Tag: modules

After the most unusual academic year ever, with everyone adapting their teaching style and working online. It was the TEL Team’s mission, along with help from the Online Course Developers to get this academic year 2020/21 modules redesigned and ready to go.  All their hard work has paid off, but would you believe it, the same top four questions appear again this year!

Q1) I cannot see my module(s) on my Moodle dashboard, why not?

Are you a new member of staff or have you recently taken over the module? Has the module changed name/code and has it had a Moodle presence previously? These are some of the reasons you may not be able to see a module on your dashboard, to help us resolve the issue we will require some details about the module(s) – the module title and/or the module code, the level of access that you require for the module(s), and your username. With this information, we can add you to the module or create a blank module (or clone an existing one) for you to build.

Q2) My students are not attached to my modules, why not?

Students are added to modules in Moodle by mapping course codes and registration instances, or modules codes and attendance groups against Student Records. We do not manually add students as this access will not update should they change their modules of study.  Let us know if you are missing students and we will try to see if we can resolve this problem for you or bring it to the attention of your Admin Hub if a change needs to be made in Student Records.

Q3) I can see my students are attached to my module, but they are saying that they can’t see the module on their homepage, why not?

It could be that your module is still hidden from the student view.  

To unhide your module, go to the module, click on the ‘Actions Menu’ (top right-hand-side), click on ‘Edit settings’, click on the drop-down arrow in the box alongside the ‘Course visibility’ title, click on ‘Show’ scroll down and click on ‘Save and display’.  Once your students have refreshed their Moodle page, students should be able to see the module.  If students still cannot see the module, please supply the module’s details and we will investigate to see if we can resolve this issue. 

Here is a screenshot of the drop-down box, if it says Hide click on Show.

It is also important to remember that modules ending in JAN stay hidden from student view until Teaching Block 2 starts (or until the module is unhidden).  So you’ll see the students, but the students won’t see the module.

Q4) My colleague needs access to my module, can I add them myself?

Yes you can – on the module page click on the ‘Actions Menu’ (top right-hand-side), click on ‘More’ at the bottom of the list. Click on the tab ‘Users’, then in the ‘Users’ section click on ‘Enrolled users’ (first title).  This will take you to the participants’ page, click on the box that says ‘Enrol users’ a box will appear, first assign the role you wish your colleague to have from the drop-down menu, then type their name in the top search box, where it says ‘Select users’. When the name you require appears click on it, so it appears above the box, then click on the ‘Enrol selected users and cohorts’ button.  

Here is a sample of the Enrol users box.

When your colleague refreshes their page or logs into Moodle the module will appear on their dashboard.  With Lecturer access you can give a colleague a ‘Lecturer’, ‘non-editing Teacher’ or ‘Guest’ role, you cannot assign the ‘Student’ role.

Alternatively, complete the Moodle Request form on My Services and we’ll add new users for you. 

Don’t forget the TEL Team are here to help with your queries and questions so please do get in touch with us at servicedesk@port.ac.uk

Credit Image: Photo by Raychel Espiritu on Unsplash

At the beginning of each new academic year Technology Enhanced Learning (TEL) receive many Moodle queries from staff – here are the top four that we’re asked:

Q1) I can’t see my module(s) on my Moodle Homepage, why not?

A1) Are you a new member of staff or have you recently taken over the module? Has the module changed name/code and has it had a Moodle presence previously? These are some of the reasons you may not be able to see a module on your homepage, to help us resolve the issue for you we will require some details about the module(s) – the module title and/or the module code, the level of access that you require for the module(s), and your username. With this information we can add you to the module or create a blank module (or clone an existing one) for you to build.

Q2) My students are not attached to my module(s), why not?

A2) Students are added to modules in Moodle by mapping course codes and registration instances, or modules codes and attendance groups against Student Records. We do not manually add students as this access will not update should they change their modules of study.  Let us know if you are missing students and we will try to see if we can resolve this problem for you or bring it to the attention of your course administrators if a change needs to be made in Student Records.

Q3) I can see my students are attached to my module, but they are saying that they can’t see the module on their homepage, why not?

A3) It could be that your module is still hidden from student view.  To unhide your module, go to the module, click on the ‘Actions Menu’ (top right hand-side), click on ‘Edit settings’, click on the drop down arrow in the box alongside the ‘Course visibility’ title, click on ‘Show’ scroll down and click on ‘Save and display’.  Once your students have refreshed their Moodle page, students should be able to see the module.  If students still cannot see the module, please supply the module’s details and we will investigate to see if we can resolve this issue. 

A screenshot of the drop down box, if it says Hide click on Show.

It is also important to remember that modules ending in JAN stay hidden from student view until January (or until the module is unhidden).  So you’ll see the students, but the students won’t see the module.

Q4) My colleague needs access to my module, can I add them myself?

A4) Yes you can – on the module page click on the ‘Actions Menu’ (top right hand-side), click on ‘More’ at the bottom of the list. Click on the tab ‘Users’, then in the ‘Users’ section click on ‘Enrolled users’ (first title).  This will take you to the participants page, click on the box that says ‘Enrol users’ a box will appear, first assign the role you wish your colleague to have from the drop-down menu, then type their name in the top search box, were it says ‘Select users’. When the name you require appears click on it, so it appears above the box, then click on the ‘Enrol selected users and cohorts’ button.  

A sample of the Enrol users box.

When your colleague refreshes their page or logs into Moodle the module will appear on their homepage.
With Lecturer access you can give another colleague a ‘Lecturer’, ‘non-editing Teacher’ or ‘Guest’ role, you cannot assign the ‘Student’ role.

Alternatively, complete the Moodle Request form on My Services and we’ll add new users for you. 

Photo by Brooke Cagle on Unsplash