Moodle is Drew's Learning Management Software. Many professors use Moodle as a place to download the syllabus and important class readings, upload electronic files for assignments, collaborate in online groups, and participate in online forum course discussions.
Recommended Browser
Moodle works best in Firefox. There are limited features that require the use of Internet Explorer, and your Professor will let you know if you need to do so for all or part of your course. For MAC users, please use Firefox, as many Moodle features are incompatible with Safari.
Logging Into Moodle
 | 1. Be connected to the internet either on campus through the network or at home through an Internet Service Provider (ISP)
2. Open Firefox.
3. Type the URL address for Drew’s Moodle Server: https://moodle.drew.edu (no www.)
4. Type your Drew Username and Password into the Login Block on the right hand side of the Moodle Front Page. |
Note: The front page of Moodle may look different than the screen shot, as it is being modified for better usability over Summer 2009.
The Moodle homepage consists of the following blocks:
• Main Menu (links to web pages on Drew web site)
• Site News (Discussion Forums and other resources dealing with Moodle Issues)
• My Courses (courses which you are enrolled as a student)
• Updates about Moodle at Drew (Announcements regarding our Moodle Site)
• Calendar (Important upcoming events at Drew and in your Courses)
• Moodle Help (Links to documentation and helpful resources for using Moodle)
• Messages (displays your messages sent by other Moodle users)
| Generally, courses are automatically linked to the entrance page under "My Courses," so once you've logged on to Moodle just click on the name of your course. *If you don’t see a course on your Moodle site: Not all of your courses will be listed automatically in Moodle. Some professors don’t use Moodle, but if you know that one of your professors has a Moodle site for their course, and do not see the course in Moodle, speak to the professor and have them enroll you in the course manually. It also take 24 to 48 hours for classes to updated on from the registrar office to moodle. If a class was added less than 24 hours you will not be able to see it on your moodle page. 
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Course Web Page
The Course Web Page is divided into three columns, each containing blocks:
The default is the Main Content Area in the middle section of the screen. This is divided into numbered blocks by topic or by week. In the Main Content Area you will find links to files, folders, assignments, web pages, exams, and other activities and resources.
Some courses have Side-Bar Blocks. These blocks are created and arranged by your professors on the left and right hand columns of the course front page. These blocks can also have links, folders, etc. for your class.
All the blocks and main content can be minimized so the information is hidden, by pressing the little minus sign in the right hand corner of each block.
For most courses, Professors use a course forum to make important announcements about the course. These announcements are usually found at the top of the Main Content Area, and also under Latest News in a side bar block on the right. All students in your class automatically receive posted announcements by email. For example these announcements are usually quiz announcements or homework changes.
 | To view all Announcements, click on the News Forum link at the top of the Content Section. |
Moodle allows Students to interact with the course material and with each other in a variety of ways, including the Discussion Forum, Assignments (as a Digital Dropbox), Quizes, Wikis and Questionnaire activity modules. Students can also check on their progress in the class by viewing their grades. The picture below shows a number of icons for various course activities and document types. The double-face icon shown here next to the "News forum," represents a Forum. The icon with the blue W represents a Microsoft Word document. The icon next to the "ASA Style Guide" in block 2 represents a PDF document. The Icon next to "Intorduction and Part I" in block 3 represents a Microsoft PowerPoint document. Depending upon the Theme you set for your Moodle page or the professor sets for a course, icons for various activities and documents will look different.
| Depending upon the Theme used for a Moodle couse page, icons for various activities and documents will look different. The Activities Block contains a key that you can check to see what each icon means. |  |
Discussion Forum
The Discussion Forum is a communication tool for posting and responding to messages in an asynchronous manner. This means that users do not have to be present at the same time to converse online. The Discussion Forum can be a general place to post the expression of ideas and thoughts and to answer questions posted by your Professor.
Students and Instructors can add Topics to these Forums if the Instructor gives the students permission.
Posting to a Forum:
1. Select Forum button.
2. Then Select the Forum you want to post in.
3. Click on the button labeled Add a new discussion topic. (if you do not see this option then this is not a discussion forum.)
