MoodleDocs - User contributions [en]

Active Directory

2013-11-27T17:56:49Z

Rlnick: added section for SSL over Global Catalog; added link to Global Catalog at TechNet

{{Authentication}}
Microsoft's Active Directory (AD) provides a variety of network directory services including Lightweight Directory Access Protocol (LDAP) like functions. It is included in Windows 2000 Server and later versions of their operating system. The focus of this page will be with the [[LDAP authentication]] functions.

==Troubleshooting AD and LDAP authentication==
===Warning: The PHP LDAP module does not seem to be present. Please ensure it is installed and enabled.===
This usually means that the main ldap dll or one of the supporting dlls are missing.
Let's start with the main one itself.
Browse to <nowiki>http://(moodleserver)/admin/phpinfo.php</nowiki> and examine the "Configuration File (php.ini) Path" field to determine which php.ini is being used and open it with an editor. Find the line 'extension=php_ldap.dll' and take out the semi-colon if it is there. That semi-colon will stop it loading the module all together!
While you have that file open, search for 'extension_dir' and note which folder it is set to. Open that folder and ensure the php_ldap.dll file is in there. If it isn't then put it in there.
If that still hasn't fixed it you are missing a supporting dll, but you don't get told that. To see what dlls are missing open the Command Prompt and navigate to the php directory and execute the following line 'php -m'. You should get some error messages now. Ugly, but at least they give you information! Find the dlls listed and copy them to the php directory. You may now need to restart the apache/httpd service. Run 'php -m' again and you should be error free and the message in Moodle should be gone now.

===LDAP-module cannot connect any LDAP servers===
LDAP-module cannot connect any LDAP servers:
Server: 'ldap://my.ldap.server/'
Connection: 'Resource id #26' Bind result: ''
Getting this message when you are trying to log in is a result of incorrect details for the Bind user, or the user account having insufficient permissions in Active Directory. The best way to test and resolve this is use ldp.exe to test binding until it suceeds. There are instructions on installing ldp.exe below.
Open the program and Connect to AD, giving the server name, then from the Connection menu choose Bind. Enter the details you think are correct and you will probably find that an error is returned. Try adjusting the accounts priveleges or another account until you are returned an "Authenticated as" message.
Once you are sure your account can be used to bind to AD, check that the DN of that users name is correct. Expand the tree on the left until you find the user you used to bind. Right click on that item and choose Copy DN. Go to the User Authentication page in Moodle and paste the value into the ldap_bind_dn field. Add the password and you can now feel safe your user is binding sucessfully.

===Getting correct CNs for Contexts and Creators===
For those not familiar with AD this could be very confusing, and not that easy for some who are familiar with it. Again, ldp.exe is your friend. There are instructions on installing ldp.exe below.
Open it up and expand the tree on the left until you find the group or user you want to use and right click on it and select Copy DN. Go back to the Moodle User Authentication page and paste that value into either ldap_contexts or ldap_creators.

===Getting the right user_attribute===
By default, Moodle uses an accounts cn (full name) to verify against, but most networks don't use a full given name for logon as it's too easy to guess and you can easily have two people with the same name. If this is the case for you too you need to tell Moodle to look at another field for the logon id.
In ldp.exe navigate the tree on the left to find a user account, preferably your own. Double-click the item in the tree and full-details will be loaded into the screen on the right. Look down the details until you find your logon id and note the item listed against it. For me, and a lot of people, it is sAMAccountName. Copy this name and paste it into the ldap_user_attribute on the Moodle User Authentication page.
There are instructions on installing ldp.exe below.

===Installing ldp.exe Server Tool===
ldp.exe comes as part of the Server Tools on most versions of Windows Server. Find your Windows Server installation disc and find a folder on it called Support\Tools. In there will be a SupTools.msi which will install the server tools if run. You should now have a folder under Program Files called Support Tools, in which will be ldp.exe. ldp.exe is also available in the Windows XP Support Tools, which you can download from Microsoft [http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/details.aspx?FamilyId=49AE8576-9BB9-4126-9761-BA8011FABF38&displaylang=en here]. Alternatively, a single download of ldp.exe is available [http://www.computerperformance.co.uk/w2k3/utilities/ldp.htm here].

===Example Active Directory Configuration===
Below is an example configuration for Active Directory. As detailed above, the values may vary based on your local Active Directory configuration, but should provide a good starting point for most cases.

ldap_host_url = ldap://ads.example.com
ldap_version = 3
ldap_preventpassindb = yes
ldap_bind_dn = bind-user@example.com
ldap_bind_pw = bind-password
ldap_user_type = MS ActiveDirectory
ldap_contexts = ou=moodleusers,dc=example,dc=com
ldap_user_attribute = sAMAccountName

Note that the ldap_bind_dn value should work in either the CN=bin-user,CN=Users,DC=example,DC=com format as shown in the main instructions or the bind-user@example.com format shown in this example.

==Global Catalogs==
Moodle currently only has limited support for multiple domain controllers; specifically it expects each of the LDAP servers listed to contain identical sets of information. If you have users in multiple domains this presents an issue. One solution when working with MS-AD is to use the Global Catalog. The Global Catalog is designed to be a read-only, partial representation of an entire MS-AD forest, designed for searching the entire directory when the domain of the required object is not known. For the long version of how Global Catalogs work, you can checkout this TechNet article [http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/how-global-catalog-servers-work(v=ws.10).aspx here].

===Enabling the Global Catalog===

The Global Catalog is available on Windows 2000 and Windows 2003 Active Directory servers. To enable, open the ‘Active Directory Sites and Services’ MMC (Microsoft Management Console) snap-in. Extend ‘Sites’ and then the name of the Site containing the active directory forest you wish to use. Expand the server you wish to enable the Global Catalog on, right click ‘NTDS settings’ and select the ‘Properties’ tab. To enable, simply click the ‘Global Catalog’ checkbox. Under a Windows 2000 server it is necessary to restart the server (although it won’t prompt you to); under Windows 2003 server it is not necessary to restart the server. In either case you will generally have to wait for the AD forest to replicate before the Global Catalog offers a representation of the entire AD forest. Changes made in Active Directory will also be subject to a short delay due to the latency involved with replication. If your AD servers are firewalled port 3268 will need to be opened for Global Catalog servers.
If your organisation uses Microsoft Exchange then it its highly likely that at least one Domain Controller will already have Global Catalog enabled – Exchange 2000 and 2003 rely on the Global Catalog for address information, users also access the Global Catalog when using the GAL (Global Address List)

===Enabling SSL over Global Catalog===
While pointing the Moodle LDAP plugin to port 3268 provides the searching benefits provided by Global Catalog; it also does so in an insecure manner much like connecting to standard LDAP port 389 for queries.

If you are connecting to a remote Global Catalog, or to ensure your Global Catalog LDAP queries are secure, Active Directory provides port 3269.

Port 3269 works identical to 3268 except this communication is wrapped in SSL and works in the same manner is LDAPS would on port 636 while still providing the benefits of global catalog. Also note that using port 3269 has the same requirements as LDAPS therefore ensure that certificates are present and the port is open if troubleshooting.

Example host URL connecting to a secure Global Catalog port: ''ldaps://dc01.example.org:3269''

===Child Domains===
If your organisation has a main domain example.org, staff and students are contained in two child domains staff.example.org and students.example.org. The 3 domains (example.org, staff.example.org and students.example.org) each have a domain controller (dc01, dc02 and dc03 respectively.) Each domain controller contains a full, writable, representation of only the objects that belong to its domain. However, assuming that the Global Catalog has been enabled (see below) on one of the domain controllers (for example dc01) a query to the Global Catalog would reveal matching objects from all three domains. The Global Catalog is automatically maintained through replication across the active directory forest, it can also be enabled on multiple servers (if, for example, you need redundancy / load balancing.)

To make use of this in Moodle to allow logins from multiple domains is simple. The Global Catalog runs on port 3268 as opposed to 389 for standard LDAP queries. As a result, still assuming the Global Catalog is running on dc01, the ''''ldap_host_url'''' would be ''ldap://dc01.example.org:3268''. The rest of the settings are the same as for other MS-AS Auth setups.

You should use the ''''ldap_contexts'''' setting to indicate the locations of individuals you wish to grant access. To extend the example above a little: In the example.org domain users are all in the'' 'Users' ''OU, in the staff.example.org domain users are in two OUs at the root of the domain,'' 'Support Staff' ''and'' 'Teaching Staff' '', and in the students.example.org domain students are in an OU indicating the year that they enrolled, all of which are under the'' 'Students' ''OU. As a result our ''''ldap_contexts'''' setting may look a little like this:'' 'OU=Users,DC=example,DC=org; OU=Support Staff,DC=staff,DC=example,DC=org; OU=Teaching Staff,DC=staff,DC=example,DC=org; OU=Students,DC=students,DC=example,DC=org''.' The ''''ldap_search_sub'''' option should be set to'' 'Yes' ''to allow moodle to search within the child OUs.

Its worth noting that the Global Catalog only contains a partial representation of the attributes of each object, as defined in the Partial Attribute Set supplied by Microsoft. However common information likely to be of use to a general Moodle installation (Forename, Surname, Email Address, sAMAccountName etc) is included in the set. For specific needs the schema can be altered to remove or add various attributes - see Microsoft [http://support.microsoft.com/kb/248717 KB248717] for more information.

In most cases the Global Catalog is read-only, update queries must be made over the standard LDAP ports to the domain controller that holds the object in question (in our example, updating a student's details would require an LDAP query to the students.example.org domain controller - dc03, it would not be possible to update details by querying the Global Catalog.) The exception to this would be in an environment where there is only a single domain in the active directory forest; in this case the Global Catalog holds a writable full set of attributes for each object in the domain. However, for the purposes of Moodle authorisation, there would be no need to use the Global Catalog in this case.

===MaxPageSize setting===
Modifying the number of Active Directory objects to search:

By default Active Directory only allows searches returning a limited number of objects (1000) per search. PHP versions earlier than 5.4 do not support page control which would enable smaller paged searches. If using PHP prior to version 5.4, a workaround may be to modify your Active Directory MaxPageSize setting to make sure LDAP Client searches can return enough user objects to support the number of authenticating users. Be aware though that increasing MaxPageSize setting could adversely affect your Active Directory infrastructure.
If you find that the script is not running through all of your users properly and you have MS Active Directory + over 1000 users, follow the instructions [http://support.microsoft.com/kb/315071 here] to set the MaxPageSize setting to a number higher than your total number of users (both now and in future) to fix it. This is a forest-wide setting.

==MS Active Directory + SSL ==

If the Certificate Authority is not installed you'll have to install it first as follows:
# Click '''Start''' -> '''Control Panel''' -> '''Add or Remove programs.'''
# Click '''Add/Remove Windows Components''' and select '''Certificate Services.'''
# Follow the procedure provided to install the '''Certificate Authority'''. Enterprise level is a good choice.

Verify that SSL has been enabled on the server by installing suptools.msi from Windows installation cd's \Support\tools directory. After support tools installation:
# Select '''Start''' -> '''Run''', write '''ldp''' in the Open field.
# From the ldp window select '''Connection''' -> '''Connect''' and supply valid hostname and port number '''636'''. Also select the SSL check box.

If successful, you should get information about the connection.

See [[LDAP_authentication#Enabling_LDAPS_on_the_client_side_.28Moodle_server.29|Enabling LDAPS on the client side (Moodle server)]] for details on the client side configuration.

==See also==
*[[LDAP authentication]] in Moodle
*[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Directory_service Directory services] overview in Wikipedia
*[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lightweight_Directory_Access_Protocol LDAP] in Wikipedia
*Using Moodle [http://moodle.org/mod/forum/discuss.php?d=17198 Using multiple LDAP servers - Our students are on separate domain] forum discussion
*Using Moodle [http://moodle.org/mod/forum/discuss.php?d=74279 How to use multiple LDAP servers with Moodle 1.8] forum discussion
*Microsoft TechNet Article - How Global Catalogs Work [http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/how-global-catalog-servers-work(v=ws.10).aspx]

[[ja:Active Directory]]

Front page settings

2009-11-19T19:45:33Z

Rlnick: added tip noting maximum display of courses is 200

Location: ''Administration > Front Page > Front Page settings''

The site front page is similar to a course page. Administrators can edit the front page by clicking the "Turn editing on" button in the top right corner of the front page.

Front page settings include the following options:

==Full site name==
This name appears at the top of every page above the navigation bar.

==Short name for site==
The short name appears at the beginning of the navigation bar as a link back to your site front page.

==Front page description==
An optional setting enabling you to add short message to your users in a block on the front page.

==Front page and front page items when logged in==
The centre of the front page can display any combination of the following: news items, a list of courses, a list of course categories, a list of categories and courses or none. If you choose to display a list of courses when logged in, then students
are provided with a list of only the courses they are enrolled in.

Note: An alternative option for logged-in users is [[My Moodle]].

''Tip: When using list of courses, the maximum number of courses that will be displayed is 200 by design. Typically, an administrator has access to every course, so the list of courses will no longer appear for an administrator, or any user in a system role when the Moodle site exceeds 200 courses. This limit can be adjusted from /course/lib.php. This is a non-issue for most students, as it is unlikely for them to participate in greater than 200 courses, or carry a system role.''

==Include a topic section==
This adds a topic section to the centre-top of the front page. When editing is turned on, resources and/or activities can be added to the topic section using the dropdown menus, in the same way as on a course page.

Note: The label resource can be used to add text and/or an image to the centre-top of the front page.

==News items to show==
This setting only applies if the front page is set to display news items or if you are using the [[Latest News block]].

==Default front page role==
{{Moodle 1.9}}To enable logged-in users to participate in front page activities, a default front page role, such as student, can be set.

Note: The default front page role should ''never'' be set to [[Guest]].

In versions of Moodle prior to 1.9, you can enable logged-in users to participate in front page activities by setting an authenticated user role override or by assigning users a front page role.

==See also==
*[[Site files]]
*[[Site settings]] for versions of Moodle prior to 1.7
*[[Upgrading to Moodle 1.8]] for the steps to enable logged-in users to read the site news
*Using Moodle [http://moodle.org/mod/forum/discuss.php?d=73448 Front page activities] forum discussion

[[Category:Administrator]]

[[fr:Réglages page d'accueil]]
[[pl:Ustawienia strony głównej]]
[[de:Einstellungen_f%C3%BCr_die_Startseite]]

SCORM settings

2009-09-18T16:36:41Z

Rlnick: added tip for auto-continue feature

{{Scorm}}
To edit or add a SCORM to a course, turn on the course edit mode as a teacher with editing privileges.

The SCORM activity can also be used to add AICC content running using AICC HACP (HTTP AICC Communication Protocol "Appendix A"), see CMI001 - AICC/CMI Guidelines For Interoperability [http://www.aicc.org/pages/down-docs-index.htm#cmi001]

==Adding==
# While logged in as a teacher, press the button [[Image:Turn edit on button.JPG]] at the top right of a course homepage - see [[Turn_editing_on]]
# in one of the "add an activity" drop down menus that appear, select "SCORM/AICC"

==Editing==
If the SCORM/AICC package has already been added, you can edit it by clicking the edit icon (pen) in the resource/activity list on front page of the course. If you are in the SCORM page, you can click the '''Update this SCORM''' button. Both these methods bring you to the settings page.

==Settings==
On the Setting page, the teacher can view the 3 settings areas, along with the save options buttons.
[[Image:SCORM_settings_all_19.png|thumb|200px|center|Moodle 1.9 SCORM Setting Page ]]

===General settings===
[[Image:SCORM_setting_general_19.png|thumb|300px|right|Moodle 1.9 SCORM General Settings block ]]
*'''Name''' field records the short name of the activity. This appears in the navigation breadcrumb.
*'''Summary''' text is only seen after the name in the list shown when you choose "activities > Scorm"
*'''Choose or upload a file''' button to open the course Files area. Locate the zipped SCORM package (otherwise upload it to the server before continuing).
** Use the '''choose''' link (NOT the Unzip link) to select the package.
Some people are confused by this, and they think that "choose" means that you select the checkbox to the left of the file name. This is not the case. You may need to increase the size of the file browser window to see the Choose link, or scroll to the right.
[[Image:Picture-3.jpg|thumb|500px|center|File browser window, arrow points to Choose link]]
:''TIP:'' The SCORM Package should be a SCORM 1.2 Packet Interchange Format (PIF) package, for AICC content upload a single ZIP file that contains the <nowiki>AICC *.AU, *.CRS, *.DES, *.CST and optionally *.ORT Metadata.</nowiki> These files should all be in the root of the ZIP file.
:''TIP:'' If the Choose link is not visible - close the pop-up window and click the "Choose or upload a file" button again.
:''TIP:'' As an alternative to the previous two steps, you may paste a URL into the Package file field that references a zip file or imsmanifest.xml file hosted on an external repository.

===Other settings===
Pressing the advance button will reveal all the choices below.
[[Image:SCORM_settings_other_19.png|thumb|300px|right|Moodle 1.9 SCORM Other Settings block - advanced shown ]]
*'''Grading method'''
** Learning Objects - This mode shows the number of completed/passed Learning Objects for the activity. The max value is the number of Package's Learning Objects .
**Highest grade - The grade page will display the highest score obtained by users in all passed Learning Objects.
** Average grade - If you choose this mode Moodle will calculate the average of all scores.
**Sum grade - With this mode all the scores will be added.
*'''Maximum grade'''
*'''Number of attempts''' - This define the number of attempts permitted to users. It works only with SCORM 1.2 and AICC packages. SCORM2004 has its own max attempts definition
*'''Attempts grading''' - When you permit multiple attempts for students, you can choose how to record the result in gradebook by first, last, average or highest settings.
*'''Window''' - Stage size width, Stage size height
*'''Display package''' - in current or new window
*'''Options''' - There are a series of check boxes for:Allow the window to be resized ad scrolled, displaying directory links, location bar, menu bar, toolbar and/or status.
*'''Student skip content structure page''' - never, first access, always
*'''Disable preview mode''' - If this option is set to Yes, the Preview button in the view page of a SCORM/AICC Package activity will be hidden. The student can choose to preview (browse mode) the activity or attempt it in the normal mode. When a Learning Object is completed in preview (browse) mode, it's marked with browsed icon
*'''Course structure display''' - Table of Contents display
*'''Hide navigation buttons'''
*'''Auto-Continue''' - If Auto-continue is set to Yes, when a Learning Object calls the "close communication" method, the next available Learning Object is launched automatically.If it is set to No, the users must use the "Continue" button to go on.
:''TIP:'' Auto-Continue will only to move from one SCORM to the next in the same topic.

*'''Display package''' - Allow the window to be resized, Allow the window to be scrolled, Show the directory links, Show the location bar, Show the menu bar, Show the toolbar, Show the status bar.

===Common module settings===
See [[Common module settings]]

[[Image:SCORM_setting_common_19.png|thumb|300px|right|Moodle 1.9 SCORM Common settings block - advanced shown ]]

===Save settings===
As in most activities there are 3 save button choices. "Cancel", "Save and return to course" and "Save changes" buttons. The Save changes button will take the teacher back to the SCORM "stage" page.
[[Image:SCORM_activity_homepage_teacher_19.png|thumb|300px|right|Moodle 1.9 SCORM Teacher staging area ]]

==Tips and tricks==
*Please note that Moodle can't create SCORM packages - the SCORM module is simply for deploying SCORM packages. If you wish to create SCORM packages please see the [[SCORM#External links | links to SCORM tools]].
* If you have difficulty displaying a SCORM, try loading the SCORM in [http://www.reload.ac.uk Reload] and re-saving it, then save the folder as a .zip package and try again.
* When you notice there is a problem displaying characters correctly, it could be a misconfiguration of your server. Make sure that both httpd.conf (when using Apache) and php.ini are set to DefaultCharacterset = utf8 or switch the sending of a default character set off.

==See also==

[[Category:Teacher]]
[[Category:SCORM]]

[[fr:Ajouter/modifier un SCORM]]
[[ja:SCORMを追加/編集する]]
[[de:Lernpaket anlegen]]

Course settings

2009-08-24T19:50:18Z

Rlnick: added tip to metacourses

{{Course admin}}

[[Image:Settings.gif]]'''Course settings''' control how the things appear to the participants in a course. It is the first page viewed after creating a course. It can be edited through the '''Settings''' link in the [[Course administration block]] menu. This page has links to other pages that may describe a setting in more detail. Different versions of Moodle may not have all the settings listed below.

==General==
[[Image:generalsettings1.gif|thumb|General settings]]
===Short name===
Many institutions have a shorthand way of referring to a course, such as BP102 or COMMS. Even if you do not already have such a name for your course, make one up here. It will be used in several places where the long name is not appropriate. The most common use is in the navigation bar that is at the top of most pages and this provides an active link to the course home page.

[[Image:Assignment nav trail.jpg|We at Assignment, part of the Features course, in a site called Moodle]]

The above example has the short course name, "Features". The short name also appears in the subject line of email messages that are part of the course.

:''TIP:'' If the short name field is not editable, the site administrator has disabled that user's ability by unassigning the moodle/course:changeshortname capability.

===ID number===
The ID number is an alphanumeric field. It has several potential uses. Generally, it is not displayed to students. However, it can be used to match this course against an external system's ID, as your course catalog ID or can be used in the certificate module as a printed field.

:''TIP:'' If the ID number field is not editable, the site administrator has disabled that user's ability by unassigning the moodle/course:changeidnumber capability.

[[#top|Top]]
===Format===
[[Image:generalsettings3.gif|thumb|Format section in course settings]]
See [[Course formats]]

===Number of weeks/topics===
This setting is only used by the 'weekly' and 'topics' course formats. In the 'weekly' format, it specifies the number of weeks that the course will run for, starting from the course starting date. In the 'topics' format, it specifies the number of topics in the course. Both of these translate to the number of "boxes" down the middle of the course page.

[[#top|Top]]
===Course start date===
This is where you specify the starting time of the course (in your own time zone). The first week will start on the date you set here when you use the "Weekly" course format.

This setting will not affect courses using the 'social' or 'topics' formats.

However, this setting will have an effect on the display of logs, which use this date as the earliest possible date you can display. It can also make your course not visible to students even if when the course is available to students (see below).

:''TIP:'' If your institution runs on a weekly schedule, you may want to consider setting the start date for courses on the first day of the week, like a Monday.

:''TIP:'' In general, if your course does not have a real starting date then set the date to yesterday and use the availability setting to reveal the course to students.

===Hidden sections===
This option allows you to decide how the hidden sections in your course are displayed to students. By default, a small area is shown (in collapsed form, usually gray) to indicate where the hidden section is, though they still cannot actually see the hidden activities and texts. This is particularly useful in the Weekly format, so that non-class weeks are clear, or if you have quizes you don't want your students to see.

:''TIP:'' If you choose, these non-available items can be completely hidden, so that students do not even know that sections or an activity in the course are hidden.

[[#top|Top]]
===Show grades===
Many of the activities allow [[Grades|grades]] to be set. By default, the results of all grades within the course can be seen in the Grades page, available from the main course page for students and teachers.

:''TIP:'' If a teacher is not interested in using grades in a course, or just wants to hide grades from students, then they can disable the display of grades with this option. This does not prevent the teacher using or setting grades for an individual activities, it just disables the results from being displayed to students.

