Moodle - Wisenet Resources

Official Moodle site: Moodle.org

Videos:

Introducing Moodle

Moodle is a free online Learning Management System (LMS). It is designed and built to support both teaching and learning for both blended and 100% online courses. You can download the software onto your own web server or enquire about our hosting services to assist you with setting up the platform.

FYI: We support Moodle version 3.11

Still on an old Moodle version and want to upgrade? Learn More about our Moodle Upgrade process.

Why Moodle?

Open Source software
Use anytime, anywhere, on any device
Easy to learn and use
Simple interface
Drag and Drop features
Highly flexible and fully customisable

1. Set Up and Configure

Required Access: Moodle Administrator

As your Moodle host, we will install the Moodle system which will be an empty Moodle site ready for you to set up and configure once we send you the Moodle site details.

IMPORTANT NOTES:

Only Moodle Administrators can access Site Administration settings. You can adjust settings that affect your whole Moodle both in look and in functioning for all users.
Use caution in editing Site Administration settings.
Site Administration can be accessed in the Side Navigation and depending on your Theme, it may be on the left or the right, or you may need to click on a tab to open up the side navigation.

1.1 Create, Edit, Manage Role Permissions

There are several user roles in Moodle and each role has different access permissions. The most common examples are the roles of student and teacher. When you understand the different user roles and access rights, you can take advantage of them and perform more advanced tasks.

LEARN MORE: Roles and Permissions

1.2 Site Appearance

Theme – Themes control the look of the overall site and it also generally includes a settings page that allows the administrator to quickly control common configuration settings for branding such as adding custom colors or your organisation’s logo. On the Theme Selector page, you can assign a default theme for your site and separate themes for older legacy browsers, small screen mobile devices and larger screen tablets. The process for setting a theme is always the same.
Set up the front (Home) page – Front page settings are found under Site Administration. Change the full name and short name if needed. (The short name shows in the navigation bar.) Decide what should be shown on the front page – i.e. news items, courses, course categories or none of these things? The same or different for logged in and non-logged in users? As for other settings, they can always be changed later.
Set your default language – Navigate to Site administration > Language > Language settings. Moodle defaults to common English; if you need US English or another language, add that in Language > Language pack first then you can set it as the default.
Set default time zone – Set your default time zone and country in Site administration > Location > Location settings.

LEARN MORE: Site Appearance

1.3 File Upload Limit

Upload file sizes are restricted in a number of ways and each one in this list restricts the following ones:

Server level – As your host, we set a limit on the maximum file upload size in the server environment. You will not have access to modify the maximum limit set at Server level.
Moodle site level – By default, your Moodle Site will have a File Upload limit of 100 MB maximum. If you require the size limit to be increased, you can do so by logging a support request and advise us the maximum limit you require and why. Please note, there may be a cost associated with this request if approved.
Course level – At Course level you can decide the largest size of file that students can upload to a course (no bigger than the maximum limit set at Site level which is 100 MB maximum). Site Administrators and Teachers with access to update will be able to change this in Course Settings by navigating to Course Administration for the relevant course, then click on Edit Settings, and Under Files and Uploads, select a file upload size limit relevant to your requirement.
Activity level – The maximum upload size at Activity level refers to each file a student uploads and this can be set manually by Admin or Teacher in Assignment Settings. On the relevant Course page, make sure that you have Editing Turned On. This will then provide you with the option to edit settings next to each activity on this Course page. Next to the relevant Assignment Activity, click on Edit and select Edit Settings. Click to expand Submission types, and change the Maximum submission size relevant to your requirement. Note that it cannot be larger than the limit set at Course level.

LEARN MORE: Managing File in Moodle

1.4 Custom and Third-Party Plugins

You can extend the core functionality of Moodle via plugins. Moodle provides you with a directory of custom plugins that you can try and install if required. You may also purchase and install third-party plugins compatible with your version of Moodle.

IMPORTANT NOTE: Wisenet does NOT install custom and third-party plugins for you, however, as your Moodle host, if you encounter installation issues with a custom plugin that is in the Moodle directory or a third-party plugin that you have purchased, we can help you with installation. Simply log a support ticket and provide us with details of the plugins and what issues you are facing with the installation process. For third-party plugins, you need to provide us with the purchased files.

While we may help you with the installation process, what we do NOT help with, are:

To configure the plugins
To troubleshoot issues with the plugins

For any configuration and troubleshooting of custom and third-party plugins you will need to contact the plugin developers.

NOTES:

Some plugins are very simple to upload and some are quite complex. There generally will be no charge for simple plugins; however, we may charge you to upload more complex plugins due to the time involved. We will always provide you with a quote before installing a plugin that we require payment for.
Wisenet cannot provide support or training on third party/contributed plugins. You can get community help at Moodle.org forums or contact the plugin developer/maintainer. For Moodle plugin directory plugins, there will be a contact link on the plugin download page.

LEARN MORE: Installing Plugins

Basic Course Set Up

Required Access: Moodle Administrator OR any of the following roles depending on access level set: Course Creator; Manager; Teacher

PLEASE NOTE: Wisenet is NOT responsible for your Moodle content, however we can provide guidance with some best practices for setting up Courses and Course Categories in Moodle.

IMPORTANT THINGS TO CONSIDER BEFORE SETTING UP A COURSE IN MOODLE:

How do you want your Learners to access units/modules?

- If you want your Learners to be enrolled into only one unit at a time, then create each unit as a course.
- If you want your Learners to be enrolled in clusters / units of study, then create each cluster / unit of study as a course.
- If you want your Learners to be enrolled into the entire course but have restricted access into units, then create the entire qualification as a course. Then, apply restrictions to each topic/assessment. See Restrict access settings

How do you want to organise your Courses? See Course categories.

