Teaching, Learning, and Technology Center

Moodle is Purchase College’s current learning management system (LMS).

Login to Moodle using your Purchase College credentials at https://moodle.purchase.edu.

If you need to activate your account or reset your password, you can do so at the Purchase College Online Account Activation/Password Reset site.

Detailed directions for logging into Moodle can be found at the TLTC’s Moodle Basics guide. 

Link to this FAQ: What is Moodle and how do I login?

The College will be transitioning from our current LMS, Moodle, to D2L Brightspace over the course of the 2022-2023 academic year.

We will go live with all courses on D2L Brightspace for the Fall 2023 semester.

Our current Moodle instance will remain available as an archives server while faculty transition to and become acquainted with Brightspace. In the meantime, just to cover all the bases, you may consider creating a backups of all of your existing Moodle courses. Directions can be found at the Creating a Moodle Course Backup section of the Moodle Basics help guide as well as at the official Moodle help documentation for creating a Course backup.

You can also download all of your course files files using the “Download instructor files” link within the Course administration area of each of your Moodle course spaces.

Please visit the Moodle to Brightspace Migration and Moving Courses from Moodle to Brightspace pages for details including information about the SUNY Digital Learning Environment initiative.

Link to this FAQ: I’ve heard talk about a migration to D2L Brightspace. What do I need to do?

The TLTC is typically open Monday-Friday, 9:00am-5:00pm. Due to staffing, we suggest you send your questions to us at TLTC@purchase.edu.

Link to this FAQ: What are the TLTC’s Hours?

You can re-use course content that you’ve already uploaded into a previous Moodle course with a few clicks by using the Import function. The ‘Import’ link is located in your current course’s Administration area.

Detailed directions for importing course materials from one Moodle course to another are available at the TLTC’s Moodle Basics guide.

NOTE: Do not import Turnitin assignments. They will not function correctly in the new course space if they are imported from a previous course. You will need to re-create Turnitin assignments within the new version of the course.

Link to this FAQ: How do I import/copy materials from a previous Moodle course into a new course?

Moodle courses are set to automatically become available four (4) days prior to the course’s official start date. There is no need to manually open your course to student view unless you would like it to be available to students earlier than four days before the start of the semester / Summer/Winter session. Please refer to the Academic Calendar for specific dates.

Instructors may choose to make courses available before this time frame or close courses to student view at any time. Directions for controlling the visibility of your Moodle course spaces can be found at the Making Courses Available to Students (Show/Hide) section of the Moodle Basics help guide.

If needed, login to MyHeliotrope to confirm your enrollments/registration.

Link to this FAQ: How do I make my Moodle course visible / available to my students?

Respondus is no longer available as of July 1, 2022.

Please use Safe Exam Browser to conduct secure online exams in Moodle.

Safe Exam Browser is available for use in the following Library computer labs: 1003A, 1004C, 1004D and 1015 (DMZ).

Link to this FAQ: How can I conduct secure online exams through Moodle?

If you’ve inadvertently imported the wrong course, don’t worry! The quickest way to remove all of the erroneous content from your existing course shell is to bulk delete entire weeks / topics from the space. You can also delete content individually but these steps are for deleting multiple activities and resources in bulk.

Please see the Moodle Basics help guide for more information about using the Course Import function to move materials from one course to another.

Link to this FAQ: I accidentally imported the wrong Moodle course! How do I remove the course contents?

With User Overrides, instructors on Moodle courses can allow students to have additional time on quizzes and exams by using the directions at the Moodle Basics guide > Allow Additional Time on Quizzes & Exams with User Overrides.

Link to this FAQ: How do I allow students additional time on quizzes/exams in Moodle?

Make sure you’re logged in at your Purchase-authenticated Zoom account at https://purchase.zoom.us

Record your Zoom meeting locally to your computer or device (do not record to Zoom Cloud) and upload the video file to your YouTube account. If you do not have a YouTube channel, see Create YouTube Channel for a tutorial.

Upload your Zoom recording MP4 file to YouTube Studio and choose to make the video either Public or Unlisted (Public if you want others to be able to view your video; Unlisted if you want the video to only be available to those who have access to the link).

If you have a video longer than 15 minutes, you will need to verify your YouTube account which just takes a few minutes and involves getting a code via text message that you then enter on your account page. See Upload Video Longer than 15 Minutes. 

Next, make the video available to your students by posting the YouTube URL as a URL resource in your course or by embedding the video in your Moodle course.

