Moodle 2.4

e

Update May, 2013

North Dakota Universi ty System

Advanced Learning Technologies

Moodle 2.4

NDUS User Services 2 | P a g e

Copyright Information

This is a document of Advanced Learning Technologies of the North Dakota University System. North

Dakota University System institutions and its users are allowed to create, develop, copy, and use this

document or derivatives thereof for internal training purposes, pursuant to any licensing or copyright

issues.

With this document, portions were taken verbatim from http://docs.moodle.org. Moodle

documentation is Copyright @2005 onwards by the individual authors as noted. It is provided to all

under the terms of the GNU Public License.

http://docs.moodle.org/


Table of Contents

About Moodle ............................................................................................................................................... 6

Training Goals ........................................................................................................................................... 6

Interface .................................................................................................................................................... 7

New Activity Icons ................................................................................................................................. 7

Docking Blocks .......................................................................................................................................... 7

Navigation Block ....................................................................................................................................... 9

Main Course Page Editing ......................................................................................................................... 9

New Tools for Editing Objects ............................................................................................................... 9

Add/Delete Topics or Weeks .............................................................................................................. 10

Condense Topics or Weeks, Restrict Access ....................................................................................... 11

Activity Chooser .................................................................................................................................. 12

File Size Display on Main Course Page ................................................................................................ 13

Settings Block .......................................................................................................................................... 13

Drag and Drop Blocks .......................................................................................................................... 14

Drag and Drop Files to Main Course Page .......................................................................................... 14

Course administration............................................................................................................................. 14

Settings ................................................................................................................................................ 14

Switch Role to… ................................................................................................................................... 14

My Profile Settings .............................................................................................................................. 14

Comments Block ................................................................................................................................. 14

Managing Content .................................................................................................................................. 15

Content Management Improvements ................................................................................................ 15

My Private Files and Server Files......................................................................................................... 16

Changing File Display .......................................................................................................................... 19


HTML Text Editor ................................................................................................................................ 20

Quizzes ................................................................................................................................................ 22

The Settings Block ................................................................................................................................... 23

User Overrides .................................................................................................................................... 23

Adding an Assignment ............................................................................................................................ 24

Assignment Enhancements ................................................................................................................. 24

Conditional Activities .............................................................................................................................. 26

Grade Condition .................................................................................................................................. 27

Completion Tracking ............................................................................................................................... 29

Activity Completion ............................................................................................................................. 29

Course Completion status block ......................................................................................................... 30

Blogs ........................................................................................................................................................ 30

Wikis ........................................................................................................................................................ 32

Updated Wiki Interface ....................................................................................................................... 32

Forums .................................................................................................................................................... 32

Standard forum displayed in blog-like format .................................................................................... 32

Workshop ................................................................................................................................................ 33

Setup phase ......................................................................................................................................... 33

Submission phase ................................................................................................................................ 34

Assessment phase ............................................................................................................................... 34

Grading evaluation phase ................................................................................................................... 34

Closed .................................................................................................................................................. 34

Advanced Grading Methods ................................................................................................................... 35

Rubrics ................................................................................................................................................. 35

Marking Guide ..................................................................................................................................... 37

My Mobile ............................................................................................................................................... 38


Training Resources ...................................................................................................................................... 39

Book: Moodle 2.0 First Look ............................................................................................................... 39

Tutorial ................................................................................................................................................ 39

Websites.............................................................................................................................................. 39


About Moodle

Moodle is an open source learning management system (LMS) used at institutions in the North Dakota

University System (NDUS) to support and manage learning for students, faculty and staff. Moodle

provides an opportunity for faculty to extend their teaching capabilities and service students, as well as

support learning communities.

Moodle’s structure is founded upon a specific learning-centered education philosophy called social

constructivism whereby people learn through engaging in the social process of constructing knowledge.

Activities like Moodle’s Workshop make learning central to the task. Moodle provides the capability to

discuss and share digitally created artifacts for learning. In contrast to other LMS’s, Moodle focuses on

sharing ideas and actively engaging students in the construction of knowledge; when used as intended

Moodle goes beyond simply delivering information.

The North Dakota University System first implemented Moodle in 2008. Moodle has always had the

capability to incorporate Web 2.0 technologies and now this latest version has evolved to incorporate

mobile computing, support stronger integration with third party add-on products, and to extend the

reach of learning communities.

Training Goals The goal of this handout is to provide Moodle users with a comprehensive understanding of the changes

and new features in Moodle 2.4 including:

New activity icons Submission statement

Assignment enhancements Upload multiple feedback items

Group assignments New activity completion criteria

Blind marking Workshop activity enhancements

Prerequisite: This manual is intended for users with prior experience using Moodle in an academic or

support environment. For an introductory overview of Moodle 2.4, see training resources located at the

end of this guide.


Interface The Moodle 2.4 interface is more versatile than earlier versions with

updated themes and Blocks that dock to the side. Your Moodle

course may look somewhat different from this handout, depending

on which theme you or your institution has decided to use.

New Activity Icons

Moodle has a completely new set of icons throughout the site. The

icons are slightly larger than earlier versions and do not loose

sharpness when made bigger. The following is a look at the new

icons for activities:

Docking Blocks Need more space on your course page? Want to focus more on the

content of the page? Moodle allows you to dock course blocks to the

left side and then return them back to their original position one at a

time or with a single click.


How to dock course blocks

1. Locate the block you would like to dock and click

on the right-most rectangular icon.

2. The dock disappears to the left and is replaced

with a tab.

To see the content of the block hover your mouse over the tab.

3. To return the block to its original place, hover your mouse over the tab and click on the blue

shaded dock icon.

4. If you have many blocks docked to the side, you can return them all by clicking on the blue

shaded box at the bottom left of your main course page.


Navigation Block The new Navigation block provides easy access to various sections of the Moodle site and includes:

Home - quick access to the NDUS homepage

My home - a personalized home page displaying links to the courses

a user is associated with and activity information such as unread

forum posts and upcoming assignments.

Site pages - links to site pages and resources from the front page of

Moodle.

My profile - quick links allowing a user to view their profile, forums

posts, blogs and messages as well as manage their private files.

My courses - links to courses (by course short name) the user is associated with. Click the

course's short name to view the front page of the course or use the arrows to navigate quickly

to a specific section, resource or activity.

Main Course Page Editing Moodle provides a number of new options to make editing and moving of objects easier, as well as

options for organizing and displaying items from the main course page. These options include: edit title,

add and delete topics or weeks, Activity Chooser, hide topics or weeks, restrict access for a topic or

week, display file size, plus new tools for editing objects and activities. To see all these new features,

click the button Turn editing on.

New Tools for Editing Objects

Edit Title

Promote

Move

Update

Duplicate

Delete

Show/Hide

Groups

Assign Roles


Edit Title

Clicking Edit Title enables you to quickly edit the title of an object without having to view all the settings

for that object:

Move

Moodle provides drag and drop capability not only for moving objects onscreen, but also uploading of

files.

Duplicate

Clicking this button allows you to make a copy of an object.

Groups

You can quickly create and assign groups using this icon.

Assign Roles

Previously, Assign Roles applied to the entire course. Now Assign Roles can be applied to specific

objects.

Add/Delete Topics or Weeks

To add or delete additional weeks or topics to your main course page, scroll to the bottom and locate

the two buttons you see pictured below:


Condense Topics or Weeks, Restrict Access

Until now Moodle’s main course page fully displayed all contents. You can now condense that display

plus you can apply restricted access to topics or weeks.

Condense Display

1. Locate the Settings block, Course Administration, and Edit Settings

2. Change Course Layout from Show all sections on one page to Show one section per page as

shown below:

The new display looks something like this. Each topic (or weekly) heading becomes a link (pictured

below, left). Clicking the link displays more comprehensive information for the week (pictured

below, right).

Condensed Course Display Full Course Display (default)

Restrict Access

To restrict access to a section, click the edit icon for that section.

The following options appear for restricting access:


Activity Chooser

Previously, resources and activities were

added via two separate drop down menus. In

Moodle, the two drop down menus have

been combined into one list, simplifying and

providing more information on the activities

and resources available. For example,

previously there were 4 different selections

for the Assignments activity. All options for

assignments have been condensed into one

screen. If needed, use the scrollbar to locate

the section for Resources.

