MoodleDocs - User contributions [en]

Teaching Don'ts

2007-06-27T20:26:27Z

Divb:

==Don't let Moodle overwhelm you==
Moodle is big. You can do all sorts of educational stuff with Moodle, so much stuff, that beginners can be overwhelmed by all there is to learn. But is it necessary to master all of Moodle right away? Of course not.

Start with modest goals like posting lesson plans and links to useful resources and go from there. Take your time and be patient. If you do have difficulty learning to do some of the more sophisticated things, turn to the Moodle community for assistance. In a few months, you will be Moodling like a champ!

==Don't dominate discussions==
It is a sometimes necessary to guide students a bit in the forums. You give a nudge here and a nudge there. That's fine. But try to avoid posting too much yourself. Stimulating the discussion is one thing; dominating the discussion is another!

==Don't assume that the coolness of Moodle will inspire or motivate your students==
Many teachers are amazed and impressed by what Moodle can do. Astonished, even. They simply assume that their students will share their enthusiasm. Well, maybe... But remember that it is ''good teaching'' (online or otherwise) that inspires students. Don't expect Moodle to do the teacher's job.

==Don't violate copyright laws==
If you inappropriately ''borrow'' the works of others, your students will do so, too. That is probably not what you are trying to teach them.

==Don't forget to check users' profiles==
Sigh... Some students have questionable judgement. You never know what they will post to their profiles. Best to check now and again. Depending upon your school system, your local laws, and your personal beliefs, of course, you may or may not do anything about what you find, but it is best to at least know what's there.

==Don't encourage users to run Power Point presentations in their browsers==
Teachers with content they developed in PowerPoint want to use it in Moodle as a jump start. And student/users want to simply click on a PowerPoint (PPT) presentation and run it inside their browsers. This usually works out pretty well, but not always. You will have far fewer complaints and problems if your users download PPT presentations to their desktops and run them from there. Encourage them to do so. By the way, this is not a Moodle problem; it is a browser problem.

Do not upload large PPTs if your Moodle disk space is limited.

If you want to provide the original presentation, it would be nice to also provide handouts or an outline in addition. The student can choose the most personally convenient option.

Here are some alternatives:
*Convert your PPTs to .swf files using [http://www.openoffice.org/ Open Office]. The only disadvantage is that you will lose any animations.
*Print PPT handouts to a .pdf file and have your students download/view that as a resource.
*Use one of many Moodle features instead of PPT.
** The [[Presentation|presentation]] module
**Use [[Adding/editing_a_lesson#Lesson_formatting|Lesson module]]'s slide show settings
***The [[Lessons|lesson]] module which can also [[Import PowerPoint|import]] a simple PPT
** The Slideshow module[[Slideshow module (for images)|for images]] or for [[Slideshow module (for presentations)| presentations]]
** The [[Book_module]] will present pages and can import a PPT
*Present a PPT with Flash

*Use [http://www.pptminimizer.com/eng/index.php PPTminimizer] to dramatically reduce PPTs size.

==Don't be afraid to experiment==
Moodle is designed to be played with. Set up a test course for yourself and experiment with the different modules - you can't break anything!

Or setup localhost on your own computer. It's easy and you won't have to wait for the screen to refresh from your MoodleServer.

==Don't be distracted by ''shiny stuff''==
Just because you ''can'' do something in Moodle does not mean that you ''should'' do it or ''have to'' do it. Moodle is very robust software and many of its features are fun to play with. That is cool, but, remember, the point is not to build a cutting-edge web site (although that really is a lot of fun). The point is learning.

* What is it you want your students to know?
* What is it you want them to be able to do?

Let those questions dictate how you use Moodle.

==Don't Worry about it!==
Remember the initials I.E. for "Ignore" and "Explore". Ignore the things you don't need, or that you come across and don't understand. When you need something, explore and find. There is very little you can really do wrong, and there's not much to break. Wherever you can really mess up (like deleting something permanently) you are given a pretty clear warning, so you can't really go wrong in experimenting - and if you do, editing to fix is easy. When in doubt, have your administrator create a "sandbox" course for you where you can play and destroy and play again. Remember, computers and applications are for you to use, not be used by.

==See also==
* [[Teaching Do's]]
* [[Teaching Good Practices (K-12)]]

[[Category:Teacher]]

[[fr:Enseigner_avec_Moodle_:_ce_qu%27il_ne_faut_pas_faire]]

Teacher documentation

2007-06-27T20:21:40Z

Divb: /* Editing course section */

==Getting started==
If you are a new user and would like a list of all teacher documentation articles, please see [[:Category:Teacher]].

We are assuming that your site administrator has set up Moodle, you are a user with teacher privileges and the administrator has assigned you to a new, blank course. Don't forget, [http://demo.moodle.org/ demo.moodle.org] will let you play an hour at a time for free.

You will need to be [[Log in | logged into]] the course as a user who has been assigned [[Teacher|a role as a teacher]] (with editing rights) on that course to use most of the features below. We have some tips if you are having [[Can not log in | trouble logging in]].

Now onto the real details. You will find the [[Course homepage|course homepage]] is broken down into [[Course sections|course sections]]. A course is created by [[Adding resources and activities|adding resources and activities]]. When writing text in Moodle you have a range of [[Formatting options]], including using [[HTML editor|HTML in Moodle]]. There are different ways to enroll [[Students]] and assign them to one or more [[Groups]] in a course.

The example below shows a new course set up with topic sections, edit is on. There are a few of Moodle's many [[:Category:Block|blocks]] on the right and left sides of the topics, such as "Latest News" or "[[Administration block|Administration]]". The teacher is all ready to add resources and activities or a few new blocks to their brand new course.
[[Image:Course edit on new 2.jpg|thumb|center|500px|Getting started image - a new course]]

==Editing course section==
[[Image:Turn_edit_on_Student_on_buttons.JPG]] 
To add or alter activities or resources a teacher will need to [[Turn editing on|turn editing on]] and off with a button on the course homepage. The student view/change roles option allows the teacher to get a general idea of what students will see. There is also an "editing on" link in the [[Administration block|administration block]]. The turn editing option toggles between on and off, and when on, shows a variety of editing icons next to all editable objects in the course. Here are some common editing icons, for more details about them [[Adding/editing_a_course#Editing_a_course|go to adding/editing a course]]. To ADD items you must use the appropriate drop-downs for them.

{| border="1" cellpadding="2" cellspacing="0"
!width="30"|Icon
!width="120"|Effect
!width="30"|Icon
!width="120"|Effect
!width="30"|Icon
!width="120"|Effect
!width="30"|Icon
!width="140"|Effect
|-
|[[Image:Edit.gif]]|| Edit item ||[[Image:Open.gif]]* || Close/Hide item||[[Image:Delete.gif]]* || Delete/Remove ||[[Image:Move.gif]] ||Move (up/down)
|-
||[[Image:All.gif]] ||See all weeks/topics||[[Image:Closed.gif]]* || Open/Show Item ||[[Image:Right.gif]] || Indent/shift right ||[[Image:Movehere.gif]] || Move here
|-
||[[Image:One.gif]] || See one week/topic||[[Image:Help.gif]] ||Help || || ||[[Image:Marker.gif]] ||Make Current (highlight) week/topic
|}
 
*(Note that the open eye indicates that the resource is visible, while clicking it changes it to be invisible (to students), and vice versa with the closed eye. Note that the X deletes resources and activities (with a warning) whereas it only removes blocks (which can be added at any time later)

==Activity modules==

[[Image:Activity_dropdown.JPG|frame|right|Add an activity drop-down menu]]
There are a number of robust interactive learning [[:Category:Modules|activity modules]] that you may [[Adding_resources_and_activities | add to your course]].

Communication and collaboration may take place using [[Chats]] and [[Forums]] for conversational activities and [[Choices]] to gain group feedback. Adding [[Wikis]] to your courses is an excellent way to allow students to work together on a project.

Work can be submitted by students and marked by teachers using [[Assignments]] or [[Workshops]]. The [[Quizzes]] offer several options for automatic scoring. You can even integrate your Hot Potato quizzes by adding a [[Hotpot]] activity.

[[Lessons]] and [[SCORM]] activities deliver content and offer ways of individualizing your presentation based upon a student's choices. Key words can be added to [[Glossaries]] by yourself or, if you allow it, your students.

[[Surveys]] and [[Database module|Databases]] are also very powerful additions to any course.

If all of that isn't enough for you then you can also add [[:Category:Modules (non-standard)|non-standard modules]] that are not part of the official Moodle release!

==Resources==

[[Image:Resource_pulldown_menu.JPG|frame|left|Add a resource drop-down menu]]

Moodle supports a range of different [[Resources|resource types]] that allow you to include almost any kind of digital content into your courses. These can be added by using the [[Adding_resources_and_activities | add a resource]] dropdown box when editing is turned on.

A [[Text page]] is a simple page written using plain text. Text pages aren't pretty, but they're a good place to put some information or instructions. If you are after more options for your new page then you should be thinking about adding a [[Web page]] and making use of Moodle's WYSIWYG editor.

Of course the resource may already exist in electronic form so you may want to [[File or website link|link to an uploaded file or external website]] or simply display the complete contents of a [[Directory|directory]] in your course files and let your users pick the file themselves. If you have an [[IMS content package]] then this can be easily added to your course.

Use a [[Label|label]] to embed instructions or information in the course section.

==Blocks==
[[Image:Block_add_dropdown_list2.JPG |thumb|150px|right|Add Block drop-down menu]]
Each course homepage generally contains [[Blocks_%28teacher%29|blocks]] on the left and right with the centre column containing the course content. Blocks may be added, hidden, deleted, and moved up, down and left/right when editing is turned on. Examples of blocks can be see in the Getting Starting image above. [[Latest News block|"Latest News"]], "[[Blogs]]", [[Upcoming Events block|"Upcoming Events"]], and [[Recent Activity block|"Recent Activity"]] are a few examples.

A wide range of [[Blocks_%28teacher%29#Block_types|over 16 different block types]] can provide additional information or functionality to the learner by the teacher. The standard blocks that come with Moodle are shown on the right. There are also many [[:Category:Block (non-standard)|non-standard blocks]] developed by Moodlers that an administrator can add to this list.

A teacher with editing rights will also have a course [[Administration_block|administration block]]. This block has sub menus for course: backup/restore, enrollments, format, reports, grades, activity logs, files and other useful tools.

==General advice==

* Subscribe yourself to all of the [[forum]]s in your course so that you can keep in touch with your class activity.
* Encourage all of the students to fill out their [[Edit profile|user profile]] (including photos) and read them all - this will help provide some context to their later writings and help you to respond in ways that are tailored to their own needs.
* Keep notes to yourself in the private "Teacher's Forum" (under Administration). This is especially useful when team teaching.
* Use the [[Logs]] link (under Administration) to get access to complete, raw logs. In there you'll see a link to a popup window that updates every sixty seconds and shows the last hour of activity. This is useful to keep open on your desktop all day so you can feel in touch with what's going on in the course.
* Use many reports. [[Reports]] in the Administration block, [[Recent_activity|Activity Reports]] (next to each name in the list of all people, or from any user profile page). These provide a great way to see what any particular person has been up to in the course.
* Respond quickly to students. Don't leave it for later - do it right away. Not only is it easy to become overwhelmed with the volume that can be generated, but it's a crucial part of building and maintaining a community feel in your course.
*Don't be afraid to experiment: feel free to poke around and change things. It's hard to break anything in a Moodle course, and even if you do it's usually easy to fix it.
* Use the [[Navigation bar|navigation bar]] at the top of each page - this should help remind you where you are and prevent getting lost

== See also ==
*[[Blogs]] - blogs in Moodle
*[[Teaching with Moodle]] - inspiring links
*[[http://moodle.org/mod/forum/discuss.php?d=66854 Moodle and elearning intro]] - Written by Martin Langhoff
*[[Teaching do's and don'ts]] - hints
*[[Moodle manuals]] - a list of links to manuals and books
*[[Using Moodle book]] - a real book you can reprint!
*[[Teaching FAQ]] - common questions
*[http://moodle.tokem.fi/mod/book/view.php?id=5116&chapterid=256 Example of a course teaching checklist],
*One example of a site specific [[http://moodle.tokem.fi/mod/book/view.php?id=5116 Teacher's Moodle Manual]], done in Moodle with the book module
*[[Tips and tricks]]
*[[Student FAQ]] - students have questions about technology?

[[Category:Teacher]]
[[es:Documentación para Profesores]]
[[eu:Irakasleentzako dokumentazioa]]
[[fr:Documentation enseignant]]
[[it:Documentazione per Docenti]]
[[nl:Documentatie voor leraren]]
[[fi:Opettajan opas]]
[[ru:Учителям]]
[[zh:教师文档]]
[[ja:教師ドキュメント]]

Teacher documentation

2007-06-27T20:20:22Z

Divb: /* Editing course section */

==Getting started==
If you are a new user and would like a list of all teacher documentation articles, please see [[:Category:Teacher]].

We are assuming that your site administrator has set up Moodle, you are a user with teacher privileges and the administrator has assigned you to a new, blank course. Don't forget, [http://demo.moodle.org/ demo.moodle.org] will let you play an hour at a time for free.

You will need to be [[Log in | logged into]] the course as a user who has been assigned [[Teacher|a role as a teacher]] (with editing rights) on that course to use most of the features below. We have some tips if you are having [[Can not log in | trouble logging in]].

Now onto the real details. You will find the [[Course homepage|course homepage]] is broken down into [[Course sections|course sections]]. A course is created by [[Adding resources and activities|adding resources and activities]]. When writing text in Moodle you have a range of [[Formatting options]], including using [[HTML editor|HTML in Moodle]]. There are different ways to enroll [[Students]] and assign them to one or more [[Groups]] in a course.

The example below shows a new course set up with topic sections, edit is on. There are a few of Moodle's many [[:Category:Block|blocks]] on the right and left sides of the topics, such as "Latest News" or "[[Administration block|Administration]]". The teacher is all ready to add resources and activities or a few new blocks to their brand new course.
[[Image:Course edit on new 2.jpg|thumb|center|500px|Getting started image - a new course]]

==Editing course section==
[[Image:Turn_edit_on_Student_on_buttons.JPG]] 
To add or alter activities or resources a teacher will need to [[Turn editing on|turn editing on]] and off with a button on the course homepage. The student view/change roles option allows the teacher to get a general idea of what students will see. There is also an "editing on" link in the [[Administration block|administration block]]. The turn editing option toggles between on and off, and when on, shows a variety of editing icons next to all editable objects in the course. Here are some common editing icons, for more details about them [[Adding/editing_a_course#Editing_a_course|go to adding/editing a course]]. To ADD items you must use the appropriate drop-downs for them.

{| border="1" cellpadding="2" cellspacing="0"
!width="30"|Icon
!width="120"|Effect
!width="30"|Icon
!width="120"|Effect
!width="30"|Icon
!width="120"|Effect
!width="30"|Icon
!width="120"|Effect
|-
|[[Image:Edit.gif]]|| Edit item ||[[Image:Open.gif]]* || Close/Hide item||[[Image:Delete.gif]]* || Delete/Remove ||[[Image:Move.gif]] ||Move (up/down)
|-
||[[Image:All.gif]] ||See all weeks/topics||[[Image:Closed.gif]]* || Open/Show Item ||[[Image:Right.gif]] || Indent ||[[Image:Movehere.gif]] || Move here
|-
||[[Image:One.gif]] || See one week/topic||[[Image:Help.gif]] ||Help || || ||[[Image:Marker.gif]] ||Make Current (highlight) week/topic
|}
 
*(Note that the open eye indicates that the resource is visible, while clicking it changes it to be invisible (to students), and vice versa with the closed eye. Note that the X deletes resources and activities (with a warning) whereas it only removes blocks (which can be added at any time later)

==Activity modules==

[[Image:Activity_dropdown.JPG|frame|right|Add an activity drop-down menu]]
There are a number of robust interactive learning [[:Category:Modules|activity modules]] that you may [[Adding_resources_and_activities | add to your course]].

Communication and collaboration may take place using [[Chats]] and [[Forums]] for conversational activities and [[Choices]] to gain group feedback. Adding [[Wikis]] to your courses is an excellent way to allow students to work together on a project.

Work can be submitted by students and marked by teachers using [[Assignments]] or [[Workshops]]. The [[Quizzes]] offer several options for automatic scoring. You can even integrate your Hot Potato quizzes by adding a [[Hotpot]] activity.

[[Lessons]] and [[SCORM]] activities deliver content and offer ways of individualizing your presentation based upon a student's choices. Key words can be added to [[Glossaries]] by yourself or, if you allow it, your students.

[[Surveys]] and [[Database module|Databases]] are also very powerful additions to any course.

If all of that isn't enough for you then you can also add [[:Category:Modules (non-standard)|non-standard modules]] that are not part of the official Moodle release!

==Resources==

[[Image:Resource_pulldown_menu.JPG|frame|left|Add a resource drop-down menu]]

Moodle supports a range of different [[Resources|resource types]] that allow you to include almost any kind of digital content into your courses. These can be added by using the [[Adding_resources_and_activities | add a resource]] dropdown box when editing is turned on.

A [[Text page]] is a simple page written using plain text. Text pages aren't pretty, but they're a good place to put some information or instructions. If you are after more options for your new page then you should be thinking about adding a [[Web page]] and making use of Moodle's WYSIWYG editor.

Of course the resource may already exist in electronic form so you may want to [[File or website link|link to an uploaded file or external website]] or simply display the complete contents of a [[Directory|directory]] in your course files and let your users pick the file themselves. If you have an [[IMS content package]] then this can be easily added to your course.

Use a [[Label|label]] to embed instructions or information in the course section.

==Blocks==
[[Image:Block_add_dropdown_list2.JPG |thumb|150px|right|Add Block drop-down menu]]
Each course homepage generally contains [[Blocks_%28teacher%29|blocks]] on the left and right with the centre column containing the course content. Blocks may be added, hidden, deleted, and moved up, down and left/right when editing is turned on. Examples of blocks can be see in the Getting Starting image above. [[Latest News block|"Latest News"]], "[[Blogs]]", [[Upcoming Events block|"Upcoming Events"]], and [[Recent Activity block|"Recent Activity"]] are a few examples.

A wide range of [[Blocks_%28teacher%29#Block_types|over 16 different block types]] can provide additional information or functionality to the learner by the teacher. The standard blocks that come with Moodle are shown on the right. There are also many [[:Category:Block (non-standard)|non-standard blocks]] developed by Moodlers that an administrator can add to this list.

A teacher with editing rights will also have a course [[Administration_block|administration block]]. This block has sub menus for course: backup/restore, enrollments, format, reports, grades, activity logs, files and other useful tools.

==General advice==

* Subscribe yourself to all of the [[forum]]s in your course so that you can keep in touch with your class activity.
* Encourage all of the students to fill out their [[Edit profile|user profile]] (including photos) and read them all - this will help provide some context to their later writings and help you to respond in ways that are tailored to their own needs.
* Keep notes to yourself in the private "Teacher's Forum" (under Administration). This is especially useful when team teaching.
* Use the [[Logs]] link (under Administration) to get access to complete, raw logs. In there you'll see a link to a popup window that updates every sixty seconds and shows the last hour of activity. This is useful to keep open on your desktop all day so you can feel in touch with what's going on in the course.
* Use many reports. [[Reports]] in the Administration block, [[Recent_activity|Activity Reports]] (next to each name in the list of all people, or from any user profile page). These provide a great way to see what any particular person has been up to in the course.
* Respond quickly to students. Don't leave it for later - do it right away. Not only is it easy to become overwhelmed with the volume that can be generated, but it's a crucial part of building and maintaining a community feel in your course.
*Don't be afraid to experiment: feel free to poke around and change things. It's hard to break anything in a Moodle course, and even if you do it's usually easy to fix it.
* Use the [[Navigation bar|navigation bar]] at the top of each page - this should help remind you where you are and prevent getting lost

== See also ==
*[[Blogs]] - blogs in Moodle
*[[Teaching with Moodle]] - inspiring links
*[[http://moodle.org/mod/forum/discuss.php?d=66854 Moodle and elearning intro]] - Written by Martin Langhoff
*[[Teaching do's and don'ts]] - hints
*[[Moodle manuals]] - a list of links to manuals and books
*[[Using Moodle book]] - a real book you can reprint!
*[[Teaching FAQ]] - common questions
*[http://moodle.tokem.fi/mod/book/view.php?id=5116&chapterid=256 Example of a course teaching checklist],
*One example of a site specific [[http://moodle.tokem.fi/mod/book/view.php?id=5116 Teacher's Moodle Manual]], done in Moodle with the book module
*[[Tips and tricks]]
*[[Student FAQ]] - students have questions about technology?

[[Category:Teacher]]
[[es:Documentación para Profesores]]
[[eu:Irakasleentzako dokumentazioa]]
[[fr:Documentation enseignant]]
[[it:Documentazione per Docenti]]
[[nl:Documentatie voor leraren]]
[[fi:Opettajan opas]]
[[ru:Учителям]]
[[zh:教师文档]]
[[ja:教師ドキュメント]]

Teacher documentation

2007-06-27T20:19:12Z

Divb: /* Editing course section */

==Getting started==
If you are a new user and would like a list of all teacher documentation articles, please see [[:Category:Teacher]].

We are assuming that your site administrator has set up Moodle, you are a user with teacher privileges and the administrator has assigned you to a new, blank course. Don't forget, [http://demo.moodle.org/ demo.moodle.org] will let you play an hour at a time for free.

You will need to be [[Log in | logged into]] the course as a user who has been assigned [[Teacher|a role as a teacher]] (with editing rights) on that course to use most of the features below. We have some tips if you are having [[Can not log in | trouble logging in]].

Now onto the real details. You will find the [[Course homepage|course homepage]] is broken down into [[Course sections|course sections]]. A course is created by [[Adding resources and activities|adding resources and activities]]. When writing text in Moodle you have a range of [[Formatting options]], including using [[HTML editor|HTML in Moodle]]. There are different ways to enroll [[Students]] and assign them to one or more [[Groups]] in a course.

The example below shows a new course set up with topic sections, edit is on. There are a few of Moodle's many [[:Category:Block|blocks]] on the right and left sides of the topics, such as "Latest News" or "[[Administration block|Administration]]". The teacher is all ready to add resources and activities or a few new blocks to their brand new course.
[[Image:Course edit on new 2.jpg|thumb|center|500px|Getting started image - a new course]]

==Editing course section==
[[Image:Turn_edit_on_Student_on_buttons.JPG]] 
To add or alter activities or resources a teacher will need to [[Turn editing on|turn editing on]] and off with a button on the course homepage. The student view/change roles option allows the teacher to get a general idea of what students will see. There is also an "editing on" link in the [[Administration block|administration block]]. The turn editing option toggles between on and off, and when on, shows a variety of editing icons next to all editable objects in the course. Here are some common editing icons, for more details about them [[Adding/editing_a_course#Editing_a_course|go to adding/editing a course]]. To ADD items you must use the appropriate drop-downs for them.

{| border="1" cellpadding="2" cellspacing="0"
!width="30"|Icon
!width="110"|Effect
!width="30"|Icon
!width="110"|Effect
!width="30"|Icon
!width="110"|Effect
!width="30"|Icon
!width="110"|Effect
|-
|[[Image:Edit.gif]]|| Edit item ||[[Image:Open.gif]]* || Close||[[Image:Delete.gif]]* || Delete/Remove ||[[Image:Move.gif]] ||Move (up/down)
|-
||[[Image:All.gif]] ||See all weeks/topics||[[Image:Closed.gif]]* || Open ||[[Image:Right.gif]] || Indent ||[[Image:Movehere.gif]] || Move here
|-
||[[Image:One.gif]] || See one week/topic||[[Image:Help.gif]] ||Help || || ||[[Image:Marker.gif]] ||Make Current (highlight) week/topic
|}
 
*(Note that the open eye indicates that the resource is visible, while clicking it changes it to be invisible (to students), and vice versa with the closed eye. Note that the X deletes resources and activities (with a warning) whereas it only removes blocks (which can be added at any time later)

==Activity modules==

[[Image:Activity_dropdown.JPG|frame|right|Add an activity drop-down menu]]
There are a number of robust interactive learning [[:Category:Modules|activity modules]] that you may [[Adding_resources_and_activities | add to your course]].

Communication and collaboration may take place using [[Chats]] and [[Forums]] for conversational activities and [[Choices]] to gain group feedback. Adding [[Wikis]] to your courses is an excellent way to allow students to work together on a project.

Work can be submitted by students and marked by teachers using [[Assignments]] or [[Workshops]]. The [[Quizzes]] offer several options for automatic scoring. You can even integrate your Hot Potato quizzes by adding a [[Hotpot]] activity.

[[Lessons]] and [[SCORM]] activities deliver content and offer ways of individualizing your presentation based upon a student's choices. Key words can be added to [[Glossaries]] by yourself or, if you allow it, your students.

[[Surveys]] and [[Database module|Databases]] are also very powerful additions to any course.

If all of that isn't enough for you then you can also add [[:Category:Modules (non-standard)|non-standard modules]] that are not part of the official Moodle release!

==Resources==

[[Image:Resource_pulldown_menu.JPG|frame|left|Add a resource drop-down menu]]

Moodle supports a range of different [[Resources|resource types]] that allow you to include almost any kind of digital content into your courses. These can be added by using the [[Adding_resources_and_activities | add a resource]] dropdown box when editing is turned on.

A [[Text page]] is a simple page written using plain text. Text pages aren't pretty, but they're a good place to put some information or instructions. If you are after more options for your new page then you should be thinking about adding a [[Web page]] and making use of Moodle's WYSIWYG editor.

Of course the resource may already exist in electronic form so you may want to [[File or website link|link to an uploaded file or external website]] or simply display the complete contents of a [[Directory|directory]] in your course files and let your users pick the file themselves. If you have an [[IMS content package]] then this can be easily added to your course.

Use a [[Label|label]] to embed instructions or information in the course section.

==Blocks==
[[Image:Block_add_dropdown_list2.JPG |thumb|150px|right|Add Block drop-down menu]]
Each course homepage generally contains [[Blocks_%28teacher%29|blocks]] on the left and right with the centre column containing the course content. Blocks may be added, hidden, deleted, and moved up, down and left/right when editing is turned on. Examples of blocks can be see in the Getting Starting image above. [[Latest News block|"Latest News"]], "[[Blogs]]", [[Upcoming Events block|"Upcoming Events"]], and [[Recent Activity block|"Recent Activity"]] are a few examples.

A wide range of [[Blocks_%28teacher%29#Block_types|over 16 different block types]] can provide additional information or functionality to the learner by the teacher. The standard blocks that come with Moodle are shown on the right. There are also many [[:Category:Block (non-standard)|non-standard blocks]] developed by Moodlers that an administrator can add to this list.

A teacher with editing rights will also have a course [[Administration_block|administration block]]. This block has sub menus for course: backup/restore, enrollments, format, reports, grades, activity logs, files and other useful tools.

==General advice==

* Subscribe yourself to all of the [[forum]]s in your course so that you can keep in touch with your class activity.
* Encourage all of the students to fill out their [[Edit profile|user profile]] (including photos) and read them all - this will help provide some context to their later writings and help you to respond in ways that are tailored to their own needs.
* Keep notes to yourself in the private "Teacher's Forum" (under Administration). This is especially useful when team teaching.
* Use the [[Logs]] link (under Administration) to get access to complete, raw logs. In there you'll see a link to a popup window that updates every sixty seconds and shows the last hour of activity. This is useful to keep open on your desktop all day so you can feel in touch with what's going on in the course.
* Use many reports. [[Reports]] in the Administration block, [[Recent_activity|Activity Reports]] (next to each name in the list of all people, or from any user profile page). These provide a great way to see what any particular person has been up to in the course.
* Respond quickly to students. Don't leave it for later - do it right away. Not only is it easy to become overwhelmed with the volume that can be generated, but it's a crucial part of building and maintaining a community feel in your course.
*Don't be afraid to experiment: feel free to poke around and change things. It's hard to break anything in a Moodle course, and even if you do it's usually easy to fix it.
* Use the [[Navigation bar|navigation bar]] at the top of each page - this should help remind you where you are and prevent getting lost

== See also ==
*[[Blogs]] - blogs in Moodle
*[[Teaching with Moodle]] - inspiring links
*[[http://moodle.org/mod/forum/discuss.php?d=66854 Moodle and elearning intro]] - Written by Martin Langhoff
*[[Teaching do's and don'ts]] - hints
*[[Moodle manuals]] - a list of links to manuals and books
*[[Using Moodle book]] - a real book you can reprint!
*[[Teaching FAQ]] - common questions
*[http://moodle.tokem.fi/mod/book/view.php?id=5116&chapterid=256 Example of a course teaching checklist],
*One example of a site specific [[http://moodle.tokem.fi/mod/book/view.php?id=5116 Teacher's Moodle Manual]], done in Moodle with the book module
*[[Tips and tricks]]
*[[Student FAQ]] - students have questions about technology?

[[Category:Teacher]]
[[es:Documentación para Profesores]]
[[eu:Irakasleentzako dokumentazioa]]
[[fr:Documentation enseignant]]
[[it:Documentazione per Docenti]]
[[nl:Documentatie voor leraren]]
[[fi:Opettajan opas]]
[[ru:Учителям]]
[[zh:教师文档]]
[[ja:教師ドキュメント]]

Teacher documentation

2007-06-27T20:14:46Z

Divb: /* Editing course section */

==Getting started==
If you are a new user and would like a list of all teacher documentation articles, please see [[:Category:Teacher]].

We are assuming that your site administrator has set up Moodle, you are a user with teacher privileges and the administrator has assigned you to a new, blank course. Don't forget, [http://demo.moodle.org/ demo.moodle.org] will let you play an hour at a time for free.

You will need to be [[Log in | logged into]] the course as a user who has been assigned [[Teacher|a role as a teacher]] (with editing rights) on that course to use most of the features below. We have some tips if you are having [[Can not log in | trouble logging in]].

Now onto the real details. You will find the [[Course homepage|course homepage]] is broken down into [[Course sections|course sections]]. A course is created by [[Adding resources and activities|adding resources and activities]]. When writing text in Moodle you have a range of [[Formatting options]], including using [[HTML editor|HTML in Moodle]]. There are different ways to enroll [[Students]] and assign them to one or more [[Groups]] in a course.

The example below shows a new course set up with topic sections, edit is on. There are a few of Moodle's many [[:Category:Block|blocks]] on the right and left sides of the topics, such as "Latest News" or "[[Administration block|Administration]]". The teacher is all ready to add resources and activities or a few new blocks to their brand new course.
[[Image:Course edit on new 2.jpg|thumb|center|500px|Getting started image - a new course]]

==Editing course section==
[[Image:Turn_edit_on_Student_on_buttons.JPG]] 
To add or alter activities or resources a teacher will need to [[Turn editing on|turn editing on]] and off with a button on the course homepage. The student view button allows the teacher to get a general idea of what students will see. There is also an "editing on" link in the [[Administration block|administration block]]. These buttons and links toggle between on and off. Here are some common editing icons, for more details about them [[Adding/editing_a_course#Editing_a_course|go to adding/editing a course]].

{| border="1" cellpadding="2" cellspacing="0"
!width="30"|Icon
!width="100"|Effect
!width="30"|Icon
!width="100"|Effect
!width="30"|Icon
!width="100"|Effect
!width="30"|Icon
!width="100"|Effect
|-
|[[Image:Edit.gif]]|| Edit text ||[[Image:Open.gif]]* || Close||[[Image:Delete.gif]]* || Delete/Remove ||[[Image:Move.gif]] ||Move (up/down)
|-
||[[Image:All.gif]] ||See all weeks/topics||[[Image:Closed.gif]]* || Open ||[[Image:Right.gif]] || Indent ||[[Image:Movehere.gif]] || Move here
|-
||[[Image:One.gif]] || See one week/topic||[[Image:Help.gif]] ||Help || || ||[[Image:Marker.gif]] ||Make Current (highlight) week/topic
|}
 
*(Note that the open eye indicates that the resource is visible, while clicking it changes it to be invisible (to students), and vice versa with the closed eye. Note that the X deletes resources and activities (with a warning) whereas it only removes blocks (which can be added at any time later)

==Activity modules==

[[Image:Activity_dropdown.JPG|frame|right|Add an activity drop-down menu]]
There are a number of robust interactive learning [[:Category:Modules|activity modules]] that you may [[Adding_resources_and_activities | add to your course]].

Communication and collaboration may take place using [[Chats]] and [[Forums]] for conversational activities and [[Choices]] to gain group feedback. Adding [[Wikis]] to your courses is an excellent way to allow students to work together on a project.

Work can be submitted by students and marked by teachers using [[Assignments]] or [[Workshops]]. The [[Quizzes]] offer several options for automatic scoring. You can even integrate your Hot Potato quizzes by adding a [[Hotpot]] activity.

[[Lessons]] and [[SCORM]] activities deliver content and offer ways of individualizing your presentation based upon a student's choices. Key words can be added to [[Glossaries]] by yourself or, if you allow it, your students.

[[Surveys]] and [[Database module|Databases]] are also very powerful additions to any course.

If all of that isn't enough for you then you can also add [[:Category:Modules (non-standard)|non-standard modules]] that are not part of the official Moodle release!

==Resources==

[[Image:Resource_pulldown_menu.JPG|frame|left|Add a resource drop-down menu]]

Moodle supports a range of different [[Resources|resource types]] that allow you to include almost any kind of digital content into your courses. These can be added by using the [[Adding_resources_and_activities | add a resource]] dropdown box when editing is turned on.

A [[Text page]] is a simple page written using plain text. Text pages aren't pretty, but they're a good place to put some information or instructions. If you are after more options for your new page then you should be thinking about adding a [[Web page]] and making use of Moodle's WYSIWYG editor.

Of course the resource may already exist in electronic form so you may want to [[File or website link|link to an uploaded file or external website]] or simply display the complete contents of a [[Directory|directory]] in your course files and let your users pick the file themselves. If you have an [[IMS content package]] then this can be easily added to your course.

Use a [[Label|label]] to embed instructions or information in the course section.

==Blocks==
[[Image:Block_add_dropdown_list2.JPG |thumb|150px|right|Add Block drop-down menu]]
Each course homepage generally contains [[Blocks_%28teacher%29|blocks]] on the left and right with the centre column containing the course content. Blocks may be added, hidden, deleted, and moved up, down and left/right when editing is turned on. Examples of blocks can be see in the Getting Starting image above. [[Latest News block|"Latest News"]], "[[Blogs]]", [[Upcoming Events block|"Upcoming Events"]], and [[Recent Activity block|"Recent Activity"]] are a few examples.

A wide range of [[Blocks_%28teacher%29#Block_types|over 16 different block types]] can provide additional information or functionality to the learner by the teacher. The standard blocks that come with Moodle are shown on the right. There are also many [[:Category:Block (non-standard)|non-standard blocks]] developed by Moodlers that an administrator can add to this list.

A teacher with editing rights will also have a course [[Administration_block|administration block]]. This block has sub menus for course: backup/restore, enrollments, format, reports, grades, activity logs, files and other useful tools.

==General advice==

* Subscribe yourself to all of the [[forum]]s in your course so that you can keep in touch with your class activity.
* Encourage all of the students to fill out their [[Edit profile|user profile]] (including photos) and read them all - this will help provide some context to their later writings and help you to respond in ways that are tailored to their own needs.
* Keep notes to yourself in the private "Teacher's Forum" (under Administration). This is especially useful when team teaching.
* Use the [[Logs]] link (under Administration) to get access to complete, raw logs. In there you'll see a link to a popup window that updates every sixty seconds and shows the last hour of activity. This is useful to keep open on your desktop all day so you can feel in touch with what's going on in the course.
* Use many reports. [[Reports]] in the Administration block, [[Recent_activity|Activity Reports]] (next to each name in the list of all people, or from any user profile page). These provide a great way to see what any particular person has been up to in the course.
* Respond quickly to students. Don't leave it for later - do it right away. Not only is it easy to become overwhelmed with the volume that can be generated, but it's a crucial part of building and maintaining a community feel in your course.
*Don't be afraid to experiment: feel free to poke around and change things. It's hard to break anything in a Moodle course, and even if you do it's usually easy to fix it.
* Use the [[Navigation bar|navigation bar]] at the top of each page - this should help remind you where you are and prevent getting lost

== See also ==
*[[Blogs]] - blogs in Moodle
*[[Teaching with Moodle]] - inspiring links
*[[http://moodle.org/mod/forum/discuss.php?d=66854 Moodle and elearning intro]] - Written by Martin Langhoff
*[[Teaching do's and don'ts]] - hints
*[[Moodle manuals]] - a list of links to manuals and books
*[[Using Moodle book]] - a real book you can reprint!
*[[Teaching FAQ]] - common questions
*[http://moodle.tokem.fi/mod/book/view.php?id=5116&chapterid=256 Example of a course teaching checklist],
*One example of a site specific [[http://moodle.tokem.fi/mod/book/view.php?id=5116 Teacher's Moodle Manual]], done in Moodle with the book module
*[[Tips and tricks]]
*[[Student FAQ]] - students have questions about technology?

[[Category:Teacher]]
[[es:Documentación para Profesores]]
[[eu:Irakasleentzako dokumentazioa]]
[[fr:Documentation enseignant]]
[[it:Documentazione per Docenti]]
[[nl:Documentatie voor leraren]]
[[fi:Opettajan opas]]
[[ru:Учителям]]
[[zh:教师文档]]
[[ja:教師ドキュメント]]

Teacher documentation

2007-06-27T20:12:57Z

Divb: /* Editing course section */

==Getting started==
If you are a new user and would like a list of all teacher documentation articles, please see [[:Category:Teacher]].

We are assuming that your site administrator has set up Moodle, you are a user with teacher privileges and the administrator has assigned you to a new, blank course. Don't forget, [http://demo.moodle.org/ demo.moodle.org] will let you play an hour at a time for free.

You will need to be [[Log in | logged into]] the course as a user who has been assigned [[Teacher|a role as a teacher]] (with editing rights) on that course to use most of the features below. We have some tips if you are having [[Can not log in | trouble logging in]].

Now onto the real details. You will find the [[Course homepage|course homepage]] is broken down into [[Course sections|course sections]]. A course is created by [[Adding resources and activities|adding resources and activities]]. When writing text in Moodle you have a range of [[Formatting options]], including using [[HTML editor|HTML in Moodle]]. There are different ways to enroll [[Students]] and assign them to one or more [[Groups]] in a course.

The example below shows a new course set up with topic sections, edit is on. There are a few of Moodle's many [[:Category:Block|blocks]] on the right and left sides of the topics, such as "Latest News" or "[[Administration block|Administration]]". The teacher is all ready to add resources and activities or a few new blocks to their brand new course.
[[Image:Course edit on new 2.jpg|thumb|center|500px|Getting started image - a new course]]

==Editing course section==
[[Image:Turn_edit_on_Student_on_buttons.JPG]] 
To add or alter activities or resources a teacher will need to [[Turn editing on|turn editing on]] and off with a button on the course homepage. The student view button allows the teacher to get a general idea of what students will see. There is also an "editing on" link in the [[Administration block|administration block]]. These buttons and links toggle between on and off. Here are some common editing icons, for more details about them [[Adding/editing_a_course#Editing_a_course|go to adding/editing a course]].

{| border="1" cellpadding="2" cellspacing="0"
!width="30"|Icon
!width="100"|Effect
!width="30"|Icon
!width="100"|Effect
!width="30"|Icon
!width="100"|Effect
!width="30"|Icon
!width="100"|Effect
|-
|[[Image:Edit.gif]]|| Edit text ||[[Image:Open.gif]] || Close*||[[Image:Delete.gif]] || Delete/Remove+ ||[[Image:Move.gif]] ||Move
|-
||[[Image:All.gif]] ||See all topics||[[Image:Closed.gif]] || Open* ||[[Image:Right.gif]] || Indent ||[[Image:Movehere.gif]] || Move here
|-
||[[Image:One.gif]] || See one topic||[[Image:Help.gif]] ||Help || || ||[[Image:Marker.gif]] ||Make Current
|}
 
*(Note that the open eye indicates that the resource is visible, while clicking it changes it to be invisible (to students), and vice versa with the closed eye. Note that the X deletes resources and activities (with a warning) whereas it only removes blocks (which can be added at any time later)

==Activity modules==

[[Image:Activity_dropdown.JPG|frame|right|Add an activity drop-down menu]]
There are a number of robust interactive learning [[:Category:Modules|activity modules]] that you may [[Adding_resources_and_activities | add to your course]].

Communication and collaboration may take place using [[Chats]] and [[Forums]] for conversational activities and [[Choices]] to gain group feedback. Adding [[Wikis]] to your courses is an excellent way to allow students to work together on a project.

Work can be submitted by students and marked by teachers using [[Assignments]] or [[Workshops]]. The [[Quizzes]] offer several options for automatic scoring. You can even integrate your Hot Potato quizzes by adding a [[Hotpot]] activity.

[[Lessons]] and [[SCORM]] activities deliver content and offer ways of individualizing your presentation based upon a student's choices. Key words can be added to [[Glossaries]] by yourself or, if you allow it, your students.

[[Surveys]] and [[Database module|Databases]] are also very powerful additions to any course.

If all of that isn't enough for you then you can also add [[:Category:Modules (non-standard)|non-standard modules]] that are not part of the official Moodle release!

==Resources==

[[Image:Resource_pulldown_menu.JPG|frame|left|Add a resource drop-down menu]]

Moodle supports a range of different [[Resources|resource types]] that allow you to include almost any kind of digital content into your courses. These can be added by using the [[Adding_resources_and_activities | add a resource]] dropdown box when editing is turned on.

A [[Text page]] is a simple page written using plain text. Text pages aren't pretty, but they're a good place to put some information or instructions. If you are after more options for your new page then you should be thinking about adding a [[Web page]] and making use of Moodle's WYSIWYG editor.

Of course the resource may already exist in electronic form so you may want to [[File or website link|link to an uploaded file or external website]] or simply display the complete contents of a [[Directory|directory]] in your course files and let your users pick the file themselves. If you have an [[IMS content package]] then this can be easily added to your course.

Use a [[Label|label]] to embed instructions or information in the course section.

==Blocks==
[[Image:Block_add_dropdown_list2.JPG |thumb|150px|right|Add Block drop-down menu]]
Each course homepage generally contains [[Blocks_%28teacher%29|blocks]] on the left and right with the centre column containing the course content. Blocks may be added, hidden, deleted, and moved up, down and left/right when editing is turned on. Examples of blocks can be see in the Getting Starting image above. [[Latest News block|"Latest News"]], "[[Blogs]]", [[Upcoming Events block|"Upcoming Events"]], and [[Recent Activity block|"Recent Activity"]] are a few examples.

A wide range of [[Blocks_%28teacher%29#Block_types|over 16 different block types]] can provide additional information or functionality to the learner by the teacher. The standard blocks that come with Moodle are shown on the right. There are also many [[:Category:Block (non-standard)|non-standard blocks]] developed by Moodlers that an administrator can add to this list.

A teacher with editing rights will also have a course [[Administration_block|administration block]]. This block has sub menus for course: backup/restore, enrollments, format, reports, grades, activity logs, files and other useful tools.

==General advice==

* Subscribe yourself to all of the [[forum]]s in your course so that you can keep in touch with your class activity.
* Encourage all of the students to fill out their [[Edit profile|user profile]] (including photos) and read them all - this will help provide some context to their later writings and help you to respond in ways that are tailored to their own needs.
* Keep notes to yourself in the private "Teacher's Forum" (under Administration). This is especially useful when team teaching.
* Use the [[Logs]] link (under Administration) to get access to complete, raw logs. In there you'll see a link to a popup window that updates every sixty seconds and shows the last hour of activity. This is useful to keep open on your desktop all day so you can feel in touch with what's going on in the course.
* Use many reports. [[Reports]] in the Administration block, [[Recent_activity|Activity Reports]] (next to each name in the list of all people, or from any user profile page). These provide a great way to see what any particular person has been up to in the course.
* Respond quickly to students. Don't leave it for later - do it right away. Not only is it easy to become overwhelmed with the volume that can be generated, but it's a crucial part of building and maintaining a community feel in your course.
*Don't be afraid to experiment: feel free to poke around and change things. It's hard to break anything in a Moodle course, and even if you do it's usually easy to fix it.
* Use the [[Navigation bar|navigation bar]] at the top of each page - this should help remind you where you are and prevent getting lost

== See also ==
*[[Blogs]] - blogs in Moodle
*[[Teaching with Moodle]] - inspiring links
*[[http://moodle.org/mod/forum/discuss.php?d=66854 Moodle and elearning intro]] - Written by Martin Langhoff
*[[Teaching do's and don'ts]] - hints
*[[Moodle manuals]] - a list of links to manuals and books
*[[Using Moodle book]] - a real book you can reprint!
*[[Teaching FAQ]] - common questions
*[http://moodle.tokem.fi/mod/book/view.php?id=5116&chapterid=256 Example of a course teaching checklist],
*One example of a site specific [[http://moodle.tokem.fi/mod/book/view.php?id=5116 Teacher's Moodle Manual]], done in Moodle with the book module
*[[Tips and tricks]]
*[[Student FAQ]] - students have questions about technology?

[[Category:Teacher]]
[[es:Documentación para Profesores]]
[[eu:Irakasleentzako dokumentazioa]]
[[fr:Documentation enseignant]]
[[it:Documentazione per Docenti]]
[[nl:Documentatie voor leraren]]
[[fi:Opettajan opas]]
[[ru:Учителям]]
[[zh:教师文档]]
[[ja:教師ドキュメント]]

Teacher documentation

2007-06-27T20:10:22Z

Divb: /* Editing course section */

==Getting started==
If you are a new user and would like a list of all teacher documentation articles, please see [[:Category:Teacher]].

We are assuming that your site administrator has set up Moodle, you are a user with teacher privileges and the administrator has assigned you to a new, blank course. Don't forget, [http://demo.moodle.org/ demo.moodle.org] will let you play an hour at a time for free.

You will need to be [[Log in | logged into]] the course as a user who has been assigned [[Teacher|a role as a teacher]] (with editing rights) on that course to use most of the features below. We have some tips if you are having [[Can not log in | trouble logging in]].

Now onto the real details. You will find the [[Course homepage|course homepage]] is broken down into [[Course sections|course sections]]. A course is created by [[Adding resources and activities|adding resources and activities]]. When writing text in Moodle you have a range of [[Formatting options]], including using [[HTML editor|HTML in Moodle]]. There are different ways to enroll [[Students]] and assign them to one or more [[Groups]] in a course.

The example below shows a new course set up with topic sections, edit is on. There are a few of Moodle's many [[:Category:Block|blocks]] on the right and left sides of the topics, such as "Latest News" or "[[Administration block|Administration]]". The teacher is all ready to add resources and activities or a few new blocks to their brand new course.
[[Image:Course edit on new 2.jpg|thumb|center|500px|Getting started image - a new course]]

==Editing course section==
[[Image:Turn_edit_on_Student_on_buttons.JPG]] 
To add or alter activities or resources a teacher will need to [[Turn editing on|turn editing on]] and off with a button on the course homepage. The student view button allows the teacher to get a general idea of what students will see. There is also an "editing on" link in the [[Administration block|administration block]]. These buttons and links toggle between on and off. Here are some common editing icons, for more details about them [[Adding/editing_a_course#Editing_a_course|go to adding/editing a course]].

{| border="1" cellpadding="2" cellspacing="0"
!width="30"|Icon
!width="100"|Effect
!width="30"|Icon
!width="100"|Effect
!width="30"|Icon
!width="100"|Effect
!width="30"|Icon
!width="100"|Effect
|-
|[[Image:Edit.gif]]|| Edit text ||[[Image:Open.gif]] || Close *||[[Image:Delete.gif]] || Delete/Remove* ||[[Image:Move.gif]] ||Move
|-
||[[Image:All.gif]] ||See all topics||[[Image:Closed.gif]] || Open* ||[[Image:Right.gif]] || Indent ||[[Image:Movehere.gif]] || Move here
|-
||[[Image:One.gif]] || See one topic||[[Image:Help.gif]] ||Help || || ||[[Image:Marker.gif]] ||Make Current
|}
 

==Activity modules==

[[Image:Activity_dropdown.JPG|frame|right|Add an activity drop-down menu]]
There are a number of robust interactive learning [[:Category:Modules|activity modules]] that you may [[Adding_resources_and_activities | add to your course]].

Communication and collaboration may take place using [[Chats]] and [[Forums]] for conversational activities and [[Choices]] to gain group feedback. Adding [[Wikis]] to your courses is an excellent way to allow students to work together on a project.

Work can be submitted by students and marked by teachers using [[Assignments]] or [[Workshops]]. The [[Quizzes]] offer several options for automatic scoring. You can even integrate your Hot Potato quizzes by adding a [[Hotpot]] activity.

[[Lessons]] and [[SCORM]] activities deliver content and offer ways of individualizing your presentation based upon a student's choices. Key words can be added to [[Glossaries]] by yourself or, if you allow it, your students.

[[Surveys]] and [[Database module|Databases]] are also very powerful additions to any course.

If all of that isn't enough for you then you can also add [[:Category:Modules (non-standard)|non-standard modules]] that are not part of the official Moodle release!

==Resources==

[[Image:Resource_pulldown_menu.JPG|frame|left|Add a resource drop-down menu]]

Moodle supports a range of different [[Resources|resource types]] that allow you to include almost any kind of digital content into your courses. These can be added by using the [[Adding_resources_and_activities | add a resource]] dropdown box when editing is turned on.

A [[Text page]] is a simple page written using plain text. Text pages aren't pretty, but they're a good place to put some information or instructions. If you are after more options for your new page then you should be thinking about adding a [[Web page]] and making use of Moodle's WYSIWYG editor.

Of course the resource may already exist in electronic form so you may want to [[File or website link|link to an uploaded file or external website]] or simply display the complete contents of a [[Directory|directory]] in your course files and let your users pick the file themselves. If you have an [[IMS content package]] then this can be easily added to your course.

Use a [[Label|label]] to embed instructions or information in the course section.

==Blocks==
[[Image:Block_add_dropdown_list2.JPG |thumb|150px|right|Add Block drop-down menu]]
Each course homepage generally contains [[Blocks_%28teacher%29|blocks]] on the left and right with the centre column containing the course content. Blocks may be added, hidden, deleted, and moved up, down and left/right when editing is turned on. Examples of blocks can be see in the Getting Starting image above. [[Latest News block|"Latest News"]], "[[Blogs]]", [[Upcoming Events block|"Upcoming Events"]], and [[Recent Activity block|"Recent Activity"]] are a few examples.

A wide range of [[Blocks_%28teacher%29#Block_types|over 16 different block types]] can provide additional information or functionality to the learner by the teacher. The standard blocks that come with Moodle are shown on the right. There are also many [[:Category:Block (non-standard)|non-standard blocks]] developed by Moodlers that an administrator can add to this list.

A teacher with editing rights will also have a course [[Administration_block|administration block]]. This block has sub menus for course: backup/restore, enrollments, format, reports, grades, activity logs, files and other useful tools.

==General advice==

* Subscribe yourself to all of the [[forum]]s in your course so that you can keep in touch with your class activity.
* Encourage all of the students to fill out their [[Edit profile|user profile]] (including photos) and read them all - this will help provide some context to their later writings and help you to respond in ways that are tailored to their own needs.
* Keep notes to yourself in the private "Teacher's Forum" (under Administration). This is especially useful when team teaching.
* Use the [[Logs]] link (under Administration) to get access to complete, raw logs. In there you'll see a link to a popup window that updates every sixty seconds and shows the last hour of activity. This is useful to keep open on your desktop all day so you can feel in touch with what's going on in the course.
* Use many reports. [[Reports]] in the Administration block, [[Recent_activity|Activity Reports]] (next to each name in the list of all people, or from any user profile page). These provide a great way to see what any particular person has been up to in the course.
* Respond quickly to students. Don't leave it for later - do it right away. Not only is it easy to become overwhelmed with the volume that can be generated, but it's a crucial part of building and maintaining a community feel in your course.
*Don't be afraid to experiment: feel free to poke around and change things. It's hard to break anything in a Moodle course, and even if you do it's usually easy to fix it.
* Use the [[Navigation bar|navigation bar]] at the top of each page - this should help remind you where you are and prevent getting lost

== See also ==
*[[Blogs]] - blogs in Moodle
*[[Teaching with Moodle]] - inspiring links
*[[http://moodle.org/mod/forum/discuss.php?d=66854 Moodle and elearning intro]] - Written by Martin Langhoff
*[[Teaching do's and don'ts]] - hints
*[[Moodle manuals]] - a list of links to manuals and books
*[[Using Moodle book]] - a real book you can reprint!
*[[Teaching FAQ]] - common questions
*[http://moodle.tokem.fi/mod/book/view.php?id=5116&chapterid=256 Example of a course teaching checklist],
*One example of a site specific [[http://moodle.tokem.fi/mod/book/view.php?id=5116 Teacher's Moodle Manual]], done in Moodle with the book module
*[[Tips and tricks]]
*[[Student FAQ]] - students have questions about technology?

[[Category:Teacher]]
[[es:Documentación para Profesores]]
[[eu:Irakasleentzako dokumentazioa]]
[[fr:Documentation enseignant]]
[[it:Documentazione per Docenti]]
[[nl:Documentatie voor leraren]]
[[fi:Opettajan opas]]
[[ru:Учителям]]
[[zh:教师文档]]
[[ja:教師ドキュメント]]

Teacher documentation

2007-06-27T20:09:02Z

Divb: clicking the open eye closes it and vice versa- these were reversed.

==Getting started==
If you are a new user and would like a list of all teacher documentation articles, please see [[:Category:Teacher]].

We are assuming that your site administrator has set up Moodle, you are a user with teacher privileges and the administrator has assigned you to a new, blank course. Don't forget, [http://demo.moodle.org/ demo.moodle.org] will let you play an hour at a time for free.

You will need to be [[Log in | logged into]] the course as a user who has been assigned [[Teacher|a role as a teacher]] (with editing rights) on that course to use most of the features below. We have some tips if you are having [[Can not log in | trouble logging in]].

Now onto the real details. You will find the [[Course homepage|course homepage]] is broken down into [[Course sections|course sections]]. A course is created by [[Adding resources and activities|adding resources and activities]]. When writing text in Moodle you have a range of [[Formatting options]], including using [[HTML editor|HTML in Moodle]]. There are different ways to enroll [[Students]] and assign them to one or more [[Groups]] in a course.

The example below shows a new course set up with topic sections, edit is on. There are a few of Moodle's many [[:Category:Block|blocks]] on the right and left sides of the topics, such as "Latest News" or "[[Administration block|Administration]]". The teacher is all ready to add resources and activities or a few new blocks to their brand new course.
[[Image:Course edit on new 2.jpg|thumb|center|500px|Getting started image - a new course]]

==Editing course section==
[[Image:Turn_edit_on_Student_on_buttons.JPG]] 
To add or alter activities or resources a teacher will need to [[Turn editing on|turn editing on]] and off with a button on the course homepage. The student view button allows the teacher to get a general idea of what students will see. There is also an "editing on" link in the [[Administration block|administration block]]. These buttons and links toggle between on and off. Here are some common editing icons, for more details about them [[Adding/editing_a_course#Editing_a_course|go to adding/editing a course]].

{| border="1" cellpadding="2" cellspacing="0"
!width="30"|Icon
!width="100"|Effect
!width="30"|Icon
!width="100"|Effect
!width="30"|Icon
!width="100"|Effect
!width="30"|Icon
!width="100"|Effect
|-
|[[Image:Edit.gif]]|| Edit text ||[[Image:Open.gif]] || Close ||[[Image:Delete.gif]] || Remove ||[[Image:Move.gif]] ||Move
|-
||[[Image:All.gif]] ||See all topics||[[Image:Closed.gif]] ||Open||[[Image:Right.gif]] || Indent ||[[Image:Movehere.gif]] || Move here
|-
||[[Image:One.gif]] || See one topic||[[Image:Help.gif]] ||Help || || ||[[Image:Marker.gif]] ||Make Current
|}
 

==Activity modules==

[[Image:Activity_dropdown.JPG|frame|right|Add an activity drop-down menu]]
There are a number of robust interactive learning [[:Category:Modules|activity modules]] that you may [[Adding_resources_and_activities | add to your course]].

Communication and collaboration may take place using [[Chats]] and [[Forums]] for conversational activities and [[Choices]] to gain group feedback. Adding [[Wikis]] to your courses is an excellent way to allow students to work together on a project.

Work can be submitted by students and marked by teachers using [[Assignments]] or [[Workshops]]. The [[Quizzes]] offer several options for automatic scoring. You can even integrate your Hot Potato quizzes by adding a [[Hotpot]] activity.

[[Lessons]] and [[SCORM]] activities deliver content and offer ways of individualizing your presentation based upon a student's choices. Key words can be added to [[Glossaries]] by yourself or, if you allow it, your students.

[[Surveys]] and [[Database module|Databases]] are also very powerful additions to any course.

