Moodle FAQs - Learning and Teaching Hub @Bath

These FAQs are continually updated and extended, and include links to more comprehensive guidance where appropriate.

Can’t find the answer here? The Moodle Support Hub provides comprehensive advice on using Moodle and has a set of basic FAQs or contact tel@bath.ac.uk for help.

Profile setup

Please watch our introductory screencast (no audio) on how to login, manage notifications (forum and assignment notifications) and setup your profile (e.g set profile picture, office hours).

How do I edit my Moodle profile?

Log into Moodle, then from any page, click your name (top right of the screen) and then select Profile > Edit Profile and complete the sections as appropriate.

The Description section can be useful for detailing any office hours.
The User Picture section is where you can upload an image file (which will be cropped an resized to a 100×100 pixel square).

Is it possible for me to receive fewer/no Moodle emails?

Yes, you can remove assignment emails and restrict forum ones.

You can change the settings in your profile so that you only get one email per day from forum posts.
- Click on your name in the top-right hand corner of the screen.
- Select Preferences then Forum Preferences and choose from the options listed.
- To receive no emails then select No Digest from the first dropdown menu

To change the assignment notification you need to change the message settings
- Under My profile choose Messages > Messaging and then choose how you want to be notified for Assignments (i.e.have them unticked).

Can I set a different email for Moodle notifications?

You can change the email destination for Moodle notifications by editing your Preferences > Notification Preferences.

Can I use my local timezone?

All course events displayed in Moodle (e.g. assignment submission dates) use the UK timezone by default.

This can be confusing if you are studying or working in a different timezone, and errors can occur when converting these times to your local timezone.

Instead, with a small change to your profile settings, it is possible for Moodle to automatically convert and display these to your local timezone:

Click on your name in the top right hand corner of the screen and select Profile from the drop down menu.
In the User Details section click on Edit profile.
Scroll down to the Timezone option. If it needs to be changed click on it and select your nearest location from the list. For UK time it should be set to Server timezone (Europe/London).
Save your changes by scrolling to the bottom of the screen and pressing Update profile.

Double check:

Have you selected the correct timezone? You may wish to double check, since an incorrect timezone may lead to incorrect deadlines being set.

Your profile change will only alter the dates / times provided by the system, and only you will be able to see them in this format. If you are working in a different timezone, you can double-check you have applied the correct UK timings by reverting to the ‘Server timezone (Europe/London)’ setting.

Orientation, Structure and Navigation

What is the Essential Unit Information Block?

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.

When does the Essential Unit Information block come to my course? Can I stop this change?

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.

How do I get a Moodle template to structure my course?

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).

How do I setup the Essential Unit Information block?

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

What's the difference between the new Moodle theme, the Essential Unit Information block and the Moodle templates?

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.

Communication

How can I gather informal feedback from students?

Moodle Feedback tool is a simple and easy way to create a short feedback survey. You can enable anonymity (but note that student identities are still recorded in the Moodle logs).

Please see the Moodle video guide below or read more about tools for gathering feedback from students.

Can I manually add an event to the Moodle Calendar?

Yes. The Moodle calendar is automatically populated with items that have a due date attached. However, you may want to add your own items so that students have reminders built in, or for activities where the Calendar does not provide the appropriate functionality (for example with recurring Zoom meetings or when you setup an MS Teams meeting through Moodle).

Navigate to your Moodle course.
Click Calendar (from underneath the Dashboard link on the left menu).

Click New Event button on the top right of the calendar.
Complete the relevant details for your event and click Save.

Note that if you click the ‘Show more’ button you have the option to include ‘repeating’ events. As ‘recurring’ Zoom meetings only appear as one event in the Moodle calendar you could add the remaining meetings to the calendar using this option (if they are repeated weekly). Select ‘Repeat this event’ and enter the number of weekly repeats you would like, before saving.

You can view all events across all Moodle courses by visiting Home > Dashboard > Calendar.

Can I access a Moodle course calendar in my Outlook calendar?

