Getting Started with Moodle

Moodle gives teachers a quick and easy way to post resources and activities online for students. With the expansion of the Digital Renaissance, now is the time to start using Moodle with your students.

You can access Moodle by going to learn.bcbe.org.

After logging in, these are the first things you’ll do to start using Moodle:

1. Request a course – A Course is where teachers post activities and resources for students. You can have as many courses as you want. Some teachers set up a separate course for each period or subject that they teach. Some teachers that teach the same subject all day prefer to have a single course with all students in it.
2. Add a file – Any file you have on your computer can be added to your Moodle course so students can access it. This allows you to post a syllabus, worksheets, PowerPoint presentations, study guides, movies, Smart files, Promethean files, etc. Anything that you might have printed to give to them in the past can now be posted so they can download it.
3. Add a link – Create links to websites that you want students to be able to access easily.
4. Add an assignment – A Moodle Assignment is an activity that allows students to turn in a file to the teacher. Any file students have on their computer can be submitted through an Assignment, such as a document, spreadsheet, presentation or movie.
5. Have students log in – Moodle accounts have been created for all students already using information from INow.

Detailed instructions for all five of these steps can be found in the Moodle Help course at learn.bcbe.org. Click here to go to to the Moodle Help course then look for the links under the Tutorials and Training Handouts section.

Classroom Example

A typical assignment for many classrooms is for the teacher to give students a study guide for an upcoming exam. This can be accomplished in Moodle easily and efficiently following these steps:

1. The teacher adds the blank study guide to Moodle – Create the blank study guide a Word file on your computer. Use the Add a file instructions to post that file in your Moodle course.
2. Students download the blank study guide and save it to their computer.
3. Students add their answers to the study guide file they saved.
4. The teacher creates a Moodle Assignment.
5. Students go to the Assignment, browse for the file on their computer and upload their completed study guide file for grading.
6. The teacher goes to the Assignment and can see all of the files students have submitted. The files can be opened individually or you can download all student files at once.
7. The teacher can enter a grade for each student.
8. Students can see the grade they received.

This can save you time making copies, distributing and collecting papers, and when grading their assignments. In addition to learning the content in the study guide, students also learn valuable computer skills.