If you prefer to have Resources and Activities

available as two separate menus, choose:

1. Settings

2. Course Administration

3. Activity Chooser Off


File Size Display on Main Course Page

As you add files to the main course page an option appears to include descriptive information about the

file such as the file size:

Here is an example of what a resource will look like when resource description is check-marked:

Settings Block The settings block is divided into 3 main

sections:

1. Course administration

2. Switch role to…

3. My profile settings.

Using Navigation Links

You can avoid navigating to an expired page by using the Navigation links or “breadcrumbs” instead of the back and forward buttons in your browser. This ensures you always see the latest version of a page (example: a Forum with new posts). Be careful to update, save or post any changes you make before moving on to another page to avoid losing your work.


Drag and Drop Blocks

Blocks can be rearranged by dragging them onscreen. Position the mouse pointer at the top

edge of the block and watch for the quad arrow to appear, then drag to move the block.

Drag and Drop Files to Main Course Page

You can add files to the main course page by dragging them from your

computer desktop or letter drive directly to your course home page.

1. Reduce the size of your browser window.

2. Locate the file you wish to add to your course home page.

3. Drag and drop the file into position on your course home page.

Course administration Settings

Course administration settings in Moodle include completion tracking,

filter settings, and access to your repositories.

Switch Role to…

Switch Role To allows instructors to see Moodle in different roles such as

a student, non-editing teacher or even a guest. The roles you are allowed

depends on your access to Moodle.

My Profile Settings

My Profile Settings allows you to work with your own personal profile.

You can also configure your messages and add/configure blogs.

Comments Block

It’s now much easier to “have your say” in Moodle. The Comments block

can be added to any page to allow users to add comments. Comments

placed in this block can be seen by all within the course.


Ideas for using the new Comments block

Place the Comments block on the main course page so students can give feedback to

the tutor

Place the Comments block on an individual resource or activity

Place the Comments block on a teacher-only page (the assignment marking screen) so

teachers can moderate work together privately

Use for adding a blog post to a specific course commenting on a blog entry

Use for importing an external blog into your Moodle blog

(Source: http://www.moodleblog.net/?p=227)

Managing Content Moodle handles and stores files a lot more like Web 2.0 systems, such as Facebook and Google Docs in

that each activity and each text has its own file area, and files are associated directly with the place it is

used. For example, a file attached to a forum post is stored "with" the forum post, and becomes subject

to exactly the same access restrictions.

The Files system is closely connected with the Repository system and a file picker which makes it easy to

browse external and internal repositories for files and then copy them into Moodle. Certain repositories

also allow you to link directly to their media files. Repositories in general are the way of the future for

content - most Web 2.0 systems are really repositories of data with various management interfaces. The

advantage with such systems is eliminating redundancy; it is no longer necessary to store the same file

in multiple locations.

Content Management Improvements

Integrity

If a forum post with attached files (such as images) is imported into another course, then the files move

with it. Anyone in the new course will also see the files. This makes activities more portable and re-

usable. If two activities use the same file and one is deleted, then the other one is not affected.


Security

Access to files is governed the same way as the items that they attached to, which is what people

expect. All files are now controlled by the settings in the Moodle interface, including roles and

permissions.

Re-usability

It is now fast and easy to re-use files across Moodle. Using the file picker, a recently-used file may easily

be chosen, or a file from any course a user has access to.

Backups

Backups of activities are small and accurate, because Moodle knows exactly what files to include.

Internationalization

There is no restriction on file names - even files with names in Japanese may be used.

Repositories

The world is turning towards better management of files and less "dumping" of files into disks. There are

many repository solutions out there (such as the one we will use called Alfresco) that focus on better

management of files, with versioning, workflow, metadata and other features.

My Private Files and Server Files

The two primary areas for

managing files in Moodle

are My Private Files and

Server Files. Documents

stored in My Private Files

can be accessed and used

across multiple courses

whereas files stored in

the Server Files area

(viewable through the

File Picker Dialog box) are

usable only in that

course.


Managing Files

You can use the drag and drop technique when adding files into either My Private Files or using the

command Upload File (shown above, left column) which places the file into the Server area. However,

documents that are dragged and dropped directly onto the main course page will be stored in the Server

Files area by default.