You can add the Moodle calendar to your list of calendars in your Outlook calendar through the use of a Moodle generated URL. Note this will pull through events across all the Moodle courses you are enrolled in, it can’t be limited to just one course.

Generate a link to the Moodle Calendar

Login to your Moodle course and select the calendar.
Click Export Calendar from the button underneath the calendar.
Select what you want to see in the calendar from the options available and click ‘Get calendar URL’.
Copy the URL that appears underneath the button.

Import the calendar into Outlook

Open Outlook on the web (https://outlook.office365.com) and sign in.
Click Add calendar.
Select Subscribe from web.
Add the URL and click import.
Fill the details (name/colour/charm) and click Import.

The newly named calendar becomes an option in your list of calendars which you can toggle on/off.

Please note that Microsoft report that it can take 24 hours for Outlook to update subscribed calendars.

It is also possible to use the generated calendar link to add a calendar to a Gmail calendar.

How can students book an appointment with me?

Follow the instructions in this resource on using the Moodle Choice activity to allow students to setup a booking system.

Moodle Forum

How do I setup a forum?

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.

Managing users & student data

How do I add staff and student users manually?

Go to Participants (now in a block to the left) > Enrol users > (Enter user name to search); Assign role to user.

What do my students see?

You can switch roles to “Student View” (instructions) which will simulate you being a student enrolled on your existing courses.. Note that this student will be in the default group.

Why can’t students see my course?

Check course visibility, check Participants/Users to see if the user is present (especially if teaching multiple cohorts together in single course) and check the SAMIS User mapping (note this relies on correct and up to date enrollments on SAMIS). Students are enrolled by SAMIS into their respective Moodle course three weeks before the start of Semester 1 and 2.

Can external examiners (or other external contact) access my course?

Yes, externals can access Moodle. First uou will need to put in a Request for Temporary Account (WAA account) from DD&T.

How can I tell if students are accessing learning activities in Moodle?

When staff and students work in Moodle the technology logs their interactions. This information is then made available in various report functions:

for staff so that they can understand student behaviour and analyse how students are working with the online content
for students so that they can keep track of their progress

Find out more about Using Reporting Tools to Explore Online Activity

Managing resources

Can I recover an activity I've accidentally deleted?

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.

How can I move an activity or activities from one course to another

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.

I can't upload content that is bigger than 50MB!

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.

How do I show/hide a whole Moodle course?

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.

How do I prepare my course for the next academic year?

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.

Pedagogical Support

How can I structure and scaffold my course in Moodle?

As outlined in the Bath Blend, consistency and scaffolding are key ingredients to allowing students to effectively engage with content. To achieve this you could consider using the Bath Blend Baseline Moodle template to structure your course and also follow these simple tips to improve an existing course (name sections appropriately, use descriptions and labels, change course format setting).

Any tips for creating a sense of presence and community online?

Set expectations early.
Communicate frequently and clearly.
- Use the announcement forum to broadcast information
- Other forums support students asking questions to you and to peers
Consider using Moodle’s Video feature to introduce new topics etc (max 2 mins in length)

How should I pace online content?

Give learning interventions clear descriptions outlining expectations (e.g. duration, dates etc.)
Consider to what extent you’ll use synchronous communication you want to have: this could be a set time for Forum discussions in Moodle, or a chat/video based Meeting with Teams.
Consider timed release of activities (read the Restrict Access by Date instructions)

What online marking and feedback strategies are available?

1. Online Moodle Grading – see overview video and our Moodle course instructions

Works in the browser to allow annotation/inline commenting on scripts.
To support maths, other symbols, calculation, diagrams etc, it is easiest to mark up the script (e.g. insert a C1 comment for calculation comment 1, S1 for style/grammatical comments etc) and then attach a supporting file with all the comments summarised (you can also use annotation tools but works best on touch screens and can be tricky).

2. Moodle Offline Grading- see video and our Moodle course instructions

Download all scripts to your local machine (if you select Download in folders, each student’s work will be downloaded into a folder for each student).
In terms of feedback, you can edit/markup their submission (using a more powerful pdf editor than Moodle’s annotation tools).
Supplementary files placed in the students folder will also be uploaded as feedback to them (this can also support scripted assessment of programming projects).