If all of that isn't enough for you then you can also add [[:Category:Modules (non-standard)|non-standard modules]] that are not part of the official Moodle release!

==Resources==

[[Image:Resource_pulldown_menu.JPG|frame|left|Add a resource drop-down menu]]

Moodle supports a range of different [[Resources|resource types]] that allow you to include almost any kind of digital content into your courses. These can be added by using the [[Adding_resources_and_activities | add a resource]] dropdown box when editing is turned on.

A [[Text page]] is a simple page written using plain text. Text pages aren't pretty, but they're a good place to put some information or instructions. If you are after more options for your new page then you should be thinking about adding a [[Web page]] and making use of Moodle's WYSIWYG editor.

Of course the resource may already exist in electronic form so you may want to [[File or website link|link to an uploaded file or external website]] or simply display the complete contents of a [[Directory|directory]] in your course files and let your users pick the file themselves. If you have an [[IMS content package]] then this can be easily added to your course.

Use a [[Label|label]] to embed instructions or information in the course section.

==Blocks==
[[Image:Block_add_dropdown_list2.JPG |thumb|150px|right|Add Block drop-down menu]]
Each course homepage generally contains [[Blocks_%28teacher%29|blocks]] on the left and right with the centre column containing the course content. Blocks may be added, hidden, deleted, and moved up, down and left/right when editing is turned on. Examples of blocks can be see in the Getting Starting image above. [[Latest News block|"Latest News"]], "[[Blogs]]", [[Upcoming Events block|"Upcoming Events"]], and [[Recent Activity block|"Recent Activity"]] are a few examples.

A wide range of [[Blocks_%28teacher%29#Block_types|over 16 different block types]] can provide additional information or functionality to the learner by the teacher. The standard blocks that come with Moodle are shown on the right. There are also many [[:Category:Block (non-standard)|non-standard blocks]] developed by Moodlers that an administrator can add to this list.

A teacher with editing rights will also have a course [[Administration_block|administration block]]. This block has sub menus for course: backup/restore, enrollments, format, reports, grades, activity logs, files and other useful tools.

==General advice==

* Subscribe yourself to all of the [[forum]]s in your course so that you can keep in touch with your class activity.
* Encourage all of the students to fill out their [[Edit profile|user profile]] (including photos) and read them all - this will help provide some context to their later writings and help you to respond in ways that are tailored to their own needs.
* Keep notes to yourself in the private "Teacher's Forum" (under Administration). This is especially useful when team teaching.
* Use the [[Logs]] link (under Administration) to get access to complete, raw logs. In there you'll see a link to a popup window that updates every sixty seconds and shows the last hour of activity. This is useful to keep open on your desktop all day so you can feel in touch with what's going on in the course.
* Use many reports. [[Reports]] in the Administration block, [[Recent_activity|Activity Reports]] (next to each name in the list of all people, or from any user profile page). These provide a great way to see what any particular person has been up to in the course.
* Respond quickly to students. Don't leave it for later - do it right away. Not only is it easy to become overwhelmed with the volume that can be generated, but it's a crucial part of building and maintaining a community feel in your course.
*Don't be afraid to experiment: feel free to poke around and change things. It's hard to break anything in a Moodle course, and even if you do it's usually easy to fix it.
* Use the [[Navigation bar|navigation bar]] at the top of each page - this should help remind you where you are and prevent getting lost

== See also ==
*[[Blogs]] - blogs in Moodle
*[[Teaching with Moodle]] - inspiring links
*[[http://moodle.org/mod/forum/discuss.php?d=66854 Moodle and elearning intro]] - Written by Martin Langhoff
*[[Teaching do's and don'ts]] - hints
*[[Moodle manuals]] - a list of links to manuals and books
*[[Using Moodle book]] - a real book you can reprint!
*[[Teaching FAQ]] - common questions
*[http://moodle.tokem.fi/mod/book/view.php?id=5116&chapterid=256 Example of a course teaching checklist],
*One example of a site specific [[http://moodle.tokem.fi/mod/book/view.php?id=5116 Teacher's Moodle Manual]], done in Moodle with the book module
*[[Tips and tricks]]
*[[Student FAQ]] - students have questions about technology?

[[Category:Teacher]]
[[es:Documentación para Profesores]]
[[eu:Irakasleentzako dokumentazioa]]
[[fr:Documentation enseignant]]
[[it:Documentazione per Docenti]]
[[nl:Documentatie voor leraren]]
[[fi:Opettajan opas]]
[[ru:Учителям]]
[[zh:教师文档]]
[[ja:教師ドキュメント]]

Teacher documentation

2007-06-27T20:08:03Z

Divb: /* Editing course section */

==Getting started==
If you are a new user and would like a list of all teacher documentation articles, please see [[:Category:Teacher]].

We are assuming that your site administrator has set up Moodle, you are a user with teacher privileges and the administrator has assigned you to a new, blank course. Don't forget, [http://demo.moodle.org/ demo.moodle.org] will let you play an hour at a time for free.

You will need to be [[Log in | logged into]] the course as a user who has been assigned [[Teacher|a role as a teacher]] (with editing rights) on that course to use most of the features below. We have some tips if you are having [[Can not log in | trouble logging in]].

Now onto the real details. You will find the [[Course homepage|course homepage]] is broken down into [[Course sections|course sections]]. A course is created by [[Adding resources and activities|adding resources and activities]]. When writing text in Moodle you have a range of [[Formatting options]], including using [[HTML editor|HTML in Moodle]]. There are different ways to enroll [[Students]] and assign them to one or more [[Groups]] in a course.

The example below shows a new course set up with topic sections, edit is on. There are a few of Moodle's many [[:Category:Block|blocks]] on the right and left sides of the topics, such as "Latest News" or "[[Administration block|Administration]]". The teacher is all ready to add resources and activities or a few new blocks to their brand new course.
[[Image:Course edit on new 2.jpg|thumb|center|500px|Getting started image - a new course]]

==Editing course section==
[[Image:Turn_edit_on_Student_on_buttons.JPG]] 
To add or alter activities or resources a teacher will need to [[Turn editing on|turn editing on]] and off with a button on the course homepage. The student view button allows the teacher to get a general idea of what students will see. There is also an "editing on" link in the [[Administration block|administration block]]. These buttons and links toggle between on and off. Here are some common editing icons, for more details about them [[Adding/editing_a_course#Editing_a_course|go to adding/editing a course]].

{| border="1" cellpadding="2" cellspacing="0"
!width="30"|Icon
!width="100"|Effect
!width="30"|Icon
!width="100"|Effect
!width="30"|Icon
!width="100"|Effect
!width="30"|Icon
!width="100"|Effect
|-
|[[Image:Edit.gif]]|| Edit text ||[[Image:Open.gif]] || Open ||[[Image:Delete.gif]] || Remove ||[[Image:Move.gif]] ||Move
|-
||[[Image:All.gif]] ||See all topics||[[Image:Closed.gif]] ||Close||[[Image:Right.gif]] || Indent ||[[Image:Movehere.gif]] || Move here
|-
||[[Image:One.gif]] || See one topic||[[Image:Help.gif]] ||Help || || ||[[Image:Marker.gif]] ||Make Current
|}
 

==Activity modules==

[[Image:Activity_dropdown.JPG|frame|right|Add an activity drop-down menu]]
There are a number of robust interactive learning [[:Category:Modules|activity modules]] that you may [[Adding_resources_and_activities | add to your course]].

Communication and collaboration may take place using [[Chats]] and [[Forums]] for conversational activities and [[Choices]] to gain group feedback. Adding [[Wikis]] to your courses is an excellent way to allow students to work together on a project.

Work can be submitted by students and marked by teachers using [[Assignments]] or [[Workshops]]. The [[Quizzes]] offer several options for automatic scoring. You can even integrate your Hot Potato quizzes by adding a [[Hotpot]] activity.

[[Lessons]] and [[SCORM]] activities deliver content and offer ways of individualizing your presentation based upon a student's choices. Key words can be added to [[Glossaries]] by yourself or, if you allow it, your students.

[[Surveys]] and [[Database module|Databases]] are also very powerful additions to any course.

If all of that isn't enough for you then you can also add [[:Category:Modules (non-standard)|non-standard modules]] that are not part of the official Moodle release!

==Resources==

[[Image:Resource_pulldown_menu.JPG|frame|left|Add a resource drop-down menu]]

Moodle supports a range of different [[Resources|resource types]] that allow you to include almost any kind of digital content into your courses. These can be added by using the [[Adding_resources_and_activities | add a resource]] dropdown box when editing is turned on.

A [[Text page]] is a simple page written using plain text. Text pages aren't pretty, but they're a good place to put some information or instructions. If you are after more options for your new page then you should be thinking about adding a [[Web page]] and making use of Moodle's WYSIWYG editor.

Of course the resource may already exist in electronic form so you may want to [[File or website link|link to an uploaded file or external website]] or simply display the complete contents of a [[Directory|directory]] in your course files and let your users pick the file themselves. If you have an [[IMS content package]] then this can be easily added to your course.

Use a [[Label|label]] to embed instructions or information in the course section.

==Blocks==
[[Image:Block_add_dropdown_list2.JPG |thumb|150px|right|Add Block drop-down menu]]
Each course homepage generally contains [[Blocks_%28teacher%29|blocks]] on the left and right with the centre column containing the course content. Blocks may be added, hidden, deleted, and moved up, down and left/right when editing is turned on. Examples of blocks can be see in the Getting Starting image above. [[Latest News block|"Latest News"]], "[[Blogs]]", [[Upcoming Events block|"Upcoming Events"]], and [[Recent Activity block|"Recent Activity"]] are a few examples.

A wide range of [[Blocks_%28teacher%29#Block_types|over 16 different block types]] can provide additional information or functionality to the learner by the teacher. The standard blocks that come with Moodle are shown on the right. There are also many [[:Category:Block (non-standard)|non-standard blocks]] developed by Moodlers that an administrator can add to this list.

A teacher with editing rights will also have a course [[Administration_block|administration block]]. This block has sub menus for course: backup/restore, enrollments, format, reports, grades, activity logs, files and other useful tools.

==General advice==

* Subscribe yourself to all of the [[forum]]s in your course so that you can keep in touch with your class activity.
* Encourage all of the students to fill out their [[Edit profile|user profile]] (including photos) and read them all - this will help provide some context to their later writings and help you to respond in ways that are tailored to their own needs.
* Keep notes to yourself in the private "Teacher's Forum" (under Administration). This is especially useful when team teaching.
* Use the [[Logs]] link (under Administration) to get access to complete, raw logs. In there you'll see a link to a popup window that updates every sixty seconds and shows the last hour of activity. This is useful to keep open on your desktop all day so you can feel in touch with what's going on in the course.
* Use many reports. [[Reports]] in the Administration block, [[Recent_activity|Activity Reports]] (next to each name in the list of all people, or from any user profile page). These provide a great way to see what any particular person has been up to in the course.
* Respond quickly to students. Don't leave it for later - do it right away. Not only is it easy to become overwhelmed with the volume that can be generated, but it's a crucial part of building and maintaining a community feel in your course.
*Don't be afraid to experiment: feel free to poke around and change things. It's hard to break anything in a Moodle course, and even if you do it's usually easy to fix it.
* Use the [[Navigation bar|navigation bar]] at the top of each page - this should help remind you where you are and prevent getting lost

== See also ==
*[[Blogs]] - blogs in Moodle
*[[Teaching with Moodle]] - inspiring links
*[[http://moodle.org/mod/forum/discuss.php?d=66854 Moodle and elearning intro]] - Written by Martin Langhoff
*[[Teaching do's and don'ts]] - hints
*[[Moodle manuals]] - a list of links to manuals and books
*[[Using Moodle book]] - a real book you can reprint!
*[[Teaching FAQ]] - common questions
*[http://moodle.tokem.fi/mod/book/view.php?id=5116&chapterid=256 Example of a course teaching checklist],
*One example of a site specific [[http://moodle.tokem.fi/mod/book/view.php?id=5116 Teacher's Moodle Manual]], done in Moodle with the book module
*[[Tips and tricks]]
*[[Student FAQ]] - students have questions about technology?

[[Category:Teacher]]
[[es:Documentación para Profesores]]
[[eu:Irakasleentzako dokumentazioa]]
[[fr:Documentation enseignant]]
[[it:Documentazione per Docenti]]
[[nl:Documentatie voor leraren]]
[[fi:Opettajan opas]]
[[ru:Учителям]]
[[zh:教师文档]]
[[ja:教師ドキュメント]]

Talk:Main page

2007-06-27T19:51:48Z

Divb: /* i see */

== Hello ==
Being picky but an english sentence ending in "to" is not good form.

Welcome to '''Moodle Docs''', the documentation for Moodle that accepts everyone's [[MoodleDocs:Guidelines for contributors|contributions]].

I think I am changing my mind again. Admin and Developer documentation pages are very different than the teacher documentation page. I don't like the index idea below. I would like a complete overhaul of the teacher documentation page to match the other two formats. --[[User:chris collman 2|chris collman 2]] 23:06, 23 August 2006 (CDT)

Here is what I (--[[User:chris collman 2|chris collman 2]]) would suggest on this page, my version looks ugly but :)

'''Documentation'''

* About Moodle - not sure where ? [[Special:Categories]] ?
* [https://docs.moodle.org/en/Catagory:Teacher| Teacher document index ]
* [https://docs.moodle.org/Catagory:Administrator | Administrator document index]
* [https://docs.moodle.org/Catagory:Developer |Developer document index]

'''Featured Pages for new and old '''
* Teachers - [[Teacher| Teacher page]], The Good Teacher and Groups FAQ link etc
* Administrators -[[Administrator |Administrator page]], Upgrading to Moodle 1.6 and LDAP authentication, link
* Student - [https://docs.moodle.org/Catagory:Student | Student document index], [[Student_tutorials]], link
* Developers: 1.6 theme upgrade and the XML database schema
* Everyone: Guidelines for contributors

Just my two cents worth to make it a little bit more friendly to new user.
--[[User:chris collman 2|chris collman 2]] 00:34, 31 July 2006 (WST)

==Feedback==

You make it very difficult to get started with this thing!
Now you would think the Main Page would be a good place to start. So on the main page I click "About Moodle", which takes me to a page, which in turn talks about PHP and MySQL, but still nothing really about how to get started. So I try clicking on "moodle with us". Now I see a list of which, "Using Moodle" seems like the most obvious choice. This whisks me off to another page where I click on "WELCOME! Are you new? Confused? Please start here!" Finally, I think, we're getting somewhere. Oops, no! Yet another page that tells me nothing. Instead of a detailed introduction, I am pointed to "documentation for Moodle", which I dutifuly click. Where am I now? Right back at the same Home Page I started from; only more frustrated and none the wiser.

Very interesting wiki site!... Thanx! --[[User:HarryRens|HarryRens]] 15 October 2005 23:42 (WST)

"that everyone may contribute to." is bad English. Better to write "to which everyone may contribute."--[[User:N Hansen|N Hansen]] 20:16, 17 April 2006 (WST)

I have to agree with the first writer who finds Moodle difficult to get started with; I followed much the same sequence of links as they did. It takes quite a bit of Moodling to find a simple description of what Moodle does and it philosophy.
It's great to find the docs as a wiki though and to be able to comment like this.
--[[User:Matthew Fairtlough|Matthew Fairtlough]] 07:58, 16 October 2006 (CDT)

== Discussions ==
There is very little discussion about MoodleDocs that I can find. I know there used to be a whole course at moodle.org dedicated to discussions about documentation, but that appears to have vanished. Is there a substitute for it? Where can I ask questions about this wiki? For example: How do I change my username from Delius to Gustav? --[[User:Delius|Delius]] 09:41, 26 January 2006 (WST)

:Thanks for your comments. Please note that [[User:Martin|Martin]] will make an announcement about the documentation very soon. Re. changing your username, the easiest way to achieve this is to re-register with username Gustav then add a redirect <code><nowiki>#REDIRECT [[User:Gustav]]</nowiki></code> to your old user page. -- [[User:Helen|Helen]] 17:59, 26 January 2006 (WST)

::Thanks Helen. I have done that. My username looks more friendly now. --[[User:Gustav|Gustav]] 18:10, 26 January 2006 (WST)

Can we have a link to [https://docs.moodle.org/en/Student_tutorials Student Tutorials ] under About Moodle? It seems that the main page only offers help for teachers and administrators, not students.

==Main page links==
I'd strongly recommend adding the panel of links from [[About Moodle]] to the [[Main Page]] as well - they're incredibly important. I'm talking about the "Introduction | Background | Philosophy | License | Features | Release Notes | Future | Credits" links. --[[Dan]]

:Hi Dan, thanks for your recommendation. The main page content definitely needs a re-think. -- [[User:Helen|Helen]] 02:31, 27 January 2006 (WST)

I would like to see a reference to the Moodle Community and the collaborative aspects of learning about both Moodle as a product and as a process. I am not sure where would be the best place to anchor that page. --[[mburnet]]

Just a brief thought re: "featured pages" and "Teaching Don'ts" link--could we also add "Teaching Dos" so that the focus is balanced and a little more positive for newbies stumbling into this page for the first time? --[[User:Lesli Smith|Lesli Smith]]

:Hi Lesli, as requested, [[Teaching Do's]] is now a featured page. Apologies for the delay. --[[User:Helen Foster|Helen Foster]] 04:31, 1 April 2006 (WST)

== Fantastic Stuff ==

Just wanted to pop in quickly and say a huge thankyou to Helen for this fantastic resource.

Your work here is looking fantastic. So much for adding your time and expertise to this community. I know what it is like to juggle many hats. If you ever need a hand you need only ask :)

Looking forward to seeing this integrated into 1.6.

Julian

: I second that. Great job, Helen! :-) --[[User:Art Lader|Art Lader]] 01:56, 23 February 2006 (WST)

:: Thanks guys, though it's everyone's contributions that will make Moodle Docs into a great resource! --[[User:Helen Foster|Helen Foster]] 03:57, 23 February 2006 (WST)

I'm a little late, but I also want to thank you so much for this wonderful resource. :-D --[[User: Lesli Smith|Lesli]]

== Add links to international versions (es,...) ==

Since https://docs.moodle.org is the main site for Moodle Documentation, there must be links to the different international versions, such as the Spanish one: https://docs.moodle.org/es . Maybe something similar to the Wikipedia home page: http://www.wikipedia.org . If not, just links to international versions in the main English page.

:Hi David, you're very welcome to add inter-language links - please check the [[MoodleDocs:Guidelines for contributors|guidelines for contributors]] for more details. --[[User:Helen Foster|Helen Foster]] 05:54, 18 February 2006 (WST)

::As long as this page is locked I can not add link to Czech version. --[[User:David Mudrak|David Mudrak]] 04:20, 10 July 2006 (WST)

:::Thanks David, I've just updated the list and added a link to the [[:cs:Hlavní strana|Czech documentation]]. --[[User:Helen Foster|Helen Foster]] 15:35, 10 July 2006 (WST)
--[[User:Jose A. Heredia|Jose A. Heredia]] 08:05, 14 August 2006 (WST)

Hi, Helen, please add link to Slovak version. Thanks. [[sk:User:Miroslav Fikar|Miroslav Fikar]]

:Hi Miroslav, I've added the link, thanks. --[[User:Helen Foster|Helen Foster]] 02:18, 12 September 2006 (CDT)

== Headline text ?? ==
Ver tambien la web donde podreis encontrar un Video tutorial en el cual se describe, se ve y se oye como instalar el PHP-NUKE, que aunque no es igual que el Moodle, si se instala y se configura de la misma manera, este video tutorial podeis encontrarlo en el siguiente vinculo [http://recursos.es.tt/adcesos.html]

Hi Jose, I don't think this belongs in the english page. --[[User:chris collman 2|chris collman 2]] 21:54, 23 August 2006 (CDT)

== Upload Flash ==

Is it possible to upload Flash files? I tried to do so via the same interface we use for uploading images, but had no luck. --[[User:Art Lader|Art Lader]] 19:10, 22 February 2006 (WST)

:Hi Art, sorry it's not possible to upload Flash files for security reasons. Please could you explain what you would like to do, and perhaps send me a sample file, then I'll investigate alternative options. --[[User:Helen Foster|Helen Foster]] 03:53, 23 February 2006 (WST)

: That is not a probelm, Helen. I have upgraded to SnagIt 8.0 and can add tooltips to screen captures. Just wanted to see if that improved the documentation. No big deal, though. --[[User:Art Lader|Art Lader]] 06:28, 23 February 2006 (WST)

== Image on the front page ==

Can we have a nice image somewhere on the front page, something documenty like books maybe? Just to make the home page stand out a little from the subpages. [[User:Martin Dougiamas|Martin Dougiamas]] 22:26, 14 April 2006 (WST)
: How about some free stock photography? I tend to use http://www.sxc.hu/ --[[User:Darren Smith|Darren Smith]] 23:00, 14 April 2006 (WST)
::Hi, let's leave the choice of images to style expert [[User:Urs Hunkler|Urs]] --[[User:Helen Foster|Helen Foster]] 23:36, 17 April 2006 (WST)

== Amazing! ==

You guys never cease to amaze me.

==Disorienting==
When I first came to this page, I had no idea that I was looking at a wiki! It would be great to go ahead and put the word 'wiki' somewhere on the page, and maybe on pages linking to this one, so that people know what they're getting into. I expected this page to be the source for official documentation, and so I was very disappointed to click 'Teacher Documentation' and get little more than a quick-start guide. Inside the 'Teacher Documentation' page, though, there is a link to a page which has PDF's of what I would personally call documentation. I could be projecting, but I think others also expect 'documents' rather than 'wikis' when looking for 'documentation'.

:The above comment caused me to really look at the Teacher Documentation page, and edit it more than once. I would like to see the Teacher link on the left of this page go to a page that looked similar to the Administrator or Developer link pages. This would help new and old users find things in MoodleDocs quicker. I thank the above author for the quick start comment which encouraged me to make some changes in the Teacher Documentation page until we make a new task orientated page for teachers.

:I disagree about the wiki comment. The point is not that it is a wiki, the point is that the document did not meet above author's expectations. I am in mild agreement on that point. With good humor I note: when I first looked at MoodleDocs, "wiki" would be an absolutely meaningless word to me and no help at all. Hey, I've been a new user since C/PM days. :)--[[User:chris collman 2|chris collman 2]] 22:58, 23 August 2006 (CDT)

==need faq link==

can we please have a link to the faq's from the main page? Makes no sense not to!

https://docs.moodle.org/en/FAQ

also would like to see a link for STUDENT as there is with teacher and admin and so on- after all what is all this about??[[User:D.I. von Briesen|D.I. von Briesen]] 14:51, 27 June 2007 (CDT)

== i see ==

Wow this completely takes down what I wanted to develope... Maybe I'll do it anyway for fun.

--[[User:Yogesh Kulkarni|Yogesh Kulkarni]] 00:29, 17 May 2007 (CDT)

----

Nice to see and find my name here.

Its gr8.
--[[User:Yogesh Kulkarni|Yogesh Kulkarni]] 07:17, 21 June 2007 (CDT)

----

----

Top 10 Moodle Myths

2007-06-27T19:42:14Z

Divb: /* There’s no point in looking at Moodle unless you have a full time, php developer on your staff. At the very least you need a lot of technical support to run it in house */

The top 10 list started life in [http://moodle.org/mod/forum/discuss.php?d=33044 a post by Josie Fraser], as part of the 2005-6 [http://helpusgettobett.com HUGToB campaign].

{{About Moodle}}

==Once Moodle is stable, it will be put under licence. If it were any good, they’d already be charging for it==
Martin Dougiamas is [http://moodle.org/mod/forum/discuss.php?d=41253 on record] that Moodle will always be free and under the GPL. Even if it weren't, the community could take the latest GPL code and continue development from there. One of the reasons why Moodle's so good is that it's open source code, and so the world wide educational community can contribute to making it better still.

In other cases where such things have happened, the community quickly "forked" the tool and continued it, with ongoing improvements, as an open-source project. What is out there up to this point will stay out there - legally - even if something in the future did not. Nobody can "buy" moodle, and any coopting without the consent of the global community wouldn't get very far.

==Moodle needs a full time, php developer on your staff- or at least a lot of technical support to run it in house==
There are ''plenty'' of institutions running Moodle as is, without any php developers in sight. You don't need to know any programming if you just want to run an out of the box, feature rich Moodle site.

That said, PHP is actually a fairly easy language to pick up, and the Moodle code is well documented, so if you did want to help with development, it's a fairly gentle learning curve.

It is also fair to say you need a certain amount of technical know-how to run any program on the web securely. But this has more to do with getting a web-server, SQL database and scripting language up and integrated than a Moodle instance itself. If you can run your own webserver, you should be OK to run Moodle on it.

You don't actually have to run Moodle in house though - there are well respected [http://moodle.com Moodle Partners] who'll run Moodle for you, some of the more enlightened Local Authorities and Regional Broadband Consortia (in the UK) will provide Moodle hosting, and Moodle will work on plenty of commercially hosted webspaces too.

==Moodle won’t be compatible with our other systems/software==
Moodle will run on FreeBSD, Linux, Mac OS X, and Windows. It's compatible with a huge range of databases through ADODB integration. There's a whole host of authentication and enrollment mechanisms, including LDAP. Moodle will allow teachers to integrate content in a range of different formats, including SCORM, Flash, MP3s and RSS feeds. On the [[Roadmap]] for future releases is a Web API which will allow easy integration with other web-based applications.

Finally, remember that this is open source software, with a well documented data and file structure. If Moodle's not compatible with a particular application at the moment, then you can pay a developer to code up that integration, or develop it in-house.

==Moodle just doesn’t have the commercial experience we’re looking for==
Check out the [http://moodle.com partners]. Moodle is also in use throughout the world by corporate clients for in-house training, including flight schools, pilot and mechanic certification, and all other varieties of professional development. Moodle as a tool is an application, not an organization. The PEOPLE that make up the Moodle world-wide community have experience across the board in every industry and every sort of education. In fact, you'll be hard-pressed to find a more committed group of educators and trainers in one place than on moodle.org. Further evidence of the commercial applications of moodle are supported by the fact that Microsoft Corporation funded the modification of moodle to work on their SQL Server platform (if you choose to use that instead of mySQL) and that the support for features ranging from clustering to built-in payment mechanisms is growing with each version.

==You can’t just use Moodle out of the box – the basic Moodle install just isn’t that sophisticated==
Have a look at the [[Features|feature list]], all of which comes as standard. Additional themes, blocks and activities are easy to integrate and the vast majority are free, open source code too. It is true that is basically easy to [https://docs.moodle.org/en/Complete_install_packages#Install_complete_package install] all those features out of the box as a standalone desktop or on a web server.

You can do a full install on a Windows-based pc in the time it takes to download a 50MB file, unzip it, change a folder name, double-click a file, and open a webpage. This install includes a webserver, the database, and the moodle installation. While this basic install is not appropriate for an enterprise installation, the simplicity with which it offers the full power of moodle is remarkable, and a testament to the robustness of the platform.

==There’s no documentation, training or technical support available – you’re on your own==
There's excellent (and expanding) documentation [https://docs.moodle.org/en/Main_Page online], provided by the user and developer community. Being online and digital, this resource is updated daily and keeps abreast of moodle developments as they happen - with far more details than any book could provide, and certainly more than any commercial vendor offers for their product.

The Open University's [http://moodle.org/user/view.php?id=9318&course=5 Jason Cole] has written an excellent introduction to Moodle for teachers, available as a [http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0596008635/ proper book] from O'Reilly. In addition William Rice has written a Moodle book [http://www.packtpub.com/moodle/book Moodle E-Learning Course Development] available from [http://www.packtpub.com/ Packt Publishing].

Most users find the Moodle interface intuitive and this helps reduce the training requirements. It's possible for institutions to run in-house training and many have successfully adopted this approach. Some Moodle Partners [http://moodle.com/training/ moodle.com] also specialize in training.

High quality, timely technical support is available from the user and developer community in the Using Moodle course on [http://moodle.org moodle.org]. Some LAs and RBCs (Local Authorities and Regional Broadband Consortia in the UK) support Moodle in their areas. Commercial support contracts are available from authorized Moodle Partners [http://moodle.com/support/ moodle.com].

==The total Cost of Ownership is actually higher for Moodle than it would be with a wholly commercial platform==
Stop and think for a moment. With both Moodle and commercial platforms, you'll still need to pay for hosting, support, training and content, one way or another: with Moodle, more of these costs ''can'' be brought in-house, because the code's open source and Moodle's great at providing the tools teachers need to write online activities themselves, but that doesn't mean you have to.