The manner in which files are added to Moodle require different techniques for managing them. For

example, if you drag and drop a file onto the main course page that file is stored in the Server Files area.

Deleting the file from the main course page also deletes it from the Server Files area. Files cannot be

directly deleted from the Server Files area.

To delete a file from the My Private Files area, you must go into My Private Files to do that. Select the

small icon located bottom right of the file or folder to view choices for managing folders and files.

How to Navigate Back to the Course Home Page

My Private Files is a repository which is separate from your course; you may therefore wonder how to

navigate back to your course when working in My Private Files. Here’s how:

1. Locate the Navigation block

2. Select My Courses

3. Select the desired course or within the drop down list of that course


Workflow Example

Goal: Add a syllabus for an English 101 course

1. In the course, turn editing on.

2. Select Add an Activity or resource.

3. If necessary, scroll to bring the Resources list into view then choose

File (pictured right) and Add.

4. The Adding a new File page appears. Type a name and description

for the file. If desired, check Display description on course page.

5. As you scroll down on the same page, add a file by simply dragging and dropping files from your

computer to the location shown below, or click the Add button to browse and locate files.


Creating Folders for Storing Files

If necessary, use the Create Folder button to create a folder for storing multiple files. Give the folder a

name and click OK. In this example, a folder named “Syllabus Folder” has been created. To add files to

the folder, simply double-click on the folder to open it, then click and drag files directly into the folder. If

preferred, use the Add button to browse for files.

Creating Subfolders

1. Select Create a folder. Give the folder a name.

2. Open the folder then select Create a folder again and give the subfolder a name.

Changing File Display

When working in the File Picker dialog box, select the icons highlighted here to change how files are

displayed.

Double-click folder to open it and add files.


Uploading Files by Browsing

1. To manually upload a file, click the Add… button (shown previously). The File Picker dialog box

(below) appears.

2. Upload a file by clicking the Upload a file link on the left side of the screen.

3. Click Browse to find and open your file.

4. Optional: use the Save As field to assign a different file name.

5. Select Upload this file to finish and view uploaded files.

HTML Text Editor

Moodle 2 has a new text editor called TinyMCE. This new editor has a few more functions than the older

version including a new feature that allows you to cut and paste from a Microsoft Word file without

losing your format. Some of the usual places you will find the text editor include Editing Section

headings, description of an activity, writing an answer to a quiz question or editing the content of many

blocks. You will find that Moodle 2 offers the text editor in more places than it did in older versions.

The text editor divides functions into groups lightly shaded in the background. Here is a list of those

groups:


Row 1-

- Font, size and heading group

- Undo and Redo group

- Find and Replace group

- Full screen toggle

Row 2-

- Text effect group

- Line format group

- Formatting group (clean up messy code, remove formatting, paste as plain text,

paste form Word)

- Color group

- Paragraph group

Row 3-

- Number and Bullets and indents

- Link group

- Insert group (images, emoticons, media, non-breaking space characters,

custom characters, tables)

- HTML source toggle & spellchecker

The color picker now gives many more options than before for getting the exact color you need! Just

click on More colors at the bottom and select the best tab for your needs: Picker, Palette, or Named.

A quick pick 5x8 matrix of colors

A rainbow color picker tab

A Pallet tab with a 18x12 matrix of colors

A Named tab with custom pallets

(Source: tinymce.com)

http://docs.moodle.org/21/en/File:HTML_editor_group_font_style.png

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http://docs.moodle.org/21/en/File:HTML_editor_color_selector_more_named_1.png


Quizzes

The quiz activity in Moodle has a fresh look and some

added features introduced in 2.2 and 2.3. Here are some

of the biggest changes you will find.

Improved aesthetics of main quiz features and

layouts

Progress notification system

available to students as they

work their way through the

quiz.

A built in option for marking

specific questions for later,

before or after a quiz is finished. Students may want to mark

a question and come back to it before submitting their quiz,

or to let the teacher know they had a question or concern

that needed to be addressed.

Clearer quiz submission options, including a quiz attempt

summary on the last page of a quiz that shows students stats

on their progress (and shows any unanswered questions).

