Moodle FAQs

The Essential Unit Information Area is a new tabbed area, which appears at the top of the Moodle page, before the main content. The tabs provide staff with a consistent layout to help them present key unit information to students.

Please read the Moodle Essential Unit Information Area – Quick Guide for more details.

From the week commencing the 3rd August 2020, we will be updating the Moodle theme and adding the Essential Unit Information block to SAMIS coded courses. The TEL team will work through this manually so please bear with us.

You can specify a later date (if there is teaching/resits happening at the moment) using the following form.

Bath Blend Baseline Templates for Moodle (which consist of sections and some key course activities and resources) can only be applied to blank Moodle courses and you can request this through the following form. You can import content from your previous course to this fresh Moodle course.

Please note, the Essential Unit Information block and new Moodle theme will be applied to all SAMIS linked courses from the 3rd August 2020 (please use the same form to request a deferral of this action).

Please read our Essential Unit Information setup, which details what content to place under the different headings and how to edit it.

Three things are all arriving over August 2020: the new Moodle theme, Essential Unit Information block and Moodle template (please do bear with us, as we are applying the changes manually). The following three sections explain what these are and when they will be applied

Moodle theme upgrade

What is it? The Moodle theme upgrade improves the user interface, navigation, better mobile performance, and gives a fresh look to Moodle (take a look at this demo course with the only new theme turned on). This does not effect content in Moodle courses (other than those that make heavy use of blocks on the side and custom HTML bootstrap elements).

When do I get it? For SAMIS courses, the new Moodle theme will be applied with the Essential Unit Information Area from 3rd August (to specify a later date, use the following form). For non-SAMIS coded courses it will be applied in due course (note the old theme will not work beyond August 2021).

Essential unit information area

What is it? The Essential Unit Information Area is a new tabbed area, which appears at the top of the Moodle page, before the main content. The tabs provide staff with a consistent layout to help them present key unit information to students. It relies on the new Moodle theme to work.

When do I get it? For SAMIS courses, the Essential Unit Information Area will be applied at the same time as the new theme to courses from 3rd August (to specify a later date, use the following form). For non-SAMIS coded courses, it can be added manually or not at all).

Moodle templates

What is it? The Bath Blend Baseline Templates for Moodle templates (which consist of sections and some key course activities and resources) can only be applied to blank Moodle courses. It also includes the new Moodle theme and the Essential Unit Information. You can request a template through the following form. You can also import content from your previous course to this fresh Moodle course.

When do I get it? You will need to request a Moodle template through the following form.

Watch the video below for instructions on how to setup a Forum and what the different settings do or read Our Best Practice Tips for Forums.

Yes. Deleted Activities are moved to the recycle bin for 7 days, after which time they are permanently deleted.

Go to the Course Settings Cog > Recycle bin and select the item(s) you wish to restore.

Please note, the recycle bin is only available if there if you have deleted contents in the last 7 days. It may take up to 30 minutes for the activity to appear in the recycle bin.

There are two ways to move an activity from one Moodle course to another:

• Import – quick and useful for few items where you do not need to also move student data.
• Backup and Restore – this two step process lets you customize and have greater control over what you move: activities, student enrolments, data and groups, etc.

Moodle has a 50MB upload limit to keep the platform working smoothly for everyone. If you are trying to upload video content (or a Powerpoint with a voice over), then you should instead upload the content to Panopto (guidance). It is also possible for staff to share content with students via their University of Bath OneDrive Account. Please contact tel@bath.ac.uk if these solutions don’t work for you.

To show or hide a whole Moodle course, edit Course Settings and under General > Course Visibility: Show/Hide. Note: hiding a course will stop students being able to access the course completely. Staff role (teacher, non-editing teacher, director of studies will still have full course access).

Based on the new Moodle theme, this shows where to find the show/hide options for your course.

Please read the Moodle course management guide, which will detail dates for when students are automatically (SAMIS) enrolled and removed from a course, and also guidance around resetting a course to remove student previous student assignments and quiz attempts.

