Introduction to Moodle for Offshore Students. © L. Campbell, 2020. INTRODUCTION TO MOODLE FOR OFFSHORE STUDENTS.

We recommend watching the ‘How to Moodle’ video guide as well.

Step 1:

Understand the paper code you are taking.

NET = a fully online paper, where lectures are delivered via Panopto asynchronously. Panopto recordings are available with the Moodle site for the paper, along with any materials, tasks and exercises that accompany the lectures. The face-to-face aspect of the paper, such as tutorials and discussion, will be delivered via zoom. Note that for many paper, online tutorials do not begin until weeks 2 or 3 of the Trimester once full enrolment has concluded. Reading your Paper Outline under the heading ‘Paper Structure’ is important, as it will indicate this information, for example:

Paper Structure This paper is fully online and twice a week, students will be expected to participate with the lecture materials, online exercises and discussion areas as these will be the methods used to deliver content and allow for student practice and participation. Lecture delivery days and online tutorial times will be advised in Moodle at the beginning of the paper.

When the lecture materials are delivered, students will be expected to watch and read the materials and complete exercises set. The time this is expected to take is three (3) hours. In the online tutorials, students will be expected to complete online exercises and contribute to discussions. The time this is expected to take is two hours.

The paper is supported on-line via its Moodle page, and Panopto recordings of lectures will be one of the methods used to deliver lecture content. Zoom (or its equivalent) will also be used for tutorial discussions.

HAM = These papers are all delivered on the Hamilton campus, and consist of face-to-face lectures and tutorials (again note that the tutorials may not begin until weeks 2 or 3 of the Trimester). Many lecturers also Panopto their Hamilton lectures, and again, recordings are available via Moodle. Again, this is indicated in the Paper Outline under Paper Structure:

Paper Structure There are two lectures per week and one tutorial per week on campus. Students are expected to attend both lectures and one tutorial per week. The paper is supported on-line via its Moodle page, and Panopto recordings of lectures are also available.

The HAM occurrence of papers can also be FLEXI. This means that that face-to face lectures and tutorials take place on the Hamilton campus, but both are available for online participation via zoom. Students can zoom into the lectures at the set times and, into the tutorials at the set times. For offshore students you can join both lectures and tutorials in this way, and there may be other options for you (such as specific times set down for zoom tutorials that you can join online in a time that is more suitable for you).

To check whether your paper is HAM and Flexi, go to the Catalogue of Papers on the University web site to check: https://papers.waikato.ac.nz/

Introduction to Moodle for Offshore Students. © L. Campbell, 2020. Step 2:

Finding your Moodle site. On the student landing page, you will see a list on the left-hand side of quick links. Use these to get to Moodle.

Once inside, you should see all the papers you are enrolled in displayed under ‘Paper Overview’:

If you are unable to see any papers, this means that you are not fully enrolled. No student can access the Moodle page for their paper unless enrolment is complete.

Introduction to Moodle for Offshore Students. © L. Campbell, 2020. Step 3:

Enter your site, look around and locate information. A quick way to see all the areas of the page is to scroll through the menu of the site on the left-hand side of the page. You can click in any of the links in this menu to take you to the area(s) you want to focus on.

Introduction to Moodle for Offshore Students. © L. Campbell, 2020. Step 4:

Check the email that is against your name in the participants list. It may be that the email that is linked to your name is not the email you usually use or want to use.

Remember that via Moodle, lecturers will contact you via the ‘Announcements’ area:

This area is linked to the email address in the participation list. If you have not see any emails, but you look at the ‘Announcement’ area and you can see that the lecturer has been emailing you, then you need to check out the email that is against your name, make it your favourite, or go to MyWaikato and change your contact details: https://my.waikato.ac.nz/

Introduction to Moodle for Offshore Students. © L. Campbell, 2020. Step 5:

Signing up for online tutorials.

Within Moodle, your lecturer should have created an area that clearly indicates the days and times for the online tutorials:

Use the following link to go into the sign-up function:

Once inside, you will see are area such as below, where you click on a time that best suites you:

Note that lecturers will also use the same function symbol to ask for opinions or get you to sign in for a particular group or exercise.

Introduction to Moodle for Offshore Students. © L. Campbell, 2020. Step 6:

Other Moodle functions.

As lecturers, we have a variety of functions available to us to use within the Moodle site. Here are some of them:

Each time we use any of the symbols you can see above, there will be explanations and instructions made available to you so that you know what they are, what they mean, and how you should use them.

Introduction to Moodle for Offshore Students. © L. Campbell, 2020. Step 7:

Using Forums.

Forums are spaces that lecturers use to encourage you to do a variety of things, such as ask questions, put up short pieces of writing, interact with each other, or interact with your lecturer and tutor. They are simple to use, and you can either type straight into them, or cut and paste your work into the area – whichever is easiest for you.

The key to their use is to always click on the:

This brings up the forum box for you to add what has been asked for:

Note: Always remember to ‘Post to forum’ once you have uploaded your work, questions, or ideas.

Introduction to Moodle for Offshore Students. © L. Campbell, 2020. Step 8:

Uploading assessments as Word documents or PDF documents.

The icon for uploading an assessment looks like this:

Once you click on the link within Moodle, it takes you to the area for you to upload assessment. You will need to read the instructions carefully, but it is straightforward.

Firstly, click on the following icon to open the submission area:

Drop your Word or PDF document into the area as shown below:

Click on the ‘Save changes’ icon:

And your work will be uploaded into Moodle.

Introduction to Moodle for Offshore Students. © L. Campbell, 2020. Step 9:

The Library Reading List.

All documentation that you need to read for your paper, or the assessments set is kept together in the library reading list. This documentation could be journal articles, book chapters or e-books. All Moodle sites will have a link to make access quick and easy for you:

Click on the link to take you to your paper reading list:

You will see a list of what has been provided for you.

To read, simply click ‘View online ‘on the right-hand side of the page:

Introduction to Moodle for Offshore Students. © L. Campbell, 2020. Step 10:

Extra help within the Moodle area.

At the top of the page in Moodle, there are a series of links that take you to different places within the University that offer help, advice, or much needed information:

Using the drop-down functions of each of the above, opens a pathway to get the help, advice, information or answers to questions you may need.

For example, Moodle Help:

Introduction to Moodle for Offshore Students. © L. Campbell, 2020. Or, for help with your language, with an assessment or to book a face-to face-consultation, ‘Student Learning’: