In previous sections of this tutorial, we looked at Moodle's structure. In this lesson, we will explore how to add syllabi, readings, and other information or activities to your Moodle course.

NOTE: Once your course is ready, you need to make your course visible for students to view it!

 

Get Started — Turn editing on

To edit your course, start by clicking on the Turn editing button at the top left corner of your course.

This option gives you access to the tools for editing your course.

 

Item Editing Tools

When you turn editing on you’ll see editing tools.

The arrows let you move items up and down.

This pencil icon () lets you quickly edit the item name. For example, change “Reading 1” to “Reading 1--Complete by Wednesday”.

Click on the Edit drop-down menu, to see additional options: Edit Settings, Move right, Move left (when applicable), Show/Hide, Duplicate, Assign roles, and Delete.

Section Editing Tools

The previous lesson, Course Design and Settings, explained how your course is segmented into different sections, either by weeks or topics. You can customize and move sections around by using the editing options available. Section editing options are shown below for the weekly format (left) and the topics format (right).

Use the arrows to drag sections up or down. This can be tricky; line up the arrows in the section you are moving so that they appear on top of the arrows of the section that you want just below the moved section.

This pencil icon lets you quickly edit the week or topic name.

The Edit drop-down menu on the right side of each section gives several options to customize the section.

• The gear icon (⚙) to edit week or edit topic lets you enter information about the week or topic, such as the name of the unit and information or due dates related to the topic or week.
• In the default weekly view, Moodle will automatically highlight the current week. However, if you use a topics view, you will see an option to highlight a given topic by clicking on the light bulb. Only one unit can be highlighted at a time.
• The eye icon lets you show or hide the section.

 

Drag and Drop Files From Your Desktop

You can drop files directly into your Moodle contact area. Find your syllabus on your desktop and drag it to the location where you want it in your course. By default, Moodle will display the name of the file. However, we can easily rename this with the new pencil “edit title” tool.

Add an Activity or a Resource

If you want to enhance your site with sound, videos, explanatory text, web links, discussion forums, quizzes, assignments, etc., you can do so from the Add an activity or resource menu.

To add an activity or resource, turn editing on and look for the “+ Add an activity or resource” link.

Labels—Text, Images, Sound, and Video

The label is a very simple, useful resource, that lets you put descriptive text, images, sound and video directly on your main course page.

1. Select the label option from your resources menu, and click add.
2. Notice the circle with a question mark at the top of the label window alerting you to help for this item. (Mouse over long enough for the audience to read “Help with label”) It is often helpful to click on these links for some tips and instructions.
3. Enter your label text, images, sounds, video, etc. in to the editor.
4. When you finish typing your label, be sure to save and return to course.

Labels are best for short content.

Labels are best for short content. We’ll see later how to add web pages for longer content.

Link to External Web Pages

Many faculty want to add web links to their Moodle page. To do this:

1. Select URL  from your resources list.
2. If you want students to easily see a description, enter the description text and check the “option to display option on page.”
3. Enter your URL.
4. Scroll down, “Save and return to course.”

Make Your Own Web Pages

You can make your own web pages in Moodle. These are useful if you have a lot of information that might go into a Moodle label, but you want to keep your overall Moodle page from getting too long.

To create a web page,

1. Select the Page option from the resources list. You see a familiar screen.
2. Enter the page name and description–checking the “Display description” option if desired.
3. Follow the editor instructions to put your content into the Page Content section. Note that you can expand the editor area by dragging the bottom right corner–or toggle into full screen mode with the little window icon on the top row. If you do use the full screen mode, you’ll need to click this icon again when you are ready to return to the previous screen.
4. Scroll down, “Save and return to course.”

Even if you typed a very long page, you just see a short name and maybe description on your main page.

Files

Most of the time, it is easiest to add files by dragging and dropping them from your hard drive. However, if you want a description for your file, or to want to restrict access to certain dates, you’ll need to add the file from the Resources menu, or edit settings to a file that you already dragged to your page.

Folders

Folders let you group lots of files together, another way to keep your main page from getting too long. If you add folders, you get the familiar resource menu. Drag your articles to the content area–you can also select them via the file picker. Save and open the new folder at your course site. You see your description and files. You can edit/add to/delete from this folder at anytime.

More!

Along with the options above, you can use Moodle to collect assignments, hold discussion forums, give quizzes, and more. In addition to these standard Moodle activities, Haverford’s Moodle implementation includes options for lecture capture, blogs, and wikis.

Switch User Role

If you want to see how students (or other roles) see your course, select the Switch role to … option available from the dropdown menu in the upper right corner; the menu below your name.

If you try this, you will notice that students do not see the dear professor letter or the getting started instructions. If you have switched roles, the menu changes to allow you to return to your normal role.

Reuse Materials—Copy Labels, Files, Quizzes, etc. Into Multiple Courses

You can copy material between course sites using the backup, restore and import functions.

 

Get Help

Once you add materials, you may want to experiment with different looks and Moodle tools. Feel free to contact hc-techlearn or your subject librarian for help.