Using Moodle to help with productivity and recordkeeping

Did you know that you can use Moodle for the following types of tasks?

• Uploading assignments & Grading

• Quizzes

• Forums

This tutorial will show you how to save you time and allow Moodle to do these

things for you.

*Before beginning, you should have a course set up for you as well as a username and

password. Email Dianne Krause if you need a course set up.

Using Moodle to Grade Assignments• You can create an assignment in

Moodle, allow students to upload their assignment to the Moodle, grade the assignment and post it back for a student to see their score

• Paperless and able to be done from any computer with internet access

Before we get to specifics, log into your Moodle course and be sure your editing is turned on!

Create an assignment:

• Under “Choose Activity” drop down menu, choose ‘advanced submitting of files’.

When the “Adding a New Assignment” window opens:•Give the assignment a name and short description•Use “Grade” field to assign maximum number of points•Set available (or start) date as well as due date. Leave “Prevent Late Submissions” as No if you want students to be able to submit work late. You will be able to see the date and time it was posted if you are concerned about lateness.•Advanced formatting options are self explanatory. If you want more info about a particular option, click the yellow question mark next to the item. •Click “Save and Return to Course” when finished

Creating an assignment (continued):•You will now see your assignment on your main page in the topic box that you selected. •If you want to see how your page will look for your students, choose “student” from the “Switch role to…” drop down menu.

•Creating an assignment (continued):•When viewing your page as a student, you can see that the assignment you have created is now “clickable”.•When they click on the assignment they will get a window that allows for them to browse for the file. They will select the file they want (I.e. Word document, Powerpoint, etc.) and then click upload. The can then click Send for Marking to submit to you.

Viewing student work that has been submitted for grading:•Be sure you have gone back to your role as editing teacher (button on upper right) and that your editing is turned on.•From your home page, find the button for Assignments in the Activities block to either the right or left side.

Viewing student work (continued):•You will then see a table of all assignments that you have set up in Moodle.•The assignment itself will be listed on the left of the table followed by Type, Due Date, Submitted and grade. •To see the submitted assignments, click on the blue “View X assignments link in the row for that assignment.

Viewing student work (continued):•You will see a list of all students enrolled in your course (past or present). To put those who submitted this assignment at the top, click Last Modified (student) TWICE. This will put the most recent assignments at the top of the list.

Grading student work:•You can now use the Last Submitted column to view the assignments that students have submitted for this assignment by clicking on the icon for the file.•Once you have reviewed the assignment, you can click on the box that says “Grade” next to that assignment in the table.•This will open a new window where you can use a drop down menu to assign a numerical grade. There is also a text box to leave comments. Click the ‘Save

Change” button to record the grade.

Grading student work (continued):•You will now be taken back to the table for this assignment. You can see that there is now input for that student under the Last Modified (teacher) column. This allows you to see what you have graded.•Additionally, if you correct student work directly in the document that they submitted using comments or a different color font, those changes will can be viewed by the student after you have submitted the grade.•You can then enter grades into Sapphire to become a part of your official gradebook.

Creating Quizzes using Moodle•You create the content of the questions•Create many types of questions•Best of all, Moodle can grade the quizzes for you!

Creating a Quiz•From the activity drop down menu, choose quiz

Formatting the quiz:•You will give the quiz a title and description•You will then have an opportunity to set options for the quiz.Click the yellow question next to a field to find out more about it. •Click ‘Save and Display’ to move to creating questions

Creating quiz questions:•If you click on the Create new question drop down menu, you will see the types of questions available•For purposes of this tutorial, click the multiple choice question type from the menu

Creating quiz questions (continued):•Give the question a title, then use the text box to write the question itself•You can then set values for each question (points each)•The penalty factor should match the default question grade if the student is to NOT earn points for an incorrect response

Creating quiz questions (continued):•Enter an answer for choice 1. If this is the correct answer,set the grade to 100%. If it is incorrect, set it to None from the drop down menu for Grade.•Repeat for up to five choices.

Creating quiz questions (continued):•You then have the option to provide feedback for the students when they answer. You can enter feedback for correct responses as well as partially correct or incorrect responses.•The click ‘Save changes’ at the bottom of the page

You will now be able to see a list of the questions that you have created for your quiz.

Checking Student Results:•From your home page click the quiz for which you would like to check scores

Checking student results (continued):•Click on the results tab at the top of the screen

Checking student work (continued):•All students who have completed the quiz will be shown•Time quiz was taken along with score out of the maximum number of points will be shown for each student•Record grades in Sapphire•Click individual student scores for a summary of responses to each question.•You can also then have the option to leave a comment for the student.

Using Moodle to Create a Discussion Forum

•can take the place of traditional journal writing •student responds to a prompt and participation points are earned •added benefit is that students can respond to each other if you so choose• Participation can be monitored just by checking Moodle activity without collecting and grading notebooks• You can also join in the discussion, leading to additional discussions among your class.

Creating a Discussion Forum:•Ensure that editing is turned on from your home screen•Choose Forum from the ‘Add an activity’ drop down menu

Creating a discussion forum (continued):•Give your forum a name•Choose the type of forum. Standard forum for general use is the best to get started - all can post and respond.•For information on other types of forums, click the yellow help circle next to Forum Type.

Creating a discussion forum (continued):•Your forum will now be listed under your activities for that topic on your main page.•When students click on the forum, they will read the intro and have an

opportunity to start a new discussion thread.

Creating a discussion forum (continued):•Students then have an opportunity to name their thread and respond to the prompt. They can attach files and photos if needed•Click Post to Forum to become part of the course thread.•From that point forward, all posts will be accessible through the link to the post on your main page. By clicking here you will see a list of posts, who responded and the date of their last response.•You can then translate the participation of students in the Moodle discussion into a grade in Sapphire.

That’s it!•Hopefully this quick tutorial will set you on your way with Moodle not only as a place to post calendars or extra copies of handouts, but as a place that can save you some work with the glut of paper that comes with grading!•Moodle can do a whole variety of other activities as well. Once you are comfortable with the ones presented here, try some new ones out. Their formats are all very similar.

Happy Moodling!