You can upload your recorded Zoom videos to YouTube in a few easy steps. Use the instructions below to upload your videos from a computer or from an mobile device:

• Computer
• Android
• iPhone & iPad

Once your video has been uploaded and processed by YouTube, you can simply paste the video’s URL into any text input area in Moodle and it will automatically embed a YouTube video player in either a Label resource, Page resource, in a prompt for a discussion Forum activity, in the description of an Assignment activity, and even within a Quiz question.

Additional information is available at the COVID-19 Remote Teaching Resources Guide.

Link to this FAQ: How do I make a Zoom recording available to my students via Moodle?

Yes, you can watch all recent TLTC workshop sessions at the TLTC’s YouTube channel!

Link to this FAQ: I missed a recent TLTC workshop that was offered via Zoom. Can I watch the recording?

In the event of an emergency, the ability to teach courses on campus may be affected. The Teaching During Campus Closure / COVID-19 Remote Teaching Guide guide will help you identify and become acquainted with alternatives to face-to-face instruction for use during situations when campus may be closed and teaching must take place fully online.

Check out the Remote Teaching Workshop series at our TLTC YouTube channel.

Link to this FAQ: What should I do if campus closes and I still need to teach my courses?

Faculty/Instructors

If you notice inconsistencies between your class lists / registration in MyHeliotrope and your enrollments in Moodle, you will need to create a ticket using the CTS Helpdesk Work Order Tracking System (WOT) to request that data be synced between the two systems. Be sure to include the course’s CRN, Title, and Instructor in the Work Order details.

If your courses do not show up in Course Search, or you do not show up as the instructor on those courses, please contact the Office of the Registrar to resolve the discrepancy. Once you are officially tagged as the instructor on your courses in Banner/MyHeliotrope, you will see your courses reflected in Moodle shortly thereafter.

All Moodle course creation, faculty assignments, and student enrollments come from Banner/MyHeliotrope and are funneled directly into Moodle. Matriculated students who are officially registered for courses will automatically be enrolled into those courses on Moodle. TLTC staff and instructors no longer have the ability to manually add/remove officially registered students into/from Moodle courses.

If you are an instructor and have requested a data sync from CTS and notice that your course(s) still do not appear in Moodle, please contact the Registrar to confirm that your course is set up to generate a Moodle shell.

Students

Moodle spaces automatically become available to students four (4) days prior to the course’s official start date. Instructors may choose to make them available before this time frame or close them at any time. If needed, login to MyHeliotrope to confirm your registration.

If you notice inconsistencies between your class lists / registration in MyHeliotrope and your enrollments in Moodle, you will need to create a ticket using the CTS Helpdesk Work Order Tracking System (WOT) to request that data be synced between the two systems. Be sure to include the course’s CRN, Title, and Instructor in the Work Order details.

If the semester has officially already begun and you do not see your course(s) listed within the current semester category, first, check with your instructor. The course may not yet be visible to students. The visibility of Moodle course spaces is up to your instructors. If you’ve contacted your instructor but still don’t see what you expect to see in Moodle, you must request that CTS sync your registration data with Moodle. Please note that the TLTC cannot remedy enrollment issues.

My Moodle courses have disappeared. What should I do?

If you notice that all of your Moodle course enrollments disappear suddenly, you must contact the Office of the Registrar to determine what is causing the issue with your registration. Once the issue is resolved with the Registrar, your Moodle courses will reappear shortly thereafter, as will any work you have already submitted in the course. Please note that the TLTC cannot remedy these issues.

Link to this FAQ: My class lists on MyHeliotrope and Moodle don’t match. What should I do?

ThinkingStorm is an online/virtual tutoring platform utilized by many colleges. It provides 24/7 access to professional tutors online for many subject areas.

For students to access these tutors, faculty must add the ThinkingStorm Virtual Tutoring Services in their Moodle courses.

Directions for adding the ThinkingStorm Online Tutoring connection to your courses in Moodle can be found at the Moodle Basics help guide > ThinkingStorm: Online Tutoring.

Link to this FAQ: How do I add the ThinkingStorm Online Tutoring connection to my Moodle course?

