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Moodle learning management system (LMS)

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The Moodle (abbreviation for Modular Object-Oriented Dynamic Learning Environment) learning management system (LMS) is a secure web-based environment used for the development and delivery of course activities and resources. Moodle allows teachers to organize and store course content in a secure web-based environment which their students can access from anywhere at any time. Teachers can post, collect, and grade assignments, administer quizzes, host online discussions, share resources and more.

Related policy: Scope and guidelines for Moodle use

Who can use it?

Faculty, staff and students.

How much does it cost?

There is no cost associated with this service.

How to get it

Moodle courses are automatically created several weeks before the beginning of a semester. Teachers and students are added to the sites by an automatic process.

How to access Moodle:

  1. Students can access their courses from the Student Hub's Moodle page.
  2. Faculty can access their courses and resources from Carrefour's Moodle page.
  3. Alternatively, you can log in directly at moodle.concordia.ca using your Concordia netname and password. Your courses will appear on the right-hand side in the My Concordia Courses block.
Screen capture of the My Concordia Courses block in Moodle

Teachers/professors: Newly created courses are hidden by default. To access the hidden courses, click on 'More courses (including new courses)' below your visible courses.

Service availability

24/7

Documentation

This documentation describes the life cycle of Moodle courses at Concordia University and applies to official courses students are enrolled in through the Student Information System (SIS).

These standards comply with the records and retention guidelines concerning teaching materials.

Course creation (one month before start of term)

  1. All Moodle courses are automatically created in an empty shell state.
  2. Instructors are assigned to their courses automatically.
  3. Prior to, or at the start of term, courses are made active (accessible to students) by instructors.

Course completion (end of term)

  1. Following the end of term, courses remain on Moodle for 3 years.
  2. Instructors retain read/write access to courses during the 3 years.
  3. Students retain access the course for six months after the end of the term.

Moodle server course removal (after 3 years)

  1. Each February, all Moodle courses over 3 years old are removed and stored in a non-live, non-accessible state for a period of 5 years.
  2. During the 5-year storage period, courses can be retrieved upon request by contacting the IT Service Desk.
  3. Following the 5-year storage period, courses will be permanently deleted with advance notice.

Instructors can download all instructional files in a Moodle course posted by a teacher or a teaching assistant. All files that have been posted on the course homepage or within the activities (such as assignment, forum, quiz, etc.), will be downloaded into one folder.

*Note that student submissions and files will not be downloaded into the folder.

Follow the steps below to download all instructional files for a course:

  1. Log into Moodle and go to the course from which you wish to download the files.
  2. Click on the  Adminstration Gear on the top right , click on Download instructor files. A zipped folder will be downloaded onto your computer (this will differ depending on your browser’s settings).
Screen capture of Moodle interface to download instructor files
  1. Locate the folder and unzip it. All files will be contained in a single file without any sub-folder.

Both students and staff will find helpful information on the Moodle homepage.

Teachers/professors have access to various handouts on Help For Instructors page. This page requires authentication using your Concordia netname and password.

Which software should you choose?

To help you choose among the various technologies available to support your teaching and learning, consider this chart.

If you want to do the following: Consider this technology: Here’s a bit more about the technology
Record the lecture and related slides and images for a traditional class while you’re teaching the class (and make the recording available immediately afterwards to students) through Moodle YuJA

YuJa is a video management system that records classroom lectures and captures related slides and images.  This type of software is especially useful for large lectures.  These recordings provide students who have difficulty following the original lecture with an opportunity to review the class session.  Access is provided to students through Moodle.  When reviewing the recordings, second-language learners have stated that they can catch points missed in the original lecture.  Other students have commented that the recordings are useful resources when studying for quizzes and exams.

YuJa can be added in your Moodle courses.

Conduct a regular class at the regularly scheduled time but online because (a) I am traveling one or more weeks out of the term, (b) The class is scheduled at an awkward time and many students will have difficulty making class on time each week, or (c) I want to regularly include guests in other locations in the class Web conference with Zoom

Zoom is a software that lets instructors and students meet online at the same time in a virtual classroom.  In the classroom, instructors can lecture; interact with students through voice, chat, and poll questions; share slides, documents and other resources; and let students work in groups, even though they are located in different places.  Instructors can record the session and make the recording available to students to review later through YuJa.

Zoom can be added in your Moodle courses.

“Flip” my class: that is, ask students to complete their readings and view recorded lectures through Moodle before the class session and use class time to work through problem sets or similar activities and answer questions YuJa

Flipped courses are ones in which instructors record lectures and expect students to view them before the class session, so instructors can use class time to work through problems and exercises or similar application activities.  Access is provided to students through Moodle.

YuJa is a software that allows users to record lectures and host large videos and files like narrated PowerPoint slide presentation. YuJa also lets users edit the recordings so that they can have the most visual and audio impact.

Because it is easy to use, makes recordings, allows closed captioning and allows for easy editing of the video and audio tracks, YuJa is ideally suited for preparing the recordings used in flipped courses.

Communicate regularly with students outside of class throughout the term Moodle Moodle is software that lets instructors communicate with students outside of the classroom.  A flexible system, instructors use Moodle for one or more of these tasks: sharing announcements; distributing course-related materials—including recordings for the flipped classroom; submitting student assignments; conducting quick polls; and conducting class-related discussions outside of class time.

