Locating your profile

To edit your profile information, you must be logged in to Moodle.

1. Locate and click your name in the upper right of the screen.
2. Your profile will open.
3. To edit profile information, click the [Edit Profile] tab.

Changing your profile picture

Part of your profile is a small image—representative of you—that will be displayed next to your forum posts and in other activities.

To add a profile picture:

1. Navigate to the Edit Profile screen (see Locating your profile, above).
2. Scroll down to the section labeled “Picture of”
3. Click the [Browse] button to locate an appropriate image on your computer.
   • The picture can be a maximum of 50MB.
   • The picture must be in JPG or PNG format.
   • Moodle will crop the image to a 100×100 pixel square.
4. Once selected, click [Update profile] at the bottom of the page.
5. When you are taken back to your profile page, the image may not appear to have changed. Click the Reload/Refresh button in your browser.

Optional/Advanced information

Clicking the [Show Advanced button] will display additional fields for your profile.

You may choose to include some of the following information:

• Web page address
• IDs for common peer-to-peer and social networking sites such as:
  • Skype
  • Yahoo
  • AIM
  • ICQ
  • MSN
• Department
• Phone numbers
• Campus Address

Download the HTML version of this Moodle profile document

What are Roles?

Moodle roles facilitate controlling what a user can and cannot do within Moodle and within Moodle courses. Starting in version 1.7, Moodle administrators have the ability edit the permissions and capabilities of roles and create new roles. This can be powerful, but can add complexity to your Moodle installation that can sometimes cause problems with add-ons and upgrades. It is important to keep track of every change that you make so that you can troubleshoot when problems arise.

When Moodle is installed, it comes with seven standard roles that are configured to give users permission to do different things in different contexts. Student and teacher are the most commonly used roles.

1. Guest role – Guests have minimal privileges. They can view course activities but cannot enter text anywhere. As with all other roles, Guests are required to log in to Moodle before they access a course.
2. Student role – Students generally have fewer privileges than teachers within a course. They can submit assignments for grading, make posts to forums, and generally participate in a course. Students cannot edit any of the course settings and cannot use Moodle’s Quickmail feature to send mail to an entire class. Students see their own grades only.
3. Non-editing teacher role – This role cannot add activities or resources, but can view and edit grades.
4. Teacher role – Teachers can do anything within a course, including changing the activities and grading students.
5. Authenticated user role – It is an exception role and is mostly used by Moodle internally. The default role for all logged-in users in Moodle 1.8 onwards is Authenticated user. In older Moodle versions the default role for all logged-in users was Guest. The role of Authenticated user does not conflict with other roles a user may have, it just ensures that a user has capabilities that are not assignable at the course level, such as being able to post blog entries and manage their own calendar.
6. Course creator role – This role can create a course, assign Teachers, plus have all the privileges of a Teacher.
7. Administrator role – Administrators can do almost anything and go anywhere. It is recommended that there are one or two people with the administrator role.

When talking about roles, Moodle uses the following terminology.

Capability

A configurable aspect of behavior. As of version 1.9 Moodle has over 200 capabilities. Each capability has a computer friendly name like mod/forum:rate and a human-friendly name like “Rate posts.” A list of capabilities and their default values can be found at, [http://docs.moodle.org/en/Category:Capabilities]

Permission

A capability and its value considered as a pair. There are four possible values: Allow, Prevent, Prohibit and Not set/Inherit. (It is called not-set when defining roles and inherit when overriding permissions.) You will almost always use either ALLOW or NOT SET (which usually means don’t allow). There are special cases when you might use prevent or prohibit, but normally you will not use those options.

Role

A named set of permissions, for example Teacher, Student and Forum moderator

Context

A functional area of Moodle, such as a system, course category, course, module or block. Administrators are usually the only ones with permissions at the system level. Teachers normally have permissions at the course level.

Defining a new role

The standard roles are suitable for some educational setups, but most institutions require modifications to the roles’ system in order to tailor Moodle to their specific needs.

There are two main approaches to applying roles:

1. create a role with the full compliment of permissions
2. create a role that only defines the permission changes (for example, gives unlimited time on tests) and apply this role in addition to a main role

To add a new role, from “Administration” select Users, Permissions, then Define roles. Click Add a new role, and provide a name, a short name, and a description. All permissions by default are “not set”. The permissions are divided into distinct capabilities that include: system, reports, users, course categories, course reports, gradebook, course, and all activities.

Note: In most cases it would be more efficient to duplicate an existing role and change permissions rather than have to define all permissions.

Creating a duplicate role

An alternate method to creating a new role is to duplicate an existing role, rename it, and adjust the permissions as necessary.
To duplicate a new role, from the “Administration” block select Users, Permissions, then Define Roles.

Click the role you want to duplicate. This new role is then added to the list of roles as a copy (e.g. Teacher copy 1).

To edit that role, select the edit icon. Rename the role (e.g. Librarian). Edit the short name. Under description you can summarize the function of the role or permissions you have changed from the defined role. Choose either not set or allow to select the permissions you have specified for that role. Select save changes.

Example roles: Librarian, Forum Moderator, Teaching Assistant, Question creator, Observer

Allow role assignments

Once you have altered the defined role, you can allow which roles each role can assign to other users. In order to do that, select the Allow role assignments tab and check the appropriate boxes.