The Teaching, Learning, and Technology Center (TLTC) has compiled a list of resources and help guides that are available to faculty as we continue to support the transition to teaching fully online. Please see the Remote Teaching Resources Guide guide for more information about specific instructional strategies to use and available support during the current COVID-19 pandemic. open laptop with “e-learning” logo displayed on the screen.
Credit: Oberholster Venita from Pixabay

Available Resources:

Teaching, Learning, and Technology Center (TLTC)

• TLTC Support for Remote Instruction Efforts
• Moodle Basics help guide
• Moodle Beyond Basics help guide
• Community Space for Faculty Teaching Remotely (requires Moodle login)
• TLTC YouTube Channel (recordings of recent TLTC workshop sessions)
• SUNY Support for Remote Instruction Efforts

Campus Technology Services (CTS)

• CTS Video Chat Tech Support (via Zoom); visit CTS site for available hours
• Single-Sign-On Instructions for Zoom (using your Purchase credentials)
• Schedule a Zoom Training with CTS Support Staff
• How to Protect your Zoom Sessions from Disruption
• Submit a work order via the CTS Work Order Tracking (WOT) System

SUNY System

• SUNY Remote Teaching Clinic
• Emergency Remote Online Teaching Resources

Link to this FAQ: Remote and Online Teaching Support

The Lesson activity in Moodle allows instructors to create ‘branching’ exercises where students are presented with content and then, depending on their responses, are directed to specific pages. The content may be text or multimedia. Learn more about using the Lesson activity at Moodle’s website.

Link to this FAQ: What is the Lesson activity in Moodle and how do I set it up?

Campus Technology Services (CTS) is offering access to Zoom, a video web conferencing application where many individuals can join the same meeting and share audio and video. It also allows for screen sharing and presentation mode.

Migration of existing Zoom accounts to Single sign-on (SSO) has been completed by CTS. Going forward, when you access Zoom from a web browser, visit https://purchase.zoom.us.

From there you can Join or Host a meeting or Sign in to Zoom through the “Sign in” option using your Purchase College credentials.

Step-by-step directions are at the CTS website.

Instructors can schedule and start course-specific Zoom meetings from within your Moodle course using the Zoom Integration using the directions at the Moodle Basics help guide.

Instructors can also schedule an in-depth Zoom Training Session with CTS Support Staff. Please contact CTS for more information.

If you have questions or need assistance, please contact the CTS Helpdesk or create a Work Order.

Link to this FAQ: How do I hold a synchronous online meeting / live classroom session?

You can send an email to all enrolled students in your Moodle course by using the Course Announcements forum.

Detailed directions are available at the Moodle Basics help guide > Course Announcements & Messaging.

Link to this FAQ: How do I send an email to the entire class using the Course Announcements forum in Moodle?

Students: though there are other reasons why you may have been suddenly dropped from your courses on Moodle, one of the most common culprits is that your Mandatory Immunization Requirements may not be filed properly with the College. Please contact the Registrar and/or Health Services if you have any questions.

Please note that any activities you have completed or work submitted in your courses will be restored upon resolution of immunization records and re-enrollment in current Moodle course spaces.

Link to this FAQ: Why have I suddenly been unenrolled/dropped from my courses on Moodle?

Due to staffing, please email us at TLTC@purchase.edu.

The Teaching, Learning, and Technology Center is located in the Purchase College Library, on the lower level.

Link to this FAQ: Where is the TLTC located?

The Library’s current hours are available on the Hours page.
Direct link to this FAQ on hours.

Detailed directions for manually adding a course librarian, learning assistant, co-teacher, etc. are available at the TLTC’s Moodle Basics help guide > Adding Users.

Link to this FAQ: How do I add a course librarian to my Moodle course?

Directions for creating a Moodle course backup and restoring the backup into another Moodle space or downloading and saving it to your computer can be found at the Moodle Basics help guide.

Please see the Moving Courses from Moodle to Brightspace page for more information about moving your courses to the new LMS.

As a faculty member, you are encouraged to link directly to the Library’s subscription databases and online journals, just as you would link to any website or resource on the Internet, from within your Moodle course pages. This is a best practice for a number of reasons. 

• Accessibility. Many databases offer text-to-speech options and provide stable, searchable, and accessible PDFs 
• Ensures compliance with copyright
• Builds research skills by familiarizing students with various databases and interfaces
• Allows students to take advantage of value-added features such as citation generator, exporting to citation managers, and availability of various file formats.

In order to make resources from the Library’s subscription databases and online journals available to students who may be accessing Moodle from off-campus (remote user access), you must include the EZProxy prefix code in the item’s URL.