Student FAQ

  1. Students can access their courses from the Student Hub's Moodle page.
  2. Faculty can access their courses and resources from Carrefour's Moodle page.
  3. Alternatively, you can log in directly at moodle.concordia.ca using your Concordia netname and password. Your courses will appear on the right-hand side in the My Concordia Courses block.

You can access Moodle directly from the Moodle homepage using your Concordia netname and password. Your list of courses will appear on the right-hand side in My Concordia Courses block.

In order for the course to be accessible to students on Moodle, teachers must "activate" it.  If you are unable to see the course,  contact your teacher to ensure he/she has activated it.

If you register for the course late, you will need to wait 24 hours after the registration to gain access to the activated course. If the problem persists, contact the Service Desk for assistance.  

You will have access to all 'activated' Moodle courses 24 hours after registration. Otherwise, make sure that the teacher is using Moodle and has not forgotten to make the course site accessible to students.

If the problem persists, contact the Service Desk for assistance.  

Moodle is connected to the Student Information System (SIS). Changes like your name and email address should be done by updating your personal information in your Student Centre. Once you have made changes in the SIS, it will take up to 48 hours for your Moodle profile to automatically update.

Changes to your profile like adding a picture, a description of yourself, your interests and location, can be done directly in Moodle.

Follow the steps below to update your profile:

  1. Login to Moodle.
  2. Click on your name at the top right of the Moodle page.
  3. Select Profile from the dropdown menu.
  4. In the User Details box, click Edit profile.
Screen capture of Moodle interface to edit profile
  1. Make any necessary changes and click Update profile (burgundy tab at the bottom).

It is likely that the email address in your profile is wrong. Verify the profile update FAQ section to update your email. It could also be that you are not subscribed to the forums that are generating emails or that you have not enabled your messaging preferences to receive email notifications.

To enable your message preferences follow the instructions below:

  1. Login to Moodle.
  2. Click on your name at the top right of the Moodle page.
  3. Select Preferences.
  4. Under User Account, select Notification preferences.
  5. Scroll to the Forum section of the page and click on the box under the Email heading. You can specify to receive emails when you are offline and/or when you are logged in to Moodle.
Screen capture of Moodle interface to set email notification preferences

Moodle works well on all standard browsers and operating systems. However, Firefox and Chrome are recommended for an optimal experience

Students should contact the Service Desk for help with Moodle.

Instructor FAQ

For information about how to make your course available to students, refer to the handout “How to make your Moodle course visible to students” on the Help for Instructors page (you will need to log in using your netname and password).

Students are automatically enrolled into your courses. It is not recommended to manually add students to your course site.

You can manually add teaching assistants, research assistants, and other participants to your course. For more information/instructions, refer to “How to manually enrol users in Moodle” on the Help for Instructors page to get the full instructions. You will be required to provide your netname and password to access the information.

There are 2 ways to view the list of participants on your Moodle site.

  1. Click on the Administration Gear on the top-right corner of the course homepage

Click on More

Click on the Users tabs and click on the Enrolled users.

Screen capture of the Users tab
  1. In the Navigation drawer on the course homepage click on Participants.
Screen capture of the Navigation drawer on the course home page

There are two ways to communicate with students on Moodle.

  1. To communicate with the whole class, use the Announcement forum:
  • Click on the Announcements forum link on the course main page.
  • Click Add a new topic.
  • Write your message in the Message box.
  • Tick Advanced at the bottom of the page to send the message immediately.
Screen capture of the message interface
  • Click Post to forum.
  1. To communicate with selected students use the Navigation drawer
  • Click Participants 
  • Select the check box next to the name of the participant you need to message. 
Screen capture of participants list
  • From the Choose drop-down menu at the bottom of the page select Send a message.
Screen capture of the Send a message option in the Choose drop-down menu
  • Type the message in the editor and click Send a message.

Follow the instructions below to add a file:

  1. Turn editing on (button at the top right).
  2. Click on the file on your desktop, then hold and drag it to the course main page. An ADD FILE(S) HERE box will appear.
  3. Drop the file onto the box.
Screen capture of interface to add a file in Moodle

Moodle works well in all standard browsers and operating systems.

The PoodLL (voice-recording) activity, however, is not compatible with Safari and Internet Explorer.

 

Moodle questions should be directed to the IT Service Desk.

IITS provides Moodle workshops.  The schedule and registration links are available on the IT Training web page.

Additional handouts can be found on Help for Instructors page on Moodle (you will need to log in with your netname and password).

Instructors should not post copyrighted materials on their Moodle course site.

The new Course Reserves system helps course instructors provide readings for their courses while complying with the Copyright Act, COPIBEC Agreement, and the Libraries' electronic resources licenses.

To submit a request for a course reading click on View course readings link in the Course Reserves block. When you send your request, library staff will check for copyright compliance and approve or deny your request. Requests should be sent three weeks before the beginning of the semester.

Screen capture of the Course Reserves block in Moodle

To get the full instructions on how to post the readings, visit the library's information page. Questions about the Course Reserves system should be directed to library.reserves@concordia.ca.

The goal of the Library Resources Moodle block is to improve student access to library collections and services that are relevant to the course.

For more information, visit the Library Resources Moodle Block information page.

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