Allow role overrides

Overrides are specific permissions designed to override a role in a specific context, allowing you to tweak your permissions as required. Overrides may be used to give users extra permissions or may also be used to prevent actions.

The default setting only allows the administrator to override roles. For example, to enable teachers within a course to set role overrides you must change this system; from the “Administration” block select Users, Permissions, Define Roles then select the [Allow role overrides] tab.

Download the HTML Verision of this Roles document

Course grading is set up using weights such as these:

• 15% – Mid-Term Exam
• 25% – Labs and Field Trips
• 15% – Critical Reviews
• 25% – Participation
• 20% – Final project

Steps:

1. Starting with a new, blank course, select Grades from the “Administration” block.
2. Click the [Categories and items] tab.
3. Then click the Full View link in the center of the page.
4. From the drop-down at the top of the aggregation column, select Weighted mean of grades.
   1. Put a check next to “Aggregate only non-empty grades” so that blank grades are not calculated as zeros. This will require you to enter a zero for missing or incomplete work if you want the zero to factor.
   2. Leave 0 selected for “Drop the lowest,” otherwise the gradebook will drop the lowest category total for each student.
   3. Click the [Save changes] button and remain in the “Full view.”
5. Next, add categories into which you will organize graded items.
   1. Click [Add category] at the bottom of the screen.
   2. You need to determine the settings for this particular category:
      1. Give the category a name (e.g., Exams, quizzes, labs, participation).
      2. Determine the aggregation type. If you expect the items in the category to be weighted inherently by having all items equal or having more important items worth more points, select “Simple weighted mean of grades.”
      3. Click the [Show Advanced] button and make sure there is a check next to “Aggregate only non-empty grades” so that blank grades are not calculated as zeros—this will require you to enter a zero for missing or incomplete work if you want the zero to figure in.
      4. If you want to drop a certain amount of the lowest scores, select that in the drop-down.
      5. Click the [Save changes] button and remain in the “Full view.”
   3. Continue adding as many new categories as you need to fit your grading structure.
6. Next, add weights to your categories.
   1. Each category will have 0.00 in the weight column. Set each category “weight” to the weight you want this category to hold in relation to the course grades as a whole. (If labs are worth 25% of the total course grade, this category should be set to 25.)
   2. Once your categories are established, continue by adding grade items to the course. You can do this by adding assignments and activities directly to the course. When you add a new assignment or activity, you will be able to assign a category as you edit other settings. You may also choose to simply add manual items to the gradebook.
7. Once your categories are established, click the [View] tab to return to the “Grader Report.”

To add manual items (new grade columns) to the gradebook:

1. Click the [Categories and items] tab.
2. Click [Add grade item] at the bottom of the screen.
3. Give the item a name, grade type and adjust other settings as necessary.
4. Be sure to specify the category to which this item belongs. If this is the only item for a category, you can add it to the main course category and apply the weight to the item as you would a category.
5. Click the [Save changes] button.
6. Continue adding new assignments, activities, and manual items as necessary. As you add these items, be sure to select the appropriate category in the settings. When you finish, click the [View] tab to return to the “Grader Report.”
7. As new items are added, they should appear nested under the appropriate category. If not, you can assign categories by editing each activity or by moving the items in the [Categories and items] tab. To do this:
   1. Click the [Categories and items] tab and click the Simple view link.
   2. Click the checkbox next to the item or items you want to move.
   3. Scroll down and use the “Move selected items to” drop-down to choose the appropriate category. The screen will refresh and your items will be moved to the category.
   4. When you finish, click the [View] tab to return to the “Grader Report.”

   OR

   1. Click the move arrows of the category or grade item to be moved. This refreshes the screen.
   2. Click in the dashed box where the category or grade item should be placed.
   3. When you finish, click the [View] tab to return to the “Grader Report.”
8. As scores are added to the “Grader Report” or through the assignment grade sheet, the Category totals and Course total will update to reflect the current grade.
9. Obviously, check the math to assure that it’s calculating as you expect. You may find it helpful Show ranges, which is accessible by clicking the [My Preferences] tab and setting the “Ranges” drop-down to Yes. This will show you the greatest possible score for an item in the “Grader Report.”

Note: At this point, do not check the extra credit boxes while using “Simple weighted mean of grades” for the category aggregation as this will break the gradebook. If you wish to use extra credit, please use “Sum of grades” aggregation instead.

DOWNLOAD A SIMPLE HTML FILE OF THIS DOCUMENT: moodle195_grade_weights

Your site administrator now has the ability to replace or supplement the drop-down navigation menu with tabbed navigation.

Course settings for the gradebook can be found in the Settings tab. Course settings determine how the gradebook appears for all participants in the course.

Grader report preferences (and preferences for other gradebook reports) can be found in the ‘My preferences’ tab.

Grader report

Your site administrator now has the ability to enable a static students column for teachers to scroll grades in the grader report using a horizontal scrollbar. (Note that this feature is not available for IE6 users or for users who have the screenreader setting in their Moodle profile set to Yes.)

The show/hide toggles across the top of the grader report (Show show/hide icons, Show locks etc) have been removed. The settings are still available in the grader report preferences.

For very large gradebooks (with many students and/or many grade items), an informative mouse-over tooltip has been added to each grade cell in the table. It shows the user and grade item to which the grade belongs.
Grades entered through the Grader Report are no longer locked so grades can be adjusted in the assignment view. With this change, grades entered are no longer colored differently.

User report

Category nesting is shown with contrasting colors in the user report, which makes it a lot clearer, especially when lots of categories are in use. A range column has been added.

Easier editing of categories and items

A new Edit categories and items page, with simple and full view, enables teachers to move multiple items between categories and quickly edit multiple settings.

Categories can only be moved one at a time, but all their contents are moved as well.
Category aggregation type can be changed instantly (without submitting the form) by changing the selected option in the aggregation drop-down menu.

Contrasting colors indicate category nesting. The categories and grade items are also indented with a cell colored by the parent category’s color, to make the nesting even clearer.

Extra credit and weight appear in two different columns. If none of the categories have an aggregation type that makes use of either extra credit or weights, these columns are omitted.

Forms for editing grade categories and their associated grade items (e.g. course category and course total) have been combined into one form. This also means that there is no edit icon in the grader report for course and category totals. You just edit the category itself instead.

This change is perhaps the most radical one visually.

Allowing grades over 100%

Your site administrator now has the ability to allow teachers to enter grades over 100% directly in the gradebook.

Understanding aggregation strategies and normalization

Most of the aggregation types in the 1.9.5 gradebook convert a grade to a percentage internally before applying weighting, calculating the category total, and using the category total to calculate the course total.

The different aggregation strategies allow you to choose the way category grades and a participant’s overall course grade are calculated. Aggregation strategies can be applied to the overall course and/or to specific categories. Some common aggregation types include the following:

Mean of grades calculates the score as a percentage of each graded item; adds all the percentages for a category; and divides by the number of graded items.

A1 70/100, A2 20/80, A3 10/10, category max 100:
(0.7 + 0.25 + 1.0)/3 = 0.65 –> 65/100

Simple weighted mean uses the maximum grade values to weight scores within a category rather than normalizing a grade to 100 percent before weighting. This aggregation type does not allow you to set a weight for items or the categories; it simply uses the inherent weighting you’ve established by setting different maximum point values.

A1 70/100, A2 20/80, A3 10/10: 70 + 20 + 10 = 100/190

Sum of grades is the sum of all grade values. Scale grades are ignored. This is the only type that does not convert the grades to percentages internally (normalization). This means grades are weighted by their point value directly. The Maximum grade of associated category item is calculated automatically as a sum of maximums from all aggregated items.

A1 70/100, A2 20/80, A3 10/10:
70 + 20 + 10 = 100/190

Weighted mean allows you to establish weights for categories and items. These weights influence the overall importance of each item or category. For example, if a category is weighted at 50%, then regardless of the number of items in that category, the overall mean score of those items will be 50% of the student’s grade.

A1 70/100 weight 10, A2 20/80 weight 5, A3 10/10 weight 3, category max 100:
(0.7*10 + 0.25*5 + 1.0*3)/18 = 0.625 –> 62.5/100

Deciding which aggregation strategy to use

Find the scenario that applies most closely to your grading philosophy for a particular course.

Scenario 1

IF
I know in advance what all the graded course items are,
and the available points per item are in proportion to each other (bigger items are worth more points).

THEN
Use “Simple Weighted Mean of Grades” or “Sum of grades” as your aggregation strategy.
There is no need to establish categories.

Scenario 2

IF
I know in advance what all the graded course items are,
and I use one standard scale to grade my course items. (Points out of five, or out of one hundred, etc.)
But, some things are worth more than others (e.g., a final exam graded out of 100 is worth more than a homework assignment graded out of 100).

THEN
Use “Weighted Mean of Grades.”
Assign proportional weights to the ITEMS.

Scenario 3

IF
I want the flexibility to add graded course items (pop quizzes, for example).

THEN
Use “Weighted Mean of Grades.”
Add proportional weights to the CATEGORIES of items that you want to be flexible.

Scenario 4

IF
Everything in my course counts the same, regardless of what scale I use to grade it. (A 15-question quiz is worth the same number of points as a 10-question quiz.)

THEN
Use “Mean of Grades.”

Establishing grade categories

If you select a strategy above that suggests you should use categories, it is easiest to establish these categories prior to adding assignments or manual grade items. This gives you the ability to designate the category (e.g., exams, quizzes, labs, etc.) when you create the grade item. Categories simply allow you to group grade items and alter settings to affect these grouped grades.

To add new categories:

1. Select Grades from your course “Administration” block.
2. Select the [Categories and items] tab.
3. Click the [Add category] button at the bottom of the screen.
4. Configure the settings for this particular category:
   1. Give the category a name (e.g., Exams, quizzes, labs).
   2. Determine the aggregation type. Usually set this to the same aggregation type as you have selected for the overall gradebook. However, it is possible to select a different aggregation type for a category. Just be careful as this can have unexpected results.
   3. This category can become a parent category and new child categories can be added within. To illustrate this, a “Quizzes” category (parent category) could contain two other categories (child categories under the parent) labeled, “Pop quizzes before mid-term” and “Pop quizzes after mid-term.”
   4. Item weight: The weight of the category in relation to the other categories.
   5. Click the [Save changes] button.

To edit categories:

1. Click the [Categories and items] tab.
2. Click on the [Edit] button next to the category you would like to edit.
3. Make any necessary changes.
4. Click the [Save changes] button.

To rearrange grade categories:

1. Click the [Categories and items] tab.
2. To move a category up or down, select the move icon (designated by the up/down arrow).
3. Select the empty box to move the category to a new location.
4. Click the [Save changes] button.

To rearrange grade items:

1. Click the [Categories and items] tab.
2. To move a graded item up or down, select the move icon (designated by the up/down arrow).
3. Select the empty box to move the graded item to a new location.
4. Click the [Save changes] button.

To assign existing grade items to categories:

If grade items are added to a specified category, they will be assigned to the parent or course category. To assign grade items to a category:

1. Select the [Categories and items] tab.
2. In the “Select” column, place a check next to the grade item(s) you wish to move.
3. Scroll to the bottom of the page and select from the “Move selected items to” drop-down menu the appropriate category in which the grade items should be moved.

To add manually graded item:

To add new grade items to the grader report without adding an activity to the course page:

1. Select the [Categories and items] tab.
2. Click the [Add grade item] button at the bottom of the screen.
3. Give the item a name and grade type and adjust any other settings as necessary.
4. Click the [Save changes] button.

Entering/Editing grade, including decimal grades and grades over 100%

A handy feature of the gradebook is the ability to quickly enter or edit grades in a spreadsheet type view. This view allows you to enter point values higher than the grade item’s maximum. It also allows you to enter values with decimal points.

To access this view:

1. Click Grades in the “Administration” block.
2. This should bring you to the “Grader Report” view, but if not, click the [View] tab then click the Grader report link.
3. Click the [Turn editing on] button in the upper right corner. This will display input boxes for each grade along with editing icons.
4. To enter a grade, click into the box for the student and grade item and enter a score. To enter multiple grades, hit tab key to move down the current column of text entry boxes.
5. When you finish entering grades, click the [Update] button at the bottom of the screen to save the grades.
   IF YOUR CAMPUS IS USING TIMEOUTS, REPLACE THE PREVIOUS LINE WITH THE FOLLOWING:
   When you finish entering grades, click the [Update] button at the bottom of the screen regularly to save grades as you work to avoid getting timed out.

Extra credit

In some cases, you may decide after the gradebook is established as above, that you want to add optional extra credit grade items to the gradebook or to a particular category. Only two aggregation types easily allow for extra credit: “Sum of grades” or “Simple weighted mean of grade.”

Assigning extra credit using “Sum of grades” or “Simple weighted mean of grades”

1. Click the [Categories and items] tab then click the [Turn editing on] button.
2. For the gradebook or category in which you want to apply extra credit, change the “Aggregation type” to Sum of grades or Simple weighted mean of grades.
3. Then, beside the appropriate gradebook item place a check in the box located in the “Extra Credit” column.
4. Click the [Save changes] button at the bottom.

Exporting the gradebook

You may want to export your gradebook to either serve as a backup or be able to manipulate the data through spreadsheet software such as Excel.

Follow these steps to make a backup of your Moodle gradebook for your records.

1. Click on [Export] tab.
2. Select an export format (OpenDoc, Plain text, Excel, XML)
3. Set options as required.
4. Click the [Submit] button.
5. After previewing the data on the following page, click the download button.

DOWNLOAD A SIMPLE HTML VERSION OF THIS USER DOCUMENTATION: moodle195_gradebook_userdoc.html

TIP: If your scale is a custom non-value (not a number), Moodle’s behavior in combining or averaging the scores into a percentage value is unpredictable. When an average or aggregate is important, then it is a good idea to stick with the standard 100% scale to compute an overall grade.

1. [Include scales in aggregation] Leave as Yes/checked, but unchecking and rechecking can recalculate grades for debugging purposes.  If there are problems with grade calculation in a course, this is the only place for administrators to force Moodle to do the calculations again.  This is reportedly not very processor intensive, but can take a few minutes.
2. Allowing Grades over 100%.  If you would like to allow teachers to use grades over 100%, put a check in the box next to [Unlimited Grades]. It is recommended that this setting is enabled at an off-peak time, as all grades will be recalculated, which may result in a high server load.
3. A new [Navigation Method] drop-down menu setting enables administrators to choose whether to enable tabs navigation of the gradebook in addition to/instead of the existing drop-down menu.

Grader Report Settings

1. A new [Static Students Column] setting in Administration > Grades > Report settings > Grader report enables administrators to enable a static students column for teachers to scroll grades in the grader report using a horizontal scrollbar. (Note that this feature is not available for IE6 users or for users who have have the screenreader setting in their Moodle profile set to Yes.) For very large gradebooks (with many students and/or  many grade items), an informative mouse-over tooltip has been added to each grade cell in the table. It shows the user and grade item to which the grade belongs.

Grade Category Settings

1. A new [Available Aggregation Types] setting in Administration > Grades > Grade category settings enables administrators to reduce the number of aggregation types. By default, all existing aggregation types are available (Mean of grades, Weighted mean of grades, Simple weighted mean of grades, Mean of grades (with extra credits), Median of grades, Lowest grade, Highest grade, Mode of grades, Sum of grades). This list may be reduced to only a few types, with additional types being enabled as/when teachers request them. Note that reducing the number of aggregation types simply results in disabled aggregation types not appearing in the aggregation type drop-down menu. All existing grade category calculations remain the same, regardless of whether the aggregation type is later disabled by an administrator.

For more information about gradebook improvements, see Moodle.org: http://docs.moodle.org/en/Gradebook_improvements_in_Moodle_1.9.5

This manual script is used to verify that everything works the way we expect it to work when a new version of Moodle is release. It walks through the major areas of Moodle (assignments, forums, gradebooks, etc.) We have tried to cover everything, but you will need to tweak this document to fit your specific institution.