===Show activity reports===
[[Activity_report#Individual_Activity_Report|Activity reports]] are available to each student. These reports or logs shows their activity and contributions in the current course. These reports include their detailed access log.

Student access to their own reports is controlled by the teacher via this course setting. For some courses, these reports can be a useful tool for a student to reflect on their involvement and appearance within the online environment, but for some courses, this may not be necessary.

Teachers always have access to these reports. Teachers can use the button or tab visible on each person’s profile page or use the [[Reports]] link in the course administration block.

Your site administrator may ask you to turn this feature off. Showing activity reports can place a load on the server, slowing it down at times. For large or long classes it may be more efficient to keep it off.

[[#top|Top]]
===Maximum upload size===
[[Image:Changeupload.jpg|thumb|Maximum upload size setting]]
This setting defines the largest size of file that can be uploaded by students in this course. The site administrator can determine [[Site_policies#Maximum_uploaded_file_sizefile |sizes available]] for the teacher to select. Teachers should be aware of a course's [[Files|file structure]].

It is possible to further restrict this size through settings within each activity module.

===Force theme===
If the site administrator has allowed the teacher to set a course [[Themes|theme]], this pull down menu will appear with a list of themes on the site.

===Is this a meta course?===
A [[Metacourses|metacourse]] automatically enrolls its participants from other courses. For example, for every course that is a "child" of the metacourse, all students in the child course are enrolled in the metacourse.

''TIP:'' Turning this on prematurely before the meta courses are properly setup will cause Moodle to return 'This course does not allow public access' when users would ordinarily be able to access through internal enrollment. Verify parent and child meta courses exist before leaving this in the 'Yes' setting.

[[#top|Top]]
==Enrolments==
[[Image:generalsetting4.gif|thumb|Enrolment settings]]
===Enrolment plugins===
This setting allows you to choose an interactive [[Enrolment plugins|enrolment plugin]], such as [[Internal enrolment|internal enrolment]] or [[Paypal]]. If you use a non-interactive enrolment plugin, this setting has no effect.

===Default role===

From Moodle 1.7 onwards, a default course role, such as student, may be set.

===Course enrollable===
This setting only affects interactive enrolment plugins, such as [[Internal enrolment|internal enrolment]] and [[Paypal]]. It has no affect at all on non-interactive plugins (e.g. External Database, LDAP). Setting it to "no" or if it is outside the specified date range will result in the student being told the course is "Not enrollable" and being returned to the front page, if they are attempting to enroll using an interactive plugin.

:''TIP:'' If you are using Internal enrolment and you have not set an enrolment key, you should seriously consider setting this to ''No'' otherwise any user can enrol on your course.

[[#top|Top]]
===Enrolment duration===
This setting specifies the number of days a student can be enrolled in this course (starting from the moment they enroll). Set this value with care - setting it when not required is a common origin of the complaint, "my students keep disappearing after n days".

:''TIP:'' This is useful for rolling courses without a specific start or end time. Students are automatically unenrolled after the number of days has expired in this setting.

:''TIP:'' This setting can be used as an alternative to a manually unenrolling students or using a clean-up function to remove defunct students at some future time.
:''TIP:'' If this course is a metacourse, the enrolment period will not be used.

==Enrolment expiry notification==
[[Image:generalsettings5.gif|thumb|Enrolment expiry notification settings]]
These settings determine whether teachers and/or students are notified that their enrolment is about to expire and how much notice they should be given.

[[#top|Top]]
==Groups==
[[Image:generalsettings6.gif|thumb|Groups settings]]
===Group mode===
Here you can define the [[Groups|group mode]] at the course level by a pull down menu. "[[Groups#No_groups|No groups]]", "[[Groups#Separate_groups|Separate groups]]" and "[[Groups#Visible_groups|Visible groups]]" are the choices. The selected setting will be the default group mode for all activities defined within that course. The group setting can affect what users see in the [[Participants]] list.

:''TIP:'' You may leave it set to "No groups" and still have specific activities use groups. In this case the force setting below should be set to "no". For example, the teacher can use a group setting to completely separate cohorts of students such that each group is unaware of the other in the course.

===Force===
If the group mode is "forced" at a course-level, then this particular group mode will be applied to every activity in that course. This will override any activities that may have a special group setting.

:''TIP:''The force setting is useful when the teacher wants to set up a course and not have to change each activities group settings.

[[#top|Top]]
===Default grouping===

{{Moodle 1.9}}If [[Groupings|groupings]] are enabled (in Moodle 1.9 onwards), a default grouping for course activities and resources may be set.

==Availability==

[[Image:generalsettings7.gif|thumb|Availability settings]]
This option allows you to "hide" your course completely. It will not appear on any course listings, except to teachers of the course and administrators. Even if students try to access the course URL directly, they will not be allowed to enter.

:''TIP:'' The [[Course_settings#Course_start_date|Start Date]] of the course can also effect course visibility.

[[#top|Top]]
===Enrolment key===
A course [[Enrolment key|enrolment key]] enables access to courses to be restricted to those who know the key. This feature is typically used on sites which encourage self enrolments or use an external database process to register students in a course. The idea is that Teachers or course administrators will supply the key to authorized people using another means like private email, snail mail, on the phone or even verbally in a face-to-face class.

When the key is left blank and [[Course_settings#Course_enrollable|self enrolment]] is allowed, then anyone who has a Moodle username on the site will be able to enrol in the course.

:''TIP:'' A student can be manually enroled in the course and will not have to supply the required key when they enter the course for the first time.

:''TIP:'' If this password "gets out" and you have unwanted people enrolling, you can unenrol them (see their user profile page or unassign them from the [[Assign roles|student role]] in the course) and change this key. Any legitimate students who have already enrolled will not be affected, but the unwanted people will not be able to get back in.

:''TIP:'' If you are using a non-interactive enrolment, system (e.g., External Database, LDAP) and you do not want students who fail the initial check to be asked for an enrolment key that they will not have, set ''Course Enrolable'' to ''No''.

:''TIP:'' You can control who is displayed as providing the Key when someone is requested to supply the key. See [[Internal enrolment]]

[[#top|Top]]
===Guest access===

Allows any authenticated user (i.e. logged in) to access the course (as a [[Guest role|guest]]), including those who have logged in "as guest". You can choose if they need an enrolment key or may enter without one.

People can log in as guests using the "Login as a guest" button on a login screen, where that feature is enabled for the site. When the user tries to enter a course, they will see the [[Log in|login screen]]. If you only need people authenticated via your normal authentication method to access courses (as Guest or not) it is probably wise to disable "Login as a guest" for a slight improvement in site security. See [[Manage authentication]].

Guests in a course ALWAYS have "read-only" access - meaning they cannot leave any posts or otherwise mess up the course for real students. No use information is stored for a guest.

:''TIP:'' This can be handy when you want to let a colleague in to look around at your work, or to let students see a course before they have decided to enroll.
:''TIP:'' You have a choice between two types of guest access: with the enrolment key or without. If you choose to allow guests who have the key, then the guest will need to provide the current enrolment key EVERY TIME they log in (unlike students who only need to do it once). This lets you restrict your guests. If you choose to allow guests without a key, then anyone can get straight into your course.

For more information see [[Guest role]].

[[#top|Top]]
===Cost===

If [[Paypal]] or [[Authorize.net Payment Gateway]] is set as the [[Enrolment plugins|enrolment plugin]], then the course cost can be set in the cost field.

==Language==
[[Image:generalsettings8.gif|thumb|Language settings]]

If you force a language in a course, the interface of Moodle in this course will be in this particular language, even if a student has selected a different preferred language in his/her personal profile.

[[#top|Top]]
==Role renaming==
[[Image:rolesimages.gif|thumb|Role renaming settings]]
{{Moodle 1.9}}In Moodle 1.9 onwards, you can rename the [[Roles|roles]] used in your course. For example, you may wish to rename the [[Teacher role]] as "Facilitator", "Tutor" or "Guide". These new role names will appear within the course. For example on the [[Participants|participants]] and the override permissions pages.