The difference is that with Moodle, there are '''no''' licence fees to pay. None. The money you do spend can go back into making the software better, or remain within the educational community for the common good. None of it needs to go to meet shareholder dividends or pay back the venture capitalists. Furthermore, you're not exposed to the risks of commercial suppliers unilaterally increasing their licence fees, or going out of business.

It's therefore not that surprising that when the UK government agency [http://www.becta.org.uk Becta] examined the [http://www.becta.org.uk/corporate/publications/documents/BEC5606_Full_report18.pdf Total Cost of Ownership of open-source software] on desktops in UK schools, they found significant savings compared to commercial alternatives. The savings on support costs were particularly impressive. It's likely that these savings would have been greater still had they examined web-based applications like Moodle.

==Moodle is just no good for an institution as large as mine==
So, that would be one larger than the UK's Open University, with 180,000 students, yes? The OU has [http://www3.open.ac.uk/events/7/2005118_40887_nr.doc announced] that they're moving to Moodle as their institutional VLE, and there are plenty of other [[Large_installations|large institutions]] officially using Moodle, and a good number of others where sections are.

==Moodle is just not designed to cope with my specific group of learners or customers==
Moodle's being used successfully from elementary education, including early years provision, up to higher education, in all subject areas including art, languages, the humanities and mathematics. It's also established itself in the world of life-long learning, teachers' CPD, corporate and government training environments.

==We have all our stuff on *******, it’s just not worth the hassle of switching to Moodle==
The switch may not be that much of a hassle, as Moodle will happily import content in a wide range of standard formats, including SCORM, Blackboard and WebCT questions. There are an increasing number of Further and Higher Education institutions that are making the move.

Pedagogically, there's much to be gained from moving to a VLE which puts social, collaborative learning at the centre, and acknowledges the vital role that learners have to play, as well as providing teachers with the tools that they need to build effective on-line learning communities, rather than just presenting resources and activities.

From a financial perspective, the costs involved in switching to Moodle should be quickly recouped through savings in licence fees.
[[Category:Core]]
[[es:Los 10 mitos de Moodle]]
[[fr:Mythes sur Moodle]]
[[zh:Moodle十大流言]]

Top 10 Moodle Myths

2007-06-27T19:41:01Z

Divb: /* Once Moodle is stable, it will be put under licence. If it were any good, they’d already be charging for it */

The top 10 list started life in [http://moodle.org/mod/forum/discuss.php?d=33044 a post by Josie Fraser], as part of the 2005-6 [http://helpusgettobett.com HUGToB campaign].

{{About Moodle}}

==Once Moodle is stable, it will be put under licence. If it were any good, they’d already be charging for it==
Martin Dougiamas is [http://moodle.org/mod/forum/discuss.php?d=41253 on record] that Moodle will always be free and under the GPL. Even if it weren't, the community could take the latest GPL code and continue development from there. One of the reasons why Moodle's so good is that it's open source code, and so the world wide educational community can contribute to making it better still.

In other cases where such things have happened, the community quickly "forked" the tool and continued it, with ongoing improvements, as an open-source project. What is out there up to this point will stay out there - legally - even if something in the future did not. Nobody can "buy" moodle, and any coopting without the consent of the global community wouldn't get very far.

==There’s no point in looking at Moodle unless you have a full time, php developer on your staff. At the very least you need a lot of technical support to run it in house==
There are ''plenty'' of institutions running Moodle as is, without any php developers in sight. You don't need to know any programming if you just want to run an out of the box, feature rich Moodle site.

That said, PHP is actually a fairly easy language to pick up, and the Moodle code is well documented, so if you did want to help with development, it's a fairly gentle learning curve.

It is also fair to say you need a certain amount of technical know-how to run any program on the web securely. But this has more to do with getting a web-server, SQL database and scripting language up and integrated than a Moodle instance itself. If you can run your own webserver, you should be OK to run Moodle on it.

You don't actually have to run Moodle in house though - there are well respected [http://moodle.com Moodle Partners] who'll run Moodle for you, some of the more enlightened Local Authorities and Regional Broadband Consortia (in the UK) will provide Moodle hosting, and Moodle will work on plenty of commercially hosted webspaces too.

==Moodle won’t be compatible with our other systems/software==
Moodle will run on FreeBSD, Linux, Mac OS X, and Windows. It's compatible with a huge range of databases through ADODB integration. There's a whole host of authentication and enrollment mechanisms, including LDAP. Moodle will allow teachers to integrate content in a range of different formats, including SCORM, Flash, MP3s and RSS feeds. On the [[Roadmap]] for future releases is a Web API which will allow easy integration with other web-based applications.

Finally, remember that this is open source software, with a well documented data and file structure. If Moodle's not compatible with a particular application at the moment, then you can pay a developer to code up that integration, or develop it in-house.

==Moodle just doesn’t have the commercial experience we’re looking for==
Check out the [http://moodle.com partners]. Moodle is also in use throughout the world by corporate clients for in-house training, including flight schools, pilot and mechanic certification, and all other varieties of professional development. Moodle as a tool is an application, not an organization. The PEOPLE that make up the Moodle world-wide community have experience across the board in every industry and every sort of education. In fact, you'll be hard-pressed to find a more committed group of educators and trainers in one place than on moodle.org. Further evidence of the commercial applications of moodle are supported by the fact that Microsoft Corporation funded the modification of moodle to work on their SQL Server platform (if you choose to use that instead of mySQL) and that the support for features ranging from clustering to built-in payment mechanisms is growing with each version.

==You can’t just use Moodle out of the box – the basic Moodle install just isn’t that sophisticated==
Have a look at the [[Features|feature list]], all of which comes as standard. Additional themes, blocks and activities are easy to integrate and the vast majority are free, open source code too. It is true that is basically easy to [https://docs.moodle.org/en/Complete_install_packages#Install_complete_package install] all those features out of the box as a standalone desktop or on a web server.

You can do a full install on a Windows-based pc in the time it takes to download a 50MB file, unzip it, change a folder name, double-click a file, and open a webpage. This install includes a webserver, the database, and the moodle installation. While this basic install is not appropriate for an enterprise installation, the simplicity with which it offers the full power of moodle is remarkable, and a testament to the robustness of the platform.

==There’s no documentation, training or technical support available – you’re on your own==
There's excellent (and expanding) documentation [https://docs.moodle.org/en/Main_Page online], provided by the user and developer community. Being online and digital, this resource is updated daily and keeps abreast of moodle developments as they happen - with far more details than any book could provide, and certainly more than any commercial vendor offers for their product.

The Open University's [http://moodle.org/user/view.php?id=9318&course=5 Jason Cole] has written an excellent introduction to Moodle for teachers, available as a [http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0596008635/ proper book] from O'Reilly. In addition William Rice has written a Moodle book [http://www.packtpub.com/moodle/book Moodle E-Learning Course Development] available from [http://www.packtpub.com/ Packt Publishing].

Most users find the Moodle interface intuitive and this helps reduce the training requirements. It's possible for institutions to run in-house training and many have successfully adopted this approach. Some Moodle Partners [http://moodle.com/training/ moodle.com] also specialize in training.

High quality, timely technical support is available from the user and developer community in the Using Moodle course on [http://moodle.org moodle.org]. Some LAs and RBCs (Local Authorities and Regional Broadband Consortia in the UK) support Moodle in their areas. Commercial support contracts are available from authorized Moodle Partners [http://moodle.com/support/ moodle.com].

==The total Cost of Ownership is actually higher for Moodle than it would be with a wholly commercial platform==
Stop and think for a moment. With both Moodle and commercial platforms, you'll still need to pay for hosting, support, training and content, one way or another: with Moodle, more of these costs ''can'' be brought in-house, because the code's open source and Moodle's great at providing the tools teachers need to write online activities themselves, but that doesn't mean you have to.

The difference is that with Moodle, there are '''no''' licence fees to pay. None. The money you do spend can go back into making the software better, or remain within the educational community for the common good. None of it needs to go to meet shareholder dividends or pay back the venture capitalists. Furthermore, you're not exposed to the risks of commercial suppliers unilaterally increasing their licence fees, or going out of business.

It's therefore not that surprising that when the UK government agency [http://www.becta.org.uk Becta] examined the [http://www.becta.org.uk/corporate/publications/documents/BEC5606_Full_report18.pdf Total Cost of Ownership of open-source software] on desktops in UK schools, they found significant savings compared to commercial alternatives. The savings on support costs were particularly impressive. It's likely that these savings would have been greater still had they examined web-based applications like Moodle.

==Moodle is just no good for an institution as large as mine==
So, that would be one larger than the UK's Open University, with 180,000 students, yes? The OU has [http://www3.open.ac.uk/events/7/2005118_40887_nr.doc announced] that they're moving to Moodle as their institutional VLE, and there are plenty of other [[Large_installations|large institutions]] officially using Moodle, and a good number of others where sections are.

==Moodle is just not designed to cope with my specific group of learners or customers==
Moodle's being used successfully from elementary education, including early years provision, up to higher education, in all subject areas including art, languages, the humanities and mathematics. It's also established itself in the world of life-long learning, teachers' CPD, corporate and government training environments.

==We have all our stuff on *******, it’s just not worth the hassle of switching to Moodle==
The switch may not be that much of a hassle, as Moodle will happily import content in a wide range of standard formats, including SCORM, Blackboard and WebCT questions. There are an increasing number of Further and Higher Education institutions that are making the move.

Pedagogically, there's much to be gained from moving to a VLE which puts social, collaborative learning at the centre, and acknowledges the vital role that learners have to play, as well as providing teachers with the tools that they need to build effective on-line learning communities, rather than just presenting resources and activities.

From a financial perspective, the costs involved in switching to Moodle should be quickly recouped through savings in licence fees.
[[Category:Core]]
[[es:Los 10 mitos de Moodle]]
[[fr:Mythes sur Moodle]]
[[zh:Moodle十大流言]]

Top 10 Moodle Myths

2007-06-27T19:37:37Z

Divb: /* You can’t just use Moodle out of the box – the basic Moodle install just isn’t that sophisticated */

The top 10 list started life in [http://moodle.org/mod/forum/discuss.php?d=33044 a post by Josie Fraser], as part of the 2005-6 [http://helpusgettobett.com HUGToB campaign].

{{About Moodle}}

==Once Moodle is stable, it will be put under licence. If it were any good, they’d already be charging for it==
Martin Dougiamas is [http://moodle.org/mod/forum/discuss.php?d=41253 on record] that Moodle will always be free and under the GPL. Even if it weren't, the community could take the latest GPL code and continue development from there. One of the reasons why Moodle's so good is that it's open source code, and so the world wide educational community can contribute to making it better still.

==There’s no point in looking at Moodle unless you have a full time, php developer on your staff. At the very least you need a lot of technical support to run it in house==
There are ''plenty'' of institutions running Moodle as is, without any php developers in sight. You don't need to know any programming if you just want to run an out of the box, feature rich Moodle site.

That said, PHP is actually a fairly easy language to pick up, and the Moodle code is well documented, so if you did want to help with development, it's a fairly gentle learning curve.

It is also fair to say you need a certain amount of technical know-how to run any program on the web securely. But this has more to do with getting a web-server, SQL database and scripting language up and integrated than a Moodle instance itself. If you can run your own webserver, you should be OK to run Moodle on it.

You don't actually have to run Moodle in house though - there are well respected [http://moodle.com Moodle Partners] who'll run Moodle for you, some of the more enlightened Local Authorities and Regional Broadband Consortia (in the UK) will provide Moodle hosting, and Moodle will work on plenty of commercially hosted webspaces too.

==Moodle won’t be compatible with our other systems/software==
Moodle will run on FreeBSD, Linux, Mac OS X, and Windows. It's compatible with a huge range of databases through ADODB integration. There's a whole host of authentication and enrollment mechanisms, including LDAP. Moodle will allow teachers to integrate content in a range of different formats, including SCORM, Flash, MP3s and RSS feeds. On the [[Roadmap]] for future releases is a Web API which will allow easy integration with other web-based applications.

Finally, remember that this is open source software, with a well documented data and file structure. If Moodle's not compatible with a particular application at the moment, then you can pay a developer to code up that integration, or develop it in-house.

==Moodle just doesn’t have the commercial experience we’re looking for==
Check out the [http://moodle.com partners]. Moodle is also in use throughout the world by corporate clients for in-house training, including flight schools, pilot and mechanic certification, and all other varieties of professional development. Moodle as a tool is an application, not an organization. The PEOPLE that make up the Moodle world-wide community have experience across the board in every industry and every sort of education. In fact, you'll be hard-pressed to find a more committed group of educators and trainers in one place than on moodle.org. Further evidence of the commercial applications of moodle are supported by the fact that Microsoft Corporation funded the modification of moodle to work on their SQL Server platform (if you choose to use that instead of mySQL) and that the support for features ranging from clustering to built-in payment mechanisms is growing with each version.

==You can’t just use Moodle out of the box – the basic Moodle install just isn’t that sophisticated==
Have a look at the [[Features|feature list]], all of which comes as standard. Additional themes, blocks and activities are easy to integrate and the vast majority are free, open source code too. It is true that is basically easy to [https://docs.moodle.org/en/Complete_install_packages#Install_complete_package install] all those features out of the box as a standalone desktop or on a web server.

You can do a full install on a Windows-based pc in the time it takes to download a 50MB file, unzip it, change a folder name, double-click a file, and open a webpage. This install includes a webserver, the database, and the moodle installation. While this basic install is not appropriate for an enterprise installation, the simplicity with which it offers the full power of moodle is remarkable, and a testament to the robustness of the platform.

==There’s no documentation, training or technical support available – you’re on your own==
There's excellent (and expanding) documentation [https://docs.moodle.org/en/Main_Page online], provided by the user and developer community. Being online and digital, this resource is updated daily and keeps abreast of moodle developments as they happen - with far more details than any book could provide, and certainly more than any commercial vendor offers for their product.

The Open University's [http://moodle.org/user/view.php?id=9318&course=5 Jason Cole] has written an excellent introduction to Moodle for teachers, available as a [http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0596008635/ proper book] from O'Reilly. In addition William Rice has written a Moodle book [http://www.packtpub.com/moodle/book Moodle E-Learning Course Development] available from [http://www.packtpub.com/ Packt Publishing].

Most users find the Moodle interface intuitive and this helps reduce the training requirements. It's possible for institutions to run in-house training and many have successfully adopted this approach. Some Moodle Partners [http://moodle.com/training/ moodle.com] also specialize in training.

High quality, timely technical support is available from the user and developer community in the Using Moodle course on [http://moodle.org moodle.org]. Some LAs and RBCs (Local Authorities and Regional Broadband Consortia in the UK) support Moodle in their areas. Commercial support contracts are available from authorized Moodle Partners [http://moodle.com/support/ moodle.com].

==The total Cost of Ownership is actually higher for Moodle than it would be with a wholly commercial platform==
Stop and think for a moment. With both Moodle and commercial platforms, you'll still need to pay for hosting, support, training and content, one way or another: with Moodle, more of these costs ''can'' be brought in-house, because the code's open source and Moodle's great at providing the tools teachers need to write online activities themselves, but that doesn't mean you have to.

The difference is that with Moodle, there are '''no''' licence fees to pay. None. The money you do spend can go back into making the software better, or remain within the educational community for the common good. None of it needs to go to meet shareholder dividends or pay back the venture capitalists. Furthermore, you're not exposed to the risks of commercial suppliers unilaterally increasing their licence fees, or going out of business.

It's therefore not that surprising that when the UK government agency [http://www.becta.org.uk Becta] examined the [http://www.becta.org.uk/corporate/publications/documents/BEC5606_Full_report18.pdf Total Cost of Ownership of open-source software] on desktops in UK schools, they found significant savings compared to commercial alternatives. The savings on support costs were particularly impressive. It's likely that these savings would have been greater still had they examined web-based applications like Moodle.

==Moodle is just no good for an institution as large as mine==
So, that would be one larger than the UK's Open University, with 180,000 students, yes? The OU has [http://www3.open.ac.uk/events/7/2005118_40887_nr.doc announced] that they're moving to Moodle as their institutional VLE, and there are plenty of other [[Large_installations|large institutions]] officially using Moodle, and a good number of others where sections are.

==Moodle is just not designed to cope with my specific group of learners or customers==
Moodle's being used successfully from elementary education, including early years provision, up to higher education, in all subject areas including art, languages, the humanities and mathematics. It's also established itself in the world of life-long learning, teachers' CPD, corporate and government training environments.

==We have all our stuff on *******, it’s just not worth the hassle of switching to Moodle==
The switch may not be that much of a hassle, as Moodle will happily import content in a wide range of standard formats, including SCORM, Blackboard and WebCT questions. There are an increasing number of Further and Higher Education institutions that are making the move.

Pedagogically, there's much to be gained from moving to a VLE which puts social, collaborative learning at the centre, and acknowledges the vital role that learners have to play, as well as providing teachers with the tools that they need to build effective on-line learning communities, rather than just presenting resources and activities.

From a financial perspective, the costs involved in switching to Moodle should be quickly recouped through savings in licence fees.
[[Category:Core]]
[[es:Los 10 mitos de Moodle]]
[[fr:Mythes sur Moodle]]
[[zh:Moodle十大流言]]

Top 10 Moodle Myths

2007-06-27T19:34:23Z

Divb: /* There’s no documentation, training or technical support available – you’re on your own */

The top 10 list started life in [http://moodle.org/mod/forum/discuss.php?d=33044 a post by Josie Fraser], as part of the 2005-6 [http://helpusgettobett.com HUGToB campaign].

{{About Moodle}}

==Once Moodle is stable, it will be put under licence. If it were any good, they’d already be charging for it==
Martin Dougiamas is [http://moodle.org/mod/forum/discuss.php?d=41253 on record] that Moodle will always be free and under the GPL. Even if it weren't, the community could take the latest GPL code and continue development from there. One of the reasons why Moodle's so good is that it's open source code, and so the world wide educational community can contribute to making it better still.

==There’s no point in looking at Moodle unless you have a full time, php developer on your staff. At the very least you need a lot of technical support to run it in house==
There are ''plenty'' of institutions running Moodle as is, without any php developers in sight. You don't need to know any programming if you just want to run an out of the box, feature rich Moodle site.

That said, PHP is actually a fairly easy language to pick up, and the Moodle code is well documented, so if you did want to help with development, it's a fairly gentle learning curve.

It is also fair to say you need a certain amount of technical know-how to run any program on the web securely. But this has more to do with getting a web-server, SQL database and scripting language up and integrated than a Moodle instance itself. If you can run your own webserver, you should be OK to run Moodle on it.

You don't actually have to run Moodle in house though - there are well respected [http://moodle.com Moodle Partners] who'll run Moodle for you, some of the more enlightened Local Authorities and Regional Broadband Consortia (in the UK) will provide Moodle hosting, and Moodle will work on plenty of commercially hosted webspaces too.

==Moodle won’t be compatible with our other systems/software==
Moodle will run on FreeBSD, Linux, Mac OS X, and Windows. It's compatible with a huge range of databases through ADODB integration. There's a whole host of authentication and enrollment mechanisms, including LDAP. Moodle will allow teachers to integrate content in a range of different formats, including SCORM, Flash, MP3s and RSS feeds. On the [[Roadmap]] for future releases is a Web API which will allow easy integration with other web-based applications.

Finally, remember that this is open source software, with a well documented data and file structure. If Moodle's not compatible with a particular application at the moment, then you can pay a developer to code up that integration, or develop it in-house.

==Moodle just doesn’t have the commercial experience we’re looking for==
Check out the [http://moodle.com partners]. Moodle is also in use throughout the world by corporate clients for in-house training, including flight schools, pilot and mechanic certification, and all other varieties of professional development. Moodle as a tool is an application, not an organization. The PEOPLE that make up the Moodle world-wide community have experience across the board in every industry and every sort of education. In fact, you'll be hard-pressed to find a more committed group of educators and trainers in one place than on moodle.org. Further evidence of the commercial applications of moodle are supported by the fact that Microsoft Corporation funded the modification of moodle to work on their SQL Server platform (if you choose to use that instead of mySQL) and that the support for features ranging from clustering to built-in payment mechanisms is growing with each version.

==You can’t just use Moodle out of the box – the basic Moodle install just isn’t that sophisticated==
Have a look at the [[Features|feature list]], all of which comes as standard. Additional themes, blocks and activities are easy to integrate and the vast majority are free, open source code too. It is true that is basically easy to [https://docs.moodle.org/en/Complete_install_packages#Install_complete_package install] all those features out of the box as a standalone desktop or on a web server.

==There’s no documentation, training or technical support available – you’re on your own==
There's excellent (and expanding) documentation [https://docs.moodle.org/en/Main_Page online], provided by the user and developer community. Being online and digital, this resource is updated daily and keeps abreast of moodle developments as they happen - with far more details than any book could provide, and certainly more than any commercial vendor offers for their product.

The Open University's [http://moodle.org/user/view.php?id=9318&course=5 Jason Cole] has written an excellent introduction to Moodle for teachers, available as a [http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0596008635/ proper book] from O'Reilly. In addition William Rice has written a Moodle book [http://www.packtpub.com/moodle/book Moodle E-Learning Course Development] available from [http://www.packtpub.com/ Packt Publishing].

Most users find the Moodle interface intuitive and this helps reduce the training requirements. It's possible for institutions to run in-house training and many have successfully adopted this approach. Some Moodle Partners [http://moodle.com/training/ moodle.com] also specialize in training.

High quality, timely technical support is available from the user and developer community in the Using Moodle course on [http://moodle.org moodle.org]. Some LAs and RBCs (Local Authorities and Regional Broadband Consortia in the UK) support Moodle in their areas. Commercial support contracts are available from authorized Moodle Partners [http://moodle.com/support/ moodle.com].

==The total Cost of Ownership is actually higher for Moodle than it would be with a wholly commercial platform==
Stop and think for a moment. With both Moodle and commercial platforms, you'll still need to pay for hosting, support, training and content, one way or another: with Moodle, more of these costs ''can'' be brought in-house, because the code's open source and Moodle's great at providing the tools teachers need to write online activities themselves, but that doesn't mean you have to.

The difference is that with Moodle, there are '''no''' licence fees to pay. None. The money you do spend can go back into making the software better, or remain within the educational community for the common good. None of it needs to go to meet shareholder dividends or pay back the venture capitalists. Furthermore, you're not exposed to the risks of commercial suppliers unilaterally increasing their licence fees, or going out of business.

It's therefore not that surprising that when the UK government agency [http://www.becta.org.uk Becta] examined the [http://www.becta.org.uk/corporate/publications/documents/BEC5606_Full_report18.pdf Total Cost of Ownership of open-source software] on desktops in UK schools, they found significant savings compared to commercial alternatives. The savings on support costs were particularly impressive. It's likely that these savings would have been greater still had they examined web-based applications like Moodle.

==Moodle is just no good for an institution as large as mine==
So, that would be one larger than the UK's Open University, with 180,000 students, yes? The OU has [http://www3.open.ac.uk/events/7/2005118_40887_nr.doc announced] that they're moving to Moodle as their institutional VLE, and there are plenty of other [[Large_installations|large institutions]] officially using Moodle, and a good number of others where sections are.

==Moodle is just not designed to cope with my specific group of learners or customers==
Moodle's being used successfully from elementary education, including early years provision, up to higher education, in all subject areas including art, languages, the humanities and mathematics. It's also established itself in the world of life-long learning, teachers' CPD, corporate and government training environments.

==We have all our stuff on *******, it’s just not worth the hassle of switching to Moodle==
The switch may not be that much of a hassle, as Moodle will happily import content in a wide range of standard formats, including SCORM, Blackboard and WebCT questions. There are an increasing number of Further and Higher Education institutions that are making the move.

Pedagogically, there's much to be gained from moving to a VLE which puts social, collaborative learning at the centre, and acknowledges the vital role that learners have to play, as well as providing teachers with the tools that they need to build effective on-line learning communities, rather than just presenting resources and activities.

From a financial perspective, the costs involved in switching to Moodle should be quickly recouped through savings in licence fees.
[[Category:Core]]
[[es:Los 10 mitos de Moodle]]
[[fr:Mythes sur Moodle]]
[[zh:Moodle十大流言]]

Top 10 Moodle Myths

2007-06-27T19:32:17Z

Divb: /* Moodle just doesn’t have the commercial experience we’re looking for */

The top 10 list started life in [http://moodle.org/mod/forum/discuss.php?d=33044 a post by Josie Fraser], as part of the 2005-6 [http://helpusgettobett.com HUGToB campaign].

{{About Moodle}}

==Once Moodle is stable, it will be put under licence. If it were any good, they’d already be charging for it==
Martin Dougiamas is [http://moodle.org/mod/forum/discuss.php?d=41253 on record] that Moodle will always be free and under the GPL. Even if it weren't, the community could take the latest GPL code and continue development from there. One of the reasons why Moodle's so good is that it's open source code, and so the world wide educational community can contribute to making it better still.

==There’s no point in looking at Moodle unless you have a full time, php developer on your staff. At the very least you need a lot of technical support to run it in house==
There are ''plenty'' of institutions running Moodle as is, without any php developers in sight. You don't need to know any programming if you just want to run an out of the box, feature rich Moodle site.

That said, PHP is actually a fairly easy language to pick up, and the Moodle code is well documented, so if you did want to help with development, it's a fairly gentle learning curve.

It is also fair to say you need a certain amount of technical know-how to run any program on the web securely. But this has more to do with getting a web-server, SQL database and scripting language up and integrated than a Moodle instance itself. If you can run your own webserver, you should be OK to run Moodle on it.

You don't actually have to run Moodle in house though - there are well respected [http://moodle.com Moodle Partners] who'll run Moodle for you, some of the more enlightened Local Authorities and Regional Broadband Consortia (in the UK) will provide Moodle hosting, and Moodle will work on plenty of commercially hosted webspaces too.

==Moodle won’t be compatible with our other systems/software==
Moodle will run on FreeBSD, Linux, Mac OS X, and Windows. It's compatible with a huge range of databases through ADODB integration. There's a whole host of authentication and enrollment mechanisms, including LDAP. Moodle will allow teachers to integrate content in a range of different formats, including SCORM, Flash, MP3s and RSS feeds. On the [[Roadmap]] for future releases is a Web API which will allow easy integration with other web-based applications.

Finally, remember that this is open source software, with a well documented data and file structure. If Moodle's not compatible with a particular application at the moment, then you can pay a developer to code up that integration, or develop it in-house.

==Moodle just doesn’t have the commercial experience we’re looking for==
Check out the [http://moodle.com partners]. Moodle is also in use throughout the world by corporate clients for in-house training, including flight schools, pilot and mechanic certification, and all other varieties of professional development. Moodle as a tool is an application, not an organization. The PEOPLE that make up the Moodle world-wide community have experience across the board in every industry and every sort of education. In fact, you'll be hard-pressed to find a more committed group of educators and trainers in one place than on moodle.org. Further evidence of the commercial applications of moodle are supported by the fact that Microsoft Corporation funded the modification of moodle to work on their SQL Server platform (if you choose to use that instead of mySQL) and that the support for features ranging from clustering to built-in payment mechanisms is growing with each version.

==You can’t just use Moodle out of the box – the basic Moodle install just isn’t that sophisticated==
Have a look at the [[Features|feature list]], all of which comes as standard. Additional themes, blocks and activities are easy to integrate and the vast majority are free, open source code too. It is true that is basically easy to [https://docs.moodle.org/en/Complete_install_packages#Install_complete_package install] all those features out of the box as a standalone desktop or on a web server.

==There’s no documentation, training or technical support available – you’re on your own==
There's excellent (and expanding) documentation [https://docs.moodle.org/en/Main_Page online], provided by the user and developer community. The Open University's [http://moodle.org/user/view.php?id=9318&course=5 Jason Cole] has written an excellent introduction to Moodle for teachers, available as a [http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0596008635/ proper book] from O'Reilly. In addition William Rice has written a Moodle book [http://www.packtpub.com/moodle/book Moodle E-Learning Course Development] available from [http://www.packtpub.com/ Packt Publishing].

Most users find the Moodle interface intuitive and this helps reduce the training requirements. It's possible for institutions to run in-house training and many have successfully adopted this approach. Some Moodle Partners [http://moodle.com/training/ moodle.com] also specialize in training.

High quality, timely technical support is available from the user and developer community in the Using Moodle course on [http://moodle.org moodle.org]. Some LAs and RBCs (Local Authorities and Regional Broadband Consortia in the UK) support Moodle in their areas. Commercial support contracts are available from authorized Moodle Partners [http://moodle.com/support/ moodle.com].

==The total Cost of Ownership is actually higher for Moodle than it would be with a wholly commercial platform==
Stop and think for a moment. With both Moodle and commercial platforms, you'll still need to pay for hosting, support, training and content, one way or another: with Moodle, more of these costs ''can'' be brought in-house, because the code's open source and Moodle's great at providing the tools teachers need to write online activities themselves, but that doesn't mean you have to.