3. Rubrics and Marking Guides see video and Moodle course instructions

Rubrics allow you to assess against a set of performance indicators (and award a fixed mark for each one, i.e. comment 4 must map to 4 and not a range of marks) – selecting the performance indicator can feedback to students on generic positive points and areas to improve (there is also space for free comments too).
Marking guides, have a number of criteria (similar to rubrics), but allow a free comment for each (and any marks up to maximum for that criteria to be awarded).
Both approaches support standardisation of marking and also give a clear structure for the feedback.

4. Mix and Match + other strategies

These approaches aren’t exclusive to one another. For example the coded marking (e.g. C1-type comments etc) could be used for online/offline/marking guides (one could also distribute a general version of the coded marking feedback sheet to all students separately on Moodle).
There are also lots of other genetic feedback strategies one can use inside Moodle. For example: feedforward/student engagement with feedback – e.g. instead of detailed feedback on whole piece, ask for student to redraft/correct/identify small number of highlighted issues: Moodle allows for resubmission and you provide detail comments on the selected improved parts.
The suitability of these strategies will be dependent on the context of the assessment (formative/summative), the assessment aims and also the nature of the submission.

Managing groups

Quick guide to using groups in Moodle

This is a quick guide to using groups in Moodle. We encourage you to view it before reading the more detailed guidance below.

Open the quick guide in your browser

How do I get to the groups menu in the new theme?

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

How do I create empty groups?

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:

How do I put students into 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.

Can students put themselves into Groups?

Yes, though you will first need to create empty groups as shown above. Once you’ve done this setup a Group Choice Activity to allow students to allocate themselves to the Groups:

What's the easiest way to populate groups with a large number of students? How do I use the Group Choice Activity?

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.

How do I copy Groups from one course to another?

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 enrolments from Moodle Course 1 to Moodle Course 2, including any manual enrollments. It is the responsibility of the user to clear up any additional enrolments in Moodle course 2 following Import.

Backup Instructions

In Moodle course 1, in the Administration block > select Backup
Under “Initial Settings”, only check:
- Include enrolled users
- Include user role assignments
- Include groups and groupings
- All must should be unchecked
Click Next to progress to “Schema Settings” and select None. Scroll down to ensure all Sections and Activities are unchecked, then click Next.
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
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

In Moodle course 2, in the Administration block > select Restore
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).
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
Under Destination, you need to select Merge the backup course into this course and then Continue.
In settings, again confirm only the following are checked before continuing:
- Include enrolled users
- Include user role assignments
- Include groups and groupings
In Schema dialogue, you should ensure Overwrite course configuration is set to No
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
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 enrolments from Moodle Course 1 to Moodle Course 2, including any manual enrolments. It is the responsibility of the user to clear up any additional enrolments in Moodle course 2 following Import.

Accessibility and Inclusivity

How do I use Blackboard Ally

Please see our quick Blackboard Ally quick start video below or use the Blackboard Ally help page.

Can students see accessibility scores?

No, the Ally score for individual activities is only visible to teachers enrolled on the Moodle course. The only way students interact with Blackboard Ally directly is via being able to download Alternative Formats.

Can I turn off the alternative formats for students?

It is possible to turn off the alternative format download for individual content items (see the Blackboard Ally instructions). For students, the Alternative Format button will still be visible next to the activity, but will say “Alternative Formats for this file have been disabled”.

Technical Questions

There’s this really good plugin, can we install …. ?

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.

How can I quickly write symbols into Moodle?

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

What about the Panopto block in Moodle?

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.

Activities

How can Moodle help people collaborate?

Use different activities like Wikis to create content together, Forums and Comments to exchange ideas, Database to collectively gather resources, Glossary to create shared understanding of concepts … and more!

You can group students in any of these activities to promote collaboration.

Moodle Quiz

Please see our dedicated page on Moodle Quiz Settings Setup and FAQ.

Moodle Assignment

Please see our dedicated page on Moodle Assignment Settings Setup and FAQ and our Assignment Submission FAQs for Students