Please note that the site administrator or a [[Course managers|course manager]] may have changed the names or added new roles. These names will appear and the teacher may rename them.

[[Roles FAQ]] contains information on changing the name for teacher in Moodle 1.7 and 1.8. Prior to Moodle 1.7, the words for teacher and student may be changed in the course settings.

:''Tip'': Do not worry about changing every role name. Only change the site roles which are used in your course. For example, you may want to ignore renaming roles such as the [[Administrator role]] or the [[Authenticated user role]].

:''Tip'': To include new role names in a course backup, users should be included in the backup.

[[#top|Top]]
==Default course settings==

An administrator can set course settings defaults in ''Administration > Courses > [[Course default settings]]'' in Moodle 1.9.5 onwards.
[[#top|Top]]

==See also==

*[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zWOp1oq-TvI Video showing how to create a course in Moodle]

[[Category:Course]]

[[de:Kurseinstellungen]]
[[es:Configuración del curso]]
[[eu:Ikastaroaren_ezarpenak]]
[[fr:Paramètres]]
[[ja:コース設定]]
[[ru:course/edit]]

Enrolment FAQ

2009-08-24T19:37:06Z

Rlnick: added new faq on metacourses

==How do I prevent students from enrolling themselves in a course?==

Student-initiated enrollment (also known as [[Internal enrolment]]) is one of the standard enrollment methods supported by Moodle. In fact, it is the only method that cannot be disabled sitewide by the administrator. Fortunately, there are a few methods you can use to effectively prevent students from enrolling themselves in your course.
*Set ''Course enrollable'' to ''No'' in the course settings. This disables internal enrollment for your course.
*Set an [[Enrolment key|enrolment key]] in the course settings. Students will only be able to enroll if they know the key. Naturally, you will keep the key secret.

Note that neither method prevents teachers from [[Enrolment#Manual enrolment|manually enrolling]] students (Course administration -> Assign roles).

== Why are users being unenrolled for no apparent reason? ==

Please check the following:
*The ''longtimenosee'' variable in ''Site Administration > Server > Cleanup'' (or Administration > Configuration > Variables in Moodle 1.6) which specifies the time limit for which, if students haven't logged in, they are unenrolled from courses.
*The ''Enrolment duration'' in the [[course/edit|Course settings]] which unenrols students after the specified time has elapsed.

(See [[Unenrolment]] for a full list of what controls unenrolment.)

==Why are all students enrolled in all courses?==

If the default role for all users in ''Site Administration > Users > Permissions > User policies'' is set to student rather than authenticated user (the default setting), this will result in all students being enrolled in all courses.

Another possibility is that users are assigned the system role of student. Check ''Site Administration > Users > Permissions > Assign system roles'' and unassign users as necessary, then reassign them the role of student in the course context.

==Why can't I select "External Database" from the enrolment plugins drop-down menu in the course settings?==

Only ''interactive'' enrolment methods may be chosen in the course settings. Non-interactive enrolment plugins are set for the entire site in ''Site Administration'' > ''Courses'' > ''Enrolments''. Please refer to the interactive enrolment section of [[Enrolment plugins]].

==How do I enable students to unenrol themselves from courses?==

To enable students to unenrol themselves from any course:
#Access ''Site Administration > Users > Permissions > Define roles''.
#Click the edit icon opposite the student role.
#Change the [[Capabilities/moodle/role:unassignself|moodle/role:unassignself]] capability from not set to allow.
#Click the "Save changes" button at the bottom of the page.

See [[Unenrolment]] for instructions on how to enable students to unenrol themselves from a particular course.

==How do I prevent teachers from unenrolling themselves from their course by mistake?==

#Access ''Site Administration > Users > Permissions > Define roles''.
#Click the edit icon opposite the teacher role.
#Change the [[Capabilities/moodle/role:unassignself|moodle/role:unassignself]] capability from allow to not set.
#Click the "Save changes" button at the bottom of the page.

==How do I change the spelling of "enrol" to "enroll"?==

Simply install the American English language pack (en_us) then choose it as the default language for the site. Or [[Language editing|edit your language]] settings.

==How can the name of the person holding the enrolment key be changed?==

In Moodle 1.8.3 onwards, the keyholder role may be set in the [[Internal enrolment]] settings (via ''Administration > Course > [[Enrolment plugins|Enrolments]]''). Use the following steps:
* Create a completely empty role called Keyholder (or whatever you like)
* In Course > Enrolments > Internal set the keyholder role you just created in the dropdown
* In your courses, assign people to this role (as well as their "proper" role).

In versions of Moodle prior to 1.8.3, a [[Keyholder role]] may be created.

==Is there a way for teachers to be notified when students enrol in a course?==

No notifications will be sent when students are allowed to enrol by the [[Internal enrolment]] process. It can be done by changing the open source code, but not by through the interface. Other enrolment methods (for example [[Flat file]]) can allow emails when enrolment is complete but these are not student initiated.

==When a student self-enrols, they get a welcome email message. Can a teacher customise this at the course level?==

Entering text for the message is described [[Email_processing#Email_confirmation_or_registration_words.2C_and_how_to_edit_them| Documentation here]]. But at the course level, not possible without a hack.

==How can the course welcome message be disabled?==

{{Moodle 1.9}}In Moodle 1.9.3 onwards, the course welcome message may be disabled by setting "Send course welcome message" to No in ''Administration > Courses > [[Enrolment plugins|Enrolments]]''.

==Where in the database is the relationship between user and course?==

Prior to Moodle 1.7, enrollments were represented by two simple tables: mdl_user_students and mdl_user_teachers. Under the new Roles and Capabilities System introduced in Moodle 1.7, the concept of enrollment has been generalized. The word "Enroll" should literally be read as "Assign a role to." To accomodate this flexibility, the database model has changed. There is now a mdl_role_assignments table that holds the equivalent information. For more information, see [[Development:Roles|the roles development documentation]]

==Help! Now Admin login does not work==
Have you switched from internal to external enrolment and now nobody can log into your Moodle site? Site login has to do with [[Authentication|authentication]] but an error with enrolment can produce a fatal error. You will have to solve this by altering the [[MySQL|MySQL database]] (preferably with [[phpMyAdmin]]). [http://moodle.org/mod/forum/discuss.php?d=102431 Forum discussion here].

Look in the mdl_config table the name of the setting is "enrol_plugins_enabled". Edit the value list to remove the value database from the list of comma separated values, save, and you should be able to access your site again.

Alternatively the following MySQL command line should work, but is not recommended.
mysql -u username -p moodle_db_name
UPDATE `mdl_config` SET `value` = 'manual' WHERE `mdl_config`.`name` ='enrol_plugins_enabled' ;

See [https://docs.moodle.org/en/Administration_FAQ?#I_have_forgotten_the_admin_password if you have merely forgotten your password].

==When users access a course, Moodle returns 'This course does not allow public access'. What does this mean?==
Check ''Course Administration > Settings > Is This a Meta Course? '' and select No. For more information on Metacourses, click [https://docs.moodle.org/en/Meta_course here]

==See also==

*Using Moodle [http://moodle.org/mod/forum/discuss.php?d=127734 Unenroll/Reenroll Question] forum discussion

[[Category:Enrolment]]
[[Category:FAQ]]

User profile fields

2009-06-16T13:17:15Z

Rlnick: created warning to remind people to create fields first before attempting to upload to them

{{Moodle 1.8}}Location: ''Administration > Users > Accounts > User profile fields''

In Moodle 1.8 onwards, administrators are able to create new user profile categories and fields. Profile fields may be a menu of choices, text area, text input or a checkbox (in Moodle 1.9.3 onwards) and may be required or not.

New profile fields will appear on each user’s profile page unless "Who is this field visible to?" is set to "Not visible" in which case only the administrator can see the field. From Moodle 1.9 the fields can also be displayed on the signup page if "Display on signup page?" is set to "Yes" (although note that they will never be displayed if set to "Not visible").

'''Important'''

If the site administrator bulk [[Upload users|uploads user data]] via .csv file, it is essential to use the correct convention to represent the new profile field. The convention is ''profile_field_shortname''

Replace 'shortname' with the actual short name used for the new profile field eg. dob. So the field should read something like profile_field_dob.

Also, you will need to visit Site Administration > Users > Accounts > User Profile Fields > Create new Profile Field before attempting to upload a file using it. Creating an upload file first with custom profile fields without creating the User Profile Fields first in Site Administration will result in the error profile_field_shortname is not a valid field name.

Furthermore, keep in mind that the shortname must be all lower case to avoid errors when uploading users via a .csv file. This currently is not enforced when creating the shortname. See MDL-17344 for more information.

==Examples of use==

*'''House System'''

Many schools have a 'House' system where students and staff are assigned to a given House. For example, a school has eight houses, named after its founders: Adderton, Coolock, Gorry, Loretto, McAuley, Mercedes, Tighe and Whitty. The site administrator can add a user profile field that offers a 'Menu of choices' to the user. A default value can also be selected. If the administrator decides to bulk upload House data for users via a .csv file, it is important to represent the above array of values as 1,2,3,4,5,6,7,8 in the file. That is to state, if a user belongs to Adderton House, the value '1' should be entered for the 'House' user profile field in the given record.

*'''U.S. States'''

This can be used to improve ambiguous postal addresses by including (for example) the State.

*[[Birthday block]] (contributed code)

==See also==

*Using Moodle [http://moodle.org/mod/forum/discuss.php?d=106997 How can I show ID Number in the user profile form?] forum discussion

[[Category:Administrator]]

[[fr:Champs du profil]]

Quiz FAQ

2009-04-09T16:21:38Z

Rlnick: added FAQ on running out of random questions

{{Quizzes}}==What happens if students submit answers after the quiz closing date?==

It is possible for students to still submit answers after the quiz has closed (for example if they started the attempt before the closing date but then took a long time before submitting). These responses are stored by the quiz module, but the students are not given any credit for them. The teacher can see these answers when reviewing the student's attempts and can give the student credit for them by hand. Also the teacher could change the closing date after the fact and regrade the attempts. The students answers would then get graded.

==Why am I no longer allowed to add or remove questions?==

Most likely it is because you have students that have already attempted the quiz. You will need to delete all of the attempts by selecting them and choosing to delete them if you need to add/remove questions from a quiz. In the quiz overview report, you can delete their attempt using the "with selected attempts" drop-down.

==Why can't I set a longer quiz time limit?==
The maximum quiz time limit seems to be 10 minutes less than the session timeout set for Moodle.
(In 1.6 quiz time limit will not be limited by session timeout).
If you want longer quiz time limits in 1.5, you would need to log in as administrator, and click "Configuration" under the administration section on the main page, then click "Variables", and find "Session Timeout", and set it to something longer.

Session timeout is the length of time the site will allow a user to be inactive (not loading pages) before they are automatically logged out (and presumably lose some session data if they were still working - albeit slowly). There isn't really any serious problem setting this to 2 or even 3 hours - as long as the student isn't silly enough to leave a shared computer with their login active on the server.
Long story short - logout when done.

==How can I turn off glossary auto-linking in a quiz? ==

*There is an html code <nolink> question goes here </nolink> which can prevent links, including glossary from being shown.
*Under site administration, filters, there is a switch which can hide glossary. Turning this off when a quiz is open is one option. There are several hacks which may turn off glossary during a quiz.
*For those who want to be brave and turn off glossary for all quizzes on the site or in other areas, this [http://moodle.org/mod/forum/discuss.php?d=13652#66312 forum thread] should be useful. Paul Evans on 11 October 2004, 06:41 PM suggested this hack be added to the moodle/mod/glossary/filter.php file. Insert in the line right after 'global $CFG' the following lines.
// suggested by Paul Evans 11 October 2004 in the Glossary Module forum
// Nolink for quizzes (or any other word in the path you like)
// $_SERVER['REQUEST_URI'] looks like e.g. : /mysite/mod/quiz/view.php?id=21
if (strpos($_SERVER['REQUEST_URI'], "/quiz/")) {
return $text;
}
This works in 1.6 and turns off glossary for all quizzes on the site. New users please note that the filter.php file can be opened by a simple text editor. Do a copy on everything in the shaded box above and paste it right after the line which has global$CFG which is near the top of the file.

==How can I remove a problem question after the quiz has been taken?==

You can not remove a question once a quiz has been taken by one student or more. However you can change the score and flag the question so you know it has problems.

Set the score for that question to 0.
*Caution: In some versions of Moodle if you use this question in an other quiz, this will potentially change the question in that quiz as well. A trick is to score the question as 0, then regrade the just completed quiz. This will establish the new grade for gradebook. Now go back and change the score to the original value.

Find the question in Question Bank. Maybe edit the title (Do not use in Bio101). Or if you do not share the question category with other teachers, create a sub category, move the offending question there, and perhaps create a better question to replace the one you just moved. Create a new quiz and if necessary hide the old one.
*Caution: if other departments or teachers use a question category it might be wise to check with the team before moving or changing any question. This is one reason importing questions in a course is a good best practice in some situations.

==Can I have a quiz that is not graded?==

This is not a common requirement, so it may not work perfectly, but you can get close:

# On the quiz editing page, set the score for each question, and the total score for the quiz to 0.
# On the quiz settings page, there is a grid of check-boxes. Turn off all the ones in the score column.

Remember you can tell gradebook not to include the quiz.

==How do I allow a person to retake a quiz if I have it set for 1 attempt?==

In the [[Quiz reports|quiz overview report]], you can delete their attempt using the "with selected attempts" drop-down.

==How can I give particular students extra time in a timed quiz?==

You can give particular students unlimited time to attempt a quiz which has a time limit set by assigning them the role of [[Quiz user with unlimited time role|Quiz user with unlimited time]].

==I've entered quiz grades manually in the 1.9 gradebook. How can I allow students to improve on these grades?==

When a grade is entered directly in the gradebook, an "overridden" flag is set, meaning that the grade can no longer be changed from within the quiz.

However, the flag can be removed by turning editing on in the [[Grader report|grader report]], then clicking the [[Grade editing|edit grade]] icon, unchecking the overridden box and saving the changes.

==How can I enable email notification of quiz submissions?==

See [[Quiz submission email notification]].

==Why doesn't Questions per page work like I expect?==
[[Image:Showpagebreaks.jpg|thumb|Show page breaks]]
Moodle gives you a lot of flexibility in relation to how your quiz is laid out. You can move questions around and control exactly where the page breaks come. However, this is not really clear unless you turn on the 'Show page breaks' check-box at the bottom-left of the quiz editing page.

Therefore, when you change the 'Questions per page' setting one the quiz settings form, Moodle does not immediately repaginate your quiz. If it did, then it might overwrite your manual changes to the quiz layout.

To actually change the current layout of the quiz, you need to first turn on the 'Show page breaks' option, and then use the repaginate control.

The effect that 'Questions per page' does have is that when you add new questions to the quiz, it automatically inserts page breaks to keep the new questions paginated as you ask. Also, when the 'Shuffle questions' option is on, the questions are split into pages according to the Questions per page option after they have been shuffled.

We are aware that this is a very confusing user interface (and that is putting it politely!) This is being sorted out for Moodle 2.0.

==Why can't people (guests) take a quiz without creating an account and logging in?==

This is difficult to implement for technical reason.

To explain: The quiz has to link all information about an attempt to a particular 'user' record in the database, and each user can only have one open quiz attempt at a time. All not-logged-in users share the same 'guest' user database record. Therefore, two guests could not attempt the quiz at the same time, and even if they could, it would be difficult to prevent one guest seeing another guest's attempts.