I. As an Administrator

A. Create user accounts and courses

1. Create testing course

a. Test settings: format, number of weeks/topics, hidden sections, (show grades)

2. Create a teacher test account

a. Enroll teacher test account in test course

3. Create student test account(s)

a. Enroll student test account(s) in test course

B. Feedback

1. Create a feedback activity at the top-most level page of Moodle (e.g., http://moodle.school.edu)

II. As A Teacher

1. Log out as Administrator.
2. Log in as Teacher.
3. Test all of the following:

A. Resources

1. Link to file

a. upload files

i. word doc, excel file, pdf, ppt, jpg

ii. if applies: kml, mp3, stata, spss, mathmatica

c. add resource link

d. open from course page

2. link to web site

a. add URL

b. open from course page

3. compose a text page

a. type content using WYSIWYG editor

b. copy/paste some content from Word

c. save page

d. view page

4. compose a web page

a. type content using WYSIWYG editor

b. copy/paste some content from Word

c. save page

d. view page

5. insert a label

a. add a label using WYSIWYG editor

b. check view on course page

6. display a directory

a. create folder in files area

b. add two or three files

b. add directory to course page

c. open directory and assure files are there and can be opened

7. Add an IMS Content package

a. test if applicable

B. Activities

I. Core

1. Assignment: Advanced uploading of files

a. Add assignment (use defaults- set available from and due date)

b. Add assignment and disable available from and due date settings

2. Assignment: Online text

a. Add assignment (use defaults- set available from and due date)

b. Add assignment and disable available from and due date settings

c. Add assignment and use default plus comment inline as YES

3. Assignment: Upload a single file

a. Add assignment (use defaults – set available from and due date)

b. Add assignment and disable available from and due date settings

4. Assignment: Offline activity

a. Add assignment (use defaults – set available from and due date)

b. Add assignment and disable available from and due date settings

5. Chat

a. Create a chat room (use defaults)

6. Choice

a. Create choice – defaults, 3 choices

b. Create choice -

i. enable limit responses

ii. add 3 fields to form

ii. give 7 choices and limit all to 1

iii. display vertically

iv. allow choice to be updated

v. rest are defaults

c. Create choice -

i. enable limit responses

ii. give 3 choices and limit first to 1, second to 2 and third to 3

iii. set to always show results

iv. show full results

v. show column for unanswered

7. Database

a. Add database (use defaults)

b. Add database (enable & set available from/to and viewable from/to dates)

c. Add database (enable comments and require approval)

d. Other options (test if needed):

– Required entries

– Entries required before viewing

– Maximum entries

– RSS articles

e. Test these settings later as a student; described later.

8. Forum

a. Standard forum for general use – defaults

i. add forum

ii. make an initial post (discussion topic)

b. Single simple discussion

i. add forum

aa. turn on ratings, and set to 10pts

ii. make an initial post (discussion topic)

c. Each person posts one discussion

i. add forum

aa. turn on ratings, and set to custom scale “checks”

ii. make an initial post (discussion topic)

d. Q&A

i. add forum

ii. make an initial post (add question)

9. Glossary

a. Add Glossary (defaults)

b. Add Glossary (duplicated entries allowed, allow comments on entries, NOT approved by default)

c. Other options to test: Various display formats, show ’special,’ show ‘alphabet,’ show ‘all,’ edit always, ratings

10. Lesson

11. Quiz

a. Set up a test question set – at least one of each question type, include pictures in questions and answers

b. Add Quiz (defaults), add test question set

c. Add Quiz (1 attempt, not adaptive, “students may review”)

d. Other options to test: secure window, grading mode, penalties, each attempt builds on the last, decimal digits in grades,

12. SCORM/AICC – allows you to import pre-created SCORM packages

13. Survey – pre-built surveys to let students rate courses.

14. Wiki

a. Add Wiki (defaults)

b. Other options, if used: Test combinations of Type/Group mode options (click ? to see matrix).

15. Workshop

a. Add Workshop (set submission start/end and assessment start/end)

II. Add-on Activities

1. Feedback

a. add feedback activity

b. add one questions for each type

Multiple choice – multiple answers

Multiple choice – single answer allowed (dropdownlist)

Dropdownlist (rated)

Label

Numeric answer

Picture

Multiple choice – single answer

Radiobutton (rated)

Longer Text Answer

Short Text Answer

c. save as template

2. Scheduler

a. add scheduler

students register for one appointment

slot duration: 30

add slots

add single slot

delete a slot

b. schedule 2 students to existing slots

c. schedule 1 student and create new slot for them

d. remove someone from a slot

C. Blocks and Modules

I. Standard Blocks

1. Activities

a. Create a few activities if none are created.

b. Insert this block to ensure the activities from the course display within this block.

2. Admin bookmarks (this is for Admin accounts)

a. If using this block, ensure your administrative bookmarks still display. This only applies to bookmarks tagged within Moodle by an administrator.