The difference is that with Moodle, there are '''no''' licence fees to pay. None. The money you do spend can go back into making the software better, or remain within the educational community for the common good. None of it needs to go to meet shareholder dividends or pay back the venture capitalists. Furthermore, you're not exposed to the risks of commercial suppliers unilaterally increasing their licence fees, or going out of business.

It's therefore not that surprising that when the UK government agency [http://www.becta.org.uk Becta] examined the [http://www.becta.org.uk/corporate/publications/documents/BEC5606_Full_report18.pdf Total Cost of Ownership of open-source software] on desktops in UK schools, they found significant savings compared to commercial alternatives. The savings on support costs were particularly impressive. It's likely that these savings would have been greater still had they examined web-based applications like Moodle.

==Moodle is just no good for an institution as large as mine==
So, that would be one larger than the UK's Open University, with 180,000 students, yes? The OU has [http://www3.open.ac.uk/events/7/2005118_40887_nr.doc announced] that they're moving to Moodle as their institutional VLE, and there are plenty of other [[Large_installations|large institutions]] officially using Moodle, and a good number of others where sections are.

==Moodle is just not designed to cope with my specific group of learners or customers==
Moodle's being used successfully from elementary education, including early years provision, up to higher education, in all subject areas including art, languages, the humanities and mathematics. It's also established itself in the world of life-long learning, teachers' CPD, corporate and government training environments.

==We have all our stuff on *******, it’s just not worth the hassle of switching to Moodle==
The switch may not be that much of a hassle, as Moodle will happily import content in a wide range of standard formats, including SCORM, Blackboard and WebCT questions. There are an increasing number of Further and Higher Education institutions that are making the move.

Pedagogically, there's much to be gained from moving to a VLE which puts social, collaborative learning at the centre, and acknowledges the vital role that learners have to play, as well as providing teachers with the tools that they need to build effective on-line learning communities, rather than just presenting resources and activities.

From a financial perspective, the costs involved in switching to Moodle should be quickly recouped through savings in licence fees.
[[Category:Core]]
[[es:Los 10 mitos de Moodle]]
[[fr:Mythes sur Moodle]]
[[zh:Moodle十大流言]]

Calculated question type

2007-06-23T23:28:01Z

Divb: /* Question set-up */

{{Questions}}
Calculated questions offer a way to create individual numerical questions by the use of wildcards (i.e '''{x}''' , '''{y}''')that are substituted with random values when the quiz is taken.

For example, if you want to create a large number of '''"Calculate the area of a rectangle"''' problems to drill your students, you could create a question with two wildcards (i.e. '''{base}''', '''{height}''') and put in the "'''Correct Answer Formula='''" input field '''{base}''' * '''{height}''' ( * being the multiplication sign ).

'''Correct Answer Formula=''' {base}*{height}

When a student takes the test, Moodle will randomly select values for '''{base}''' and '''{height}''' and grade the response using the result of the '''Correct Answer Formula='''.

The test will very rarely appear the same way twice.

==CAUTION: At least ONE wildcard in one of the answers==
The main purpose of calculated question is to create multiple versions of a question with different numerical values.

Otherwise use numerical question.

==A three steps process==
To create (or modify) a calculated question you need:
===Define the usual question parameters===
====Name====
:Give the question a descriptive name.
====Question text====
:All variables "wildcard" you want Moodle to replace with generated values must be placed in curly braces. For example if you wanted to sum numbers A and B the wild cards would be {A} and {B} or even {FirstNumber} and {SecondNumber}
:Question text should contains at least one wildcard (otherwise you wouldn't be using this kind of question).
:The user have all the necessary information to answer correctly

====Correct answer formula====
*define at least one formula answer containing at least the wildcards that were put in the question text and all the other parameter related to precision or units.
*set 100% at least to one of the answers
===Precise the dataset definitions===
:For each wild card(s) there is a the dataset containing the data that will be substituted to the wild card.

:The dataset can be
:*'''private''' i.e. only used by this question
:*'''shared''' i.e shared with other questions from the same category

:A dataset definition is '''mandatory''' for each of the wild cards '''used in the formulas'''.
:If you put in the question text some text between brackets {zzz} that is a '''possible''' wild card ,
: you will be able to choose if it is really a wild card or not.

===Define at least one set of values for each wild card ===
:If you define a large number of values (actual maximum number = 100),
:you get a more randomized set of different questions.

==Question set-up==
#If you wish, add general feedback.
#Enter the formula for the answer. Be sure to use the same placeholders so Moodle can substitute the same values.
#Determine the tolerance for error that you will accept in the answer. The tolerance and tolerance type combine to give a range of acceptable scores.
#Select the number of significant figures you want in the correct answer.
#Add correct answer feedback.
#Enter the units for the answer (e.g. meters, kg, etc.). Moodle will look for the correct units. If you want to enter other acceptable units, such as metric versus imperial distances, enter them along with a conversion factor.
#Click Save changes.
#On the next screen, choose whether to create substitution values for each placeholder only for this question, or for other questions in the same category.
#Click Save changes.
#Create a dataset for the question or questions in the category. For each placeholder, generate a series of acceptable values. The more values you generate, the more a question can be used without repeating values. Note that you must click the Add (number) items button to actually incorporate the displayed numbers into your question. Once added, you'll see a list of possible value (dataset) at the bottom, and you can proceed.
#Click Back to quiz editing.

==Correct answer formula ==

=== DO NOT PUT THE = sign in the fomula. ===

* In the recent versions of the calculated question type, you could have more than one answer formula and applied a specific grading value to each of them as long as there is at least one 100% correct answer formula.
If more than one correct answer formula input field are displayed when editing,
your site has the multiple answer feature.

* As a general rule, write these formulas like you would in a calculator e.g. <code>3 + 5 * sin (3/{x})</code>
* Each function's placeholders and other arguments should be in parentheses (brackets). For example, if you want students to calculate the sine of one angle and two times cosine of another, you would enter <code>sin({a}) + cos({b}*2)</code>.
* It's usually better to have too many parentheses (brackets) than too few. The server won't care, and the more specific you are about what you mean, the more likely it will like your complex formulas.
* There is no implicit multiplication. To you, the human editor, "5(23)" or "5x" may seem perfectly obvious. To the server doing the math, it's crazy talk and won't be understood. Always use the "*" for multiplication.
* Any special mathematical function must have parentheses around its values. Take the sine function in the first bullet point for instance. Notice that the ''3 / x'' is wrapped in parentheses (brackets)--this is so the server can understand it properly. Without those parentheses, the server won't know if you mean "(sin 3) / x" or "sin (3 / x)" and will reject the entire formula accordingly.

==Available functions==

*Calculated questions can use more than simple arithmetic operators. See below for a table of available functions (taken from [http://us3.php.net/manual/en/ref.math.php PHP: Mathematical Functions], where you can get further functions, though be careful, as the page may contain more information than you want!).

{| width="97%" border="1px"
!Function
!Explanation
|-
|abs
|Absolute value
|-
|acos
|Arc cosine -- in radians!!! Convert your degree measurement to radians before you take the acos of it.
|-
|acosh
|Inverse hyperbolic cosine -- in radians!!! Convert your degree measurement to radians before you take the acosh of it.
|-
|asin
|Arc sine -- in radians!!! Convert your degree measurement to radians before you take the asin of it.
|-
|asinh
|Inverse hyperbolic sine -- in radians!!! Convert your degree measurement to radians before you take the asing of it.
|-
|atan2
|Arc tangent of two variables -- pass in two values like (x, y), and you'll get the atah(y/x), adjusted to the proper quadrant.
|-
|atan
|Arc tangent -- in radians!!! Convert your degree measurement to radians before you take the atan of it.
|-
|atanh
|Inverse hyperbolic tangent
|-
|base_convert
|Convert a number between arbitrary bases. Example: to get the value of 50 (in base 10) in base 5, you'd write "base_convert(50, 10, 5)"
|-
|bindec
|Binary to decimal
|-
|ceil
|Round fractions up
|-
|cos
|Cosine -- in radians!!! Convert your degree measurement to radians before you take the cos of it.
|-
|cosh
|Hyperbolic cosine -- in radians!!! Convert your degree measurement to radians before you take the cosh of it.
|-
|decbin
|Decimal to binary
|-
|dechex
|Decimal to hexadecimal
|-
|decoct
|Decimal to octal
|-
|deg2rad
|Converts the number in degrees to the radian equivalent
|-
|exp
|Calculates the exponent of e
|-
|expm1
|Returns exp(number) - 1, computed in a way that is accurate even when the value of number is close to zero
|-
|floor
|Round fractions down
|-
|fmod
|Returns the floating point remainder (modulo) of the division of the arguments
|-
|hexdec
|Hexadecimal to decimal
|-
|is_finite
|Finds whether a value is a legal finite number
|-
|is_infinite
|Finds whether a value is infinite
|-
|log10
|Base-10 logarithm
|-
|log1p
|Returns log(1 + number), computed in a way that is accurate even when the value of number is close to zero
|-
|log
|Natural logarithm (''ln'')
|-
|max
|Find highest value
|-
|min
|Find lowest value
|-
|mt_rand
|Generate a better random value
|-
|octdec
|Octal to decimal
|-
|pi
|Get value of pi
|-
|pow (numberToRaise, NumberRaisedTo)
|Exponential expression
|-
|rad2deg
|Converts the radian number to the equivalent number in degrees
|-
|rand
|Generate a random integer
|-
|round
|Rounds a float
|-
|sin
|Sine -- in radians!!! Convert your degree measurement to radians before you take the sin of it.
|-
|sinh
|Hyperbolic sine -- in radians!!! Convert your degree measurement to radians before you take the sinh of it.
|-
|sqrt
|Square root
|-
|tan
|Tangent -- in radians!!! Convert your degree measurement to radians before you take the tan of it.
|-
|tanh
|Hyperbolic tangent -- in radians!!! Convert your degree measurement to radians before you take the tanh of it.
|}

==Predefined constants==

*Some predefined constants are available for you to use. A table of these appears below, altered from [http://us3.php.net/manual/en/ref.math.php PHP: Mathematical Functions], where you can get more information. (Be careful, as the page may contain more information than you want!)

{| width="97%" border="1px"
!Constant
!Value
!Description
|-
|M_PI
|3.14159265358979323846
|Pi
|-
|M_E
|2.7182818284590452354
|e
|-
|M_LOG2E
|1.4426950408889634074
|log_2 e
|-
|M_LOG10E
|0.43429448190325182765
|log_10 e
|-
|M_LN2
|0.69314718055994530942
|log_e 2
|-
|M_LN10
|2.30258509299404568402
|log_e 10
|-
|M_PI_2
|1.57079632679489661923
|pi/2
|-
|M_PI_4
|0.78539816339744830962
|pi/4
|-
|M_1_PI
|0.31830988618379067154
|1/pi
|-
|M_2_PI
|0.63661977236758134308
|2/pi
|-
|M_2_SQRTPI
|1.12837916709551257390
|2/sqrt(pi)
|-
|M_SQRT2
|1.41421356237309504880
|sqrt(2)
|-
|M_SQRT1_2
|0.70710678118654752440
|1/sqrt(2)
|}

==Additional predefined constants==

*Some other constants may be available, depending on how your instance of Moodle is set up.
{| width="97%" border="1px"
!Constant
!Value
!Description
|-
|M_SQRTPI
|1.77245385090551602729
|sqrt(pi)
|-
|M_SQRT3
|1.73205080756887729352
|sqrt(3)
|-
|M_LNPI
|1.14472988584940017414
|log_e(pi)
|-
|M_EULER
|0.57721566490153286061
|Euler constant
|}

[[Category:Question]]

Calculated question type

2007-06-23T23:18:53Z

Divb: /* Question text */

{{Questions}}
Calculated questions offer a way to create individual numerical questions by the use of wildcards (i.e '''{x}''' , '''{y}''')that are substituted with random values when the quiz is taken.

For example, if you want to create a large number of '''"Calculate the area of a rectangle"''' problems to drill your students, you could create a question with two wildcards (i.e. '''{base}''', '''{height}''') and put in the "'''Correct Answer Formula='''" input field '''{base}''' * '''{height}''' ( * being the multiplication sign ).

'''Correct Answer Formula=''' {base}*{height}

When a student takes the test, Moodle will randomly select values for '''{base}''' and '''{height}''' and grade the response using the result of the '''Correct Answer Formula='''.

The test will very rarely appear the same way twice.

==CAUTION: At least ONE wildcard in one of the answers==
The main purpose of calculated question is to create multiple versions of a question with different numerical values.

Otherwise use numerical question.

==A three steps process==
To create (or modify) a calculated question you need:
===Define the usual question parameters===
====Name====
:Give the question a descriptive name.
====Question text====
:All variables "wildcard" you want Moodle to replace with generated values must be placed in curly braces. For example if you wanted to sum numbers A and B the wild cards would be {A} and {B} or even {FirstNumber} and {SecondNumber}
:Question text should contains at least one wildcard (otherwise you wouldn't be using this kind of question).
:The user have all the necessary information to answer correctly

====Correct answer formula====
*define at least one formula answer containing at least the wildcards that were put in the question text and all the other parameter related to precision or units.
*set 100% at least to one of the answers
===Precise the dataset definitions===
:For each wild card(s) there is a the dataset containing the data that will be substituted to the wild card.

:The dataset can be
:*'''private''' i.e. only used by this question
:*'''shared''' i.e shared with other questions from the same category

:A dataset definition is '''mandatory''' for each of the wild cards '''used in the formulas'''.
:If you put in the question text some text between brackets {zzz} that is a '''possible''' wild card ,
: you will be able to choose if it is really a wild card or not.

===Define at least one set of values for each wild card ===
:If you define a large number of values (actual maximum number = 100),
:you get a more randomized set of different questions.

==Question set-up==
#If you wish, add general feedback.
#Enter the formula for the answer. Be sure to use the same placeholders so Moodle can substitute the same values.
#Determine the tolerance for error that you will accept in the answer. The tolerance and tolerance type combine to give a range of acceptable scores.
#Select the number of significant figures you want in the correct answer.
#Add correct answer feedback.
#Enter the units for the answer (e.g. meters, kg, etc.). Moodle will look for the correct units. If you want to enter other acceptable units, such as metric versus imperial distances, enter them along with a conversion factor.
#Click Save changes.
#On the next screen, choose whether to create substitution values for each placeholder only for this question, or for other questions in the same category.
#Click Save changes.
#Create a dataset for the question or questions in the category. For each placeholder, generate a series of acceptable values. The more values you generate, the more a question can be used without repeating values.
#Click Back to quiz editing.

==Correct answer formula ==

=== DO NOT PUT THE = sign in the fomula. ===

* In the recent versions of the calculated question type, you could have more than one answer formula and applied a specific grading value to each of them as long as there is at least one 100% correct answer formula.
If more than one correct answer formula input field are displayed when editing,
your site has the multiple answer feature.

* As a general rule, write these formulas like you would in a calculator e.g. <code>3 + 5 * sin (3/{x})</code>
* Each function's placeholders and other arguments should be in parentheses (brackets). For example, if you want students to calculate the sine of one angle and two times cosine of another, you would enter <code>sin({a}) + cos({b}*2)</code>.
* It's usually better to have too many parentheses (brackets) than too few. The server won't care, and the more specific you are about what you mean, the more likely it will like your complex formulas.
* There is no implicit multiplication. To you, the human editor, "5(23)" or "5x" may seem perfectly obvious. To the server doing the math, it's crazy talk and won't be understood. Always use the "*" for multiplication.
* Any special mathematical function must have parentheses around its values. Take the sine function in the first bullet point for instance. Notice that the ''3 / x'' is wrapped in parentheses (brackets)--this is so the server can understand it properly. Without those parentheses, the server won't know if you mean "(sin 3) / x" or "sin (3 / x)" and will reject the entire formula accordingly.

==Available functions==

*Calculated questions can use more than simple arithmetic operators. See below for a table of available functions (taken from [http://us3.php.net/manual/en/ref.math.php PHP: Mathematical Functions], where you can get further functions, though be careful, as the page may contain more information than you want!).

{| width="97%" border="1px"
!Function
!Explanation
|-
|abs
|Absolute value
|-
|acos
|Arc cosine -- in radians!!! Convert your degree measurement to radians before you take the acos of it.
|-
|acosh
|Inverse hyperbolic cosine -- in radians!!! Convert your degree measurement to radians before you take the acosh of it.
|-
|asin
|Arc sine -- in radians!!! Convert your degree measurement to radians before you take the asin of it.
|-
|asinh
|Inverse hyperbolic sine -- in radians!!! Convert your degree measurement to radians before you take the asing of it.
|-
|atan2
|Arc tangent of two variables -- pass in two values like (x, y), and you'll get the atah(y/x), adjusted to the proper quadrant.
|-
|atan
|Arc tangent -- in radians!!! Convert your degree measurement to radians before you take the atan of it.
|-
|atanh
|Inverse hyperbolic tangent
|-
|base_convert
|Convert a number between arbitrary bases. Example: to get the value of 50 (in base 10) in base 5, you'd write "base_convert(50, 10, 5)"
|-
|bindec
|Binary to decimal
|-
|ceil
|Round fractions up
|-
|cos
|Cosine -- in radians!!! Convert your degree measurement to radians before you take the cos of it.
|-
|cosh
|Hyperbolic cosine -- in radians!!! Convert your degree measurement to radians before you take the cosh of it.
|-
|decbin
|Decimal to binary
|-
|dechex
|Decimal to hexadecimal
|-
|decoct
|Decimal to octal
|-
|deg2rad
|Converts the number in degrees to the radian equivalent
|-
|exp
|Calculates the exponent of e
|-
|expm1
|Returns exp(number) - 1, computed in a way that is accurate even when the value of number is close to zero
|-
|floor
|Round fractions down
|-
|fmod
|Returns the floating point remainder (modulo) of the division of the arguments
|-
|hexdec
|Hexadecimal to decimal
|-
|is_finite
|Finds whether a value is a legal finite number
|-
|is_infinite
|Finds whether a value is infinite
|-
|log10
|Base-10 logarithm
|-
|log1p
|Returns log(1 + number), computed in a way that is accurate even when the value of number is close to zero
|-
|log
|Natural logarithm (''ln'')
|-
|max
|Find highest value
|-
|min
|Find lowest value
|-
|mt_rand
|Generate a better random value
|-
|octdec
|Octal to decimal
|-
|pi
|Get value of pi
|-
|pow (numberToRaise, NumberRaisedTo)
|Exponential expression
|-
|rad2deg
|Converts the radian number to the equivalent number in degrees
|-
|rand
|Generate a random integer
|-
|round
|Rounds a float
|-
|sin
|Sine -- in radians!!! Convert your degree measurement to radians before you take the sin of it.
|-
|sinh
|Hyperbolic sine -- in radians!!! Convert your degree measurement to radians before you take the sinh of it.
|-
|sqrt
|Square root
|-
|tan
|Tangent -- in radians!!! Convert your degree measurement to radians before you take the tan of it.
|-
|tanh
|Hyperbolic tangent -- in radians!!! Convert your degree measurement to radians before you take the tanh of it.
|}

==Predefined constants==

*Some predefined constants are available for you to use. A table of these appears below, altered from [http://us3.php.net/manual/en/ref.math.php PHP: Mathematical Functions], where you can get more information. (Be careful, as the page may contain more information than you want!)

{| width="97%" border="1px"
!Constant
!Value
!Description
|-
|M_PI
|3.14159265358979323846
|Pi
|-
|M_E
|2.7182818284590452354
|e
|-
|M_LOG2E
|1.4426950408889634074
|log_2 e
|-
|M_LOG10E
|0.43429448190325182765
|log_10 e
|-
|M_LN2
|0.69314718055994530942
|log_e 2
|-
|M_LN10
|2.30258509299404568402
|log_e 10
|-
|M_PI_2
|1.57079632679489661923
|pi/2
|-
|M_PI_4
|0.78539816339744830962
|pi/4
|-
|M_1_PI
|0.31830988618379067154
|1/pi
|-
|M_2_PI
|0.63661977236758134308
|2/pi
|-
|M_2_SQRTPI
|1.12837916709551257390
|2/sqrt(pi)
|-
|M_SQRT2
|1.41421356237309504880
|sqrt(2)
|-
|M_SQRT1_2
|0.70710678118654752440
|1/sqrt(2)
|}

==Additional predefined constants==

*Some other constants may be available, depending on how your instance of Moodle is set up.
{| width="97%" border="1px"
!Constant
!Value
!Description
|-
|M_SQRTPI
|1.77245385090551602729
|sqrt(pi)
|-
|M_SQRT3
|1.73205080756887729352
|sqrt(3)
|-
|M_LNPI
|1.14472988584940017414
|log_e(pi)
|-
|M_EULER
|0.57721566490153286061
|Euler constant
|}

[[Category:Question]]

Talk:Calculated question type

2007-06-23T23:16:46Z

Divb:

I'm trying to create just a SAMPLE calculated question to evaluate moodle quiz export XML, and am finding it about impossible to figure out. I've done some programming, and have figured some of it, but this is a very unfriendly format explanation. It would be lovely if there could be some explanation as to what a wild card is, and how to create data sets. I can put in a bit about the first thing, but the datasets still have me stumped. [[User:D.I. von Briesen|D.I. von Briesen]] 18:16, 23 June 2007 (CDT)

Calculated question type

2007-06-23T23:13:22Z

Divb: Clarified use of pow...

{{Questions}}
Calculated questions offer a way to create individual numerical questions by the use of wildcards (i.e '''{x}''' , '''{y}''')that are substituted with random values when the quiz is taken.

For example, if you want to create a large number of '''"Calculate the area of a rectangle"''' problems to drill your students, you could create a question with two wildcards (i.e. '''{base}''', '''{height}''') and put in the "'''Correct Answer Formula='''" input field '''{base}''' * '''{height}''' ( * being the multiplication sign ).

'''Correct Answer Formula=''' {base}*{height}

When a student takes the test, Moodle will randomly select values for '''{base}''' and '''{height}''' and grade the response using the result of the '''Correct Answer Formula='''.

The test will very rarely appear the same way twice.

==CAUTION: At least ONE wildcard in one of the answers==
The main purpose of calculated question is to create multiple versions of a question with different numerical values.

Otherwise use numerical question.

==A three steps process==
To create (or modify) a calculated question you need:
===Define the usual question parameters===
====Name====
:Give the question a descriptive name.
====Question text====
:All variables "wildcard" you want Moodle to replace with generated values must be placed in curly braces.
:Question text should contains at least one wildcard
:The user have all the necessary information to answer correctly
====Correct answer formula====
*define at least one formula answer containing at least the wildcards that were put in the question text and all the other parameter related to precision or units.
*set 100% at least to one of the answers
===Precise the dataset definitions===
:For each wild card(s) there is a the dataset containing the data that will be substituted to the wild card.

:The dataset can be
:*'''private''' i.e. only used by this question
:*'''shared''' i.e shared with other questions from the same category

:A dataset definition is '''mandatory''' for each of the wild cards '''used in the formulas'''.
:If you put in the question text some text between brackets {zzz} that is a '''possible''' wild card ,
: you will be able to choose if it is really a wild card or not.

===Define at least one set of values for each wild card ===
:If you define a large number of values (actual maximum number = 100),
:you get a more randomized set of different questions.

==Question set-up==
#If you wish, add general feedback.
#Enter the formula for the answer. Be sure to use the same placeholders so Moodle can substitute the same values.
#Determine the tolerance for error that you will accept in the answer. The tolerance and tolerance type combine to give a range of acceptable scores.
#Select the number of significant figures you want in the correct answer.
#Add correct answer feedback.
#Enter the units for the answer (e.g. meters, kg, etc.). Moodle will look for the correct units. If you want to enter other acceptable units, such as metric versus imperial distances, enter them along with a conversion factor.
#Click Save changes.
#On the next screen, choose whether to create substitution values for each placeholder only for this question, or for other questions in the same category.
#Click Save changes.
#Create a dataset for the question or questions in the category. For each placeholder, generate a series of acceptable values. The more values you generate, the more a question can be used without repeating values.
#Click Back to quiz editing.

==Correct answer formula ==

=== DO NOT PUT THE = sign in the fomula. ===

* In the recent versions of the calculated question type, you could have more than one answer formula and applied a specific grading value to each of them as long as there is at least one 100% correct answer formula.
If more than one correct answer formula input field are displayed when editing,
your site has the multiple answer feature.

* As a general rule, write these formulas like you would in a calculator e.g. <code>3 + 5 * sin (3/{x})</code>
* Each function's placeholders and other arguments should be in parentheses (brackets). For example, if you want students to calculate the sine of one angle and two times cosine of another, you would enter <code>sin({a}) + cos({b}*2)</code>.
* It's usually better to have too many parentheses (brackets) than too few. The server won't care, and the more specific you are about what you mean, the more likely it will like your complex formulas.
* There is no implicit multiplication. To you, the human editor, "5(23)" or "5x" may seem perfectly obvious. To the server doing the math, it's crazy talk and won't be understood. Always use the "*" for multiplication.
* Any special mathematical function must have parentheses around its values. Take the sine function in the first bullet point for instance. Notice that the ''3 / x'' is wrapped in parentheses (brackets)--this is so the server can understand it properly. Without those parentheses, the server won't know if you mean "(sin 3) / x" or "sin (3 / x)" and will reject the entire formula accordingly.

==Available functions==

*Calculated questions can use more than simple arithmetic operators. See below for a table of available functions (taken from [http://us3.php.net/manual/en/ref.math.php PHP: Mathematical Functions], where you can get further functions, though be careful, as the page may contain more information than you want!).

{| width="97%" border="1px"
!Function
!Explanation
|-
|abs
|Absolute value
|-
|acos
|Arc cosine -- in radians!!! Convert your degree measurement to radians before you take the acos of it.
|-
|acosh
|Inverse hyperbolic cosine -- in radians!!! Convert your degree measurement to radians before you take the acosh of it.
|-
|asin
|Arc sine -- in radians!!! Convert your degree measurement to radians before you take the asin of it.
|-
|asinh
|Inverse hyperbolic sine -- in radians!!! Convert your degree measurement to radians before you take the asing of it.
|-
|atan2
|Arc tangent of two variables -- pass in two values like (x, y), and you'll get the atah(y/x), adjusted to the proper quadrant.
|-
|atan
|Arc tangent -- in radians!!! Convert your degree measurement to radians before you take the atan of it.
|-
|atanh
|Inverse hyperbolic tangent
|-
|base_convert
|Convert a number between arbitrary bases. Example: to get the value of 50 (in base 10) in base 5, you'd write "base_convert(50, 10, 5)"
|-
|bindec
|Binary to decimal
|-
|ceil
|Round fractions up
|-
|cos
|Cosine -- in radians!!! Convert your degree measurement to radians before you take the cos of it.
|-
|cosh
|Hyperbolic cosine -- in radians!!! Convert your degree measurement to radians before you take the cosh of it.
|-
|decbin
|Decimal to binary
|-
|dechex
|Decimal to hexadecimal
|-
|decoct
|Decimal to octal
|-
|deg2rad
|Converts the number in degrees to the radian equivalent
|-
|exp
|Calculates the exponent of e
|-
|expm1
|Returns exp(number) - 1, computed in a way that is accurate even when the value of number is close to zero
|-
|floor
|Round fractions down
|-
|fmod
|Returns the floating point remainder (modulo) of the division of the arguments
|-
|hexdec
|Hexadecimal to decimal
|-
|is_finite
|Finds whether a value is a legal finite number
|-
|is_infinite
|Finds whether a value is infinite
|-
|log10
|Base-10 logarithm
|-
|log1p
|Returns log(1 + number), computed in a way that is accurate even when the value of number is close to zero
|-
|log
|Natural logarithm (''ln'')
|-
|max
|Find highest value
|-
|min
|Find lowest value
|-
|mt_rand
|Generate a better random value
|-
|octdec
|Octal to decimal
|-
|pi
|Get value of pi
|-
|pow (numberToRaise, NumberRaisedTo)
|Exponential expression
|-
|rad2deg
|Converts the radian number to the equivalent number in degrees
|-
|rand
|Generate a random integer
|-
|round
|Rounds a float
|-
|sin
|Sine -- in radians!!! Convert your degree measurement to radians before you take the sin of it.
|-
|sinh
|Hyperbolic sine -- in radians!!! Convert your degree measurement to radians before you take the sinh of it.
|-
|sqrt
|Square root
|-
|tan
|Tangent -- in radians!!! Convert your degree measurement to radians before you take the tan of it.
|-
|tanh
|Hyperbolic tangent -- in radians!!! Convert your degree measurement to radians before you take the tanh of it.
|}

==Predefined constants==

*Some predefined constants are available for you to use. A table of these appears below, altered from [http://us3.php.net/manual/en/ref.math.php PHP: Mathematical Functions], where you can get more information. (Be careful, as the page may contain more information than you want!)

{| width="97%" border="1px"
!Constant
!Value
!Description
|-
|M_PI
|3.14159265358979323846
|Pi
|-
|M_E
|2.7182818284590452354
|e
|-
|M_LOG2E
|1.4426950408889634074
|log_2 e
|-
|M_LOG10E
|0.43429448190325182765
|log_10 e
|-
|M_LN2
|0.69314718055994530942
|log_e 2
|-
|M_LN10
|2.30258509299404568402
|log_e 10
|-
|M_PI_2
|1.57079632679489661923
|pi/2
|-
|M_PI_4
|0.78539816339744830962
|pi/4
|-
|M_1_PI
|0.31830988618379067154
|1/pi
|-
|M_2_PI
|0.63661977236758134308
|2/pi
|-
|M_2_SQRTPI
|1.12837916709551257390
|2/sqrt(pi)
|-
|M_SQRT2
|1.41421356237309504880
|sqrt(2)
|-
|M_SQRT1_2
|0.70710678118654752440
|1/sqrt(2)
|}

==Additional predefined constants==

*Some other constants may be available, depending on how your instance of Moodle is set up.
{| width="97%" border="1px"
!Constant
!Value
!Description
|-
|M_SQRTPI
|1.77245385090551602729
|sqrt(pi)
|-
|M_SQRT3
|1.73205080756887729352
|sqrt(3)
|-
|M_LNPI
|1.14472988584940017414
|log_e(pi)
|-
|M_EULER
|0.57721566490153286061
|Euler constant
|}

[[Category:Question]]

Teaching Do's

2006-10-03T05:52:32Z

Divb: /* Do use labels to appropriately divide/annotate your course sections/weeks */

==Do encourage students to learn together through shared Moodle-based experiences==
Moodle is not just about text, images and links. There is a Moodle [[Philosophy|philosophy]] that presumes that that ''learning is particularly effective when constructing something for others to experience''. Moodle was born with collaboration in mind.

Encourage your students to experience Moodle together, not as a book that has been posted to the Web, but rather as members of an ongoing, active learning community.

This means that ''your job as a 'teacher' can change from being 'the source of knowledge' to being an influencer and role model of class culture, connecting with students in a personal way that addresses their own learning needs, and moderating discussions and activities in a way that collectively leads students towards the learning goals of the class''.

==Do encourage students to be security-conscious==
Students should be very careful about posting personal information to any web site, even your Moodle site. Encourage them to use common sense in this area.

==Do start small but think big==
If you are new to Moodle and have no experience with other course management systems, consider beginning with with something easy and strightforward, like creating a web page resource to post lesson plans and links to helpful online resources. Do that until you are really comfortable. Then, as your needs dictate, move on to other modules: maybe a little forum to discuss current events in your discipline, for example.

Moodle is very robust and can overwhelm a novice. This approach can help you avoid that. Don't worry, in a few weeks, you will be Moodling like crazy!

==Do save, save, save==
Please save your work every five to ten minutes. Develop this habit BEFORE your browser locks up in the middle of something big and you will never lose more than a few minutes of your wonderful, inspired Moodling! Encourage your students to do the same. They become quite frustrated if they lose their work after thirty or forty minutes or more. It's best to teach them early on to save every few minutes. You might even want to use a kitchen timer to help remind them to save their work.

==Do show students how the logs work==
Make sure that students understand that you can monitor where they go and what they do on the class web site. Show them an example of the logs that are generated as they click around the site.

==Do enter brief, helpful summaries for your resources==
When students click on the [[Resources|resources]] link, it is helpful for them to see not only the title of the resource, but also some descriptive information about that resource. Many teachers prefer to skip the summary, but it takes only a few moments to add one and doing so is an act of kindness toward your students and colleagues.

[[Image:resources.png|frame|left|Summaries tell your students about the resources in a course.]] 

== Do set an enrollment key==

Unless you want the whole world to join your course (possible, but usually not the case), do not leave the enrollment key field blank in the course [[Settings|settings]]. This one-time password will keep out everyone except your students.

If necessary, change the key after all of your students have enrolled. That way, the students won't be able to share the key with others, because they won't know it.

[[Image:Ekey.jpg|frame|left|You set your enrollment key when specifying the settings of your course. It is part of the course setup.]] 

==Do encourage students to think before they post==

Many students have a very casual approach to [[Forum posting|posting to forums]]. This presumably comes from their many online interactions with their friends. This may be what you are looking for, but you will often want more thinking than that to occur when students are communicating in your class. Encourage students to consider the advice built into Moodle about being a little more critical in one's approach to forum interactions.

[[Image:Read-carefully2.jpg|frame|left|Just click for helpful advice. Encourage students to make use of the built-in suggestions about reading carefully, writing carfefully, and asking good questions.]]
 

==Do use labels to appropriately divide/annotate your course sections/weeks==

If you use [[Label|labels]] INSTEAD of the default topic/week editing section, you'll have less trouble when you migrate portions of your course over to another (when you append and don't overwrite, section notes are lost, but labels are not).

Note that if you use the optional course menu (from humboldt, as of summer 06) it gets its folder titles from the section summaries, so if you plan on using it, then you DO need to use these summaries - so it's a trade-off.

==Do set up your new course (weeks/topics, number of sections, etc...) prior to importing/overwriting with another course==

Moodle doesn't know how to put 20 modules or weeks into 10, and won't automatically change the destination course. It does migrate all the content, but the location of the content will be more what you expect if you make the course layout match the source course. (note, this is 1.5.3 - and may be changed in the future)

==Do encourage student feedback about course structure, usability, content etc.==
Your students will be the experts who will be able to tell you if you have set up your course well, if they found it to be user friendly, and so on. Be sure to ask them for constructive feedback about what works and doesn't work. Their responses may sting a little, but can be very helpful. The choice, questionnaire and feedback modules are good for this purpose. Moodle also makes it very easy for you to act on that feedback and modify your course as necessary on the fly.

==Do hide menu options on internal resources pop-up windows==
When you create a resource that is a text page, webpage, or internal file that opens in the browser, use the "Show settings" button to make the window pop-up options available. By setting these resources to open up as a secondary window, you can leave your main moodle course page as a "launch platform" for your course. Using the additional options, you can create a nice streamlined window without all the normal browser menus. You can even size the window. It's a good idea to leave the allow scrolling and resizing windows available, as you may not always be able to predict how much screen space you need. Once the participant has viewed the window, they simply close it, taking them smoothly back to the course page.

==Do create custom grading scales==
You can create your own [[Scales|scales]] of grades, comments, etc. to use in [[Forums|forums]], [[Glossaries|glossaries]] and [[Assignments|assignments]]. This can be very useful and it can even be fun. In fact, you might consider having your students help you create a custom grading scale. (K-12 Teachers: Why not vote for the coolest scales using the choice module?)

==Do share with colleagues==
Communicate often with colleagues here at moodle.org, at your own school, and anywhere else you discover moodlers. Each person you meet will have different ideas to enhance your own creativity in your use of moodle resources. When you find that something works well, always share it with others!

==Do teach students to modify subjects in forums ==
It is an act of kindness to helpfully modify subject lines in forums. This helps participants follow the flow of the online conversation. It is a little hard to know what is going on when the subject ''About Bobo'' appears fifty times in a row. It is easier to follow when you have ''Bobo was a victim'', ''I like Bobo, but...'', and ''What this country needs is a ten thousand men like Bobo!''

==See also==

* [[Teaching Good Practices (K-12)]]
* [[Teaching Don'ts]]

[[Category:Teacher]]

Teacher documentation

2006-10-03T05:42:03Z

Divb: /* Editing a course */

==Getting started==
If you are a new user and would like a list of all teacher documentation articles, please see [[:Category:Teacher]].

We are assuming that your site administrator has set up Moodle, you are a user with teacher privileges and the administrator has assigned you to a new, blank course.

You will need to be [[Log in | logged into]] the course using an account that has been assigned [[Teacher|teacher status]] (with editing rights) on that course to use most of the features below. We have some tips if you are having [[Can not log in | trouble logging in]].

Now onto the real details. You will find the [[Course homepage|course homepage]] is broken down into [[Course sections]]. A course is created by [[Adding resources and activities|adding resources and activities]]. When writing text in Moodle you have a range of [[Formatting options]] including using [[HTML in Moodle]]

The example below shows a new course set up with topic sections, edit is on and there are [[Blocks|blocks]] on the right and left sides of the topics. Resources and activities are ready to be added.
[[Image:Course edit on new 2.jpg|thumb|center|500px]]

==Editing a course==

To add or alter activities or resources you will need to [[Turn editing on|turn editing on]]. You can do this by pressing the button at the top right of the course homepage or following the turn editing on link in the administration block. You can turn editing off again by pressing the button or the admin block link again (now renamed turn editing off)

When editing is on you will see the following icons:

:[[Image:Edit.gif]] - the edit icon lets you alter/update whatever resource or activity it is next to by taking you to its setup page.

:[[Image:Help.gif]] - the help icon will pop-up a relevant help window.

:[[Image:Open.gif]] - the open-eye icon means an item is visible to students. Clicking it will make the item invisible to participants and change the icon to the closed eye.

:[[Image:Closed.gif]] - the closed-eye icon means an item is hidden from students. Clicking it will make the item visible to participants and change the icon to the open eye.

:[[Image:Right.gif]] - the left arrow icon is used to outdent course elements. There is also a right arrow icon for indenting items.

:[[Image:Move.gif]] - the move icon allows course elements to be moved up or down throughout the course.

:[[Image:Movehere.gif]] - the move here icon appears when moving a course element. It appears only after you've clicked the move icon, and indicates the destination of the item you're moving. Future versions of moodle will replace this move icon with a cross icon that acts as a drag-and-drop grab handle.

:[[Image:Delete.gif]] - the delete icon will permanently delete something from the course - but there is a confirmation screen after you click the icon.

:[[Image:Marker.gif]] - the marker icon allows you to make a section current, which typically causes that section of your course to be "highlighted" depending on the theme/colors your course is using.

:[[Image:One.gif]] - the one/collapse icon hides all other sections of the course, showing only this one.

:[[Image:All.gif]] - the all/expand icon shows all sections in a course.

If you are running version 1.6 or above you will see a '''Student View''' toggle button at the top right of the course homepage. This allows you to see the course almost exactly as your students will see it. Future versions will allow you to choose a role.

==Activity modules==

[[Image:Activity_dropdown.JPG|frame|right|Add an activity drop-down menu]]
There are a number of robust interactive learning [[Modules (teacher)|activity modules]] that you may [[Adding_resources_and_activities | add to your course]].

Communication and collaboration may take place using [[Chats]] and [[Forums]] for conversational activities and [[Choices]] to gain group feedback. Adding [[Wikis]] to your courses is an excellent way to allow students to work together on a project.

Work can be submitted by students and marked by teachers using [[Assignments]] or [[Workshops]]. The [[Quizzes]] offer several options for automatic scoring. You can even integrate your Hot Potato quizzes by adding a [[Hotpot]] activity.

[[Lessons]] and [[SCORM]] activities deliever content and offer ways of individualizing your presentation based upon a student's choices. Key words can be added to [[Glossaries]] by yourself or, if you allow it, your students.

[[Surveys]] and [[Database module|Databases]] are also very powerful additions to any course.

If all of that isn't enough for you then you can also [[Non-standard modules|add other modules]] that are not part of the official Moodle release!

==Resources==

[[Image:Resource_pulldown_menu.JPG|frame|left|Add a resource drop-down menu]]

Moodle supports a range of different [[Resources|resource types]] that allow you to include almost any kind of digital content into your courses. These can be added by using the [[Adding_resources_and_activities | add a resource]] dropdown box when editing is turned on.

A [[Text page]] is a simple page written using plain text. Text pages aren't pretty, but they're a good place to put some information or instructions. If you are after more options for your new page then you should be thinking about adding a [[Web page]] and making use of Moodle's WYSIWYG editor.

Of course the resource may already exist in electronic form so you may want to [[File or website link|link to an uploaded file or external website]] or simply display the complete contents of a [[Directory|directory]] in your course files and let your users pick the file themselves. If you have an [[IMS content package]] then this can be easily added to your course.

Use a [[Label|label]] to embed instructions or information in the course section.

==Blocks==
[[Image:Block_add_dropdown_list2.JPG |thumb|150px|right|Add Block drop-down menu]]
Each course homepage generally contains blocks on the left and right with the centre column containing the course content. Blocks may be added, hidden, deleted, and moved up, down and left/right when editing is turned on. Examples of blocks can be see in the Getting Starting image above. "Latest News", "Upcoming Events", and "Recent Activity" are blocks.

A [[Blocks (teacher)|wide range of blocks]] exist that can provide additional information or functionality to the learner by the teacher. The standard blocks that come with Moodle are shown on the right. There are also many [[Non-standard blocks]] developed by Moodlers that an administrator can add to this list.

A teacher with editing rights will also have a course [[Administration_block|administration block]].

==General advice==

* Subscribe yourself to all of the [[forum]]s in your course so that you can keep in touch with your class activity.
* Encourage all of the students to fill out their [[Edit profile|user profile]] (including photos) and read them all - this will help provide some context to their later writings and help you to respond in ways that are tailored to their own needs.
* Keep notes to yourself in the private "Teacher's Forum" (under Administration). This is especially useful when team teaching.
* Use the [[Logs]] link (under Administration) to get access to complete, raw logs. In there you'll see a link to a popup window that updates every sixty seconds and shows the last hour of activity. This is useful to keep open on your desktop all day so you can feel in touch with what's going on in the course.
* Use the [[Recent_activity|Activity Reports]] (next to each name in the list of all people, or from any user profile page). These provide a great way to see what any particular person has been up to in the course.
* Respond quickly to students. Don't leave it for later - do it right away. Not only is it easy to become overwhelmed with the volume that can be generated, but it's a crucial part of building and maintaining a community feel in your course.
*Don't be afraid to experiment: feel free to poke around and change things. It's hard to break anything in a Moodle course, and even if you do it's usually easy to fix it.
* Use the [[Navigation bar|navigation bar]] at the top of each page - this should help remind you where you are and prevent getting lost

== See also ==
*[[Teaching with Moodle]] - inspiring links
*[[Teaching do's and don'ts]] - hints
*[[Moodle manuals]] - A list of links to manuals and books
*[[Using Moodle book]] - A real book you can reprint!
*[[Teaching FAQ]] - common questions
*[http://moodle.tokem.fi/mod/book/view.php?id=5116&chapterid=256 Example of a course teaching checklist],
*One example of a site specific [[http://moodle.tokem.fi/mod/book/view.php?id=5116 |Teacher's Moodle Manual]], done in Moodle with the book module
*[[Tips and tricks]]
*[[Student FAQ]] - students have questions about technology?

[[Category:Teacher]]
[[es:Documentación para Profesores]]
[[fr:Documentation enseignant]]
[[nl:Documentatie voor leraren]]
[[ru:Учителям]]
[[zh:教师文档]]
[[ja:教師ドキュメント]]

Talk:Tracker

2006-10-03T05:35:40Z

Divb:

What do we do to re-open an item that has been marked as resolved, but really is not? : see http://tracker.moodle.org/browse/MDL-6762. Would you just resubmit it?
[[User:D.I. von Briesen|D.I. von Briesen]] 00:35, 3 October 2006 (CDT)

Talk:Tracker

2006-10-03T05:34:12Z

Divb:

Tracker

2006-10-01T07:12:37Z

Divb: Fixed typo, and switched statement from passive to active voice

[[Image:Tracker.jpg]]

Bug tracking is an important part of a continuous quality control process. Unlike most proprietary software programs, Moodle bug reporting and bug tracking information is open to everyone. Moodle's bug tracking system is called '''[http://tracker.moodle.org Tracker]'''. Tracker is a slightly customised version of Atlassian's product [http://www.atlassian.com/software/jira/ Jira].

"Bugs" not only include software problems with current versions of Moodle, but we welcome your requests for new features, improvements, or even constructive criticism of existing features.

The beauty of open source is that anyone can participate and help to create a better product for all of us to enjoy. In this project, your input is very welcome!

==Logging in to Tracker==
*If you're a new Tracker user, create a user account [http://tracker.moodle.org here]. It is strongly suggested your Tracker username is the same name you use at Moodle.org.
*If you've forgotten your password, go [http://tracker.moodle.org here] and select 'forgot password' which is just under the 'log in' button. Follow the prompts.

== How to report a bug, improvement, or new feature request ==
NB See the section 'Tracker fields' below for a full description of every field.
*Login to [http://tracker.moodle.org Tracker]
*Select "Create New Issue" from the menu under the Moodle Tracker logo
*From the dropdown menu select the "Issue type": Bug, New Feature, Task or Improvement
*You will see a series of dropdown and free text fields. Complete as many as you can. Some fields are required while others are optional.
*Press the 'Create' button at the bottom of the page to create the bug.

==Tracker fields==
NB A short explanation appears under each field in Jira.

'''Project''' - Required field. Tracker is made of of multiple projects. At present there are 2: 'moodle' and 'moodle.org sites'. Specify 'moodle' for issues/bugs related to moodle software; specify 'moodle.org sites' for issues/bugs related to tracker.moodle.org, docs.moodle.org, demo.moodle.org, download.moodle.org, or moodle.org.

'''Issue Type''' - Required field. Bugs are classified as 1 of the following:
:''Bug'' - A problem which impairs or prevents Moodle from functioning correctly.
:''Improvement'' - An enhancement to an existing Moodle feature.
:''New Feature'' - A new Moodle feature which has yet to be developed.
:''Task'' - A task that needs to be completed. Tasks usually refer to work that must be done outside the product.
:''Sub-Task'' - Issues are sometimes broken into multiple sub-tasks.

'''Summary''' - Required field. A brief, concise description of the problem.

'''Security Level''' - Optional field. Specify if this bug or change has security implications for Moodle.

'''Priority''' - Bugs are prioritised using one of the following:
:''Blocker'' - Blocks development and/or testing work, production could not run.
:''Critical'' - Crashes, loss of data, severe memory leak.
:''Major'' - Major loss of function.
:''Minor'' - Minor loss of function, or other problem where easy workaround is available.
:''Trivial'' - Cosmetic problem like misspelled words or misaligned text.

'''Component/s''' - Required field. Select the area in Moodle which is affected by this bug. Select 'Unknown' if you are unsure.

'''Affects Version/s''' - This is the Moodle version in which the bug has been found. It is normally entered by the person logging the bug, and typically only 1 version is specified. Enter a version in this field when you are logging an 'improvement', 'task', or 'new feature' as this will help assess the state of the product when the request was made.

'''Assigned To''' - This is the person who will fix (code) the problem. This field is completed by developers or Component Leads.

'''Reporter''' - The person who logs the bug. This field is automatically filled by Tracker.

'''Environment''' - Specify the operating system, software platform and/or hardware specifications if applicable to this bug.

'''Description''' - A full and complete yet concise description of the problem or improvement.

'''Database''' - Optional field. If applicable to the bug, identify the database type.

'''URL''' - Optional field. If possible, provide a URL address that demonstrates an example of this bug.

'''QA Assignee''' - Used to designate the person who will test this bug.

'''Fixed Version/s''' - This is the Moodle version the bug was or will be fixed in. This field is normally completed by the developer when the bug has been resolved or by lead developers allocating bugs for a specific release. Normally only one version is specified in this field. It symbolises the ''first'' version of Moodle where the change will be seen.

'''Attachment''' - Optional. Attach a file that will help developers and testers better understand the bug. Maximum attachement size is 512Kb.

'''Comment''' - The comment field is a detailed register of all changes that relate to this bug.

'''Resolution''' - This field is only displayed when resolving or closing a bug. Specify a code that best describes how this bug was resolved.
:''Fixed'' - Bug has been fixed; a code change will be checked into CVS. Use this resolution code only when actual changes were made to Moodle code.
:''Won't Fix'' - The problem described is an issue which will never be fixed.
:''Not a bug'' - This issue is not a bug; was logged in error. Use this code if the bug was fixed by another bug report or in some earlier Moodle version.
:''Duplicate'' - The problem is a duplicate of an existing issue.
:''Incomplete'' - More information is needed to understand this bug.
:''Can't Reproduce'' - All attempts at reproducing this issue failed, or not enough information was available to reproduce the issue. Reading the code produces no clues as to why this behavior would occur. If more information appears later, please reopen the issue.
:''Deferred'' - The resolution to this bug will be deferred to a later release.

==Resolving bugs in Tracker==
NB Only Moodle core developers and testers are permitted to change the status of bugs in Tracker to "resolved" or "closed".
*Bugs are assigned by developers or Component Leads.
*Developers modify or add code and check into CVS.
*Appropriate comments are added in Tracker. The bug's status is changed to '''Resolved''' by using the "Resolve Issue" button.
*You must indicate the version of Moodle in which the change has been made. Do this by selecting the appropriate Moodle version in '''Fix Version/s'''.
*The only exception to not moving a bug to Resolved is if a developer believes there is no value in testing the issue, in which case the bug status can be changed to Closed.

==Testing bugs==
All users are encouraged to be active participants when it comes to testing Moodle. Anyone with a Tracker user account can log, view, comment on, vote, and watch bugs. If you find bugs or problems, have ideas for improvements, or want additional functionality added to Moodle, please log a bug in Tracker.

We've formalised a group of testers in Tracker who are responsible for verifying the accuracy of changes made by developers. These testers have responsibilities and authority in Tracker beyond that of standard users. Testers normally have a good understanding of Moodle, and are active in the Moodle community. Obviously testers should have the skills and knowledge to sufficiently test the issue - experience is important - but don't forget there are others in the Moodle community who may be willing to lend a hand. If you are interested in becoming a member of the Moodle Testing team, make yourself known by logging a request through Tracker. We'd love to have you join the team! Log your request at the [http://tracker.moodle.org/secure/project/ViewProject.jspa?pid=10020 Moodle.org Sites] Tracker project.

Testing a bug in Tracker

NB This is the process members of the moodle-testers group should follow to move bugs from 'resolved' to 'closed'.
*Testers test bugs with Status=Resolved. Global filters have been created based on upcoming releases (eg 1.7 Resolved) to make identification simple.
*Use the '''QA Assignee''' field to identify yourself as the tester of a particular bug.

*It's a good idea to add your name to the watch list for all bugs you test. (see "Tracker watch list", below.)
*If the bug passes testing, close the bug using the "Close Issue" button. You must add appropriate '''comments''' describing your testing methods, any issues that were found, etc.
*If the bug fails testing or if you feel the fix is incomplete, '''reopen''' the bug using the "Reopen Issue" button. Ensure the bug is assigned to the correct developer. Work with the developer to find a mutually agreeable resolution to the bug.
*A release will be deemed ready when all bugs fixed for a particular version have been closed.
*All resolved bugs should be tested. Bugs with a resolution code of "fixed" represent bugs where code has been updated, and probably represent more of a challenge than bugs with resoluton codes of duplicate, won't fix, and not a bug, and can't reproduce. Please ensure bugs have been closed with a proper resolution code. Unfortunately it's not easy to change a resolution code in Tracker once the bug has been resolved (the only way is to reopen, then re-resolve).
*Don't be afraid to discuss your testing with the developer assigned to the bug. Simply adding a comment should get the attention of the developer as they are notified of all changes.

==More about Tracker functionality==
*You will receive an email when you log a new bug or make updates to bugs you've reported. You'll also receive notification when updates are made to bugs you're watching. Read on for more information on watching a bug.
*You can monitor, or "watch" bugs reported by others. To do this, open the bug, then select "Watch it" from the left hand navigation panel. To add others to the watchlist for your bug, open the bug, select the option "Watching" from the left hand navigation panel. These people will receive email notification when updates are made to this bug.
*Tracker provides a facility to '''Link''' bugs. Any user logged onto Tracker may link issues. Multiple link types are defined in the system; you will be required to select one when linking bugs. The following link types are available:
::duplicates - duplicates are inevitable in a project the size of Moodle. They occur when a logger is unaware of an existing bug that describes the same problem. Use ''duplicates'' to link to the first or most comprehensively described instance of the problem. All duplicates should be linked together.
::blockers - use this to identify bugs that block others from being fixed.
::cloners - in some instances a duplicate bug is intentionally created in order to track the fix in another branch of the code - this almost never is used in the Moodle project.
::dependency - often a fix is dependent on another bug being resolved first, on in a specific order.
::relates - used to identify a bug that is somehow related to another bug.
:Links are bi-directional meaning that there's a concept of 'inward' and 'outward' - it affects how linked bugs are displayed. This is why you'll see "blocks/is blocked by" or "duplicates/is duplicated by" in the drop down list of the ''Link Issue'' dialog. Don't become too concerned about using the "correct" link type - all link types work similarly.

:'''Don't be afraid to link bugs.''' It's very helpful to developers and testers to get a complete picture of a problem.

*'''Vote''' for bugs you want to see addressed in Moodle. Any user can vote. To vote for a specific bug, browse to the bug, then select "Vote for it" from the left-hand navigation panel. Developers may consider the number of votes a bug has when weighing the merits of two or more bugs.

*The Tracker '''Dashboard''' is flexible and customisable depending on your area of interest. For instructions on configuring the Tracker dashboard click [http://www.atlassian.com/software/jira/docs/v3.6.3/dashboard.html here].

*The Tracker '''Issue Navigator''' is used to find and filter bugs. For instructions on configuring the Issue Navigator click [http://www.atlassian.com/software/jira/docs/v3.6.4/navigatorcolumns.html here].

*Tracker's '''Quick Search''' function is explained [http://www.atlassian.com/software/jira/docs/v3.6.4/quicksearch.html here]

== Tracker groups and permissions ==
'''Standard Users''' [groupname=jira-user] - This is the default group. New user accounts are placed in this group at the time of creation, and users must be a member of this group in order to log into Tracker. Members of this group can browse bugs, create new bugs, comment on bugs, create attachments, create sub-tasks, create filters, watch bugs, and vote for bugs. Members of this group can also resolve bugs, which is primarily a way of closing bugs that are no longer relevant (eg duplicates, or logged in error). Standard Users can configure their Tracker workspace by using the "Configure your Issue Navigator" button. This feature allows users to view watch and voting lists and to manage preferences, profile, and password.

'''Developers''' [groupname=jira-developer] - Developers can do everything Standard Users can do. In addition they can clone bugs, close bugs, edit bugs, link bugs, and assign bugs. Members of this group can also use the Bulk Edit function which allows bulk updated to multiple bugs.

'''Testers''' [groupname=moodle-testers] - Testers can do everything a Developer can do.

NB You can browse a project while not logged in to Tracker, however you will be unable change/edit/comment on bugs.

== General reporting guidelines ==

Good bug reports address these elements (in the field Description):

#'''Steps to reproduce'''. That is, a detailed sequence of steps a developer can follow to see the problem. It is very hard to fix a bug that is not reproducible. If possible, provide a URL so we can see the problem with one click.
#'''What I expected to happen'''. Again, provide as much detail as possible. Your expectation might mean that our instructions need to be improved or our interface should be changed.
#'''What actually happened''' (with detail).

Here is an example of a [http://tracker.moodle.org/browse/MDL-6030 good bug report] in browse view, [http://tracker.moodle.org/browse/MDL-5688 and here is another].

*If you have an error message, or information in your PHP or web server logs, copy and paste it into the bug report. If you can, turn on "debug" in your Admin configuration page and reproduce the problem to get the best possible error message.
*Screen shots are very helpful for some bugs, but please write a textual description of the problem too.
*Make sure we know everything we need to know about your setup including operating system, database, etc. If you run out of room in the environment section, add more detail in the description. The full set of information that might be relevant is:
**Server operating system type and version number
**Web server type and version number
**PHP version number (and whether you are using an accelerator)
**Database type and version number
**Moodle version (there is a dropdown menu on the top of the form, if that does not have what you want, add it in the description)
**Client-side operating system type and version number
**Web browser type and version number

You don't need to give all those details all the time. For example, for a layout rendering problem, you need to give only the client-side OS and browser info, and if it is a server-side problem you only need to describe the setup there. Use your judgment. Here are some examples:

::I see this bug with the latest Moodle HEAD running on PHP5.1.2/Apache 2.2.3 on Linux. My database is Postgres 8.1.

::This rendering problem happens using Internet Explorer 6.0 on Windows XP.

In summary stick with facts and present enough facts so someone else can duplicate the problem.

== Developer comments ==

"What’s the hardest thing about a bug report?" Most of the time fixing the problem is the easy part, the hard part is reproducing the bug. The developer needs to see how it is broke to be able to fix it. If they can't reproduce the error you can be sure they won't be able to fix it!

Good bug reports contain as much detail as possible and are specific. Don't generalise or leap to conclusions.

For example, a bug report that only says "The RSS feed doesn’t support UTF-8" is not helpful. The developer knows that UTF-8 and RSS feeds are compatible. The developer has no idea of what the person sees and why they reported this bug. In this case more time and effort needs to be expended to determine the problem.

Consider a bug report which says that the descriptions for the specific RSS feed XYZ@abc shows unrecognisable characters rather than expected characters.

==See also==

*Using Moodle [http://moodle.org/mod/forum/discuss.php?d=43952 How to manipulate Moodle developers] forum discussion
*Wikipedia [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Software_bug Definition of a bug]
*[[Tracker development]]
*[[Getting Started with the Tracker]]
[[Category:Teacher]]
[[Category:Administrator]]
[[Category:Developer]]
[[Category:Developer tools]]

[[es:Sistema de bugs]]

Teacher documentation

2006-07-11T00:24:34Z

Divb: added a period for consistency

__NOTOC__

==Getting started==

This article is for teachers wanting an overview of the Moodle features that will be used in the day to day running of a course.

We are assuming that your site administrator has set up Moodle and given you a new, blank course to start with. You will need to be [[Log in | logged into]] the course using an account that has been assigned [[Teacher|teacher status]] (with editing rights) on that course to use most of the features below. We have some tips if you are having [[Can not log in | trouble logging in]].

Now onto the real details. You will find the [[Course homepage|course homepage]] is broken down into [[Course sections]]. A course is created by [[Adding resources and activities|adding resources and activities]]. When writing text in Moodle you have a range of [[Formatting options]] including using [[HTML in Moodle]]

==Editing A Course==

To add or alter activities or resources you will need to [[Turn editing on|turn editing on]]. You can do this by pressing the button at the top right of the course homepage or following the turn editing on link in the administration block. You can turn editing off again by pressing the button or the admin block link again (now renamed turn editing off)

When editing is on you will see the following icons:

:[[Image:Edit.gif]] - the edit icon lets you alter/update whatever resource or activity it is next to by taking you to it's setup page.

:[[Image:Help.gif]] - the help icon will pop-up a relevant help window.

:[[Image:Open.gif]] - the open-eye icon means an item is visible to students. Clicking it will make the item invisible to participants and change the icon to the closed eye.

:[[Image:Closed.gif]] - the closed-eye icon means an item is hidden from students. Clicking it will make the item visible to participants and change the icon to the open eye.

:[[Image:Right.gif]] - the left icon is used to outdent course elements. There is also a right icon for indenting items.

:[[Image:Move.gif]] - the move icon allows course elements to be moved up or down throughout the course.

:[[Image:Movehere.gif]] - the move here icon appears when moving a course element. It appears only after you've clicked the move icon, and indicates the destination of the item you're moving.

:[[Image:Delete.gif]] - the delete icon will permanently delete something from the course after you confirm a warning on a second page.

:[[Image:Marker.gif]] - the marker icon allows you to make a section current.

:[[Image:One.gif]] - the one icon hides all other sections of the course, showing only this one.

:[[Image:All.gif]] - the all icon redisplays all sections in a course.

If you are running version 1.6 or above you will see a '''Student View''' toggle button at the top right of the course homepage. This allows you to see the course almost exactly as your students will see it.

==Activity modules==

There are a number of interactive learning [[Modules (teacher)|activity modules]] that you may [[Adding_resources_and_activities | add to your course]].

Communication and collaboration may take place using [[Chats]] and [[Forums]] for conversational activities and [[Choices]] to gain group feedback. Adding [[Wikis]] to your courses is an excellent way to allow students to work together on a single piece.

Work can be submitted by students and marked by teachers using [[Assignments]] or [[Workshops]]. Automatic marking can be achieved by using [[Quizzes]]. You can even integrate your Hot Potato quizzes by adding a [[Hotpot]] activity.

Content may be delivered and supported using [[Lessons]] and [[SCORM]] activities. Key words can be added to [[Glossaries]] by yourself or, if you allow it, your students.

[[Surveys]] and [[Database module|Databases]] are also very powerful additions to any course.

If all of that isn't enough for you then you can also [[Non-standard modules|add other modules]] that are not part of the official Moodle release!

==Resources==

Moodle supports a range of different [[Resources|resource types]] that allow you to include almost any kind of digital content into your courses. These can be added by using the [[Adding_resources_and_activities | add a resource]] dropdown box when editing is turned on.

A [[Text page]] is a simple page written using plain text. Text pages aren't pretty, but they're a good place to put some information or instructions. If you are after more options for your new page then you should be thinking about adding a [[Web page]] and making use of Moodle's WYSIWYG editor.

Of course the resource may already exist in electronic form so you may want to [[File or website link|link to an uploaded file or external website]] or simply display the complete contents of a [[Directory|directory]] in your course files and let your users pick the file themselves. If you have an [[IMS content package]] then this can be easily added to your course.

Use a [[Label|label]] to embed instructions or information in the course section.

==Blocks==

Each course homepage generally contains blocks on the left and right with the centre column containing the course content. Blocks may be added, hidden, deleted, and moved up, down and left/right when editing is turned on.

A [[Blocks (teacher)|wide range of blocks]] exist that provide additional information or functionality to the learner or teacher. These are included with the standard Moodle package but a range of [[Non-standard blocks]] exist which an administrator can add.

===Administration Block===

All of the links in the administration block are only available to teachers of the course. Students will receive their own version of the block which will display a link to their own gradebook and, if enabled, their own course logs.

Features in the administration block allow teachers to manage [[Students | student]] and [[Teachers | teacher]] enrollments and their [[Groups | groups]], view the course [[Grades | gradebook]], create custom [[Scales | grading scales]] and access the Teacher forum. The teacher forum is a private forum only available to teachers of that course. It can be used to discuss the course content, the direction the course could take or even to attach files to that can be shared among the course teachers.

You can change the way students (and other teachers) access and view your course by exploring the [[Settings]] option in the [[Administration | administration block]].

There are lots of possible ways to set up a course using blocks, but teachers may be particularly interested in [[Settings#Format | course formats]] which change how the course is presented to the learner. The weekly format is suitable for courses that have a clear start date and activities are presented in weekly blocks. Topic formatted courses are actually presented in a similar way but with the dates removed so activities can belong to general or specific areas of study. The social format doesn't use much content at all and is based around just one forum which is displayed on the main course page.

In the course homepage there is a white square icon on the top right of a [[Course_sections | section]] which can be used to expand and collapse sections. You can also use the lightbulb icon to mark a topic as current.

Another much used feature of the adminstration block is the [[Files]] link. From here you can upload any digital content for inclusion in an activity, resource, course section or for a direct download. These files can be moved, renamed, edited directly on the server (if they are HTML or text) or deleted. You can also create a directory and display the whole contents of that directory to course students using the add resource drop down in any course section.
Of course if your content resides out on the web then you don't need to upload the files at all - you can link directly to them from inside the course using the link to file or website option.

==General Advice==

* Subscribe yourself to all the [[forum]]s so you keep in touch with your class activity.
* Encourage all the students fill out their [[Edit profile|user profile]] (including photos) and read them all - this will help provide some context to their later writings and help you to respond in ways that are tailored to their own needs.
* Keep notes to yourself in the private "Teacher's Forum" (under Administration). This is especially useful when team teaching.
* Use the [[Logs]] link (under Administration) to get access to complete, raw logs. In there you'll see a link to a popup window that updates every sixty seconds and shows the last hour of activity. This is useful to keep open on your desktop all day so you can feel in touch with what's going on in the course.
* Use the [[Recent_activity|Activity Reports]] (next to each name in the list of all people, or from any user profile page). These provide a great way to see what any particular person has been up to in the course.
* Respond quickly to students. Don't leave it for later - do it right away. Not only is it easy to become overwhelmed with the volume that can be generated, but it's a crucial part of building and maintaining a community feel in your course.
*Don't be afraid to experiment: feel free to poke around and change things. It's hard to break anything in a Moodle course, and even if you do it's usually easy to fix it.
* Use the [[Navigation bar|navigation bar]] at the top of each page - this should help remind you where you are and prevent getting lost

== See also ==
*[[Teaching with Moodle]]
*[[Teaching do's and don'ts]]
*[[Teaching FAQ]]
*[[Tips and tricks]]
*[[Student FAQ]]
*[[Presentations]]
*[[Moodle manuals]]
*[[Using Moodle book]]
*[https://docs.moodle.org/en/Category:Lesson Lesson Module Basics]

For an index of teacher topics go here:

[[Category:Teacher]]
[[es:Documentación para Profesores]]
[[fr:Documentation enseignant]]
[[nl:Documentatie voor leraren]]

User talk:Art Lader

2006-07-10T23:37:39Z

Divb: /* image with a frame and a caption */

== image with a frame and a caption ==

[[Image:Rss_in_forums.gif|frame|left|caption goes here]]
 

Hey Art - is moodle loving allowed in SC? I think they are considering a ban on it, at least in heavy BB districts... <grin> [[User:D.I. von Briesen|D.I. von Briesen]] 07:37, 11 July 2006 (WST)
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Donec in nunc quis libero feugiat interdum. Donec lobortis ligula. Integer tincidunt lacus id ante. Praesent non ligula. Nulla lacinia, ipsum at molestie condimentum, tortor nunc rutrum orci, a cursus nibh nulla sit amet orci. Curabitur eget orci nec turpis venenatis ornare. Aenean viverra, justo ut tempor tristique, purus elit pellentesque enim, sed consectetuer neque felis quis enim. Suspendisse tempus porta urna. Aenean placerat, ipsum sed sodales pulvinar, nunc mauris consequat ipsum, quis interdum lacus neque ut lectus. Duis pretium placerat diam.

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Sed odio. Fusce nec mi eget lectus venenatis scelerisque. Integer tortor. In lacinia. Maecenas ut dui a quam dictum auctor. Maecenas ullamcorper suscipit quam. Integer nec dolor. Sed ligula urna, euismod in, elementum eget, condimentum eu, nulla. Donec lorem metus, viverra at, pretium nec, molestie non, dui. Proin id mauris. Donec ultricies, massa eget euismod mollis, pede mauris euismod velit, faucibus bibendum felis eros nec metus. Praesent placerat justo id lectus iaculis lobortis. In blandit. Nunc ut neque. Praesent vehicula erat non dolor.

Suspendisse potenti. Duis magna. Integer faucibus lacinia justo. Quisque aliquam pretium nibh. In pellentesque. Duis pellentesque, eros a malesuada lacinia, erat elit varius sapien, non lobortis ipsum mauris a enim. Duis at felis. Nunc nec ipsum et est volutpat dictum. Pellentesque rhoncus leo id justo. Duis feugiat, risus sed mollis iaculis, diam lectus congue velit, et feugiat metus tellus lacinia ipsum. Aliquam imperdiet luctus turpis.

Teaching Do's

2006-07-10T23:35:21Z

Divb: Note about hiding browser options when using 2ndary windows

==Do encourage students to learn together through shared Moodle-based experiences==
Moodle is not just about text, images and links. There is a Moodle [[Philosophy|philosophy]] that presumes that that ''learning is particularly effective when constructing something for others to experience''. Moodle was born with collaboration in mind.

Encourage your students to experience Moodle together, not as a book that has been posted to the Web, but rather as members of an ongoing, active learning community.

This means that ''your job as a 'teacher' can change from being 'the source of knowledge' to being an influencer and role model of class culture, connecting with students in a personal way that addresses their own learning needs, and moderating discussions and activities in a way that collectively leads students towards the learning goals of the class''.

==Do encourage students to be security-conscious==
Students should be very careful about posting personal information to any web site, even your Moodle site. Encourage them to use common sense in this area.

==Do start small but think big==
If you are new to Moodle and have no experience with other course management systems, consider beginning with with something easy and strightforward, like creating a web page resource to post lesson plans and links to helpful online resources. Do that until you are really comfortable. Then, as your needs dictate, move on to other modules: maybe a little forum to discuss current events in your discipline, for example.

Moodle is very robust and can overwhelm a novice. This approach can help you avoid that. Don't worry, in a few weeks, you will be Moodling like crazy!

==Do save, save, save==
Please save your work every five to ten minutes. Develop this habit BEFORE your browser locks up in the middle of something big and you will never lose more than a few minutes of your wonderful, inspired Moodling! Encourage your students to do the same. They become quite frustrated if they lose their work after thirty or forty minutes or more. It's best to teach them early on to save every few minutes. You might even want to use a kitchen timer to help remind them to save their work.

==Do show students how the logs work==
Make sure that students understand that you can monitor where they go and what they do on the class web site. Show them an example of the logs that are generated as they click around the site.

==Do enter brief, helpful summaries for your resources==
When students click on the [[Resources|resources]] link, it is helpful for them to see not only the title of the resource, but also some descriptive information about that resource. Many teachers prefer to skip the summary, but it takes only a few moments to add one and doing so is an act of kindness toward your students and colleagues.

[[Image:resources.png|frame|left|Summaries tell your students about the resources in a course.]] 

== Do set an enrollment key==

Unless you want the whole world to join your course (possible, but usually not the case), do not leave the enrollment key field blank in the course [[Settings|settings]]. This one-time password will keep out everyone except your students.

If necessary, change the key after all of your students have enrolled. That way, the students won't be able to share the key with others, because they won't know it.

[[Image:Ekey.jpg|frame|left|You set your enrollment key when specifying the settings of your course. It is part of the course setup.]] 

==Do encourage students to think before they post==

Many students have a very casual approach to [[Forum posting|posting to forums]]. This presumably comes from their many online interactions with their friends. This may be what you are looking for, but you will often want more thinking than that to occur when students are communicating in your class. Encourage students to consider the advice built into Moodle about being a little more critical in one's approach to forum interactions.

[[Image:Read-carefully2.jpg|frame|left|Just click for helpful advice. Encourage students to make use of the built-in suggestions about reading carefully, writing carfefully, and asking good questions.]]
 

==Do use labels to appropriately divide/annotate your course sections/weeks==

If you use [[Label|labels]] INSTEAD of the default topic/week editing section, you'll have less trouble when you migrate portions of your course over to another (when you append and don't overwrite, section notes are lost, but labels are not).

==Do set up your new course (weeks/topics, number of sections, etc...) prior to importing/overwriting with another course==

Moodle doesn't know how to put 20 modules or weeks into 10, and won't automatically change the destination course. It does migrate all the content, but the location of the content will be more what you expect if you make the course layout match the source course. (note, this is 1.5.3 - and may be changed in the future)

==Do encourage student feedback about course structure, usability, content etc.==
Your students will be the experts who will be able to tell you if you have set up your course well, if they found it to be user friendly, and so on. Be sure to ask them for constructive feedback about what works and doesn't work. Their responses may sting a little, but can be very helpful. The choice, questionnaire and feedback modules are good for this purpose. Moodle also makes it very easy for you to act on that feedback and modify your course as necessary on the fly.

==Do hide menu options on internal resources pop-up windows==
When you create a resource that is a text page, webpage, or internal file that opens in the browser, use the "Show settings" button to make the window pop-up options available. By setting these resources to open up as a secondary window, you can leave your main moodle course page as a "launch platform" for your course. Using the additional options, you can create a nice streamlined window without all the normal browser menus. You can even size the window. It's a good idea to leave the allow scrolling and resizing windows available, as you may not always be able to predict how much screen space you need. Once the participant has viewed the window, they simply close it, taking them smoothly back to the course page.

==Do create custom grading scales==
You can create your own [[Scales|scales]] of grades, comments, etc. to use in [[Forums|forums]], [[Glossaries|glossaries]] and [[Assignments|assignments]]. This can be very useful and it can even be fun. In fact, you might consider having your students help you create a custom grading scale. (K-12 Teachers: Why not vote for the coolest scales using the choice module?)

==Do share with colleagues==
Communicate often with colleagues here at moodle.org, at your own school, and anywhere else you discover moodlers. Each person you meet will have different ideas to enhance your own creativity in your use of moodle resources. When you find that something works well, always share it with others!

==Do teach students to modify subjects in forums ==
It is an act of kindness to helpfully modify subject lines in forums. This helps participants follow the flow of the online conversation. It is a little hard to know what is going on when the subject ''About Bobo'' appears fifty times in a row. It is easier to follow when you have ''Bobo was a victim'', ''I like Bobo, but...'', and ''What this country needs is a ten thousand men like Bobo!''

==See also==

* [[Teaching Good Practices (K-12)]]
* [[Teaching Don'ts]]

[[Category:Teacher]]

Teacher documentation

2006-07-10T23:30:07Z

Divb: /* Editing A Course */

__NOTOC__

==Getting started==

This article is for teachers wanting an overview of the Moodle features that will be used in the day to day running of a course.

We are assuming that your site administrator has set up Moodle and given you a new, blank course to start with. You will need to be [[Log in | logged into]] the course using an account that has been assigned [[Teacher|teacher status]] (with editing rights) on that course to use most of the features below. We have some tips if you are having [[Can not log in | trouble logging in]].

Now onto the real details. You will find the [[Course homepage|course homepage]] is broken down into [[Course sections]]. A course is created by [[Adding resources and activities|adding resources and activities]]. When writing text in Moodle you have a range of [[Formatting options]] including using [[HTML in Moodle]]

==Editing A Course==

To add or alter activities or resources you will need to [[Turn editing on|turn editing on]]. You can do this by pressing the button at the top right of the course homepage or following the turn editing on link in the administration block. You can turn editing off again by pressing the button or the admin block link again (now renamed turn editing off)

When editing is on you will see the following icons:

:[[Image:Edit.gif]] - the edit icon lets you alter/update whatever resource or activity it is next to by taking you to it's setup page.

:[[Image:Help.gif]] - the help icon will pop-up a relevant help window

:[[Image:Open.gif]] - the open-eye icon means an item is visible to students. Clicking it will make the item invisible to participants and change the icon to the closed eye.

:[[Image:Closed.gif]] - the closed-eye icon means an item is hidden from students. Clicking it will make the item visible to participants and change the icon to the open eye.

:[[Image:Right.gif]] - the left icon is used to outdent course elements. There is also a right icon for indenting items.

:[[Image:Move.gif]] - the move icon allows course elements to be moved up or down throughout the course.

:[[Image:Movehere.gif]] - the move here icon appears when moving a course element. It appears only after you've clicked the move icon, and indicates the destination of the item you're moving.

:[[Image:Delete.gif]] - the delete icon will permanently delete something from the course after you confirm a warning on a second page.

:[[Image:Marker.gif]] - the marker icon allows you to make a section current.

:[[Image:One.gif]] - the one icon hides all other sections of the course, showing only this one.

:[[Image:All.gif]] - the all icon redisplays all sections in a course.

If you are running version 1.6 or above you will see a '''Student View''' toggle button at the top right of the course homepage. This allows you to see the course almost exactly as your students will see it.

==Activity modules==

There are a number of interactive learning [[Modules (teacher)|activity modules]] that you may [[Adding_resources_and_activities | add to your course]].

Communication and collaboration may take place using [[Chats]] and [[Forums]] for conversational activities and [[Choices]] to gain group feedback. Adding [[Wikis]] to your courses is an excellent way to allow students to work together on a single piece.

Work can be submitted by students and marked by teachers using [[Assignments]] or [[Workshops]]. Automatic marking can be achieved by using [[Quizzes]]. You can even integrate your Hot Potato quizzes by adding a [[Hotpot]] activity.

Content may be delivered and supported using [[Lessons]] and [[SCORM]] activities. Key words can be added to [[Glossaries]] by yourself or, if you allow it, your students.

[[Surveys]] and [[Database module|Databases]] are also very powerful additions to any course.

If all of that isn't enough for you then you can also [[Non-standard modules|add other modules]] that are not part of the official Moodle release!

==Resources==

Moodle supports a range of different [[Resources|resource types]] that allow you to include almost any kind of digital content into your courses. These can be added by using the [[Adding_resources_and_activities | add a resource]] dropdown box when editing is turned on.

A [[Text page]] is a simple page written using plain text. Text pages aren't pretty, but they're a good place to put some information or instructions. If you are after more options for your new page then you should be thinking about adding a [[Web page]] and making use of Moodle's WYSIWYG editor.

Of course the resource may already exist in electronic form so you may want to [[File or website link|link to an uploaded file or external website]] or simply display the complete contents of a [[Directory|directory]] in your course files and let your users pick the file themselves. If you have an [[IMS content package]] then this can be easily added to your course.

Use a [[Label|label]] to embed instructions or information in the course section.

==Blocks==

Each course homepage generally contains blocks on the left and right with the centre column containing the course content. Blocks may be added, hidden, deleted, and moved up, down and left/right when editing is turned on.

A [[Blocks (teacher)|wide range of blocks]] exist that provide additional information or functionality to the learner or teacher. These are included with the standard Moodle package but a range of [[Non-standard blocks]] exist which an administrator can add.

===Administration Block===

All of the links in the administration block are only available to teachers of the course. Students will receive their own version of the block which will display a link to their own gradebook and, if enabled, their own course logs.

Features in the administration block allow teachers to manage [[Students | student]] and [[Teachers | teacher]] enrollments and their [[Groups | groups]], view the course [[Grades | gradebook]], create custom [[Scales | grading scales]] and access the Teacher forum. The teacher forum is a private forum only available to teachers of that course. It can be used to discuss the course content, the direction the course could take or even to attach files to that can be shared among the course teachers.

You can change the way students (and other teachers) access and view your course by exploring the [[Settings]] option in the [[Administration | administration block]].

There are lots of possible ways to set up a course using blocks, but teachers may be particularly interested in [[Settings#Format | course formats]] which change how the course is presented to the learner. The weekly format is suitable for courses that have a clear start date and activities are presented in weekly blocks. Topic formatted courses are actually presented in a similar way but with the dates removed so activities can belong to general or specific areas of study. The social format doesn't use much content at all and is based around just one forum which is displayed on the main course page.

In the course homepage there is a white square icon on the top right of a [[Course_sections | section]] which can be used to expand and collapse sections. You can also use the lightbulb icon to mark a topic as current.

Another much used feature of the adminstration block is the [[Files]] link. From here you can upload any digital content for inclusion in an activity, resource, course section or for a direct download. These files can be moved, renamed, edited directly on the server (if they are HTML or text) or deleted. You can also create a directory and display the whole contents of that directory to course students using the add resource drop down in any course section.
Of course if your content resides out on the web then you don't need to upload the files at all - you can link directly to them from inside the course using the link to file or website option.

==General Advice==

* Subscribe yourself to all the [[forum]]s so you keep in touch with your class activity.
* Encourage all the students fill out their [[Edit profile|user profile]] (including photos) and read them all - this will help provide some context to their later writings and help you to respond in ways that are tailored to their own needs.
* Keep notes to yourself in the private "Teacher's Forum" (under Administration). This is especially useful when team teaching.
* Use the [[Logs]] link (under Administration) to get access to complete, raw logs. In there you'll see a link to a popup window that updates every sixty seconds and shows the last hour of activity. This is useful to keep open on your desktop all day so you can feel in touch with what's going on in the course.
* Use the [[Recent_activity|Activity Reports]] (next to each name in the list of all people, or from any user profile page). These provide a great way to see what any particular person has been up to in the course.
* Respond quickly to students. Don't leave it for later - do it right away. Not only is it easy to become overwhelmed with the volume that can be generated, but it's a crucial part of building and maintaining a community feel in your course.
*Don't be afraid to experiment: feel free to poke around and change things. It's hard to break anything in a Moodle course, and even if you do it's usually easy to fix it.
* Use the [[Navigation bar|navigation bar]] at the top of each page - this should help remind you where you are and prevent getting lost

== See also ==
*[[Teaching with Moodle]]
*[[Teaching do's and don'ts]]
*[[Teaching FAQ]]
*[[Tips and tricks]]
*[[Student FAQ]]
*[[Presentations]]
*[[Moodle manuals]]
*[[Using Moodle book]]
*[https://docs.moodle.org/en/Category:Lesson Lesson Module Basics]

For an index of teacher topics go here:

[[Category:Teacher]]
[[es:Documentación para Profesores]]
[[fr:Documentation enseignant]]
[[nl:Documentatie voor leraren]]

User talk:D.I. von Briesen

2006-05-18T20:45:52Z

Divb:

Here I am... looks like my link to moodle. org's profile got broken. [[User:D.I. von Briesen|D.I. von Briesen]] 04:45, 19 May 2006 (WST)

Talk:The Good Teacher

2006-04-04T22:26:57Z

Divb:

I'm not sure how well it works with the quotes in italics instead of quotes.

Compare:

"I'm mad as hell and I'm not going to take it anymore!" she exclaimed as she jumped up on the desk.

''I'm mad as hell and I'm not going to take it anymore!'' she exclaimed as she jumped up on the desk.
[[User:D.I. von Briesen|D.I. von Briesen]] 01:30, 5 April 2006 (WST)

I think you are right, D. I. I will change it when I get a chance. --[[User:Art Lader|Art Lader]] 01:45, 5 April 2006 (WST)

I like the flow much better and the close is very Moodle.

As the Pretty Good Teacher might ask: The goal of this piece is to .... This will help with the polishing edit.

And help determine the type and placement of graphics we are going to put in, because we do have appeal to those visual learners.

And my other question, once we get the script down, when are we going to put this on a pod cast? And or were you thinking of doing it in Flash. Have different people read the parts, or different sections, what did you have in mind. Good thing I don't know how to do any of this stuff (yet). --[[User:chris collman 2|chris collman 2]] 03:34, 5 April 2006 (WST)

Good stuff, Chris... My original intention in writing this was '''to put a human face on the evolution of a Moodle-teacher''' in order to possibly use in a staff development course I am helping to develop. It just sort of leaked out of me in its original form. But I am not much of a writer, so I put it out there for suggestions, comments, etc. Basically, I am open to any constructive suggestions. --[[User:Art Lader|Art Lader]] 03:52, 5 April 2006 (WST)

The narrative style is very confucious-esque, or like a childs storybook. It'd be interesting to see it as a sort of animated slideshow... it could be a podcast... but a narrated picture book would work well, if we could find an illustrator... [[User:D.I. von Briesen|D.I. von Briesen]] 06:26, 5 April 2006 (WST)

Talk:The Good Teacher

2006-04-04T17:30:56Z

Divb:

Talk:The Good Teacher

2006-04-04T17:30:45Z

Divb:

The Good Teacher

2006-04-04T17:28:23Z

Divb: Got rid of Art's self-deprecation... say it and they'll believe it. Added title and lines

THE GOOD TEACHER

----

Once upon a time, there was a Pretty Good Teacher. Her students and her peers recognized that she was a Pretty Good Teacher. She was not arrogant, in fact, she was humble, but she, too, felt that she was a Pretty Good Teacher and she was proud to be one.

Like all good teachers, though, she wanted to be an even better teacher.

She spoke with colleagues and they gave her many helpful tips (although she suspected that some of them were holding back a little).

She talked to her students, and their insights were often quite interesting and thought-provoking.

She went to her principal and he gave her some good advice. (Really, he did.)

She read journals and books, joined a ListServ, visited web pages, signed up for courses, attended workshops and conferences, and generally sought knowledge wherever she could find it. She was very motivated.

Little by little, she began to try new strategies and techniques in her classroom. For example:
* She began to take multiple intelligences into account in her lesson plans.
* She started using cooperative learning in her classroom.
* She integrated more project-based learning into her instruction.
* She began to do all sorts of things that effective teachers do.
* She even started using an LCD projector.

Sometimes, it was a bit overwhelming. Exhausting, in fact. Not everything worked out the way she intended. But she perservered, because she wanted her students to learn as much as possible.

Still, she felt that something was missing. She wanted to do things with her students that she had never been able to do before. Things that were fun, things that were exciting, things that students actually enjoyed doing.

But she couldn't say what those things were.

----

One day, she read an article in her local newspaper about Mr. Dougis, a teacher who was doing great things on the Internet with his students. It sounded exciting and she wondered if this were not what she had been looking for.

She knew the school where he taught, and she left him a telephone message. Would he mind her dropping by one day to chat?

The next day, she received an answer. She could drop by any Thursday to see what was up. But it had to be a Thursday.

She went to her principal and explained to him that she needed a substitute teacher for next Thursday. She told him why and he gladly gave her a day of professional leave to go investigate. Really, he did.

She went to see Mr. Dougis. He greeted her with a friendly smile.

''Welcome'', he said, and smiled. ''It's good that you came today. Thursdays, we Moodle.''

The Pretty Good Teacher looked around. There were about twenty-five seventh-grade social studies students sitting at computers. Most did not notice her, because they were engrossed in what they were doing.

''What are they working on?'' she asked.

''Well'', said Mr. Dougis, ''a couple of things. Some of them are working together to create a glossary of terms used in the current events articles we read each week.''

''They know how to do that?'' she asked. She thought that creating an online glossary must be a bit complicated for seventh-graders.

''Sure'', said Mr. Dougis. ''It's not hard to do that in Moodle.''

''Oh yes, Moodle,'' she said, ''I read about Moodle in the newspaper artcle. What is it?''

''It's the software we use in our virtual classroom'', he said, as he guided her to a monitor.

''See how the students are simply filling in a form to create entries in the glossary?'' he asked. ''That's Moodle.''

It did not look like the students were having any trouble.

''And some of the other students'', he said, ''are having an online debate about what the Founding Fathers would have thought about the current war on terrorism.''

''How do you have an online debate?'' she asked.

''They are using a discussion forum to talk with each other and are even rating each others' posts according to criteria we developed togther,'' he said.

''Can they really handle that at such a yound age?'' she asked.

''Some are still learning about how to deal with constructive criticism and how not to take everything that is posted personally,'' he relpied. ''But we are getting there. With a little guidance and encouragement...''

''No, I mean the technology,'' she interrupted.

''Of course!'' replied Mr. Dougis. ''In Moodle, forums are easy to use.''

And throughout the day, that is how it went. Moodle this and Moodle that. The Pretty Good Teacher had to admit that even the sixth-graders seemed to be proficient Moodlers. And almost all the students seemed engaged and interested in their work.

She was impressed, but wondered if all were really as it seemed.

During Mr. Dougis' planning period, they talked over a cup of coffee.

''Tell me more about Moodle,'' she said.

''Well,'' he began, ''I use Moodle to compliment and enhance my classroom instruction. I might, for example, just upload a Power Point presentation to the site for my students to review or post links to a good web site. Or we might do something more social, more collaborative, as you have seen today.''

''So, Moodle helps you do some things differently?'' she asked.

''Not just different,'' he emphatically corrected, ''better.''

''How so?'' She really wanted to know.

''Let's say,'' said Mr. Dougis, ''that we are discussing the effects of global warming. I can send my students to the library to do traditional research and we can discuss what they find out in class. And I can have the students make posters to display what they have learned. We can break into groups create lists of top ten easy ways to fight global warming. And we can have a debate in class about th effects of global warming, too.''

''That sounds fine,'' said the Pretty Good Teacher. ''What is wrong with that?''

''There is nothing wrong with that,'' replied Mr. Dougis, ''but we can, for example, also go to Moodle and create a survey about global warming to administer to students here at our school and to students at our online partner schools in Canada and South Africa and see to what extent we all agree on the issue. We can design the survey togther, invite our partners to take it, and have a discussion with them about where we see eye to eye and where we don't. And that is potentially a rich, valuable educational experience that we could not have without Moodle, don't you agree?''

The Pretty Good Teacher did agree. She wanted this Moodle thing for her students.

Mr. Dougis showed her how to go to any one of several sites and set up a Moodle classroom. That weekend, the Pretty Good Teacher started learning the basics of Moodle.

----

By the next Friday, she and her students were in the school computer lab. She showed them how to use a discussion forum and urged the students to discuss the novel they were currently reading.

Some students had a good bit to say about it. Others had very little to say. Some comments were insightful. Others were quite foolish.

The Pretty Good Teacher was disappointed. Was Moodle not really all Mr. Dougis had claimed?

A few days later, she tried again. She set up a chat room and told the students to chat about anything, but to pretend they were characters from the novel. A few students did a really good job, but many students did not seem to take the assignment seriously. And the chat room became very confusing when everyone spoke at the same time. Frankly, the lesson was a flop.

Some of her students must have been talking about Moodle in a less than complimentary way, because the Pretty Good Teacher had to endure some snide comments about it in the staff room. Some of her so-called colleagues actually seemed happy to see her struggle a little. It was incomprehensible to her, but it was undeniable. And she didn't like looking foolish.

Now the Pretty Good Teacher was quite sure that Moodle was not as wonderful as Mr. Dougis seemed to think it was. Annoyed, she sent him an email, telling him so.

She received a quick reply. ''You sound upset,'' wrote Mr. Dougis.

The Pretty Good Teacher clicked on ''Reply'' to compose her message. ''I am upset,'' replied the Pretty Good Teacher. ''I am not so sure that Moodle is right for my students.''

An exchange of emails ensued.

''Maybe'', he responded. ''But let me ask you this: Did your students do what you asked them to do?''

''What do you mean?'' asked the Pretty Good Teacher.

''Well, when you asked them to discuss the novel in the forum, did they do that?'' he asked.

''Yes, I suppose most of them did,'' she replied.

''And when you asked them to chat about the novel,'' he continued, ''did they do that?''

''The majority of them did,'' she answered.''

,,So, why are you unhappy?'' asked Mr. Dougis.

It was a good question.

''Well,'' she wrote, ''the students did not seem very excited about the lessons and I am not sure that they learned much, either.''

''Does that ever happen in your traditional classroom?'' asked Mr. Dougis.

Now she was offended. ''Almost never,'' came her indignant response.

''Why not?'' asked Mr. Dougis.

She thought about that. Normally, her lessons had something like a beginning, a middle and an end. They were well thought out and the students understood just what she expected of them. So that is what she wrote in her response to Mr. Dougis' question.

''Can you honestly say the same of your two Moodle lessons?'' he wrote back.

She knew he was right. She had expected Moodle to work some sort of magic on her students, but she had not really designed the kind of good, effective lessons she normally planned.

''What would you advise your students to do in a situatiuon like this?'' asked Mr. Dougis.

She decided to give Moodle another chance.

This time, she asked herself, ''What is is I want my students to learn?'' And she wrote down her objectives.

Then she asked herself,'' What resources will we need to make the lesson work?'' and she collected and organized her resources.

And then she asked herself, ''What is it I want my students to actually do in order to be successful?'' And she designed her activities.

The Pretty Good Teacher wanted her students to recognize and identify the importance of conflict in the novel.

She located a couple of good online resources to give students the information they needed to do this and she posted her own notes to help them better understand what they found on the web sites.

And she wanted them to create a web page for each major conflict in the novel, describing the conflict and suggesting several possible ways the conflict could be resolved. The she set up a wiki where her students could do this.

Before going to the lab, she discussed the lesson with her students and showed them how to work in a wiki. She used her cool, new LCD projector for that.

She posted clear instructions about the lesson to the web site, reinforcing what she had said in class.

The next day, they went to the lab.

The Pretty Good Teacher was thrilled to see how much better the lesson went. While the students did have a little trouble the first few minutes getting used to the wiki, they actually caught on very quickly, and it was a pleasure to see how they helped each other get up and running.

After about forty-five minutes, almost all students had contributed to the wiki. Some of their web pages were surpisingly good.

As the Pretty Good Teacher circulated around the lab, she encouraged the students and complimented their work. Of course, she also had to remind a couple of students that playing card games on the computer was not part of the lesson.

While she could not say that the lesson was perfect, the Pretty Good Teacher was happy. The students had not only learned a lot, they seemed to enjoy doing so.

That evening, she went back to the wiki to reread some of the pages. She was surprised to see that some students had continued to work on their pages from home. They had added graphics and links and some shocking, but enthusiastic, text formatting.

When class met the next day, several of the students were quite excited about Moodle. One said, When my father asked me what we had done in school, I showed him the wiki. He thought it was great! It was obvious that she was proud of the work she and her classmates had done.

The Pretty Good Teacher was feeling pretty good.

''Can we go back tot he lab today?'' one student asked.

''No,'' she replied, ''not today, but we can go back tomorrow. Do you all want to do that?''

When they said yes, she was not very surprised.

''In the meantime,'' she suggested, ''maybe we should think of a name for our online classroom.''

They thought of several good posibilities and decided to vote to pick the best one. The Pretty Good Teacher said, ''We do not have to vote right now. I will post a choice to our new web site and you can take a few days to decide.''

Almost everyone agreed that this was a sensible idea. But a couple of students looked unhappy about it.

''What's wrong?'' the Pretty Good Teacher asked one of them as the class was leaving.''

We don't have the Internet at my house, so I can't vote,'' said the student.

The Pretty Good Teacher hadn't thought of that. But she had an Internet connection in her classroom. And there were quite a few online computers in the school's media center.
''
Why don't you stop be here right after school and use our computer when you want to Moodle?'' she suggested. ''Or I can write you a pass to the media center during class one day when we have a few extra minutes.''

The student smiled. ''Thanks! Ill stop by after school'', she said, and headed to her next class.

----

And so it went. Over time, Moodle cam to be an important part of the class. Soon, the Pretty Good Teacher was posting lesson plans to Moodle. Not very exciting, but the parents seemed to appreciate it. After a while, she began setting up little practice quizzes to help students prepare for tests. Together with another class, the students collaborated on articles for the school newspaper. They submitted rough drafts of papers for peer review and discussed class matters online. Some students even used the chat room for occasional online study sessions. And so on.

After a few months, Moodling became second nature to them. It felt natural. It was fun.

And other teachers at the school began to Moodle. Sometimes, they met with their laptops at a local cafe for "Moodle and Coffee" sessions.

One day, the Pretty Good Teacher ran into Mr. Dougis at the grocery store. She told him how well things were going. And she thanked him for Moodle.

''Glad to help,'' he said, and smiled.

''Know what I like best?'' she said. ''It is cool that we can do a weekly podcast for our new partner class in Australia! My students love that podcasting module!''

''So there's a podcasting mod? I didn't know that,'' said her Moodle mentor.

''Really, well, we should set up a forum where we can share on a regular basis,'' she replied, secretly thrilled at this unexpected turn of events.

''Yes, that's agreat idea. Let's do that,'' answered Mr. Dougis. ''You know, it sounds like you have become a Very Good Teacher.''

Installations 10000 plus

2006-03-09T02:33:37Z

Divb: /* United States */

{{Template:Large Installations}}

Please add your school info here, if you have a Moodle installation catering (or expecting to cater) for 10,000 or more users.

==Canada==

*[http://www.athabascau.ca/ Athabasca University] - Canada's leading distance-education and online university: Canada's Open University, serving about 30,000 students per year. Athabasca has decided to adopt Moodle as a single platform instead of WebCT Vista (i.e. the top of the line version). Source: [https://eduforge.org/wiki/wiki/nzvle/wiki?pagename=NZOSVLE%20Project%20Updates NZVLE website]

==China==

* [http://english.bit.edu.cn/ Beijing Institute of Technology]

==Ireland==

* [http://www.dcu.ie Dublin City University] 18,000 users in 3,600 courses.

==New Zealand==

*[http://campus.openpolytechnic.ac.nz/ The Open Polytechnic of New Zealand] - 35,000+ students, 6,500+ courses, single sign-on for library services using Ezy Proxy, single sign-on for webmail, using SquirrelMail, uses LDAP for interface with Sears Student Management System. Comments by [https://eduforge.org/wiki/wiki/nzvle/wiki?pagename=Comments%20by%20Ken%20Udas%2C%20Director%20of%20eLearning%20at%20the%20Open%20Polytechnic Ken Udas, Director of eLearning at the Open Polytechnic]

==United Kingdom==

*[http://www.open.ac.uk The Open University (OU)] - the United Kingdom's only university dedicated to distance learning. They have around 150,000 undergraduate and more than 30,000 postgraduate students. They recently announced their adoption of Moodle:

:"Now, The Open University’s Learning and Teaching Office has started a new programme worth nearly £5 million to build a comprehensive online student learning environment for the 21st century.

:The development, which will first appear in May of 2006, and be fully operational for February 2007 courses, will see the largest use of Moodle in the world. Moodle is a free, Open Source software package course management system used by educators to create effective online learning communities.

:Currently Open University students use a variety of software in a network to access their course work, interact with tutors and other students, use the library, submit assignments and handle administrative paperwork. The new development incorporating Moodle will ensure the network is much more user-friendly and uniform." Source: [http://www3.open.ac.uk/events/7/2005118_40887_nr.doc OU press release] (.doc format).

*[http://www.gla.ac.uk/ The University of Glasgow] - A long-established (founded 1451) and high-profile research university in the UK, with 20,000 students (16,000 undergrad, 4,000 postgrad), 6,000 staff, 12,000 unique users of Moodle (as of Dec 2005). Uses LDAP for integration with Novell and a custom MIS system for user authentication.

==United States==
*[http://moodle.cpcc.edu Central Piedmont Community College (CPCC) ] uses moodle for both curriculum and Corporate and Continuing Education. For curriculum it runs in parallel to Blackboard as faculty migrate to moodle over time. There are currently no plans to go moodle only, although many administrators favor this option. The server has 30,000 or so users on it, but the actual number of active users varies widely. It is used for both hybrid and full-online classes. Corporate and Continuing Education runs its own branded instance and uses only moodle for distance education. We have about 80,000 students total, covering the range from GED, adult-ed, curriculum, and other areas serviced by 7 campuses in and around Charlotte, North Carolina.

{{Template:Large Installations}}

[[Category:Administrator]]

Installations 10000 plus

2006-03-09T02:32:16Z

Divb: /* United States */

{{Template:Large Installations}}

Please add your school info here, if you have a Moodle installation catering (or expecting to cater) for 10,000 or more users.

==Canada==

*[http://www.athabascau.ca/ Athabasca University] - Canada's leading distance-education and online university: Canada's Open University, serving about 30,000 students per year. Athabasca has decided to adopt Moodle as a single platform instead of WebCT Vista (i.e. the top of the line version). Source: [https://eduforge.org/wiki/wiki/nzvle/wiki?pagename=NZOSVLE%20Project%20Updates NZVLE website]

==China==

* [http://english.bit.edu.cn/ Beijing Institute of Technology]

==Ireland==

* [http://www.dcu.ie Dublin City University] 18,000 users in 3,600 courses.

==New Zealand==

*[http://campus.openpolytechnic.ac.nz/ The Open Polytechnic of New Zealand] - 35,000+ students, 6,500+ courses, single sign-on for library services using Ezy Proxy, single sign-on for webmail, using SquirrelMail, uses LDAP for interface with Sears Student Management System. Comments by [https://eduforge.org/wiki/wiki/nzvle/wiki?pagename=Comments%20by%20Ken%20Udas%2C%20Director%20of%20eLearning%20at%20the%20Open%20Polytechnic Ken Udas, Director of eLearning at the Open Polytechnic]

==United Kingdom==

*[http://www.open.ac.uk The Open University (OU)] - the United Kingdom's only university dedicated to distance learning. They have around 150,000 undergraduate and more than 30,000 postgraduate students. They recently announced their adoption of Moodle:

:"Now, The Open University’s Learning and Teaching Office has started a new programme worth nearly £5 million to build a comprehensive online student learning environment for the 21st century.

:The development, which will first appear in May of 2006, and be fully operational for February 2007 courses, will see the largest use of Moodle in the world. Moodle is a free, Open Source software package course management system used by educators to create effective online learning communities.

:Currently Open University students use a variety of software in a network to access their course work, interact with tutors and other students, use the library, submit assignments and handle administrative paperwork. The new development incorporating Moodle will ensure the network is much more user-friendly and uniform." Source: [http://www3.open.ac.uk/events/7/2005118_40887_nr.doc OU press release] (.doc format).

*[http://www.gla.ac.uk/ The University of Glasgow] - A long-established (founded 1451) and high-profile research university in the UK, with 20,000 students (16,000 undergrad, 4,000 postgrad), 6,000 staff, 12,000 unique users of Moodle (as of Dec 2005). Uses LDAP for integration with Novell and a custom MIS system for user authentication.

==United States==
*[http://moodle.cpcc.edu Central Piedmont Community College (CPCC) ] uses moodle for both curriculum and Corporate and Continuing Education. For curriculum it runs in parallel to Blackboard as faculty migrate to moodle over time. There are currently no plans to go moodle only, although many administrators favor this option. The server has 30,000 or so users on it, but the actual number of active users varies widely. It is used for both hybrid and full-online classes. Corporate and Continuing Education runs its own branded instance and uses only moodle for distance education.

{{Template:Large Installations}}

[[Category:Administrator]]

Installations 5000 plus

2006-03-09T02:31:25Z

Divb: /* USA */ moved to larger group

Installations 5000 plus

2006-03-09T02:30:24Z

Divb: /* USA */ - Central Piedmont Community College

{{Template:Large Installations}}

==USA==

* Luther College, Decorah, IA, USA 6,000+ 300 courses this term (FALL-2005) Using Moodle on single-server for 1-1/2 years. We just discovered we only had 512 MB RAM installed, never even suspected because performance never suffered.

*[http://moodle.cpcc.edu Central Piedmont Community College (CPCC) ] uses moodle for both curriculum and Corporate and Continuing Education. For curriculum it runs in parallel to Blackboard as faculty migrate to moodle over time. There are currently no plans to go moodle only, although many administrators favor this option. The server has 30,000 or so users on it, but the actual number of active users varies widely. It is used for both hybrid and full-online classes. Corporate and Continuing Education runs its own branded instance and uses only moodle for distance education.

{{Template:Large Installations}}

[[Category:Administrator]]

Talk:Teaching Do's

2006-02-21T21:31:34Z

Divb:

This page seems to be about TEACHING, which is less about moodle and more about pedagogy. Do we want things here that are more TECHNICAL?

For example, say there's a little quirk of functionality (like losing your topic annotations when you append to a course) - I've put it here, but dont' feel like it's the best place...

[[User:D.I. von Briesen|D.I. von Briesen]] 05:31, 22 February 2006 (WST)

Teaching Do's

2006-02-21T21:28:50Z

Divb: Not sure if technical should be mixed with teaching...? Added item about lables and sections when migrating...

==Do encourage students to learn togther through shared Moodle-based experiences==
Moodle is not just about text, images and links. There is a Moodle [[Philosophy]] that presumes that that ''learning is particularly effective when constructing something for others to experience''. Moodle was born with collaboration in mind.

Encourage your students to experience Moodle together not as a book that has been posted to the Web, but rather as members of an ongoing, active learning community.

This means that ''your job as a 'teacher' can change from being 'the source of knowledge' to being an influencer and role model of class culture, connecting with students in a personal way that addresses their own learning needs, and moderating discussions and activities in a way that collectively leads students towards the learning goals of the class''.

==Do encourage students to be security-conscious==
Students should be very careful about posting personal information to any web site, even your Moodle site. Encourage them to use common sense in this area.

==Do start small but think big==
If you are new to Moodle and have no experience with other course management systems, consider beginning with with something easy and strightforward, like creating a web page resource to post lesson plans and links to helpful online resources. Do that until you are really comfortable. Then, as your needs dictate, move on to other modules: maybe a little forum to discuss current events in your discipline, for example.

Moodle is very robust and can overwhelm a novice. This approach can help you avoid that. Don't worry, in a few weeks, you will be Moodling like crazy!

==Do save, save, save==
Please save your work every five to ten minutes. Develop this habit BEFORE your browser locks up in the middle of something big and you will never lose more than a few minutes of your wonderful, inspired Moodling!

==Do enter brief, helpful summaries for your resources==
When students click on the Resources link, it is helpful for them to see not only the title of the resource, but also some descriptive information about that resource. Many teachers prefer to skip the summary, but it takes only a few moments to add one and doing so is an act of kindness toward your students and colleagues.

[[Image:resources.png|frame|left|Summaries tell your students about the resources in a course.]] 

== Do set an enrollment key==

Unless you want the whole world to join your course (possible, but usually not the case), do not leave the enrollment key field blank when setting up your course. This one-time password will keep out everyone except your students.

If necessary, change the key after all of your students have enrlled. that way, the students won't be able to share the key with others, because they won't know it.

[[Image:Ekey.jpg|frame|left|You set your enrollment key when specifying the settings of your course. It is part of the course setup.]] 

==Do encourage students to think before they post==

Many students have a very casual approach to posting to forums. This presumably comes from their many online interactions with their friends. This may be what you are looking for, but you will often want more thinking than that to occur when students are communicating in your class. Encourage students to consider the advice built into Moodle about being a little more critical in one's approach to forum interactions.

[[Image:Read-carefully2.jpg|frame|left|Just click for helpful advice. Encourage students to make use of the built-in suggestions about reading carefully, writing carfefully, and asking good questions.]]
 

==Do use labels to appropriately divide/annotate your course sections/weeks==

If you use labels INSTEAD of the default topic/week editing section, you'll have less trouble when you migrate portions of your course over to another (when you append and don't overwrite, section notes are lost, but labels are not).

==Do set up your new course (weeks/topics, number of sections, etc...) prior to importing/overwriting with another course==

Moodle doesn't know how to put 20 modules or weeks into 10, and won't automatically change the destination course. It does migrate all the content, but the location of the content will be more what you expect if you make the course layout match the source course. (note, this is 1.5.3 - and may be changed in the future)

==See also==

* [[Teaching Good Practices (K-12)]]
* [[Teaching Don'ts]]

[[Category:Teacher]]

Teaching Do's

2006-02-21T21:27:02Z

Divb:

==Do encourage students to learn togther through shared Moodle-based experiences==
Moodle is not just about text, images and links. There is a Moodle [[Philosophy]] that presumes that that ''learning is particularly effective when constructing something for others to experience''. Moodle was born with collaboration in mind.

Encourage your students to experience Moodle together not as a book that has been posted to the Web, but rather as members of an ongoing, active learning community.

This means that ''your job as a 'teacher' can change from being 'the source of knowledge' to being an influencer and role model of class culture, connecting with students in a personal way that addresses their own learning needs, and moderating discussions and activities in a way that collectively leads students towards the learning goals of the class''.

==Do encourage students to be security-conscious==
Students should be very careful about posting personal information to any web site, even your Moodle site. Encourage them to use common sense in this area.

==Do start small but think big==
If you are new to Moodle and have no experience with other course management systems, consider beginning with with something easy and strightforward, like creating a web page resource to post lesson plans and links to helpful online resources. Do that until you are really comfortable. Then, as your needs dictate, move on to other modules: maybe a little forum to discuss current events in your discipline, for example.

Moodle is very robust and can overwhelm a novice. This approach can help you avoid that. Don't worry, in a few weeks, you will be Moodling like crazy!

==Do save, save, save==
Please save your work every five to ten minutes. Develop this habit BEFORE your browser locks up in the middle of something big and you will never lose more than a few minutes of your wonderful, inspired Moodling!

==Do enter brief, helpful summaries for your resources==
When students click on the Resources link, it is helpful for them to see not only the title of the resource, but also some descriptive information about that resource. Many teachers prefer to skip the summary, but it takes only a few moments to add one and doing so is an act of kindness toward your students and colleagues.

[[Image:resources.png|frame|left|Summaries tell your students about the resources in a course.]] 

== Do set an enrollment key==

Unless you want the whole world to join your course (possible, but usually not the case), do not leave the enrollment key field blank when setting up your course. This one-time password will keep out everyone except your students.

If necessary, change the key after all of your students have enrlled. that way, the students won't be able to share the key with others, because they won't know it.

[[Image:Ekey.jpg|frame|left|You set your enrollment key when specifying the settings of your course. It is part of the course setup.]] 

==Do encourage students to think before they post==

Many students have a very casual approach to posting to forums. This presumably comes from their many online interactions with their friends. This may be what you are looking for, but you will often want more thinking than that to occur when students are communicating in your class. Encourage students to consider the advice built into Moodle about being a little more critical in one's approach to forum interactions.

==Do use labels to appropriately divide/annotate your course sections/weeks==

If you use labels INSTEAD of the default topic/week editing section, you'll have less trouble when you migrate portions of your course over to another (when you append and don't overwrite, section notes are lost, but labels are not).

==Do set up your new course (weeks/topics, number of sections, etc...) prior to importing/overwriting with another course==

Moodle doesn't know how to put 20 modules or weeks into 10, and won't automatically change the destination course. It does migrate all the content, but the location of the content will be more what you expect if you make the course layout match the source course. (note, this is 1.5.3 - and may be changed in the future)

[[Image:Read-carefully2.jpg|frame|left|Just click for helpful advice. Encourage students to make use of the built-in suggestions about reading carefully, writing carfefully, and asking good questions.]]
 

==See also==

* [[Teaching Good Practices (K-12)]]
* [[Teaching Don'ts]]

[[Category:Teacher]]

User:D.I. von Briesen

2006-02-20T06:14:40Z

Divb: Linked to my moodle profile

Erg... well, now that authentication has changed, I guess I'll use my moodle ID.
Check me out at: http://moodle.org/user/view.php?id=11852&course=1

FAQ

2006-01-30T09:21:19Z

Divb:

{{FAQ}}

Questions? — If you can't find the answer to your question here, there are several other options.

* Find out where to ask a question.
* If you are new to moodleDOCS, you may want to read the Main page and visit the help [https://docs.moodle.org/en/Help:Contents] link, which provide information and links to get you started. The Help page, which is available at all times on the navigation menu (usually on the left-hand side of your screen) can also help you get started.
* Or, you can just try things out. There are numerous moodleDOCSters who can set things right, so be bold. We invite you to participate. Type in your subject in the "search" box on the left, then click Go.

[[Category:Administrator]]
[[Category:FAQ]]

FAQ

2006-01-30T09:19:31Z

Divb:

{{FAQ}}

Questions? — If you can't find the answer to your question here, there are several other options.

* Find out where to ask a question.
* If you are new to moodleDOCS, you may want to read the Main page and visit the [[Help]] link, which provide information and links to get you started. The Help page, which is available at all times on the navigation menu (usually on the left-hand side of your screen) can also help you get started.
* Or, you can just try things out. There are numerous moodleDOCSters who can set things right, so be bold. We invite you to participate. Type in your subject in the "search" box on the left, then click Go.

[[Category:Administrator]]
[[Category:FAQ]]

FAQ

2006-01-30T09:18:53Z

Divb:

{{FAQ}}

Questions? — If you can't find the answer to your question here, there are several other options.

* Find out where to ask a question.
* If you are new to moodleDOCS, you may want to read the Main page and visit the [Help] link, which provide information and links to get you started. The Help page, which is available at all times on the navigation menu (usually on the left-hand side of your screen) can also help you get started.
* Or, you can just try things out. There are numerous moodleDOCSters who can set things right, so be bold. We invite you to participate. Type in your subject in the "search" box on the left, then click Go.

[[Category:Administrator]]
[[Category:FAQ]]

FAQ

2006-01-30T09:18:22Z

Divb: it bugs me that the main FAQ is empty, so working on something...

{{FAQ}}

Frequently asked questions...

Questions? — If you can't find the answer to your question here, there are several other options.

* Find out where to ask a question.
* If you are new to moodleDOCS, you may want to read the Main page and visit the [Help] link, which provide information and links to get you started. The Help page, which is available at all times on the navigation menu (usually on the left-hand side of your screen) can also help you get started.
* Or, you can just try things out. There are numerous moodleDOCSters who can set things right, so be bold. We invite you to participate. Type in your subject in the "search" box on the left, then click Go.

[[Category:Administrator]]
[[Category:FAQ]]

Talk:Teacher documentation

2006-01-30T09:13:47Z

Divb:

I know it makes more sense stylistically, but i'm not sure it makes sense to provide a list like this horizontally as opposed to vertically. Even though it is alphabetical, it doesn't seem right.[[User:Divb|Divb]] 17:13, 30 January 2006 (WST)

Quickmail block

2006-01-30T09:10:48Z

Divb:

The quickmail block adds a link to a tool that has a checkbox list of all students in the course, and a mail composition text area. You can check the students you like, and email those and only those. This enhances the existing communications systems of messaging (one user) and subcribed forums (all subscribers) by allowing teachers to select a specific subset of students. It was developed by Michael Penney's team at Humboldt.

Course Menu block

2006-01-30T09:07:52Z

Divb:

The course menu provide a block that shows the course sections/weeks as folder that collapse/expand in the standard folder navigation metaphor. It includes links to admin tools and other often-used tools. It was developed by Michael Penney's team at Humboldt in California, USA.

User:Divb

2006-01-30T09:02:33Z

Divb: Upated to include links to my page.

I'm the self annointed, self appointed moodle evangelist at my school, and probably for the state of North Carolina.
My moodle.org page is [http://moodle.org/user/view.php?id=11852&course=1]
My school faculty page is [http://secure.cpcc.edu/webpages/view.asp?edirID=2621].

Please don't call me dan or daniel. Anyone know how to make the 'D' in my id into a 'd'?

Talk:Sandbox

2006-01-29T10:41:00Z

Divb: /* headline */

just testing... :-)

== headline ==

jhvkj kvlvk jjkvk dg

How do you make the box?[[User:Divb|Divb]] 18:41, 29 January 2006 (WST)