Of course, given enough work, it would be possible to change some of those assumptions, and so make it possible for guests to attempt quizzes. Indeed, some of the obstructions to implementing this have already been removed while doing other work on the quiz, but there is still some way to go.

If you would like to see this implemented, please vote for MDL-17892.

==Can you explain the error The number of random questions required is more than are still available in the category!==

Review your quiz and verify Moodle has enough questions from each category of questions it will be pulling from. You may have inadvertently selected more questions than what exists in the category. Also make sure your not pulling questions from a category that has zero questions. Because you are picking random questions, rather than a specific question, it may not be apparent at first that you have run out of questions to ask!

==See also==

Using Moodle forum discussions:

*[http://moodle.org/mod/forum/discuss.php?d=96326 Removing "Submit all and Finish" button]
*[http://moodle.org/mod/forum/discuss.php?d=105016 Special Needs student needs extra quiz time]

Related FAQs:
* [[Import and export FAQ]] - for hints on importing questions
* [[XML FAQ]] - for information on creating and importing questions in Moodle XML format

[[Category:FAQ]]
[[de:Test FAQ]]

Assignment FAQ

2009-01-07T04:19:14Z

Rlnick: added blub on response files

{{stub}}{{Assignments}}==Why can't I edit grades for assignment submissions?==

If you edit assignment [[Grades|grades]] directly in the gradebook in Moodle 1.9, an "overridden" flag is set, meaning that the grade can no longer be edited from the [[Assignment submissions|assignment submissions]] page.

If required, the flag can be removed by turning editing on in the [[Grader report|grader report]], then clicking the [[Grade editing|edit grade]] icon, unchecking the overridden box and saving the changes.

==How can a selected outcome be removed from an assignment?==

To remove previously selected outcomes (which appear greyed out on the update assignment page):
[[Image:Edit categories and items showing outcome link.png|left|thumb|Deleting the test outcome from the upload file assignment]]
#Follow the Grades link Administration block in the course.
#Select edit categories and items from the gradebook dropdown menu at the top-left of the page.
#Locate the assignment for which the outcome is to be removed. The outcome is listed directly below it.
#Click the delete icon opposite the outcome.

==Why can't my students see the response file I've posted to their assignment?==
{{Moodle 1.9}}
At this time, Moodle does not show the teachers' response file if any of the following conditions are present:

*The students assignment submission has not been graded by the teacher.
*The teacher has not posted a comment to the student's assignment.

As a workaround, simply grade the assignment or provide a comment on the assignment submission and the corresponding response file will appear on the student's assignment submission page normally. For more information on this behavior, see [http://tracker.moodle.org/browse/MDL-16553 MDL 16553]

==See also==

* Using Moodle [http://moodle.org/mod/forum/view.php?f=117 Assignment module forum]

[[Category:FAQ]]
[[de:Aufgaben FAQ]]

Forum module

2008-12-18T19:20:52Z

Rlnick: added operation of question and answer

{{Forums}}
Forums [[Teacher_documentation#Activity_modules|activities]] can contribute significantly to successful communication and community building in an online environment. You can use forums for many innovative purposes in educational settings, but teaching forums and student forums are arguably the two more significant distinctions.

==Guidelines for Teaching and Learning Forums==

When you decide to use a discussion forum as an activity in an e-learning environment it is important to be aware that your time will be needed in some sense in order to make the activity successful. If your goal is to encourage discussion, the forum will only work if:

a.) participants feel there is a need/reason to participate and they will gain something from the experience. Incentives for learning, gathering support, etc. should be explored and encouraged early on in order to clearly convey the purpose of the forum to others. Anyone considering offering grades or marks for participation is advised to think very carefully about the difference between quantity and quality of discussions in forums.

b.) a sense of community and purpose can be fostered amongst participants. This sense of community can be fostered through tutor/teacher initiative and scaffolding, or primarily through the students/participants themselves depending on the intentions of the activity.

==Selecting forum type==

Moodle has four kinds of forums each with a slightly different [[Viewing a forum|layout]] and purpose.

Which of the forums will best suit your needs for a particular activity? In order to answer this question it is useful to think how you might lead such a discussion in a face-to-face environment. Would you throw the question out to the class and sit back to observe them in their answers? Or would you break them up into smaller groups first and ask them to have discussions with a partner before bringing them back to the main group? Or perhaps you would like to keep them focused on a particular aspect of a question and ensure that they do not wander away from the topic at hand? All of the above approaches are both valid and useful, depending on your learning outcomes, and you can replicate all of them in Moodle forums.

===A standard forum for general use===
The standard forum ([[Viewing_a_forum#Standard_forum_for_general_use|view here]]) probably most useful for large discussions that you intend to monitor/guide or for social forums that are student led. This does not mean that you need to make a new posting for each reply in each topic although, in order to ensure that discussion does not get 'out of control', you may need to be prepared to spend a significant amount of time finding the common threads amongst the various discussions and weaving them together. Providing overall remarks for particular topics can also be a key aspect of your responsibilities in the discussion. Alternatively, you could ask students to summarize discussion topics at agreed points, once a week or when a thread comes to an agreed conclusion. Such a learner-centred approach may be particularly useful once the online community has been established and, perhaps, when you have modeled the summarizing process.

===A single simple discussion===
The simple forum ([[Viewing_a_forum#A_single_simple_discussion|view here]]) is most useful for short/time-limited discussion on a single subject or topic. This kind of forum is very productive if you are interested in keeping students focused on a particular issue.

===Each person posts one discussion===
This forum ([[Viewing_a_forum#Each_person_posts_one_discussion|view here]]) is most useful when you want to achieve a happy medium between a large discussion and a short and focused discussion. A single discussion topic per person allows students a little more freedom than a single discussion forum, but not as much as a standard forum where each student can create as many topics as they wish. Successful forums of this selection can be active, yet focused, as students are not limited in the number of times they can respond to others within threads.

===Question and Answer forum===
The Q & A forum ([[Viewing_a_forum#Question_and_Answer_forum|view here]]) best used when you have a particular question that you wish to have answered. In a Q and A forum, tutors post the question and students respond with possible answers. By default a Q and A forum requires students to post once before viewing other students' postings. After the initial posting, students can view and respond to others' postings. This feature allows equal initial posting opportunity among all students, thus encouraging original and independent thinking.

====Understanding the correct operation of Question and Answer====

It's important to note that when Forum is operating in Question and Answer mode, that Moodle protects the replies to the to thread from being viewable, not the entire forum itself.

To use this forum correctly, you should post each question as a thread in the forum and then have students post replies to the question. In this fashion, Moodle will protect the replies from being viewable until a response to the question has been provided, but allow the initial post/thread visible for reply.

Do not post the question in the forum summary, and then have the students create new threads as the initial thread is not protected by Moodle. In this scenario, it may appear as if the Question and Answer thread is not working since the initial post in the thread is not protected.

==Concepts for use in forums==
===Participation and Scaffolding ===

Whilst one of the great advantages of e-learning is the flexibility it affords participants, this does not mean that days or weeks should pass without response and discussion in a forum (unless it is appropriate for it to do so). This is perhaps most especially true at the beginning of a course or programme when students and tutors are new to each other and in need of welcome messages/encouragement. Whilst e-learning, and discussions in particular, can support learning that is not always tutor/teacher-centred, your role will be important, especially as an online community begins to develop. It is during these initial stages of introductory material that a group of students can become a community of participants who begin to grow in their understandings of course material and individual contributions to the knowledge construction process.

As the discussions progress and learners become accustomed to the mechanics and the tone of the forums then there are key ways in which your input can be reduced, thereby helping to foster a community that is less dependent on the tutor/teacher. Even then, however, you will probably want to be a presence in the discussions although you may choose to be one of many contributors rather than the font of all wisdom.