4. Fill in the Subject and Message of the discussion.
5. Select your Subscription preference (Note: Subscription means that you will receive emails from this forum every time someone posts a message to it)
6. You can attach files to your posted message, although the file size may be limited.
7. Click the Post to forum button.
In each Forum, you can reply to a topic already posted or create another topic (see above).
To read a posted topic:
1. Simply click on the link of the Topic’s subject.
2. The Message View page will appear listing the Forum, the Date, the Author, the Subject and the Message description.
To respond to the post:
1. Click on the Reply button to the bottom-right of the message.
2. The Reply Message page will appear with detailed information and the necessary fields to respond to the message.
3. Fill in the appropriate information and click the Post to forum button.
4. The threads of the Forum will begin to appear as the discussion continues.
The Assignment activity module allows teachers to collect work from students, review it, and provide feedback - including grades. Students can submit any digital content (files) including word-processed documents, spreadsheets, images, audio, and video clips. Assignments don't necessarily have to consist of file uploads, however. Teachers can ask students to type directly into Moodle using an online text assignment. There is also an offline activity Assignment which can be used to remind students of "real world" Assignments they need to complete. Teachers can use this to record grades in Moodle Activities that don't have an online component.
Uploading Single Files – 
Check the activities block to see which links are set by the professor as Assignments.
- Click on the link to the assignment - a new screen will appear in Moodle.
- Click the Browse button and a new window will pop up.
- In the new window, find your file, highlight it, and click OK.
- Click the "Upload this file" button and the Screen will say "File Uploaded Successfully;" your file is now saved to Moodle and ready for your professor to grade.
Downloading Single Files –
- Click on file you want to download from Moodle; this can be anything from an Assignment you submitted or a file your professor wants the class to have.
- The File Download dialog box will appear. Choose the Open option and press OK. This will open the file in the correct program.
- When the program file is open, Save it as you normally would - either to your computer's I:\ drive or to your F:\ drive.
The Quiz activity module allows your teacher to design and set quizzes consisting of a large variety of Question types, among them multiple choice, true-false, and short answer questions.
* This is just like answering any online quiz and if you have any questions you should ask your professor.
NOTE: First before using a Wiki your professor must create one.
Wikis are like customized, mini web pages. This section will give you a general overview of a Wiki.
A Wiki is a piece of software that allows you to create and edit Web pages. Wikis automatically link to pages on the fly, so if you type the word 'Supercallifragilisticexpialadocious' and there is a page that exists that is named Supercallifragilisticexpialadocious, these pages will automatically link to one another. You can also upload images and text into the Wiki, and even attach documents to your it. |  |
1. When you use a Wiki in Moodle, you will see four Function tabs at the top.
 | • View - Shows you your wiki how it looks at the current moment.
• Edit - Shows you the screen where you edit your Wiki.
• Links - Shows you any links that are currently in your Wiki.
• History - Shows you your Wiki in the past (There is a new section in the history every time you save your Wiki.) |
2. At the bottom of the wiki there are three more options.
• Preview - lets you see the entire wiki that you are editing (because when you are in editing mode the wiki is shrunk into the left corner of the screen.)
• Cancel - of course cancels the Wiki and nothing is saved.
• Save - saves the Wiki. Note: If you do exit out of ANY screen before saving, your changes to the wiki will not be saved. |  |
Sometimes professors will put students into Moodle groups. Groups can use moodle the same way as any student can with only slight differences.
What you can do as part of a Group
1. Receive and see group grades on assignments.
2. Share fora and assignments specific to that group. For example your professor could set up Group A and B. Now students in group A can post in forums that Group B cannot see, or maybe Group B can see group A’s posts but cannot reply in the forum. The same applies for group wiki’s.
3. Collaborate (ex. create a document) without having to do the work alone and then bring it all together. (If one student starts a project another student in the group can continue the project on moodle without any problems.)
There are numerous ways to customize Moodle and make it more individualized, look more appealing, and arrange blocks to more easily to find information. You can change the layout of the blocks by hiding or expanding them. You can also change the background coloring (theme).
Visit the Student Technology Education Lab located in the basement of Brothers College, Room 6 - across the hall from the CNS Help Desk.
You can also browse the Student Technology Education Lab Moodle Site, visit the general Moodle Help site for students, send us an Email or call us at x3003 [(973) 408 3003].
