• Overview
  ...a rough guide to e-learning, for staff
• News and Updates

• Using the Course Materials Repository
• Using Online Coursework Submission
• Using the Plagiarism Detection Service
• Using Moodle
• Using WebCT
• Using Perception
• Using a Personal Response System

• SENDA
• Supporting Online Learning
• IPR and Copyright Guidance
• E-Learning Network (Mailing List)
• Training
• Learning and Teaching

Moodle

Supporting and monitoring students in Moodle

Supporting your students

If you are using Moodle for teaching purposes, it is recommended that you:

• Make it clear to your students, from the outset, that Moodle is being used, how it is being used and why. For example, as a means to supplement face-to-face classes, which may include lecture handouts being available online as well as extension material not covered in the classroom. If you are using Moodle for online discussions, in particular, you need to be explicit in what you expect from the students, as well as stating your commitment (for example, tutor response times to discussions).
• Make sure that your students know how to access Moodle. Guidance for students on using Moodle is available on the Moodle page for students
• Make sure that your students are comfortable using Moodle, particularly if you are planning to use a number of the interactive tools in Moodle.

Don't forget to make your course available to your students - by default, a Moodle course is set up as hidden from students (you will see it as greyed out in your course listing). This is so you can work on the course until it is ready.

• The document 'Making your course available' (PDF) gives instructions on how to make your course visible, as well as provide an overview of other criteria that need to met for a student to access the course.

PDF files require the free Adobe Reader to view them.

Monitoring your students

As well as offering all of the features that allow you to design and build your course, Moodle keeps detailed logs of all the activities that users perform in the Moodle site. As a teacher, you have access to the logs and user activity reports for your course. These can be accessed via the Reports link in the Administration block.

The Reports screen shows activity within the course. It allows tutors to see what resources are being used and when. For example a teacher can check that an individual student has viewed the resource they claim to have read, and how long. Individual user reports generate some basic graphical views of this information.

The 'Live logs from the past hour' link in the middle of the Report page (see above image) shows all the activity in the last hour, with a single click. For an administrator on the site homepage, it calls up all site activity. A teacher in a course will see just the activity for that course in the last hour.

• Monitor your students’ access to your Moodle course, particularly at the start of the module, so that you can identify student access problems.
• Inform your students that you can track their activity within the course, otherwise they may feel aggrieved that they are being spied on.