This article provides answer to frequently asked questions about Moodle.
Course access
My instructor says that I am enrolled in their course but I cannot access it on Moodle. I found the course manually on Moodle but I could not enroll myself in this course. What should I do?
Make sure that you are officially enrolled in this course in Bionic. If you are shopping the course and have not officially enrolled through Bionic, your professor may open the course to guest access so that you can see the materials.
I realized I am not enrolled in the Moodle site for an Organization I am a part of, so I don’t have access to the materials which I need immediately. How can I solve this?
For non-academic Moodle sites, the administrator of the page has to add you to the site. As soon as they add you to the Moodle site, you will see it in the list of courses on your Moodle homepage.
I am enrolled in a class at Swarthmore. How can I access the course’s Moodle page?
Bryn Mawr students can log in directly at moodle.swarthmore.edu with their Swarthmore username and password that are given to them when they register for the course. Swarthmore has posted instructions on how to get set up with your account here.
I am a Swarthmore student enrolled in a Bryn Mawr class and I am currently unable to view my course’s Moodle page. I have registered for the course through the Swarthmore and Bryn Mawr registrars. What should I do?
You should be able to log in with your Bryn Mawr username and password to access your Bryn Mawr courses at moodle.brynmawr.edu. You should have received an email when you registered for the course that explained how to get your credentials, but if not please contact the Bryn Mawr Help desk at 610-526-7440 or visit the desk on the first floor of Canaday Library and they can help you. For security reasons, your username and password cannot be reset via email.
Login
I recently changed my BMC password and have used it successfully to log in to my Bryn Mawr email and to BiONiC, but I have been locked out of Moodle since I changed my password. What can I do to get access to Moodle?
Most likely you are using a browser that is remembering an old password. If you have one, try a different web browser and see if this solves this issue. If it does, you need to delete the saved password it has in order to use the original browser. This is usually in the Settings/Preferences, but it varies slightly with each browser.
I cleared my cache but I still got an error message stating that my credentials are invalid when logging in Moodle. I have all my course information on Moodle and I really want to be able to access it now.
Most likely you are using a browser that is remembering an old password. If you have one, try a different web browser and see if this solves this issue. If it does, you need to delete the saved password it has in order to use the original browser. This is usually in the Settings/Preferences, but it varies slightly with each browser.
I will be soon returning to teach at Bryn Mawr so I would like to reactivate my account. My new contract will not officially renew until this fall but I am wondering if there’s a way for me to log in and begin working on my Moodle page for the fall?
In order to receive early access, your Bionic account needs to have an earlier start date or be set to “Future Faculty”. This needs to be set up by the Provost’s Office so it is best to discuss this with them first and see what options there are. All Moodle access is set by information in Bionic, so it has to be corrected there in order for Moodle to reflect the changes.
How long will I be able to log in to Moodle after graduation?
Graduating seniors and graduate students will have access to Moodle for 90 days after graduation. However, we cannot guarantee that the documents will be up for the whole 90 days as faculty are able to edit/delete materials as they wish, so we recommend downloading/archiving all materials you think you will need as soon as possible.
How can I access Moodle after the 90-day period post-graduation? Is there a simple way to export all of my Moodle materials from my college years?
There is no way to get access to Moodle after the 90 days unless you return to work for the college. LITS strongly recommends that you download all of your Moodle materials before you leave the college. There is no easy way to export all of the material for all of your courses, so we recommend downloading/exporting the necessary materials after each semester instead of all at once when you graduate.
I can log in to Moodle using Google Chrome, but why doesn’t Internet Explorer let me in?
It’s most likely that Internet Explorer has an old password saved and is trying to log you in with that instead of the password you are entering. Go to the Settings for Internet Explorer and delete any saved passwords it has for Moodle. Then, restart the browser and it should let you log in to Moodle. If this does not work, please contact the Help Desk and they can help troubleshoot further.
Add/Remove Participants
How do I add/remove students from my course? Can I do the same with Haverford students? Swarthmore? What do I do if I need to add a non-Tri-Co person to a course?
Students taking courses will automatically be enrolled in the Moodle courses as long as they official registered for the course in Bionic. To add an auditing student, TA, or colleague, follow the instructions here.
Who should I contact to if I need admin access to a Moodle Page (ex. SGA Moodle Page)?
Email help@brynmawr.edu with the specifics of the Moodle page (title, who the current administrator is) and someone will get back to you shortly. Please be aware that our policy is to notify the current administrator that this request has been made, and to receive their permission before adding a new administrator. Current administrators can also add other admins themselves by following the instructions here. Note: the role with the highest level of editing privileges is “Teacher” for a Moodle site.
I have a TA for a course that I am teaching. How can I give them access to the Moodle page for my course? What if I need them to have access to the Grades function?
TAs traditionally are given the role “Non-editing teacher” which despite its name can edit. This role has majority of the roles that the Teacher role does, but does not give them access to the Gradebook, so only the instructor can submit/edit grades.
