What's in a Moodle course shell?

Each academic course will automatically get a course shell. You will have access to your new course shell eight weeks out from the start date of your course. Each of those course shells have a number of components to help you administer your course, assign work, quiz and grade your students as well as communicate with them. The large block in the center of your page will house your course content. This is where you can put readings, assignments, quizzes, etc.

You will notice that the main area is broken up into sections. The top section can be for your course name, syllabus, news/course announcements, and other general information. Later sections are usually for your course units or course weeks.

There are a number of course blocks to the left of your main content area, including navigation and administration. And there are also latest announcement and recent activity blocks to the right of the main content area.

How do I change my course design and layout?

Moodle allows a number of layout options.  For example, you can display your course materials in a weekly format or a topics format.  To change from the topic to weekly format, go to the Administration block on the left-hand side of your course screen and click on ‘Edit settings’.  

Next, scroll down the centre block until you find ‘Course format’. Click on the ‘Structure’ drop down menu and select ‘Weekly’.

Next, scroll to the bottom of the centre block and click on ‘Save and Display’.

How do I add an announcement?

At the top of your Moodle course page in the Main block you will click on ‘Announcements’.

To add your announcement click on the ‘Add new topic’ that is displayed in the Main block of your Moodle course page.

Give your announcement a subject and then type in your message. You can also upload a file as well as adjust how long the announcement is displayed. When you have finished tweaking your announcement, click ‘Post to forum’. 

How do I add different types of content to my course?

Once you have designed your course, you are ready to add your syllabus, readings, and other exercises.   There are a number of steps to adding this type of course content but first, select the course content you would like to add from the list below to obtain further instructions.

Add a Syllabus
At the top of you the Main block of your Moodle course screen you will see ‘Announcements’.  This is a good place to put your course syllabus. Make sure that editing is turned on. Next, go to the section or week where you want to put your syllabus and click on the '+Add an activity or resource' button. Scroll down to ‘Resources’ and select ‘File’ then click ‘Add’.

Drag and drop or upload your course syllabus preferably in PDF format or Google Doc. If you use PDF format, before uploading, make sure your document is accessible for a screenreader (i.e., open your PDF, try to select the text. If you can it will be readable by a screenreader. If it is a scanned PDF then it will not be readable by a screenreader).

Add a Reading, Audio or Video File
The E-Learning Office does not recommend that you upload video directly to Moodle.  Instead use YouTube or your UPEI Google Drive to share video with your students. For a reading or audio file, first make sure to turn editing on. Next, go to the section or week where you want to put your forum and click on the ‘+Add activity or resource’ button. Scroll down to ‘Resources’ and select ‘File’ then click ‘Add’. 

Drag and drop your video (from Google Drive or UPEI YouTube account is best), PDF, Word doc, Excel spreadsheet, or PowerPoint presentation, Google Doc, Google Form, Google Sheet or Google Slide. The E-Learning Office recommends you use PDF and Google Drive-based items.

Add an assignment
First make sure that editing is turned on.  Next, go to the section or week where you want to put your assignment and click on the '+Add an activity or resource' button. Under the ‘Activity’ category, select ‘Assignment’ and then click ‘Add’.

Fill out the rest of the details you require for the assignment. The minimum requirement you must complete in order to save it is to give your assignment a name. Once you’ve tweaked the assignment settings, click ‘Save and display’ if you would like to see what students will see at their end or ‘Save and return to course’ to go back to your course.

Add a Quiz/Test/Midterm/Exam
First, make sure to turn editing on.  Next, go to the section or week where you want to put your quiz and click on the '+Add an activity or resource' button. Under the ‘Activity’ category, select ‘Quiz’ and then click ‘Add’.

Fill out the rest of the details you require for the assignment. The minimum requirement you must complete in order to save it is to give your assignment a name. Once you’ve tweaked the assignment settings, click ‘Save and display’ if you would like to see what students will see at their end or ‘Save and return to course’ to go back to your course.

Now you will need to add questions to your test. To begin, go to the topic or week that has your quiz and click on the title of your quiz.

Next, click on ‘Edit quiz’.

On the right-hand side of the Main block of your Moodle course screen you click on the ‘Add’ drop down menu and select an option.

There are three options: 1) add a new question; 2) from question bank; and 3) a random question. If you select ‘add a new question’ you can create an individual question.  If you select ‘from question bank’ you can import a test or series of questions that you have previously uploaded through the ‘Question bank’.  If you select ‘a random question’ Moodle will pick a random question to add to the quiz from a previous quiz or series of questions under the ‘Question bank’ that you tell it to choose from. For demonstration’s sake, let’s say you have selected ‘add a new question’. You can then select the type of question you want to add.

Continue with this process until you have all your questions added to the test.

Add a Forum
First, make sure to turn editing on. Next, go to the section or week where you want to put your forum and click on the '+Add an activity or resource' button. Under the ‘Activity’ category, select ‘Forum’ and then click ‘Add’.

Fill out the rest of the details you require for the forum. The minimum requirement you must complete in order to save it is to give your forum a name. Once you’ve tweaked the forum settings, click ‘Save and display’ if you would like to see what students will see at their end or ‘Save and return to course’ to go back to your course.

How should I upload my large video files?

The E-Learning Office recommends that you do not upload videos of any size directly to Moodle. Instead use YouTube or your UPEI Google Drive to share videos with your students.

How can I add a link to an external application that will always be visible on the course home page?

First, make sure that you have turned editing on.  In the ‘Add a block’ block, select ‘HTML’ from the drop down menu.

The new HTML block will display in the blocks column just above the ‘Add a block’ block. To set up your new block, click on the gear icon and select ‘Configure (new HTML block) block’ from the drop down menu.

Next, enter a title and a description. You can now select with your mouse and cursor some or all of the words you typed or, like in our example below, select an image that you uploaded and click the Insert/edit link button.

Copy your external link and then paste it into the box titled ‘Enter a URL’. Check the box marked ‘Open in a new window’ and then click ‘Create link’.

At this point you can decide what pages you want your new block to show up on. To adjust this, look for ‘Where this block appears’. You can also decide where on the page – left or right, top, middle or bottom – you want the new block to display. To adjust this, look for ‘On this page’. If you make no changes to its location then the block will appear where you found it when you first created it. When you are finished click ‘Save changes’.

Test the link by going to your new block and clicking on the image/text that you just linked. Your web browser should open a new tab and take you to the external site.

How do I link to a file, video or image inside a book chapter?

First, make sure that editing is turned on. Go to the topic or week where your book is and click on the title. Now go to the ‘Editing chapter’ page by clicking the ‘Edit’ icon in the book's ‘Table of contents’ block.

In the ‘Content text editor,’ select the text you want to use as a link to your file. Click the ‘Insert/Edit Link’ icon.

In the ‘Insert/edit’ link window, click the ‘Browse’ button to the right of the ‘Link URL’ field. If you want your link to open up in a new tab, make sure you check the box titled ‘Open in a new window’.

Next you can pick whether you want a file or a url and where you want to upload that file or link from.

Finally, on the ‘Chapter’ page, check that you have linked the correct file by clicking on the text that you linked.