How to Build Your Course in Moodle

How to Build Your Course in Moodle

This tutorial will show you the basic functions of how to add and edit content to
build your course in Moodle.

To add or alter activities or resources, you will need to turn editing on and off with a
button on the upper right corner of the screen. When you click Turn editing on, this
will change the look of the page slightly and you will be able to see a variety of editing
icons next to all editable objects in your course.

Part I. Adding Content

Weekly Outline < Edit Summary

In the middle of the screen, under each “Weekly Outline”, you will find a small
notepad icon ( ) for “Edit Summary”. Edit summary will allow you to add a brief
description of the weekly
activities in your course.

A course in
Moodle is created by
adding resources and
activities.

In order to add or
alter resources and
activities under each
week, you will find Add

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 How to Build Your Course in Moodle
a resource and Add an activity. In each weekly outline box, two “Add” boxes will be
shown.

[Add a resource]

Resources
are content:
information the
instructor wants
to bring into the
course. These can
be prepared files
uploaded to the
course; pages
edited directly in
Moodle; or
external websites
made to appear
as part of the course.

1. click the “Add a resource”

2. “Insert a label” will allow you to

embed instructions or information in
the course section.

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3. “Compose a text
page”

a. type the title type the title here

(‘name’ area) and
summary

type the summary here

b. type the full text (‘Compose a

text’)
type the full text here

c. select whether or not the

content will be shown in the
‘same window’ or in a ‘new
window’

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d. click “Save changes and

display” or “save changes and
return to course”

e. click “Update this resource” if

you found errors or would like to

update the content you just uploaded

4. “Compose a Web page”- Creating a

web page in Moodle works exactly the
same as a creating text page. Please
follow the previous steps to create a
web page.

5. “Link to a file or website” You

can also add resources in electronic
form by using this menu.

a. Type the title of the message

as shown above in
“compose a text or web
page”.

b. In order to link to a file, click

“Choose or upload a file”

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 How to Build Your Course in Moodle

c. and then click “Upload a file”

d. browse for file you would like to upload from

your local computer.

e. select the file name you wish to

upload and click “open”.

f. click “Choose” under Action. Then, the

file will be shown in the Location box.

g. When you’re done uploading

your file, please click “Save
changes and display” or “Save
changes and return to course”
and you will be able to view the
file you just uploaded to your
course.

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 How to Build Your Course in Moodle
i. link to a website as your course
resource, once again type the title
of the message as shown above in
“compose a text or web page”.
Next, type the URL for your
chosen website in the Location
box. You can also search for the
URL by clicking “Search for web
pages”. When you have finished
adding the URL, please click
“Save changes and display” or “Save changes and return to course” and ensure the
website is displaying properly.

6. “Display a directory” will let your

students see all the files in your course
and select a file themselves.

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 How to Build Your Course in Moodle
[Add an activity]

Next, we’ll show you how to add

activities to your course.

There are a number of interactive

learning activities that you may
add to your course. In this
tutorial, we will focus on a few
critical functions you need to
build your online course: In this
section we’ll cover Assignments
and Forums. (Additional
activities will be introduced in
Moodle tutorial sections 3 as part
of your Education Online faculty
orientation.)

1. Assignments allows the instructor to specify a task that requires students to

prepare digital content and submit it by
uploading it to the Moodle server.
Typical assignments include essays,
projects, reports and so on.

a. “Advanced uploading of files”- This

activity is useful when you want your
students to turn in multiple files (Word
Document, Excel Files, etc…) as an
assignment.

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 How to Build Your Course in Moodle

General Options
• Assignment name – is
required, but can be anything
you like.

• Description - is also
required and describes the
assignment. It has full
formatting using the toolbar
(bold, underline, images,
etc.).

• Grade – you can set the

grade in the given ranges (from
1-100) or leave it as default.

• Available from – lets you pick the date that your students will begin to have
access to this assignment.

• Due Date - sets the

date the assignment is due.

• Prevent late
submissions - if set to “Yes”
then students can submit
their assignment after the
Due Date. Otherwise they will not be able to submit a late assignment.

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Advanced Options

Advanced uploading of files- this box lets you customize uploading file functions to your
course. We recommend that until you are comfortable with Moodle you leave this
setting on the default.
• Maximum size – lets you choose the maximum size of the files which will be
uploaded

• Allow deleting - If enabled, students may delete uploaded files at any time
before grading.

• Maximum number of uploaded files – This is the maximum number of files

each student may upload. This number is not shown to students, so it’s best to write the
actual number of requested files in the assignment description.

• Allow notes - If enabled, students may enter notes into a text area. It is similar to
an online text assignment. This text box can be used for communication with the
grading person, assignment progress description or any other written activity.

• Hide description before available date - If enabled, assignment description is

hidden before the opening date.

• Email alerts to teachers- If enabled, teachers are alerted with a short email
whenever students add or update an assignment submission.

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Common settings

The last two settings are common to all activities. Just keep in mind that these options
will always be available to you in any activity that you create:

• Group mode - The group mode for each activity can be one of three levels:
- No groups - there are no sub-groups
- Separate groups - each group can only see their own group, others are invisible
- Visible groups - each group works within their own group, but can see other groups

• Visible – If set to show, students will see the assignment. If not, the assignment
will be hidden. This is useful if you want to prepare an assignment in advance (like a
pop-quiz).

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Note:
1. When you finish configuring your assignment, click “save changes and display”. The
assignment will be shown.

2. When you finish configuring your assignment, click “save changes and return to
course”. You will return to the course homepage.

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2. “Forums” are the spaces where most discussions take place. Forums can be
structured in different ways, and can include peer ratings of each posting. The
postings can be viewed in a variety for formats, and can include attachments.

By ‘subscribing’ to a
forum, participants will
receive copies of each
new posting in their
email. As an instructor,
you have the option to
select
subscriptions
for all of the
students.

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 How to Build Your Course in Moodle
Part II. Editing content
This part will show you common settings to edit your course.

As common module settings in

the weekly outline area, the
open eye indicates that the
resource is visible. If you click
on the eye, the color of the eye
will be faded. Then the
resource will be invisible (to
students).

shows only one week for students and

will show all the weeks.

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 How to Build Your Course in Moodle

The Red X is used to indicate the option to delete resources and activities (with a
warning).

These arrows move

things up and down, and left
and right and can be used
for indentions of the listed
texts.

-this icon lets you

update the current
contents.

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** Icon summary:

Icon Effect Icon Effect Icon Effect Icon Effect

Move
Edit/ Update item faded/Hide item Delete/Remove
(up/down)
Indent/shift left
See all weeks/topics Open/Show Item Move here
or right
See one week/topic Help

There are other functions Moodle provides to assist you in building your course. If you
would like to know more about the other functions not explained in this tutorial, please
consult the Education Online Staff.

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