Summer 2022 Moodle Tips for Faculty

General Pre-Emergency Planning Tips for Instructors
At the beginning of each semester:

• download class lists and student contact information from MyHeliotrope.
  • If you notice inconsistencies between your class lists in MyHeliotrope and enrollments in Moodle, request CTS run a data sync by creating a Work Order.
• send your students a welcome email and Course Announcement in Moodle that includes your contact information. Encourage students to keep the email until the end of the course.
• remind students to download/save and print a copy of the syllabus. Include your contact information in the syllabus.
• backup copies of your teaching materials prior to the start of the semester, in the event you are unable to access the files on the Purchase College network. Consider creating back ups of your previous Moodle courses.
• consider a ‘dry run’ practice Zoom session with a few students, to ensure your Zoom settings are configured as you want them, and to make sure your students do not encounter any unforeseen technical issues.
• review the Remote Teaching Workshop recordings at our TLTC YouTube channel.
• consult the Moodle Basics Guide for detailed directions on basic Moodle functions:
  • Working with Files
  • Creating Activities
  • Managing Course Views
  • Managing Participants
  • Improving Accessibility of Course Documents using Ally
  • Checking the Accessibility of Your Moodle Courses with the Accessibility Starter Toolkit

Accessing Purchase College Moodle

Activate your Purchase College account (or to reset your password), if needed. Visit Online Account Activation/Password Reset and choose the appropriate “Activate” or “Reset” option.

Once your Purchase College account is active and working, you will have access to Moodle as well as Purchase College email, MyHeliotrope, Library resources, etc.

Login to Moodle with your Purchase College username (usually firstname.lastname) and your Purchase College account password. Detailed login directions are available at our Moodle Basics help guide.

If you are not yet associated with any course spaces on Moodle, please contact the Office of the Registrar to confirm that you are properly tagged as the instructor of record on your course(s).

Consult the COVID-19 Remote Teaching Resources Guide for information specific to remote instruction.

Review the Remote Teaching Workshop playlist at our TLTC YouTube channel.

Working with Content & Documents in Moodle

• Get to know the new and improved Moodle Activity Chooser
• Upload files into your Moodle course
  
• Improve accessibility of course documents using Ally
• Link to Library resources using EZproxy
• Reuse (import) previous content into another Moodle space
  • If you inadvertently imported the wrong course into the newer course shell, don’t worry! You can quickly bulk delete content from the space!
• Embed YouTube videos in your course
• Check your courses overall accessibility using the Accessibility Starter Toolkit

Moodle Course Views

• Set your course availability (show/hide)
  
• Add the ‘Activities’ and ‘People’ blocks to your course to improve navigation
• Combine Moodle course sections into one “meta course”
• View your course from the student perspective (switch role to Student)
• Make your Gradebook visible to enrolled students in your course
• Use Moodle on your mobile device (Moodle Mobile app)

Managing Course Participants

If you notice inconsistencies between your schedule / class lists in MyHeliotrope and enrollments in Moodle, you will need to create a ticket using the CTS Helpdesk Work Order System (WOT) to request that data be synced between the two systems. Please see the “My class lists on MyHeliotrope and Moodle don’t match. What should I do?” FAQ.
Please note that the TLTC cannot resolve enrollment issues.

• Add a learning assistant, course librarian, faculty member, senior auditor to your course
• Set up and take attendance in your course using the Attendance activity

Moodle Course Communication Tools

• Send an email (course announcement) to your entire class
• Use Moodle Messaging to communicate with individual or groups of students
• Manage your Moodle Notification preferences (when/how frequently you get Moodle-generated emails)

Creating Moodle Activities & Assignments

• Schedule and start Zoom sessions from within your Moodle course
  • Make sure your Zoom account is using your Purchase College login
  • Review the Using the Zoom Integration in Moodle video tutorial on YouTube
• Set up a basic Moodle assignment to collect work from students
• Set up an Annotate PDF assignment that you can markup
• Set up a Turnitin assignment to foster academic integrity
• Create quiz questions and build a Quiz using the Quiz activity
  • Effective quiz practices
• Create a discussion forum to encourage conversation among students
• Use Perusall in your course to encourage social reading and annotation
  
  • Review the Perusall Quick Start tutorial on YouTube
• Create a VoiceThread activity in your course
  • Learn more about how to use new assignment features in VoiceThread
  • Watch recent VoiceThread workshop recording about New Assignment Features
  • Review the Using VoiceThread for Asynchronous, Interactive Lectures workshop recording and Building a VoiceThread Presentation tutorial on YouTube
  • Check out how to use new assignment features in VoiceThread
  • Official VoiceThread Webinar Recordings:
    • VoiceThread Basics 1: Upload, Comment, and Share
    • VoiceThread Basics 2 - Groups and Secure Sharing
• Add ThinkingStorm to connect your students with available tutoring services

Course Content & Accessibility

Improve the overall accessibility of your courses and content for all of your students by using the following tools, which are available to you in Moodle:

Moodle Gradebook

• • Set up your Moodle Gradebook with weighted categories
  • Make your Gradebook visible to enrolled students in your course
    • Review the Moodle Basics: Grading, Assessments, and Using the Gradebook workshop recording on YouTube

  EmTech Wiki Essential Toolbox
  If you’re looking for inspiration, SUNY Buffalo’s “EmTechWIKI Essential Toolbox” highlights commonly used resources to move online quickly and efficiently. Discover additional tools and applications based on your specific objectives in the following categories:
  Lifelong Learning Communication & Collaboration
  Creativity Critical Thinking

Updated on Fri, June 3, 2022