What is Moodle?

Moodle is the name of the University’s Virtual Learning Environment (VLE).  It stores your course materials, learning activities and links to resources such as lecture recordings (kept in Panopto) and reading lists (kept in Talis). This all integrates to provide all your resources in one place.

On Moodle, you can view:

• your module information (usually in the form of a Module Handbook, or links to Module information)
• links to online resources and reading lists for your modules
• learning activities
• lecture recordings
• news, announcements and discussion forums

You can access your course and module learning materials from Moodle via your smartphone, tablet, laptop or desktop computer, although the optimal experience is through a desktop computer or laptop. Your Module Coordinator will decide what goes into the Module and how it is structured, so each module can appear slightly different, but you should be able to access all your core information and materials in Moodle.

Moodle is normally available 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, so you can choose to access it whenever you wish, both on and off campus.

A small number of Schools including Computer Science and Medicine have their own Virtual Learning Environments. If you are taking modules in these Schools, you will be given information about their VLE arrangements when you join.

Accessing Moodle

Moodle can be accessed via MySaint. (which is a page that gives you direct access to some key University resources). Click on the MyCourses link on the menu, then choosing the ‘Moodle’ link beneath any of your modules. Using this method will take you directly to the Moodle page for that particular module.

It is also possible to access Moodle directly through the University Moodle site.  You will be asked to log in to the site using your normal University username and password.

Moodle Home Page

On first logging into University Moodle, you will see the Moodle Home Page. On this page, you will see a list of all the Moodle modules you are currently registered on under the My courses heading.  Clicking on the course name will give you access to the Moodle content for that module. You can also search for module using the course search box.

Moodle Dashboard

After logging onto Moodle, the Moodle dashboard can be accessed by clicking on the Moodle Dashboard link at the top of the Moodle home page.

The dashboard gives you links to courses you have accessed recently, along with a calendar and list of upcoming events related to your modules. These will be available to you after you have completed matriculation (registration) and made your module choices.

Viewing course content on Moodle.

Once you are logged in to Moodle, click on the link to your course from the My Courses section on the Moodle Home page. Alternatively, from MySaint, go to the MyModules portlet and then click on the Moodle link below the module title.

After selecting the module in Moodle, you will see the Moodle module page for your chosen course. At the top of this page, you will be able to view important course information such as the course outline, contact information for your lecturer, class times and the location of lectures and tutorials.

At the top of the page, you will also see a general section containing links giving access to:

• lecture recordings (Panopto),
• course reading lists (Talis) and
• course announcements.

Lecturers will also often post a copy of the Module Handbook here too, which contains important course information in a downloadable format.

Below the general section, Lecturers will upload course learning materials. This will often be organised by week, or by topic. In each week, or topic, you may find additional learning materials such as Powerpoint presentations, PDF files and course notes along with learning activities such as quizzes and discussion tools.

Module Index

At the top left of the Moodle course page, you will see the course index icon. This resembles the index page of a book. Clicking on the icon will open the course index.

To hide the index, click on the cross icon.

Collapsing Sections

Moodle allows you to collapse course sections to make navigation easier. To expand or collapse a section, click the arrow to the left of the section title.

Click this icon to collapse or expand the section

It is also possible to  collapse or expand all sections by clicking on the Collapse all or Expand all link at the top of the course page

Completion Tracking

As you work through Moodle, you can keep track of what you have read or completed, by marking it as done. To mark content as done, click the Mark as Done button to the right of each item.

Once you have clicked the button, it will turn green with a check mark, to indicate that you have completed that task. Clicking the done button once more will reset the status if you wish to mark the content as not complete.

If the mark as complete buttons are not visible, completion tracking may not have been enabled for you module. In that case, contact your tutor in the first instance.

I can’t see my modules in Moodle.

After joining the University, you may occasionally find that one or more modules that you are expecting to see are not displayed in MySaint, MMS or Moodle.

This can sometimes happen if you have not completed matriculation, or have requested a module change. Normally, once your Advisor has approved the module change on the student records system, your module will appear on MySaint and Moodle shortly afterwards.

If you can see the module listed in MySaint and MMS but Moodle is displaying a message indicating that the module is not available, it may mean that your module coordinator is still updating the module content and has temporarily hidden it from view.  In this case, contact your Module Coordinator for further advice.

Further assistance

For advice and assistance about using Moodle, please contact the IT Service desk in the first instance by emailing [email protected] or log a call via the Self-service system. There is also an IT Helpdesk available in the main university Library.

Time to think! (10 mins) 
Make a note of the things you want to check in Moodle, once you have access.
– Are all your modules showing?
– Who can you ask if you have a problem?
– What information can you find in each Module?