How to access modules or course activities in Moodle?

Within Moodle there are a range of modules or course activities such as:

1. Resource – display of many types of media content files by a single link on the course page eg Word, PowerPoint, Flash, video formats, audio formats.

2. Lesson – students make choices to questions that lead to branching of content.3. Glossary – allows participants to create and maintain a list of definitions, like a

dictionary.4. Book – a book is a simple multi-page study material (Note: The book module is a 3rd

party plug-in to the Moodle interface).5. Database – place for the teacher and/or students to build, display and search a bank of

resources on a given topic.6. Wiki – a series of web pages that anyone can add to or edit.7. Choice – this is like a single question poll and can either be used to vote on something,

or to get feedback from every student.8. Quiz – revision questions with automatic scoring.9. Survey – instruments for analysing online classes with feedback provided to the

student of their results compared to the class averages.10. Chat – allows smooth, synchronous text interaction.11. Forum – discussion threads can be set up by the teacher.12. Assignment – students can submit any digital content (files), including, for example,

word-processed documents, spreadsheets, images, audio and video clips, alternatively, teachers can ask students to type directly into Moodle using an online text assignment.

13. Gradebook – allows a student to see only their own grades.

Note: Each module or course activity has its own individual icon for easy identification.

Resource moduleResources are content: information the teacher wants to bring into the course. These can be prepared files uploaded to the course server, pages edited directly in Moodle, or external web pages made to appear part of this course.

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Some features of the resource module include:

Resources can display many types of media content files by a single link on the course page, such as: o Word, PowerPoint, Flash, Video formats, Audio formats o internal web pages (HTML formatted) can be created with HTML editor tool o internal text pages (no formatting) o files can be stored locally or the link point to remote locations

Folders can be created and managed in the course and students given a link to the folder.

External content on the web can be linked to or seamlessly included within the course interface.

External web applications can be linked to with data passed to them.

Lesson moduleA lesson delivers content in an interesting and flexible way. It consists of a number of pages. Each page normally ends with a question and a number of possible answers. Depending on the student's choice of answer they either progress to the next page or are taken back to a previous page. Navigation through the lesson can be straight forward or complex, depending largely on the structure of the material being presented.

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Some features of the lesson module include:

Pages can allow students to make choices by their answers to questions or by selecting a button with a description: o this allows for a simple slide show type of presentation, with questions. o it allows for a branching, adaptive presentation based upon a student's specific

choiceo navigation through the lesson can be straight forward or complex, logical or

random. Jumps are associated with each choice that link to other lesson pages:

o jumps can be to a specific page or to a random page or a page not seen by the student.

Choices that are answers to questions and can be scored and given individual feedback: o question pages include multiple choice, multi-answer, true/false, numeric, short

answer and essay Lessons can have:

o different scoring and grading potentials o a build upon each other through conditional dependencies upon one another o more than one student attempt, time limits, minimum score and retakes can be

seto progress bars, running score, reinforcement to student questions o password, start and end times, and other restrictions can be placed on students.

Pages can be created one at a time or imported.

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Glossary moduleThis activity allows participants to create and maintain a list of definitions, like a dictionary. The entries can be searched or browsed in many different formats. The glossary also allows teachers to export entries from one glossary to another (the main one) within the same course. Finally, it is possible to automatically create links to these entries from throughout the course.

Some features of the glossary module include:

Allows participants to create and maintain a list of definitions, like a dictionary. Student entries can be previewed by instructors before publishing. Entries can be searched or browsed using alphabet, category, date, and author. A glossary of terms can be easily referenced by students. Almost any module of Moodle can be set to hyperlink - automatically - to any word or

phrase that is stored in or added to the glossary. Glossary items can be grouped in categories. Participants can comment on glossary entries. Entries can be rated using teacher-defined scales. Glossaries can be easily exported and imported via xml. Glossaries can be fully searched. Glossaries can be viewed with different display formats.

Book module The book module is designed for creation of short multi-page study materials. Only teachers can create and edit books. Long documents will usually be in PDF format.

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Some features of the book module include:

A student has the option to print the entire book or a particular chapter from the book.

At present there is only one way of searching – by use of the browser's search capability in print page.

Database module The database module allows the teacher and/or students to build, display and search a bank of record entries about any conceivable topic.

The database module could be used to:

Allow collaboration on building a collection of web links/books/journal references related to a particular subject.

Display student created photos/posters/websites/poems for peer comment and review.

Gather comments and votes on a shortlist of potential logos/mascot names/project ideas.

Provide a student file storage area. Maintain a log of what was done in a face-to-face class each day, so that absent

students can get caught up themselves.

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Print options

Some features of the database module include:

The format and structure of entries can be almost unlimited, including images, files, URLs, numbers and text amongst other things.

Old versions are never deleted and can be restored.

Wiki moduleA wiki enables documents to be authored collectively in a simple mark-up language using a web browser. The Moodle wiki module enables participants to work together on web pages to add, expand and change the content.

Some features of the wiki module include:

Supports groups.

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Choice moduleA choice activity is very simple – the teacher asks a question and specifies a choice of multiple responses. It can be useful as a quick poll to stimulate thinking about a topic, to allow the class to vote on a direction for the course, or to gather research consent. The choice module is like a single question poll – can either be used to vote on something, or to get feedback from every student.

Some features of the choice module include:

Teacher sees intuitive table view of who chose what. Students can optionally be allowed to see an up-to-date graph of results.

Quiz moduleThis module allows the teacher to design and set quiz tests, consisting of multiple choice, true-false, and short answer questions. These questions are kept in a categorised database, and can be re-used within courses and even between courses. Quizzes can allow multiple attempts. Each attempt is automatically marked, and the teacher can choose whether to give feedback or to show correct answers. This module includes grading facilities.

Some features of the quiz module include:

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Quizzes are automatically graded, and can be re-graded if questions are modified There are many quiz settings options, such as:

o quizzes can have a limited time window outside of which they are not available.o at the teacher's option, quizzes can be attempted multiple times, and can show

feedback and/or correct answerso quiz questions and quiz answers can be shuffled (randomised) to reduce cheating o quizzes can be attempted multiple times, if desired o attempts can be cumulative, if desired, and finished over several sessions

Questions allow HTML formatting, images and have a friendly tool bar. Questions can be imported or exported in many file formats. There are more than 10 question types, each with different scoring methods, such as:

o multiple-choice questions supporting single or multiple answers o short answer questions (words or phrases) o true/false questions o matching questions o random questionso numerical questions (with allowable ranges)o embedded-answer questions (cloze style) with answers within passages of texto embedded descriptive text and graphics is possible in questions.

Survey moduleThe Survey module provides a number of verified survey instruments that have been found useful in assessing and stimulating learning in online environments. Teachers can use these to gather data from their students that will help them learn about their class and reflect on their own teaching.

Some features of the survey module include:

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Online survey reports always available, including many graphs – data is downloadable as an Excel spreadsheet or CSV text file.

Survey interface prevents partly-finished surveys. Feedback is provided to the student of their results compared to the class averages.

Chat moduleThe chat module allows participants to have a real-time synchronous discussion via the web. This is a useful way to get a different understanding of each other and the topic being discussed – the mode of using a chat room is quite different from the asynchronous forums. The chat module contains a number of features for managing and reviewing chat discussions.

Some features of the chat module include:

They can be limited to group members or roles, or be for anyone in the course. Includes profile pictures in the chat window. Supports URLs, smileys, embedded HTML, images etc. All sessions are logged for later viewing, and these can also be made available to

students.

Forum moduleThis activity can be the most important – it is here that most discussion takes place. Forums can be structured in different ways, and can include peer rating 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. A teacher can impose subscription on everyone if they want to.

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Some features of the forum module include:

Different types of forums are available, such as teacher-only, course news, open-to-all, and one-thread-per-user.

There are several options for emailing forum posts to members of the course. All postings have the author’s photo attached. Discussions can be viewed nested, flat or threaded, oldest or newest first. Robust subscription methods for each forum:

o individual forums can be subscribed to by each person o teacher can force subscription for all members of the course, either initially or

permanently. Groups features allow options for more entry and viewing limitations for students. The teacher can choose not to allow replies to their posts or announcements. Discussion threads can be moved between forums or split by the teacher. Attachments can be made to posts and shown as part of message. Forum ratings can be used – these can be restricted to a range of dates.

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Assignment module

Some features of the assignment module include:

Assignments can be specified with a due date and a maximum grade. Students can upload their assignments (any file format) to the server – they are date-

stamped. Late assignments are allowed, but the amount of lateness is shown clearly to the

teacher. For each particular assignment, the whole class can be assessed (grade and comment)

on one page in one form. Teacher feedback is appended to the assignment page for each student, and

notification is mailed out. The teacher can choose to allow resubmission of assignments after grading (for

regrading) Allowing resubmissions can allow the teacher to monitor student projects/assignments

as they evolve. Advanced assignments can allow multiple files to be uploaded – this could keep

together preplanning maps, outlines, research papers and presentations.

Gradebook moduleMany activities in Moodle, such as assignments, forums and quizzes may be given grades. Grades can be calculated, aggregated and displayed in a variety of ways depending on how the

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teacher has set them up. Grades may have numerical values, or words/phrases from a scale or rating system.

Some features of the gradebook module include:

The gradebook allows a student to see only their own grades, never another student’s. Grades can also be used as outcomes and as arbitrary text attributed to each

participant in a course.

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