3. Administration

4. Blog Menu

b. Click the “Add a new entry” link to create a new blog entry.

c. Include a few tags with the entry and be sure to choose “Anyone on this site” from the Publish to drop down menu.

d. Save the blog entry and add 5 more short entries. Repeat including at least one of the same tags in each entry.

e. Return to the Blog Menu block.

f. Click the “Blog preferences” to change the number of blog entries per page to something other than what is listed.

g. Return to the Blog Menu block.

h. Click the “View my entries” to see the entries you created. Verify you are able to see only 5 entries.

i. Return to the Blog Menu block.

j. View course entries link (this displays entries from users within the course)

5. Blog Tag

a. Verify that the blog tags listed in the Blog Tag block are clickable and will display the blog entries associated with the selected tag.

6. Calendar

a. Does the calendar display? If not, insert the Calendar block.

b. Create a:

i. User event

ii. Group event for group (this will require the test course to have some groups established)

iii. Course event

iv. Site event – this is synonymous with Global Events and can only be created by Admin accounts.

c. Click on the different calendar filters to verify the event filter types work.

7. Course/Site Description

a. After adding this block, click the edit icon. This will lead to the Course Summary page.

b. Change the course description and return to the course home page to verify the Course Summary block updated.

8. Courses

a. Verify that the courses your teacher role is associated with display within the block and that the list is accurate.

9. Global Search

a. Global search is an experimental option that needs to be enabled from the Moodle administrative level. It allows for searching among all Moodle courses.

b. If Global Search is enabled, then add the Global Search block.

10. HTML
a. Click the edit icon to configure the block.
b. Provide a block title and some test content within the editor. Include a hyperlink and image.

11. Latest News

a. Click the “Add a new topic…” link to create a new event.

b. Provide a Subject and Message. Include a hyperlink, image, and an attachment.

c. Return to the block to verify the new event displays first.

12. Loan Calculator

a. Test the fields and calculate.

13. Mentees
a. Test if applicable.
14. Messages

a. If the Messages feature is used, add the Message block.

b. Verify that new messages display within the block.

c. Verify the “Messages…” link to the messages works.

15. Network Servers
a. Test if applicable.
16. Online Users

b. Add this block to verify that the other user is listed in the block.
17. People
a. Click the “Participants” link to see the students and faculty roles assigned earlier.

b. Verify that the “Current role” filter works.
18. Quiz Results

19. Random Glossary Entry

a. Create a glossary with at least 2 entries unless you already have one.

b. Add the Random Glossary Entry block.

c. Edit this block to display a specific glossary and make other changes. 

d. Check that a random entry displays.You might want to check this again based on the frequency the randomization is set to occur.

20. Recent Activity

a. Add the block and verify that some activity has occurred.

b. Verify the “Full report of recent activity…” link displays the full report of activity.

21. Remote RSS Feeds

a. Create the block and add an RSS feed from another site.

22. Search Forums

a. Post several entries to a forum if you haven’t done so already.

23. Section Links

a. After adding the block, verify that the number of links in the block matches the number of sections in the course.

24. Upcoming Events

b. Test the two links (Go to calendar… and New Event…) at the bottom of this block, to ensure they point to the proper location.

II. Add-on Blocks

1. Feedback

2. Quickmail

a. Add this block.

b. Compose a message. Verify that the group names established earlier display with the appropriate members. If the roles listed in the course have active and reviewable email addresses, send the message to a number of the roles.

c. Verify the message was stored in the Quickmail history.

d. Check some of the email accounts to verify the message was received.

e. If other roles (e.g., students) are permitted to use Quickmail, then test that the Quickmail Group settings (No groups, Separate groups, and Visible groups) work.

III. AS A STUDENT

1. Log out as Teacher.
2. Log into Moodle as a test student account.
   
3. Test all of the following:

A. Resources

1. Link to file (software-specific icons, e.g. Word, Excel, PDF)

a. Click on all file links. Open and test.

2. Link to web site (earth on a page icon)

a. Click on all web links.

3. Composed text page (page with text icon)

a. Click on all text page links.

4. Composed web page (page with text icon)

a. Click on all composed web pages.

5. Label

a. No testing necessary. Take a coffee break!

6. Display a directory (folder icon)

a. Click on the displayed directory. Make sure it opens and the files are viewable.

(7. Add an IMS Content package)

a. test if applicable to your institution.

B. Activities

I. Core

1. Assignment: Advanced uploading of files

a. Click on each assignment of this type and submit a test file.

2. Assignment: Online text

a. Click on each assignment of this type and paste in test text.

3. Assignment: Upload a single file

a. Click on each assignment of this type and submit a test file.

4. Assignment: Offline activity

a. You don’t need to do anything with this.  Get up and stretch your legs!

5. Chat

a. Click on the Chat. Go into the room and type some test messages.

6. Choice

a. In first sample Choice activity, select one of the choices and submit.

b. In second sample Choice activity:

i. Select one choice and submit. (Your choice should now be marked “Full”)

ii. Select a different choice and submit. (Your old choice should no longer be marked “Full,” but your new choice should)

c. In third sample Choice activity:

i. Select one choice and submit. (The “question” should disappear, and your test student account should appear in one of the response columns below.)

7. Database

a. Complete each of the three databases.

8. Forum

a. Standard forum for general use – defaults

i. Make a post to the forum. Edit it, delete it.

ii. Make another post to the forum. Reply to it.

b. Single simple discussion

i. Make a post to the forum. Edit it, delete it.

ii. Make another post to the forum. Reply to it.

c. Each person posts one discussion

i. post an initial discussion post (click “Add a new discussion topic”)

ii. go back and see that your option to “Add a new discussion topic” is no longer there.

iii. reply to an existing post

d. Q&A

i. post an initial discussion post (click “Add a new discussion topic”)

ii. reply to an existing post

iii. go back and see other replies to that topic.

iv. If there are no other replies:

– log into the test course as a different test student

– Click on the same existing post.