At the top of your Moodle course, go to the settings cog and select “More”. Select the “Users” tab and then “Groups”

You first need to create empty groups and then allocate students to those groups. You can do this manually as shown in the video below or by getting students to self-enrol via the Group Choice activity.

You can create empty groups either manually or automatically following some structure/naming convention (e.g. Workshop Group {1,2,3…}): please see the video below:

The easiest way to populate large number students to groups, is to get them to allocate themselves to groups using the Group Choice Activity. The Teacher can specify the group membership via a separate document, and ask the students to enrol themselves into these groups (you may wish to review/amend the Group Choices to make sure it is correct).

There are plugins that promise .csv import of group memberships, but this is not supported on our current version of Moodle.

This answer assumes you have students correctly setup in Groups (e.g. tutor groups) from Moodle course 1 and want to copy those groups to a different Moodle course 2. If you need help on enrolling students from SAMIS to a Moodle course, read these instructions instead.

To do this we will use the Backup and Restore feature in Moodle (note: Moodle’s import feature does not work with Group Members). This will copy ALL enrollments, groups and groups members from Moodle Course 1 to Moodle Course 2.

WARNINGS

• Prior to beginning this procedure and to avoid conflicts and confusion, Moodle course 1 should have the groups correctly setup and Moodle course 2 should NOT have any Groups or members.
• This procedure will copy ALL enrollments from Moodle Course 1 to Moodle Course 2, including any manual enrollments. It is the responsibility of the user to clear up any additional enrollments in Moodle course 2 following Import.

Backup Instructions

1. In Moodle course 1, in the Administration block > select Backup
2. Under “Initial Settings”, only check:
   • Include enrolled users
   • Include user role assignments
   • Include groups and groupings
   • All must should be unchecked
3. Click Next to progress to “Schema Settings” and select None. Scroll down to ensure all Sections and Activities are unchecked, then click Next.
4. Under the “Confirmation and Review” all items should have a red cross next to them, except the following which should have green ticks:
   • Include enrolled users
   • Include user role assignments
   • Include groups and groupings
5. Click “Perform Backup” and wait for Backup to be finished (this may take some time). You will then be taken to the Restore section in Moodle course 1 where you should download the file to your local computer.

Restore Instructions

1. In Moodle course 2, in the Administration block > select Restore
2. Under Import a backup file, Choose a file to backup and select the file you have just generated/downloaded to your computer from Moodle course 1. Click Restore (you will be prompted to review changes before the Restore is complete).
3.  In the Confirm dialogue, ensure that the only checked items are as listed below then click Continue:
   • Include enrolled users
   • Include user role assignments
   • Include groups and groupings
   • all other items have a cross
4. Under Destination, you need to select Merge the backup course into this course and then Continue.
5. In settings, again confirm only the following are checked before continuing:
   • Include enrolled users
   • Include user role assignments
   • Include groups and groupings
6. In Schema dialogue, you should ensure Overwrite course configuration is set to No
7. In the Review dialogue, finally check all settings and activities are not checked apart from and then click Perform Restore
   • Include enrolled users
   • Include user role assignments
   • Include groups and groupings
8. You should be taken to a review that shows your Restore has been a success (if not contact tel@bath.ac.uk)

Remember: this procedure will copy ALL enrollments from Moodle Course 1 to Moodle Course 2, including any manual enrollments. It is the responsibility of the user to clear up any additional enrollments in Moodle course 2 following Import.

Unfortunately, at this time we are focusing on existing solutions that we can support.

Plug-ins require a code review from our external hosts so they don’t impact the stability of Moodle for everyone. Please contact tel@bath.ac.uk to discuss alternative options.

Read the Accessible maths with Moodle Guidance for using the text editor of LaTeX markup.

The way in which the Re:View (Panopto) block works changed in Sept 2018 and scheduled recordings are stored and viewed from the Re:View portal.

If you haven’t scheduled lecture recordings or they haven’t taken place yet, then you will need to use the Moodle block. Please see guidance on our Panopto FAQs on What is the Moodle Block? and Adding the Moodle Block.