Moodle is Aspiring Language Institute’s learning management system. It offers students and staff with access to communication tools, course materials, discussion forums, quizzes and many features to help manage your teaching and students’ study.
Logging in
Use the login details to access your Moodle account; if you haven’t received the login details please email the marketing team so they can create one for you.
To login you’ll need to visit our website and click Aspiring online on the top bar as shown in the image below:
Your class will be automatically assigned to you on your profile and all new students will be added by the admin team.
Tutors are able to edit their classes only; the following eLearning resources can help with building up your lessons; you can also take a look at the Teacher quick guide and the Teacher role from moodle.org for an introduction to the system.
If you would like us to add extra eLearning resources, please email the marketing team and we’ll add it to this website; additionally we also offer one-to-one tutorials if required.
Moodle allows you a lot of flexibility to make your course suit your teaching and students. Without drastically changing everything you can make your course much more user friendly by using a few simple features.
Moodle uses themes to organise the platform. At the moment we’re using the Boost Theme.
Video retrieved from MoodleDocs
Course requirements
Tutors are free to add and edit their content according to the class needs; however, your are required to include the following:
Welcome message and introduction for your students
Global outcomes
Class descriptors
Attendance
Edit course sections
The class is divided in weeks/topics or units. If you need to edit or add content, please follow the instructions below:
Turn editing on
Click the pencil icon to quickly rename the section
Click the Edit menu to edit the description and other settings.
Add course sections
Turn editing on
Click ‘Add topics/weeks’ underneath the bottom section
Select the number of extra sections you wish and press ‘Add topics/weeks’:
To delete a course section
With the editing turned on, click the ‘Edit’ link to the right of the course section you wish to delete and then, from the menu that displays, click ‘X Delete’. You will be prompted to confirm your wish to delete the section and its contents. Note that all activities inside the section and their user data will also be deleted. Use the Recycle bin (moodle.org) to reverse this if you do it by mistake.
The Participants page enables teachers to easily enrol, view, search for, filter, edit and delete course participants.
NOTE: Tutors are not required to enrol their students, the office staff will add the participants in your class.
Enrolling students
Students may be enrolled from the Enrol users button at the top right and bottom right of the screen.
Filtering and searching for students
The filter at the top left of the screen allows for filtering by period of activity, enrolment method, group, roles, status and keyword (such as the student’s last name). More than one may be selected, with the option to filter ‘Any’ or ‘All’
Grades can be entered in multiple locations in Moodle. It will depend on what you are grading where the best place is to enter the grades. Entering grades from the Assignment has the advantage that it will send a notification to the student when the grade is submitted. This will not happen when the grade is edited from the grader report or single view screen.
Grading assignments
Using the assignment tool on Moodle is a great way for giving students writing activities; to grade them please follow the steps below:
Login to Moodle and navigate to the assignment you’re going to grade.
Click on the assignment name – you should now see a grading summary.
Click Gradeat the bottom of the page.
You’ll now see a page with the assignment submission on the left hand side, a panel across the top of the page with the student’s details and name of the assignment. Down the right hand side is the grading panel.
Markup toolbar – above the submission is a toolbar that allows you to add comments to the assignment file as well as draw on it or highlight sections.
Grade – depending on the settings of the assignment this is where you set the final grade for the assignment. This could be a numerical value, a simple pass/fail or something else. After this is the marking workflow state – you’ll be told what setting you’re expected to use but generally an assignment could be grading and left as Marking Complete which means students don’t yet see the grade or Released meaning students are sent their grade and feedback.
Feedback comments – use this section to provide feedback to the student about their assignment and your grade.
Feedback files – if this is turned on for this assignment you’re able to submit feedback as a file – just upload it in the window.
Attempt settings – here you can see how many attempts a student has made and if they’ve been allowed extra attempts.
Change user – use these arrows to switch between student submissions.
When you’re finished grading click Save changes at the bottom of the page.
How to download submitted assignments
Login to Moodle and navigate to the assignment you’re going to grade.
Click on the assignment name – you should now see a grading summary.
Click View all submissions.
To download the submissions:
Per group – select your group from the Separate groups drop down menu. Then tick the box below Select. Scroll to the bottom of the list of students and select Download selected submissions from the With selected… drop down. Click Go.
All submissions – select Download all submissions from the Grading action dropdown menu at the top of the page.