– See that you cannot see the existing reply.

– Post your own reply, and see that you can see the previously existing reply.

9. Glossary

a. Glossary (defaults)

i. Add a new glossary entry

ii. Click “browse by category” tab and add a new category

iii. Edit your glossary entry and change its category and/or other data.

b. Add Glossary (duplicated entries allowed, allow comments on entries, NOT approved by default)

i. Add a new glossary entry. (It should not appear, since it needs to be approved.)

ii. Add a duplicate entry.

iii. Comment on an entry.

c. Other options to test: Various display formats, show ’special,’ show ‘alphabet,’ show ‘all,’ edit always, ratings

10. Lesson

a. Lesson

i. Work through the lesson. Answer some questions correctly and some incorrectly.

11. Quiz

a. Set up a test question set – at least one of each question type, include pictures in questions and answers

b. Add Quiz (defaults), add test question set

c. Add Quiz (1 attempt, not adaptive, “students may review”)

d. Other options to test: secure window, grading mode, penalties, each attempt builds on the last, decimal digits in grades,

12. SCORM/AICC – allows you to import pre-created SCORM packages

a. Test if your institution uses them.

13. Survey – pre-built surveys to let students rate courses.  (Not modifiable)

a. Test if your institution uses them.

14. Wiki

a. Add Wiki (defaults)

i. Add a wiki page with:

– link to another wiki page

– link to an external webpage

ii. Edit a wiki page.

b. Other options, if used: Test combinations of Type/Group mode options (click ? to see matrix).

15. Workshop

a. Workshop (set submission start/end and assessment start/end)

i. Upload a file.

ii. Log in as another student and upload a file.

iii. After the submission end time, make sure you are assigned another student’s file to peer review.

C. Blocks and Modules

I. Standard Blocks

1. Activities

a. Verify activities appear in this block.

2. Admin bookmarks (this is for Admin accounts)

a. Verify that this block should not appear for student.

3. Administration

4. Blog Menu

5. Blog Tag

a. Verify that the blog tags listed in the Blog Tag block are clickable and will display the blog entries associated with the selected tag.

6. Calendar

a. Create a user event.

b. Click on the different calendar filters to ensure the event filter types work.

7. Course/Site Description

a. Verify that the Course Description displays.

8. Courses

9. Global Search

a. Global search is an experimental option that needs to be enabled from the Moodle administrative level.

a. Verify that the HTML block created by the teacher role displays properly.

11. Latest News

a. Verify that the Latest News block displays content created by the teacher role.

12. Loan Calculator

a. Test the fields and calculate.

13. Mentees
a. Test if applicable.
14. Messages

a. Login to two separate browsers as two separate students.

b. Send a message from one student to another using the Message block.

c. Go to the other student’s course (the other browser) to verify that the message displayed.

d. Reply to the original student sender.

e. Check that the original sender received the reply message.

15. Network Servers
a. Test if applicable.
16. Online Users

a. Login to two separate browsers as two separate students.

b. Check that each student is able to see the other one listed in the Online Users block.

17. People
a. Click the “Participants” link to see the students and faculty roles assigned earlier.

b. Verify that the “Current role” filter works.

18. Quiz Results

19. Random Glossary Entry

a. Verify that this displays. You might want to check this again based on the frequency the teacher role set the randomization to occur.

20. Recent Activity

a. Verify the “Full report of recent activity…” link displays the full report of activity.

21. Remote RSS Feeds

a. Verify the feeds established by the teacher role display as configured.

22. Search Forums

a. Post several entries to a forum if you haven’t done so already.

23. Section Links

a. Verify that the number of links in the block matches the number of sections in the course.

b. Click the links to verify they correlate with the appropriate section in the course.

24. Upcoming Events

II. Add-on Blocks

Logout as a student and login as a teacher to test the following:

1. Feedback

a. Verify that the Feedback activity created on the top-most level Moodle page is visible within the Feedback block.

b. Complete the Feedback activity.

2. Quickmail

a. For those allowing students access to use Quickmail, test that mail can be sent.

b. Also test that the Quickmail group settings are working properly.

IV. AS A TEACHER AGAIN

A. Resources
1. Nothing at this point.
B. Activities

I. Core

1. Assignment: Advanced uploading of files

a. Verify uploaded files are visible and downloadable.

b. Reply to the test student with a comment as well as a modified version of the original upload.

b. Provide a grade for each student.

2. Assignment: Online text

a. Verify the assignment was saved.

b. Provide a grade and a comment for each student.

3. Assignment: Upload a single file

a. Verify uploaded file is visible and downloadable.

b. Provide a grade and a comment for each student.

4. Assignment: Offline activity

a. Provide a grade and a comment for each student.

5. Chat

a. Verify that the past chats are viewable.

6. Choice

a. Verify that all Choice selections were saved.

7. Database

a. Verify that the data that was submitted is stored.

b. Check that the default and modified settings worked as intended.

8. Forum

a. Standard forum for general use – defaults

i. Nothing to do here.

b. Single simple discussion

i. Rate the posts.

ii. Verify that the grades were inserted.

c. Each person posts one discussion

i. Rate the posts.

ii. Verify that the custom scale grades were inserted.

d. Q&A

i. Nothing to do here.

9. Glossary

a. Grade the glossary entries setup to be rated.

b. Verify that the grades were inserted.

10. Lesson (FINISH)

a.

11. Quiz

a. Verify that the quiz submissions were submitted and graded properly.

13. Survey – pre-built surveys to let students rate courses.  (Not modifiable)

a. Test if your institution uses them.

15. Workshop

a. Grade each workshop submission.

C. Blocks and Modules

1. Administration (FINISH)

Ensure all of the links within this block are not broken.

Settings

Change the Format to something different.

Add an enrollment key and test it as a new Student.

Assign Roles

If you were able to create new users as part of this the Initial Setup then this is complete.

Groups: create a group, add users to it, assign Groups to a block or activity that allows it (like a Forum) and test that that the group appears in the posting.

Backup: Back up a course.  Make a few obvious changes in the course, in the News Forum at the top for example.

Restore: Restore the recent backup of the course.  Note if the course is the version as it appeared before your latest backup.

Import: Create a resource or activity in another test course (like a Glossary) and import it to the current course.

Reset: add an activity and resource to a test course and reset the course.

Report: create a report, change two or three criteria, and check that they display correctly.

Questions: Create three or four questions in the bank and then create a Quiz and pull two questions from the Question Bank.

Scales: Add a new Scale set and test it in one of the items that support it (like a Forum).

Files:  Create a folder and upload at least one file to it.

Grades: set up assignments, return to them as a student, interact to submit for grading.

Unenrol: change to the Student role, un-enroll the Student

2. Feedback

a. Verify that the data submitted by the student role was stored in the top-most level Moodle page Feedback settings.

V.  AS OTHER ROLES (e.g., Teacher, Guest, custom roles)

Copy and paste the above sections and modify as necessary.

This document provides a rundown of simple steps you can take to streamline the Gradebook without modifying any code.

Table of Contents

• Gradebook Settings
• Editing Strings for Gradebook Terms
• Easily Applied Minor Code Hacks
• Other Report/ Screen Options

Gradebook Settings

Site administration->Grades->General settings:

1. Set all configuration settings back to defaults

Site administration->Grades->Grade category settings:

1. Set all configuration settings back to defaults

Site administration->Grades->Grade item settings:

1. Set all configuration settings back to defaults
2. Highlight all but the following fields to be “Advanced grade item options”:
   

• Grade display type
• Aggregation Coefficient
• Parent Category

Site administration->Grades->Report settings->Grader report:

1. Set all configuration settings back to defaults
2. Uncheck “Show user profile images” (will speed up display)
3. Uncheck “Show activity icons” (will simplify display)
4. Set “Decimals shown in ranges” to ‘0′ (will simplify display)

Editing Strings for Gradebook Terms

Strings used in the gradebook are contained in the following language files:

• grades.php (most)
• gradereport_grader.php
• gradereport_outcomes.php
• gradereport_overview.php
• gradereport_user.php

To edit strings

1. Site administration->Language->Language editing
2. (Optionally) Select the language to edit from language dropdown
3. Click “Edit words or phrases” link
4. Choose language file to edit from “Choose file to edit” dropdown
   
5. Replace desired strings with new wording
6. Save changes button

Suggested terms to change

• Aggregation
• Simple weighted mean of grades
• Weighted mean of grades
• Mean of grades
• Multiplicator
• Offset
• Synchronize legacy grades (scary, change to “Hose the system”)

Easily Applied Minor Code Hacks

Increase maximum assignment point count

1. in lib/weblib.php, function print_grade_menu: (approximately line 5618):
   • change “for ($i=100…” to “for ($i=250…” (or desired maximum grade)
2. in lib/form/modgrade, libfunction on QUickFormEvent: (approximately line 58)
   • change “for ($i=100…” to “for ($i=250…” (or desired maximum grade)

Provide student names on right side of grader report

1. In grade/report/grader/lib.php add the following lines at approximately line 592:
   
if ($key == $numrows - 1) {
$headerhtml .= '<th class=""header c'.$columncount++.' user"" scope=""col""><a href=""'.$this->baseurl.'&sortitemid=firstname"">'
. $strfirstname . '</a> ' //TODO: localize
. $firstarrow. '/ <a href=""'.$this->baseurl.'&sortitemid=lastname"">' . $strlastname . '</a>'. $lastarrow .'</th>';
}


   You want to add them just before the lines:

   $headerhtml .= '</tr>';
}
return $headerhtml;

2. at approximately line 818 add lines:
   $studentshtml .= '<th class=""header c'.$columncount++.' user"" scope=""row"">' . $user_pic
. '<a href=""' . $CFG->wwwroot . '/user/view.php?id='
. $user->id . '"">' . fullname($user) . '</a></th>';


   Right before the lines:

   $studentshtml .= '</tr>';
}
return $studentshtml;"

Other Report Screen Options

Simple Grader Report: Using this report enables the following options:

• Allows scrolling of wide grades screen without losing student names column
• Reduces aggregation methods to three
• Simple weighted mean of grades
• Weighted mean of grades
• Sum of points
• Allows extra credit for all aggregation methods
• Quick edit by grade item or student

Single-Screen Weighting




]]> http://www.clamp-it.org/2009/03/making-the-gradebook-easier-to-use/feed/ 2