No. Click here for more details about emails from Forums.

How do I add a word or pf file to my course in Moodle?

In the Add a resource... area click on the drop down arrow.

Choose Link to he Link to file or web site to then navigate to your file and add more details if required. Click here for more details.

What does Meta Courses mean in Moodle?

To put it simply, a meta-course is a combination of other courses. Here at Dickinson, we use meta-courses to simplify the management of cross listed courses. For more details click here.

names to nicknames.

Can I as an Instructor change the name of my course?

The titles in academic courses match the Registrar's titles and are pulled from Banner so the titles can no be changed.

How can I copy documents or folders from one cousrse to another in Moodle?

Find the files or folders in your course files area and select Create Zip Archive. Then upload and unzip that archive to a new course. Otherwise you can do a backup and select the resources you want to backup and add them to the other course.

What does Moodle stand for?

Moodle stands for Modular Object Oriented Dynamic Learning Environment Moodle is a course management system (similar to Blackboard) developed by educators. It allows faculty to easily set up interactive online spaces for their courses. Commonly used to upload syllabi, host discussions, accept assignments electronically, send email to classes, give quizzes, and much more.

Since Moodle is Open Source does that mean that anyone can get into Moodle?

Open source means the software or program itself is free and since we have it installed on our campus, on our server it is protected with a secure authentication that requires your active directory or network password.

How can I get more help?

The Moodle Quick Start Guide for faculty on using various elements of Moodle. You may also contact the Help Desk by email at helpdesk@dickinson.edu or call 717-245-1000. Moodle's context help system, accessible via the help button on each page provides help on specific areas. You can also access Moodle Docs. If you have students asking questions you can send them to this Student Quick Start link or the helpdesk located in the lower level of the Library.

 

Additional Tutorials & Helpful Links

Using Moodle as a Student tutorials :