Edit content
One of my students reported that they could not see all the materials on Moodle. What is causing this and how should I fix it?
The most likely cause is that the materials/topics are hidden. For individual materials, click on “Edit” (make sure editing is turned on) and then select “Show”. This will change the individual material from being hidden to being visible. For entire topic areas, click on the edit menu the far right of the box and choose the eye icon. Clicking on this icon will change it back to a normal eye, which indicates that the topic box is now visible.
Note: Once a topic area is made visible, the individual items in the box may also need to be made visible. The easiest way to check is if the eye says “hide” or “show.”
Is there any way I can change the course name but still keep the original content?
Yes, if you are the administrator of the course or organization, email help@brynmawr.edu with the new name. If you asking for an academic course because you wish to transfer the materials, it is better to keep the name the same and import the material into your new course shell by following the instructions here.
I would like to move a part of my Moodle course to another part of the same course. What is the best way to do this efficiently?
If the two courses are both up on Moodle, the easiest way to do this is with the Import tool. During the import process you can select how much of the original course materials are being brought over to the new one. The original course is unchanged during this process.
How do I move the audio files from my old Moodle page to the current one?
The easiest way to do this is with the Import tool.
Note: This only works if the old Moodle page is still active on the server.
How can I save or download content from a course I teach regularly so that I can upload it directly into Moodle the next time I offer the course? How can I transfer content from the right-hand column as well as the main sections of the site?
Every instructor can (and should) backup their course materials by using the Backup tool. Please note that Moodle has a 128MB size limit, so if the backup file is larger than this, it cannot be restored as is and needs to be separated into parts. If the course was recently taught (less than a year ago) the Import tool is a better option as it is not limited by file size. The blocks on the right and left columns are automatically backed up, and the default is to include them in the restore process, so make sure the “Include blocks” checkbox is checked and it will bring over the blocks on the side.
How do I add more “topic” sections to my Moodle course?
There is a small plus sign icon in the bottom right-hand corner below the last topic box that says either +Add Topics or +Add Weeks, depending on how you have organized your course. When you click on that, it will bring up a dialog box for you to indicate how many new sections you would like to add (the currently limit is 52).
How can I see what my course page will look like to enrolled students?
You can click on the “Switch role to…” link when you click on your profile in the top right-hand corner and choose “Auditor”. This view is identical to what the students will see. This will work for both the main course page and any individual activity in the course. When you are done, you will have to click “return to my normal role” in the upper right-hand corner in order to have editing rights again.
Can I save quiz questions that I have used in previous years for the next time I teach?
Moodle has a question bank for each course where all of the questions from quizzes are stored. You can export the questions at any time and save them in either a Moodle format or HTML. This can then be imported into future Moodle courses’ question banks. To export the questions, go to the “Question Bank” link (click on “More…”) under Administration in your course and “Export” will be available as a drop-down option. This will then let you choose the format and provide a download link to save the file.
Email
How can I send messages to all students enrolled in my course through Moodle?
There are three ways:
1) Posting something to the News Forum will automatically send out an email copy as well as post it to the News Forum on your Moodle page. These emails are not immediate, however, so they should not be used to communicate time-sensitive information.
2) There is the “Compose a new email” link under Quickmail (on the right-hand sidebar of your course page). This allows you to send an email to all of your students, or a selection of them. This looks like a standard email, with options to attach files and insert media. This also allows you to receive a copy yourself, and access it later under the “View history” link in the same Quickmail block.
3) Moodle has a new messaging feature called Messages, which allows you to send messages to individuals or groups in a course. You can read more about this option as compared to Quickmail in option 2 above by reading more here.
I have been sending general announcements to students in my course by using the News Forum on Moodle. However, some students are not receiving these emails. How can I ensure that students are receiving these messages?
As long as the student is officially enrolled in the course in Moodle, they will receive emails from the News Forum. However, these are not immediate, so if they are checking right after it has been posted, it most likely will not be in their inbox yet. It’s also possible that the emails are going to their junk filter, especially if they have email forwarding set up. If some students report issues, it may be best to send them the information via Quickmail as that lets you receive a copy as well so you can confirm the email went out.
Miscellaneous
I am unable to access to my email and Moodle at the moment. Is there a way I can gain access to the information of my enrolled courses without logging in to Moodle?
Unfortunately, no, there is no way for anyone who cannot log in to email and/or Bionic to log into Moodle. This mostly likely means that their account is locked and they should be able to log in shortly. The only way for anyone to access information about courses without logging is if the professor set up guest access to the site. However, this will only give you limited access to materials on the site and should be used as a temporary solution.
Are there instructions for how to set up quizzes and/or exams in Moodle?
Questions?
If you have any additional questions or problems, don't hesitate to reach out to the Help Desk!
Phone: 610-526-7440 | Library and Help Desk hours
Email: help@brynmawr.edu | Service catalog
Location: Canaday Library 1st floor
