General
Welcome! This guide will get you oriented to using Moodle.
If you can't find answer to your question, feel free to email moodle@hampshire.edu.
Topic outline
Finding Your Course Websites
First things first, let's make sure you can access the websites for your classes this semester!
Once you're logged in, you'll see the Courses block on the right (it might be down towards the bottom).
Whoops, missing links to your courses? See below.
Looking for course websites at one of the other five colleges? Check with the professor or registrar at that college, each handles course website access a little differently. Hampshire's Moodle system is just for Hampshire classes.
Files & Readings
The most common use of Moodle is to distribute readings and material for class. You'll see them as links in the sections of the course website, like this:
When you click these links, a couple different things might happen, depending on your browser.
1. You might be prompted to download and save the file. Pay attention to where on your computer it's being saved!
2. It may save straight to your desktop or downloads folder. Your browser should have a "Downloads" window which can help you find the file.
3. It may open in a separate window like this:
- If you click "print" in your browser (File Menu > Print, for example) when the screen looks like this, it will not print the file.
- You are viewing a Moodle webpage with a snapshop of the file, not the actual file.
- To print it, you need to save the file to your computer and then open it to print it.
- You may have buttons like those pictured for saving or printing a PDF, those will work.
Discussion Forums
Your instructor may set up discussion forums for your classes. Here's how they work.
Anywhere you see a text editor like this...
...you can insert images and media (this is new to Moodle 2!). This goes for forums, wikis, assignments, etc! Here's how to do it.
Assignments
Your instructor may have you submit assignments to them, online, through Moodle. Here's how.
You can add files to Moodle directly from your Google Docs or Dropbox accounts. You can use this for assignment submissions, or to add links to files anywhere you can enter text. It copies the file into Moodle, so it won't reflect any updates you make in Google Docs.
Your Profile
The main change in Moodle is how files are handled. The "Files" section is no more, but if you like to organize your files or do mass uploads, you have two options: Private Files, or creating a Course Files folder. Click below for the pro's and con's of each.
If you're fine with uploading things one at a time you can ignore this whole section.
Your "profile" in Moodle stores your contact information and preferences.