- Note: If you are creating your units as courses, then create your course/qualification as the category. You can also create your faculty as the category and course as your sub category.

What is your delivery strategy/format? See Course Formats
Do you have trainer resources that require to be hidden within a course? See Enabling Stealth Activities

2.1 Set Up your default Dashboard

Dashboard is the default home page for logged in users and it can be customised by an Administrator. This is where your Learners will see their Course overview, details of their progress, any upcoming deadlines and other important information you would like to publish on your dashboard.

LEARN MORE: Dashboard

2.2 Set Up your Moodle Courses

A Course in Moodle is an area where you can add content consisting of both resources and activities for Learners to complete. A Moodle Course can look very different according to the theme and course format. As a course teacher and/or administrator, you have control over the layout of the course homepage and can change it at any time.

Courses – how to set up your courses.
Editing text – how to use the text editor and what the icons mean.
Activities – how to involve students actively in their learning.
Resources – how to add static materials to your course.
Blocks – how to add extra items and information to the sides of your course page.
Questions – how to create questions for use in quizzes and Moodle’s lesson module
Course enrolment – how to give students access to your course.
Grouping users – how to put students into groups and why this is useful.
Grades – how to use the gradebook, scales and advanced grading methods.
Tracking progress – how to control and display progress through a course.
Reusing activities – how to copy or recycle elements of your course.

LEARN MORE: Moodle Courses

2.3 Group your Moodle Courses into Categories

Course Categories are where you can group your courses to make it easier for your teachers and learners to easily find their online courses. For example you can organise your courses by qualification type or level; by intake date and year, etc.

LEARN MORE: Moodle Course Categories

2.4 Adding Users to Moodle

A Moodle User is one with access to your Moodle site. So before you can give Teachers, Managers and Learners access to a Moodle course you first need to add them to your Moodle site.

Users can be added to your site in several ways. The process of creating a User in Moodle is called Authentication, and there are many methods to authenticate a User in Moodle, including using Wisenet’s Authentication method.

When a User is given access to a Moodle Course, they become an Enrolment (see more details about Enrolment in section 2.5 and 2.6 below).

NOTES:

Only administrators are allowed to add Users to a site.
Course Teachers can only add Learners to their course and do not have permission to add Users to the site.

IMPORTANT:

To use our Elearning Integration features to authenticate and enrol Learners into Moodle, we suggest reading Step 3 below.
To use other authentication methods, learn more about Adding Users in Moodle

2.5 Add Moodle Teachers and Course Managers

Teachers can do almost anything within a course, including adding or changing the activities and grading learners. By default, teachers can also assign a Non-editing teacher role and a Learner role to other users. By default users are not assigned the role of Teacher throughout the site, but are only assigned (enrolled) as a teacher to a single course/class at a time. The same applies to learners. Teachers can only teach in the courses they have been enrolled in.

The Manager role allows a site Administrator to give very powerful roles to others who are assigned a Manager role, but without having to give them a full Administrator role. They can access courses and modify them, as well as perform certain administrative level tasks related to courses, users, grade settings, etc.

LEARN MORE: How to Add and Remove Moodle Teachers and Course Managers

2.6 Enrol Learners into Moodle Course

The process of adding Learners into Moodle courses is called Enrolment and there are various methods of enrolling Learners.

If you are using Wisenet LRM and already have Learners into the system, we then recommend you look at our Elearning Integration to learn how you can simplify managing Elearning Users, Enrolments, Groups (see more details in Step 3: Integration below)

If you are using Moodle LMS as a standalone product, you can learn more about Moodle Course Enrolment.

Integrate Moodle with Wisenet

Required Access: Moodle Administrator AND Wisenet LRM Administrator

3.1 Set Up Moodle Connected App

This step is within the Connected Apps section of Wisenet and it should be a one time process. It is important to follow the steps comprehensively to establish a two-way integration to sync Elearning Courses, Elearning Enrolments and Grades.

LEARN MORE: How to Set Up Moodle Connected App

3.2 Set Up Elearning Enrolments Rules

Elearning Enrolment Rules are set against Course Enrolments and Unit Enrolments. You will use the rules to automate the Elearning enrolment process. For example, you can set rules around enabling Elearning access with reference to Course Enrolment or Unit Enrolment Start and End Date.

LEARN MORE: How to Set Up Elearning Enrolment Rules in Wisenet

3.3 Link Elearning Courses to Wisenet Course Offers

With the help of the WebHooks plugin installed in your LMS, you will be able to:

Retrieved Courses from your LMS and link them to their respective Course Offers in Wisenet
Sync changes that occurs in your LMS Courses to auto-update in your Wisenet Course Offers, such as: Course Name, Course Start and End Dates

LEARN MORE: How to Link Elearning Courses to Wisenet Course Offers

3.4 Add, Edit or Delete Elearning Enrolments in Wisenet

Once Elearning Courses have been linked to Wisenet Course Offers and Unit Offers you can then manage the Elearning Enrolments. Elearning Enrolments can be managed from either

Course Offer > Elearning > Enrolments
Learner > Learner Access > Elearning

Here you can add, edit, delete or resync Elearning Enrolments.

LEARN MORE: How to Add, Edit, Delete Elearning Enrolments

3.5 Set Up Auto Grade (For Premium Edition only)

Admin users can define multiple Auto Grade Rules and configure conditions to automatically update certain Unit Enrolment fields when a grade is submitted to Wisenet from Canvas. The Unit Enrolment field called ‘Final’ will be automatically set to the received grade value.

LEARN MORE: