At the beginning of the semester
I want to request a Moodle course. /I want a Moodle course.
Moodle course for academic use:
You need to request a new Moodle course in SPIRE each semester if you want to use Moodle for a class, even if the Moodle course has nothing changed. You still need to request a new one.
Once your request has been processed you will be informed via email.
Because this is a manual process (your course is not automatically created when you submit the form), it may take a day or so before your course is ready.
Please plan accordingly. (e.g., request in mid-April for Fall semester, mid-November for Spring semester).
Some things to keep in mind when requesting a Moodle course:
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Only Primary Instructors may request Moodle courses.
If you are not a Primary Instructor for a course, the course will not appear on your list of Moodle-eligible classes in SPIRE. Then you need to ensure your departmental scheduling representative has listed you in SPIRE as a primary instructor.
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The Moodle course request form in SPIRE gives you the option to combine multiple sections into one Moodle course, or ask for a single-section Moodle course.
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Moodle course request opens at the start of the registration period for each semester (midway through the previous semester) and remains open until the close of the semester taught.
I can’t find my Moodle course.
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Did you request a new Moodle course?
You must request a new Moodle course every semester if you wish to teach a class using Moodle.
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Make sure you are trying to log in to the correct learning management system. (If the organization is using more than one LMS.)
If you do not see the name of your course in the My Courses block, click Show Hidden Courses link to access courses that are not available to students.
How do I use my former materials?/ How do I reuse a previous Moodle course?
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Copy another instructor’s Moodle course if that instructor gives permission to allow it. (Refer the other instructor to this page: Allow another Instructor to Copy Your Moodle Course)
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Request to restore a backup of a Moodle course from another institution or one no longer on our Moodle server. Instructors do not have the ability to restore a course themselves. Please contact the Instructional Media Lab for assistance at (413) 545-2823 orinstruct@umass.edu.
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How do I set up my Gradebook?
In the middle of the semester:
In the end of the semester:
How do I set up my Gradebook?
‘ZERO’ in Gradebook
If a student is absent from an assignment/project/quiz or something else, you still need to put an 0 instead of leaving it blank.
Because Moodle will take a blank score as the the Minimum grade which you set up.
An empty grade is simply a missing Gradebook entry, and could mean different things.
E.g, it could be a participant who hasn't yet submitted an assignment/ an assignment submission not yet graded by the teacher/or a grade that has been manually deleted by the gradebook administrator.
No grades, instructors need to put a 0.
Worst grades, instructors need to put a 1.
By default, only non-empty grades are aggregated, the others are ignored.
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However, you can change this setting as well as others that affect the course total, by Turn editing on in the Grader report, then click the Edit icon next to the course category (the very top row of the Grader report).
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You can untick the box Exclude empty grades if you want to show a more "progressive" score for each student.
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Their empty grades will count as a 0 and will be counted in the course mean/total.