Reorganization of quiz configuration and

setting options with more options for

html editing of feedback and more review

options.

The quiz building page has been

reorganized, including:

o faster building options

o clearer quiz organization and

page breaks


Individual overrides for specific students or groups of students

Manually graded quiz questions.

The Settings Block The Settings block displays additional settings depending on the activity

you are working with. For example, if you choose to work in a quiz

activity, quiz administration settings will appear at the top of the Settings

block. The quiz administration allows quick access to edit the quiz, backup, restore, and to add

additional questions to the Question bank.

User Overrides

A new feature in the Quiz administration is the ability to adjust quiz settings on an individual user basis

or group basis. Let’s look at adjusting the settings for an individual user by clicking on the User overrides

link.

A new page appears that displays current overrides you have made and allows you to add a new

override. Click Add user override.


The Edit Override window appears and

allows you to choose the student for

which you would like to make

adjustments. You can only choose one

student at a time. Click to highlight a

student, and then make the appropriate

changes below. You can require a

password, change availability dates,

adjust the time limit, or change the

number of attempts. Click Save to finish,

or click Save and enter another override

to adjust settings for another student. If

you adjust for another student, the

previous adjustments will stay intact.

Adding an Assignment As you learned previously, the Add a Resource and Add an Activity menus have been combined. Within

the Add an Activity menu, the Add an Assignment option has also been combined into one

comprehensive dialog box. From this location you will select settings for the assignment itself,

submission settings, feedback settings, grade, common module settings (e.g.: group mode) and restrict

access. Previously, if you wanted to change the type of assignment you had to delete the assignment

and create a new one. Now you can edit the settings for an assignment to change the type of

assignment.

Restricted access can now be added by fields within a user’s profile, such as first name, last name, email

address, or Institution. This allows an instructor to make activities available or unavailable to specific

students without the use of groups.

Assignment Enhancements

Cut Off Date

Moodle now allows instructors to set a cut-off date for assignments. The instructor can set the day,

month, year, and time before which students must submit their assignment. After the cut-off date is

New 2.4

New features in 2.4


reached, students will no longer have a submit button. After the cut-off date, instructors can grant

extensions to specific students by

clicking the edit column in the

assignment’s grading screen.

Group Assignments

Moodle now allows an instructor the

opportunity to set an assignment by

group for collaboration. This might

include students having common

access to the online text area, or

students can upload an assignment

that is accessible to another student to download, make changes and re-upload. This new feature allows

instructors to give a common grade and feedback to the entire group, or provide an individual grade and

feedback to each student within the group.

Blind Marking

If enabled, instructors will not see the identity of the person who has submitted an assignment until the

instructor releases the grades to the students. Instead, they will see a randomly generated participant

number for each individual. After an assignment is graded for all students, it is then possible for the

instructor to click on “Reveal student identities” in the assignment grading page to show who submitted

which assignment. It is important to note that students will not receive a grade until the “Reveal student

identities” has been clicked. Feedback will appear as normal. It is important to note that students should

be reminded not to use a file name or add comments to the submission that could identify them. Also,

certain information could be retrieved by instructors through reports that would identify who has and

has not submitted work.

Submission Statement

A pre-defined submission statement can be enabled and displayed for students to view. The statement

requires students to agree that submitted work is their own and no one else’s. The language for this

statement is: This assignment is my own work, except where I have acknowledged the use of the works

of other people.


Upload Multiple Feedback Items

It is also possible to upload multiple feedback files as a zip, from the dropdown above the grading list:

To do this:

1. Download the students' assignments using the "Download all submissions" link from the same

dropdown menu;

2. Extract the folder offline and add your comments to the student's submissions. Keep the names

the same.

3. Select the students' submissions and zip them into a new folder. Important: Don't just edit them

inside their original folder and re-zip this; it will not work. The folder name does not matter as

long as the feedback files have the same names as before.

4. Upload this newly zipped folder. You will be presented with a confirmation screen displaying

your feedback files.

Confirmation screen displaying the feedback files to be uploaded

Screen confirming uploaded feedback

Conditional Activities Conditional Activities is one of the most anticipated features of Moodle 2. This new feature enables

teachers to restrict the availability of any activity according to certain conditions such as dates, grade

obtained, user fields or activity completion. This gives flexibility in how your course appears, when items

New features in 2.4

http://docs.moodle.org/24/en/File:mutiplefeedbackzip.png

http://docs.moodle.org/24/en/File:multiplezip1.png

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are available, and even allows you to send students down different learning paths within the same

course.

You will find the Conditional activities in the Restrict access area of the settings page for any activity in

Moodle. Restrict access settings options may change slightly depending on the activity.

Grade Condition

Grade Conditions can be used to hide specific activities until a certain condition or set of criteria has

been met. You can specify that a condition be met on one or more of the following: any graded activity

in the course, the full course grade, the grade for any activity, or a custom grade that you create

manually. When adding more than one condition, all the conditions must be met in order for the activity

to appear.

Creating a Grade Condition

1. Under Grade condition, find the activity for which the specific condition must be met.

2. Enter a minimum value (at least percentage), a maximum value (less than percentage), both, or

neither. The activity will only appear if the student has a value for the specified grade, and if it

falls within any specified number range. The range numbers can be fractional (up to five decimal

places) if necessary.

Maximum values: if the maximum is set to 7.5, only scores up to 7.49999 will be included.


Setting multiple activities for different learning paths: When creating multiple activities

that appear according to grade ranges, use the same number for the maximum of one

activity, and the minimum of the next. For example, you could set a new learning path for

students depending on a module quiz. In the settings of activity #1, you could set the

module quiz score to a minimum of 7.5 before activity #1 is available to students. Then, in

the settings of activity #2, set the module quiz to at least 7.5. Students scoring up to and

including 7.49999 will have activity #1 available; students scoring 7.5 or better, will have

activity #2 available. This will send students down a different learning path.

3. The last setting allows the instructor to either hide or gray out the activity before conditions are

met.

4. Click Save at the bottom of the page.

Tip: Badges

Conditional Activities, Activity Completion, and Grade Condition can be a useful tools for using the ‘badge’ approach in grading. For example, use the Add an

activity or resource menu to insert a label (the badge) on the main course page and set the label/badge to display upon successfully meeting criteria you specify

such as satisfying a grade condition, viewing a resource, or completing an activity. Labels can incorporate pictures, words, widgets, and more to help

make students feel rewarded for their work.

Watch for a new Moodle Badges module coming soon!


Completion Tracking Moodle 2 allows you to track the completion of an activity, a course, or both.

Activity Completion

Activity completion allows the teacher to set

completion criteria in the settings for a

specific activity. A check (tick) appears

against the activity when the student meets

the criteria. The criterion might be viewing,

uploading an assignment (new in version

2.4), receiving a certain score, or a student

marking it as complete.

You can turn the activity completion on or off in the Settings block, Course administration, Edit

Settings. Look for Activity Completion in the Student progress section.

In the Navigation block, instructors can find detailed activity completion reports.

You can set the activity completion requirements in the settings page of each activity under the section

called Activity completion. If you require your student to achieve a specific grade before an activity is

complete, then you must set a grade for the activity through the Gradebook.

Setting a Completion Activity Using the Gradebook

1. In the Settings block select Grades.

2. In the Gradebook, click on the Categories and items tab.

3. Under the Actions column for the grade item click the edit icon.


4. Select the Show advanced button.

5. Fill in the Grade to pass field.

6. Save changes at the bottom of the page.

Course Completion status block

Course Completion is a block that you enable and add to the course.

The student and teacher will both see this block. It displays what has

been done towards completing the course. The More details link will

lead to a more detailed report.

This report can have some interactive elements in the form of check

boxes for the student and teacher including the ability to download to

a spreadsheet.

Course completion can also be set to allow for self-completion by

students or teachers. In this case, another block, the Self

completion block, must also be added.

Blogs Blogs in Moodle 2 are user based rather than course-based. Each user has their own blog. Users can also

register their external blogs, such as Blogger or Wordpress, so that entries are automatically included in

their Moodle blog.

Adding a blog entry

1. From the Navigation block, click on Blogs > Add a new

entry.

a. Alternatively, if the Blog menu block is enabled in

the course, click Add a new entry.