The updated EZProxy prefix code is: http://ezproxy.purchase.edu/login?url=

This bit of code must be placed before the rest of the article’s URL in order to make it available from off-campus. This can be done by following a few simple steps:

• locate the desired article in our online databases / journals
• look for the document’s persistent or durable URL, within the context of the item, not in the browser address bar
• When using ProQuest Direct, for example, click on “Copy Link” to copy the article’s durable URL and then add the EZProxy prefix code before the rest of the URL
• Copy and paste the EZProxy code into the URL field when adding a new resource “link to a file or website” in Moodle
• Copy and past the article’s URL so that it appears after the EZProxy code

Example:  http://ezproxy.purchase.edu/login?url=http://proquest.umi.com/pqdweb?did=1625264641&sid=2&Fmt=3&clientId=10792&RQT=309&VName=PQD

To Display a link on the front page of your Moodle course:

• Make sure that editing is turned on, click the ‘Turn editing on’ button on the upper right side
• In the section where you want the file to show up, click on the Resources pull-down menu and select the ‘URL’ option
• Enter into the Name field the text you want to use to describe the link on the front page of your course
• You must enter a description of the link in the Description area
• Under the “Content” heading, paste in the item’s External URL. Remember to include the EZProxy prefix code if the item is from the Library’s subscription resources
• Click the ‘Save and return to course’ button

Remote users will be prompted for Database User Authentication and will login using their username (firstname.lastname - do not include @purchase.edu) and Purchase email password.

Updated on January 18, 2020

Link to this FAQ: How do I make an article from a library database viewable for my off-campus students?

Directions for setting up and using the Moodle Gradebook can be found at our Moodle: Beyond Basics help guide > Beyond Basics: Gradebook.

Link to this FAQ: How do I setup and use the Moodle Gradebook?

The Teaching, Learning, and Technology Center (TLTC) is providing trial access to Ally (stylized as A11y), a tool in Moodle that helps enhance the usability and accessibility of course documents.

More about using Ally to increase the accessibility of your course documents can be found at the Moodle Basics help guide > Moodle Basics: Ally. 

Link to this FAQ: How do I use Ally to improve the accessibility of my course documents?

Directions for setting up discussion forum using the Forum activity in Moodle can be found at the Moodle Basics help guide > Moodle Basics: Discussion Forums.

Link to this FAQ: How do I create a discussion forum in Moodle?

Yes, you can use the official Moodle Mobile app on your iOS iPhone/iPad or Android mobile device!

Directions for getting set up with the app so that it connects to our campus instance of Moodle are at our Moodle Basics guide.

Please be sure to use the correct URL: moodle.purchase.edu/moodle2

Moodle Mobile app support and other information is also available from Moodle directly: https://download.moodle.org/mobile.

Like most mobile apps, Moodle Mobile is an abbreviated version of the full Moodle experience on a desktop/laptop so please keep this in mind when trying to submit/complete high stakes coursework.

Direct link to this FAQ: Can I use Moodle on my mobile device?

Blocks are peripheral functionalities that can enhance your Moodle space. You are welcome to add any blocks you see fit to your course. Some commonly used blocks are Activities, Attendance, and People.

Detailed directions for adding blocks to your Moodle courses can be found at the TLTC’s Moodle Basics guide. 

Link to this FAQ: What are Blocks in Moodle?

Faculty can manually add enrolled Senior Auditors / Non-Degree Students into their Moodle course by using the directions for Adding Users to a Moodle space at the Moodle Basics help guide.

The addition of Senior Auditors / Non-Degree Students to Moodle courses is not automated and must be done manually by the course instructor. Please have any Senior Auditors / Non-Degree Students confirm that their enrollments have been properly processed by the College.

Link to this FAQ: How do I enroll a Senior Auditor / Non-Degree Student / Visiting Student into my Moodle course?

Directions for working with the meta-course function to tie together multiple course shells in Moodle can be found at the TLTC’s Moodle Basics guide. 

Link to this FAQ: How do I tie together multiple sections of my courses on Moodle to use one “mega” Moodle course?

Directions for creating a basic Moodle Assignment activity to collect student work can be found at Moodle’s official Assignment Quick Guide.

You may also consider using the specialized Annotate PDF assignment feedback type to markup student submissions right within Moodle. More information is available at the Moodle Basics help guide.

Link to this FAQ: How do I use Moodle to collect papers from my students rather than having them email their work?

Student and faculty enrollments in Moodle are controlled by Banner/the Registrar. Please login to MyHeliotrope in order to check your official course enrollments.

If you notice inconsistencies between your class lists / registration in MyHeliotrope and your enrollments in Moodle, you will need to create a ticket using the CTS Helpdesk Work Order Tracking System (WOT) to request that data be synced between the two systems. Be sure to include the course’s CRN, Title, and Instructor in the Work Order details.

Please see My class lists on MyHeliotrope and Moodle don’t match. What should I do? for more information.

TLTC staff cannot unenroll / remove users from Moodle courses.

Link to this FAQ: How do I unenroll from courses on Moodle?

To view your Moodle course the way students see it, go into your User Profile pull-down menu > “Switch role to…” and click on the “Student” button. 

This is useful if you decide to set up resources and activities ahead of time that you’d like to hide and then make available later on in the semester. By switching your role to Student, you will be viewing the course from a student’s perspective but still logged in as the instructor of the course. You will not see any hidden resources or activities when you’re viewing the course as a student.

Simply click on the “Return to my normal role” link to view the course as the instructor.

More about Student View at the Moodle Basics help guide.

Link to this FAQ: How does my Moodle course look to my students?

Directions for deleting files from your course on Moodle can be found at the TLTC’s Moodle Basics guide.

Link to this FAQ: How do I delete files from my course on Moodle?

Directions for uploading files into Moodle courses can be found at the TLTC’s Moodle Basics help guide > Uploading Files.

Link to this FAQ: How do I make files available / visible to my students on Moodle?

Directions for setting up and taking attendance in Moodle using the Attendance activity can be found at the TLTC’s Moodle Basics help guide > Attendance Activity Setup.

Link to this FAQ: How do I set up and record attendance in my Moodle courses?

We’ve activated Moodle’s YouTube filter so you can easily embed videos by providing a valid YouTube URL into a label resource.

You can also embed any video that has an embed code available for you to copy and paste into Moodle. If you’re going to use an embed code, be sure to toggle to the HTML source by clicking the < > icon in the rich text editor.

Detailed directions for embedding videos into your Moodle course can be found at the Moodle Basics help guide.

Link to this FAQ: How do I embed YouTube videos into my Moodle course?

The visibility of student grades on Moodle is controlled by the instructor of the course. The default setting is to not show grades to students.

To show the gradebook to students (each student only sees his/her own grades, not the grades of others) faculty can:

• click on Settings > Edit Settings under the Course administration heading
• within the Appearance section, select “Yes” from the pull-down menu next to “Show gradebook to students”
• scroll all the way to the bottom of the page and click the “Save changes” button

Students will now see a Grades link under the Course administration heading within their own Settings block, as seen below.

Enrolled students will only see their own grades, not the entire gradebook.

Link to this FAQ: Why can’t I see my grades on Moodle?

Turnitin is a plagiarism prevention tool that is available to all Purchase College students, staff, and faculty. You must be a current Purchase College community member to access our instance of Turnitin.

The Turnitin Self-Checker allows Purchase College students to check rough drafts of papers, essays, and assignments for originality and proper citation. You can use the Similarity Report generated by Turnitin to identify paraphrases or citations that need revision before your final draft is due.

The Turnitin Self-Checker is available to all Purchase College students, faculty, and staff (requires current Purchase College login) and is not connected to any particular course or assignment.

Please note: only current Purchase College students, staff, and faculty can access Purchase College’s Turnitin Self-Checker. You must have a current Moodle/email account to login. There is no Guest access available.

Login to Moodle to access the Turnitin Self-Checker and self-enroll into the space.

To upload a paper to the Turnitin Self-Checker, see the Student Submission directions at the Turnitin tab of the Moodle: Beyond Basics guide. 

Direct link to this FAQ: How do I use Turnitin to check my own drafts for originality?

Banner/MyHeliotrope (the college’s student information and registration system) has taken over Moodle course creation, faculty assignments, and student enrollments in Moodle. Faculty will no longer need to add/remove students from their courses; this will be handled by the eLearning Banner/Moodle integration. You can access MyHeliotrope through the Faculty and Staff or the Current Students Portals. Look for the “Quick Links” section.

All Moodle course creation, faculty assignments, and student enrollments come from Banner/MyHeliotrope and are funneled directly into Moodle. Matriculated students who are officially registered for courses will automatically be enrolled into those courses on Moodle. TLTC staff and instructors no longer have the ability to manually add officially registered students into Moodle courses.

If you notice inconsistencies between your class lists in MyHeliotrope and enrollments in Moodle, or you are not yet listed as the instructor of your course(s), you will need to create a ticket using the CTS Helpdesk Work Order Tracking System (WOT), to request that data be synced between the two systems. Be sure to include the course’s CRN, Title, and Instructor in the Work Order details.

Similarly, for students, if you notice inconsistencies between your official registration information in MyHeliotrope and current enrollments in Moodle, you must create a WOT with CTS to request that your data by synced between the two systems. Please include the course’s CRN, Title, and Instructor in the Work Order details.

If you would like to add (or remove) someone to your course such as a learning assistant, course librarian, guest, accommodations, etc., you can still do so manually. Full details for Managing Moodle Participants are available at the TLTC’s Help Guides.

Link to this FAQ: How do I enroll / unenroll students in Moodle courses?