Grading from the Grader Report
The grader report is the main overview of the grade-book, showing all grades in a grid for the entire course. It can be accessed from the navigator menu as shown in the video below.
To add grades directly into the grader report, Editing needs to be turned on (button is in the top right hand corner.)
The calendar is a great tool to keep the class and activities organised. It can display site, course, group, user and category events in addition to assignment and quiz deadlines, chat times and other course events.
Video retrieved from MoodleDocs
New events may be added either by clicking the button or by clicking into an empty space in the desired day in the calendar.
When adding, editing or deleting events, the event displays in a pop-up window.
Events created manually may be dragged and dropped to different dates, as can Feedback activity, Assignment activity and Choice activity events. (For activities, the dates will then change in the activity itself when dragged to a different date on the calendar.)
Adding an event
To add a calendar event:
Click month on Calendar to get an expanded month view
In Calendar view click the New Event button
On a New Event page select the type of event
A User Event will only be visible by the user currently logged in (i.e. the one creating the event)
A Group Event will be visible to a particular Group on the course (chosen from a drop-down list) Group events will display a group icon in the calendar block and in the event page, the name of the group will be visible next to the event title:
A Course Event will be visible to participants on the course in question. Only users with the capability to manage calendar entries at the course level can add course events.
A Site Event is a “global” event – visible in every course and on the calendar on the home page. Only users with the capability to manage calendar entries at the system level can add site events.
4. Set the event properties
5. Click Save Changes
The different types of events can be visually filtered.
For example, if you (as a teacher) wanted to hide Group event dates (events assigned to learner Groups you create), click “Group events” on the bottom of the Calendar. This would hide all group events, and the colour code would disappear from the link on the calendar. To show the events again, click the Group Events link again. This can make the calendar easier to read (especially if there are many events on the calendar).
Other features
Adding closing dates to course activities — assignments (moodle.org), quizzes (moodle.org) etc. will cause them to show up in the calendar block (moodle.org) as course events.
View previous or future months.
Current date is outlined.
The duration of an event lasting more than one day is indicated.
The Attendance activity is designed for teachers to be able to take attendance during class, and for students to be able to view their own attendance record.
You can mark the attendance status of a student as “Present”, “Absent”, “Late”, “Left early”, “Approved holiday” or “Sick”. These have already been configured for all tutors and the policy is the same as our in-classroom lessons.
Taking attendance
You can take attendance for a session on the attendance activity on the course homepage as shown on the video below.
Note that when taking attendance, the column headings for attendance status are links. If you click one of these column headings, all students will have their status changed to the status you selected. Thus, if everyone is present, you can merely click the P column header to change everyone’s status to “Present”. If only one person is absent, you could first click P to set everyone’s status to “Present”, and then set the absent student’s status to “Absent”.
Enter remarks as appropriate — for example, the reason for an absence if known, or the number of minutes a student was late — and click the OK button to record the information.
Activities are items the students can interact with such as a quiz or assignments. Resources are items you can add to support student’s learning such as a file with a worksheet or URL.
To add an activity or resource you’ll first need to turn the editing tool on as shown on the image below:
Then, select Add an activity or resource at the bottom right of the relevant topic/week; this opens the Add an activity or resource menu
Select the item you want to add. This will take you to a context-specific settings window to complete the setup of the activity or resource.
The assignment feature is a useful tool to allow students to submit a file (writing activity, worksheets, assignment etc) on a given date or between two dates.
Submissions can then be downloaded or assessed online (refer to Grades from the eLearning manual menu for information)
How to create an Assignment
Select Assignment from the list and click Add. then give the Assignment a name and any other settings that apply:
Availability – you can use these settings to limit access to the assignment. The assignment will always be visible but if outside submission allowed dates students will be unable to make any submissions. Submissions after the due date are allowed but are marked as late.
Submission types– here you can choose what format the assignments should be submitted in – a file submission or online text (meaning the students enter the content of the assignment into a text box). You can also set word limits and sizes for the files.
Group submission settings – this is used if the assignment is to be completed as part of a group. You can use the settings here to define whether or not everyone in a group needs to submit an assignment or just one assignment per group.
Notifications – Here you can choose notifications to alert the students.
Grade – use these settings to set how much an assignment is worth and how grades will appear to students and markers (scales, letter or numbers).
Common module settings – use these settings to show or hide the assignment, as well as deciding if you need to view the results by groups. Use groupings if you want to limit the submissions to a certain set of groups
Restrict access – use these settings to restrict access to the assignment based on a rule or set of rules. These rules can be based on activity completion, date, grades, or a setting in the user profile. This is useful if you want the assignment to only be shown after a certain time.
The Quiz activity option allows you to create quizzes consisting of different types of questions, such as short answers, true-false, multiple choice drag and drop images and text. These can be used as online replacements for the weekly progress test.
Creating a quiz
Click Add an activity of resource.
Select Quiz and click Add.
Give the Quiz a name and any other settings that apply:
Timing – use these settings if you want to limit when students are able to start or take a quiz. Also useful if you want to put a time limit on how long students have to take a quiz.
Grade – use these settings to set a pass mark, number of attempts allowed and which grade to display in the Grade Book (highest, most recent attempt etc).
Layout – use this setting to set how many questions appear on each page.
Question behaviour – use these settings to set when feedback appears and if the answers are shuffled or not.
Review options – use these settings to decide what feedback and grades are given when (during the attempt, after the attempt, when the quiz closes).
Appearance – use to set the number of decimal places in grades.
Extra restrictions on attempts – use to force a password for the quiz or time delays between attempts.
Overall feedback – use these settings to give feedback for defined grade boundaries.
Common module settings – use these settings to show or hide the assignment, as well as deciding if you need to view the results by groups. Use groupings if you want to limit the submissions to a certain set of groups
Restrict access – use these settings to restrict access to the quiz based on a rule or set of rules. These rules can be based on activity completion, date, grades, or a setting in the user profile. This is useful if you want the quiz to only be shown after a certain time.
Click Save and display.
Click Edit quiz.
Click Add to add a question to the quiz.
Select a new question (to create a brand new question) or from question bank or a random question to reuse exisiting questions.
Select a question type and click Add.
Fill in the required details and click Save changes.If you are adding a new question, be careful to save the question to the correct category to make it easier to work with later.
Repeat steps 11 and 12 until all your questions are complete.
If you couldn’t find the information your were looking for please email the marketing team and we’ll be in touch with to assist your further.
All Aspiring tutors are required to use Zoom for their online session with their students. For information about downloading and using Zoom, download the manual below:
Sign in to the Zoom desktop client and stay signed in.
Check your internet speed. We do not recommend using public wifi networks as video quality can be compromised and signal issues may arise during the class.
Turn your camera on and have it at eye level.
Stay muted unless you’re talking to reduce background noise.
Make sure you sit in a well lit and quiet place.
Be mindful of what’s going on behind you. Think about having solid wall behind you or turning on the virtual background.
Tips and tricks for Virtual Lessons
For your first class, set aside some time to introduce your students to Zoom and ensure that they’re able to connect their audio and video.
Give an agenda or plan for each class by Screen Sharing a document or slide at the beginning of class. This gives students a clear idea of how the class will progress, what will be covered, and the activities they’ll engage in.
Discuss online etiquette and expectations of the students in your first virtual class and periodically revisit the topics.
Utilise the Whiteboard or Annotate a shared document and let your students engage as well. When sharing a whiteboard, document, screen, or image, try having a student use annotation to highlight items such as grammar mistakes in a paper you are sharing.
Take time to promote questions, comments, and reactions from your class. Give a minute to allow your students to utilise reactions, write their questions in chat, or be unmuted to ask their questions live.
Have students be the presenter and share projects with the class. This allows your students to show what they’re working on while practicing their presentation skills. It also allows students to hear from one another.
Tips and Tricks for Delivery
Pre-set your meeting to mute participant’s microphones upon entry. This helps to avoid background noise
and allow your students to focus on your lesson.
Look at the camera to create eye contact with your students. This helps to create a more personal connection while teaching over video.
Take a second to check chat or your student’s video (if on camera) to check-in with your students and get feedback.
Speak as if you’re face-to-face with the class while ensuring you’re at the appropriate distance from the microphone for the best audio experience.
When delivering a presentation, sharing images, files or video, give your students a moment to open or take in what you’ve shared.
Embrace the pause. Take a moment after the end of your comments and allow for students to engage before continuing on.
Zoom also offers free training sessions, staff are encouraged to join or please talk to the marketing team and can arrange a one to one session at school for you.