2. Write your entry and give it a title.

3. If you want to attach a file, click the Add button to access

the File picker to locate a file. Be sure your document is

smaller than the maximum attachment size.

http://docs.moodle.org/21/en/File:Blogmenublock.png


4. Choose who you wish to publish the

entry to. There are three options:

a. Yourself (your blog entry is a

draft)

b. Anyone on your Moodle site

5. Select appropriate official tags for your

entry. Multiple tags should be separated

by a comma.

6. Click on the Save changes button.

Course Blogs

If you click Add an entry about this

course in the Blog menu block then you

will have the option to associate your

blog entry with your current course.

o Note: your blogs can still be seen elsewhere in

Moodle, but this is a way outside of using tags to

filter entries about a particular course within the

course.

Permalink, located at the bottom of the blog, gives you a

direct link to that particular blog posting. This is so you can

send a link to this specific post to someone else.

External blogs

If enabled by an administrator, you can register external blogs, such as Blogger or Wordpress so

that entries are automatically included in your Moodle blog. Go to Settings, My profile settings,

Blogs, Register an external blog.

In the URL box, add the RSS feed of the blog you wish to register

Blog widgets or “Blidgets” can be embedded in your course. For example, if you have an

external blog in WordPress you can place the widget on your main course page so students can

click on a link to your latest blog post. The widget is automatically updated through an RSS feed.

(Source: http://docs.moodle.org/21/en/Using_Blogs)

http://docs.moodle.org/21/en/File:Courseblogs.png

http://docs.moodle.org/21/en/File:Blogentry.png

http://docs.moodle.org/21/en/Using_Blogs


Creating Wiki Pages

When creating a new page with the Navigation block’s new option under your Wiki, you will still need to copy and paste the name of the

new page onto the immediate parent page and surround it with double brackets. This creates a link to your new page and makes it accessible from the main Wiki page. Otherwise nobody

will find the so called lost new page.

Wikis A new Wiki module in Moodle 2 makes it easier

to create and delete pages. Pages can also be

added through a link in the Navigation block.

New links in the Navigation block allow

immediate access to view, edit, comment,

history, map, and Wiki files.

Updated Wiki Interface

Forums The Moodle Forum module now offers a new choice called:

Standard forum displayed in blog-like format.

Standard forum displayed in blog-like format

This forum behaves in the same way as the default standard forum for general use, allowing users to

start their own discussions. However, it displays differently in that the first post of each discussion is

displayed (as in a blog) so that users can read it and then choose to respond by clicking the "Discuss this

topic" button bottom right from the post.


(Source Moodle.org)

Workshop The Workshop Activity allows for peer assessment of assignments. There are two new features in

version 2.4: Workshops now allow for advanced grading methods such as rubrics. When setting up a

workshop instructors have the ability to define a conclusion text to be displayed to all participants once

the workshop is finished. Students submit their work via an on line text tool and attachments. There are

two grades for a student: their own work and their peer assessments of other students' work. There are

five phases of workflow in a typical workshop:

Setup phase

In this initial phase, Workshop participants cannot do

anything (neither modify their submissions nor their

assessments). Course facilitators use this phase to

change workshop settings, modify the grading

strategy or tweak assessment forms. You can switch

to this phase any time you need to change the

Workshop setting and prevent users from modifying

their work.

New features in 2.4

http://docs.moodle.org/21/en/File:Bloglikeforum.png


Submission phase

In the submission phase, Workshop

participants submit their work. Access control

dates can be set so that even if the Workshop

is in this phase, submitting can be allowed in

the given time frame only. Submission start

date (and time), submission end date (and

time) or both can be specified.

Assessment phase

Workshop participants assess the submissions

allocated to them by their peers for review. As

in the submission phase, access can be

controlled by specified date and time since

when or until when the assessment is allowed.

Grading evaluation phase

The major task during this phase is to calculate

the final grades for submissions and for

assessments and provide feedback for authors

and reviewers. Workshop participants cannot

modify their submissions or their assessments

in this phase any further. Instructors can

continue to add feedback and can manually

override the calculated grades. Also, selected

submissions can be set as published so they

become available to all Workshop participants

in the next phase.

Closed

Whenever the Workshop is being switched into

this phase, the final grades calculated in the previous phase are pushed into the course Gradebook. This


will result in the Workshop grades appearing in the Gradebook. Participants may view their submissions,

their submission assessments and eventually other published submissions in this phase.

Advanced Grading Methods Moodle is making significant strides in the area of advanced grading methods. Currently, advanced

grading methods are supported for the Assignment activity, but Moodle is working to extend these

features across more modules. The advanced grading methods for this release are: Outcomes, Rubrics,

and Marking Guide. Rubrics are used for criteria-based assessment. A Marking Guide is where a teacher

enters a comment per criterion plus a mark.

Rubrics

By default, numerical grades in Moodle are selected by the teacher from a range like 0-100. When

advanced grading methods are enabled, the grade selection element is replaced with a more complex

assessment form provided by the Rubric plugin. The plugin contains the logic how to calculate the grade.

Such a calculated grade is then passed back to the activity module as if the teacher used the standard

grade value selector.

Students will now see the content of the newly created rubric before they submit within the upload

page of the assignment.

How to Assign Rubric as a Grading Method

Before you can create a rubric, you must “rubric” as a grading method for an assignment.

1. Turn Editing on

2. Create an assignment in your course choosing Assignment

from the Add an activity or resource drop down list.

3. Assign a grade for the activity. By default the grade is set to 100.

4. Within the Grade section change the grading method to Rubric.

5. Finish with the settings for your activity and click Save and display at the bottom.

a. Note: if you chose Save and return to course, click the link for the assignment before

proceeding with the next steps.

New features in 2.4


How to Create a Rubric

IMPORTANT: The total points for the rubric must equal the total points for the

assignment.

1. If on the main course page, select the link for the assignment.

2. In the Settings block do either of the following:

a. Select Advanced grading. The following screen appears allowing

you to create a rubric from scratch or select a rubric from a

template:

b. Select Define Rubric. A new page appears allowing you to create a new rubric grading

form from scratch:

3. Provide a name and description for

the rubric.

4. Add criterion and levels as needed.

5. If necessary, choose options for the

rubric.

6. Choose Save rubric and make it

ready when complete.


Marking Guide

Similar to rubrics, you create an assignment first and select Marking Guide as the grading method.

Follow these steps:

1. Turn Editing on

2. Create an assignment in your course choosing Assignment

from the Add an activity or resource drop down list.

3. Assign a grade for the activity. By default the grade is set to 100.

4. Within the Grade section change the grading method to Marking Guide.

5. Finish with the settings for your activity and click Save and display at the bottom.

a. Note: if you chose Save and return to course, click the link for the assignment before

proceeding with the next steps.

How to Create a Marking Guide

IMPORTANT: When creating a Marking Guide, the total points in the marking

guide must equal the points for the assignment.

1. Turn Editing On.

2. In the Settings block do either of the following:

a. Select the Advanced grading link. The following screen appears

allowing you to create a new grading form from scratch or select

a new grading form from a template:

b. Or select the Define Marking Guide link from the Settings block. A new page appears

allowing you to create a new Marking Guide from scratch:


3. Provide a name and description for the

Marking Guide.

4. Add criterion.

5. Add frequently used comments as

needed.

6. If necessary, choose options for the

Marking Guide.

7. Choose Save marking guide and make

it ready when complete.

Students will now see the content of the newly

created Marking Guide before they submit

within the upload page of the assignment.

My Mobile Moodle uses s a theme custom-designed for mobile devices.

Moodle automatically detects the mobile device and incorporates

the appropriate theme. Users can convert to the standard Moodle

theme on their mobile device by choosing Switch to the Standard

Theme located at the bottom.


Training Resources

Book: Moodle 2.0 First Look

http://issuu.com/livcoll/docs/packtpub.moodle.2.0.first.look.sep.2010

Tutorial

Rubric Advanced Grading Method Video Tutorial

For a video tutorial on using Rubric advanced grading method, go to:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=KXavtUhDINA#

Websites

Moodle: http://www.moodle.org

Moodle Editor: http://www.tinymce.com/

http://issuu.com/livcoll/docs/packtpub.moodle.2.0.first.look.sep.2010

http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=KXavtUhDINA

http://www.moodle.org/

http://www.tinymce.com/