===Committment and Participation===

Ask yourself if

# you wish to have involvement in the forum or if you want the students to lead and own the space
# you want the forum to add value to the face to face environment or have a life of its own in its own right outside the lecture theatre/classroom or seminar room
# you are prepared to make appropriate contributions to the discussion in order to:
## encourage discussion if students are quiet
## help shape ideas if students begin to wander off-task
## your role will be defined as discussions/a course progresses
## you will explicitly but gradually relinquish control of the discussions
## you will encourage and support learners to share control of discussions(for example you might ask a learner/group of learners to summarise contributions to a discussion thread/topic or you might ask learners to initiate discussion topics)

===Student Centered Forums===

With the growing popularity of social networking software like Facebook, Bebo, MySpace and the like, students are leaving schools and coming to Higher and Further Education with a new technological sophistication and with new expectations for communication. And as school, colleges and universities recognise that reflective and life long learning are significant goals in education, student centered learning and the creation of student centered spaces online are also gaining credence in educational settings. We know that effective learning requires access to social and academic networks for both study material and emotional support; as such, online communities can offer a holistic knowledge construction and support mechanism and recognize that affective activity is effective.

Social forums, often called ‘Virtual Cafes’ or ‘Common Rooms’ can be set up for courses or for programmes, depending on the student need. Such spaces provide a common area for students to come together and discuss unlimited topics, including social activities and educational ideas. They are supportive spaces for students, most successful with large first and second year courses where students would not otherwise have the opportunity to communicate with others outside their own tutorial group. It is arguable that students will experience a greater sense of community within and a sense of belonging to an educational institution or individual department having had the experience and convenience of the social forum on their course; this could arguably have implications for retention.

These spaces are typically highly active, especially in first term. Depending on your institution, they are usually self monitored by students, who understand that the same ‘rules’ and ‘netiquette’ that apply to them within any computing space, also apply in Moodle.

===The News Forum===

Moodle courses automatically generate a [[News forum]] which defaults to automatically subscribe all participants in a course. The name of the News Forum can be changed to something more appropriate, such as ‘Important Announcements’ or the like. This is a useful feature and many use this forum in a Moodle course to announce exam dates, times or changes to exams, lectures or seminars, as well as important information about course work throughout a term or special announcements relating to events.

===Teacher/Tutor forums===

''Prior to Moodle 1.7, each course had a teacher forum, accessible via a link in the course administration block.''

A teacher/tutor-only forum may be added to a course by creating a hidden forum. Teachers are able to view hidden course activities whereas students cannot.

==Some forum suggestions to consider==

#If your course is at a distance, if your face to face time is limited, or if you just wish to foster a sense of community in your Moodle course which supplements your face to face course, it is good practice to begin with a welcome or introductory message or thread in one of your forums. This welcome or introduction from you invites participants, for example, to post some specific details to introduce themselves to you and their peers. This can be your icebreaker or you can have an icebreaker separately.
#If you have two questions for participants to answer, starting the two strands or topics within the forum itself will both help learners to see where to put their responses, and remind them to answer all parts of your question.
#Remember that you are communicating in an environment that does not have the benefit of verbal tone, eye contact, body language and the like. Careful consideration of your communication is, therefore, necessary.
#Postings to a forum are always written but they can take different forms and you may wish to consider what form best suits the activity. For instance, you might choose to articulate a form of contribution in order to be explicit. Thus you might say, 'This is a think-aloud forum in which, together, we will try to tease out ideas and possibilities' or 'This is a formal forum in which you are invited to share your ideas on (topic)' and, where you select the latter, you might have already suggested learners plan those ideas offline or in another kind of activity within Moodle.
#Create a forum where only the teacher can start discussions, but the students can only reply. Each thread you start contains an essay question (or several similar ones). The students make a bullet point plan for the essay and post it as a reply. This works well as a revision strategy as the students can see how others have approached the same task. Once everyone has posted their plan, you can start a discussion as to which plans seem better and why. Creating a scale to use for rating the posts can be useful so that the students can see how helpful other people think their effort were.

===Grading forums===
The teacher can use the [[Forum ratings|ratings]] [[Scales|scales]] to [[Grades|grade]] student activities in a forum. There are several methods for calculating the grade for a forum that can be found in the [[Adding/editing_a_forum#Grade|Forum settings under grades]]. There are 5 ways in Moodle 1.9 to [[Adding/editing_a_forum#Aggregate_type|aggregate ratings]] automatically to calculate a forum grade for the [[Gradebook]]. These include: Average, Max, Min, Count and Sum.

*In older versions of Moodle, only the average aggregate function was available. Teachers often use the Assignment module as a work around in order to manually calculate and then manually give a grade for a specific or all forum activities. The Forum grade would appear in the gradebook as an assignment, called for example "Weather forum participation".

===Best Practice and shared discussions===
*There are lots of discussions about Forum best use and Forum assessment in the Teaching Strategies Forum http://moodle.org/mod/forum/view.php?id=41.

*A useful discussion about Forum assessment can be found here http://moodle.org/mod/forum/discuss.php?d=66008.

== See also ==

* [[Using Moodle book]] Chapter 5: Forums, Chats, and Messaging
* Using Moodle [http://moodle.org/mod/forum/view.php?f=116 Forum module]

Using Moodle forum discussions:
* [http://moodle.org/mod/forum/discuss.php?d=5367 The philosophy underlying "no editing after 30 minutes"]
* [http://moodle.org/mod/forum/discuss.php?d=66008 Best Practices for grading discussions]
* [http://moodle.org/mod/forum/discuss.php?d=88000 Two Courses, One Forum?]
* [http://moodle.org/mod/forum/discuss.php?d=93304 Using a forum for 1 to 1 teaching]
* [http://moodle.org/mod/forum/discuss.php?d=95470 Technicalities of managing a Forum]

[[Category:Modules]]

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Forum FAQ

2008-09-12T15:06:42Z

Rlnick: added note for post threshold setting in forum

{{stub}}{{Forums}}==How do I enable students to rate forum posts?==

#Access the Assign roles page via the Roles tab in editing forum page, then follow the "Override roles" link. (In Moodle 1.9 onwards, click the "Override permissions" tab in the editing forum page.)
#Select the Student role.
#Set the capability [[Capabilities/mod/forum:rate|mod/forum:rate]] to allow.
#Click the "Save changes" button.

Note: By default, only administrators are able to override permissions. Instructions on enabling teachers to override permissions can be found in [[Override permissions]].

==How can I create a teacher-only forum?==

A teacher/tutor-only forum may be added to a course by creating a hidden forum. Teachers are able to view hidden course activities whereas students cannot.

==How can I remove the news forum from a course?==

#Delete the news forum from the course homepage.
#In [[Course settings]] set "News items to show" to 0.
#Delete the Latest news block.

==How can I remove test messages from a new forum?==
There are several options ([http://moodle.org/mod/forum/discuss.php?d=95470 Here is a nice graphic]). Remember you can
*Move the discussion/thread to another forum
*Edit the post with your moderator powers
*Delete the post with your moderator powers
*Split the thread at a particular post and move it to another thread
*Split>move>delete your test messages.

==How do I enable logged-in users to view the site news?==

In Moodle 1.9 onwards:
#Access ''Site Administration > Front Page > Front Page settings''
#Set the default front page role to student.

For Moodle 1.8, see "How do I enable logged-in users to participate in front page activities?" in [[Roles FAQ]].

==Why does 'Post threshold for blocking' still not stop students from exceeding the threshold?==
Once the 'Post threshold for blocking' is armed and set in the forum activity instance, it is actually the [[Capabilities/mod/forum:throttlingapplies|mod/forum:throttlingapplies]] capability that enforces it. By default, this is set to 'Not set' in the student role. Either set this to 'Allow' for the student role in system, or use a override on the forum activity instance this applies to. While one forum can have one limit, it can be applied to one user and not another by using the roles system. For more information see [http://tracker.moodle.org/browse/MDL-10720 MDL 10720] or [http://moodle.org/mod/forum/discuss.php?d=79403 discussion here].

==See also==

* Using Moodle [http://moodle.org/mod/forum/view.php?f=116 Forum module forum]

[[Category:FAQ]]