Sydney Distance Education High School – http://www.sydneyh-d.schools.nsw.edu.au/moodle/
Moodle Student Introduction
Sydney Distance Education High School (SDEHS) has chosen Moodle1 as its
Managed Learning Environment (MLE) to help support your learning, whatever
course you are studying. Moodle courses are created by your teachers so you
can access learning resources and communication facilities at any time and any
place.
This handout gives you a basic introduction to using Moodle. You will find it easy
to use and will learn a lot more about Moodle facilities as you use it to support
your studies and your learning.
This handout covers:
1. Logging In, The Home Page, Update Profile
2. Accessing your course(s), The Course Page, Course Facilities
3. Opening learning resources, File Types
Moodle Login Page
Use Internet Explorer web browser to get to the SDEHS Moodle login page:
http://www.sydneyh-d.schools.nsw.edu.au/moodle/
Use your normal Username (the one you normally use to login to the DET
network, password issued by your teacher or other staff member), although in
some cases a Moodle only username and password may be issued.
Username: student username e.g. John.Smith
Password: a word e.g. wombat (lower case)
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Moodle is an acronym; it stands for ‘Modular Object-Oriented Dynamic Learning Environment’
If you have difficulty logging in, try the following steps:
1. Try typing your username and password again – more carefully this time.
2. Contact your teacher to check you have the right details.
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Sydney Distance Education High School – http://www.sydneyh-d.schools.nsw.edu.au/moodle/
Moodle Home Page
My Courses
Once logged in, your name appears in the top right of your home page and there
is a list of your Moodle courses on the right of the page.
If you aren’t enrolled in any Moodle courses yet, you will get a list of course
categories that you can browse through to find your course(s). Your teacher
should have told you the course title and told/shown you where your course can
be found.
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Sydney Distance Education High School – http://www.sydneyh-d.schools.nsw.edu.au/moodle/
Course Titles
Accessing Your Course(s)
Click on the course title to enter the course.
You should see the course page like that shown below.
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Sydney Distance Education High School – http://www.sydneyh-d.schools.nsw.edu.au/moodle/
You might see something different (depending on how your teacher has setup
your enrolment onto Moodle) – see below. You may need an Enrolment Key (a
course specific password) to get access to your course.
If you have problems getting into your course, contact your teacher in the first
instance or call in to User Support for help.
The Course Page
Moodle courses come in Topic format.
The Topic Format gives numbered boxes containing links to learning resources.
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Sydney Distance Education High School – http://www.sydneyh-d.schools.nsw.edu.au/moodle/
The ‘Jump’ menu help you move around different areas of the course.
There are also a variety of other
facilities on the course page designed
to help you communicate and keep
organised during your studies.
For example:
A calendar
Activities
People
Each subject will have its own blocks.
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Sydney Distance Education High School – http://www.sydneyh-d.schools.nsw.edu.au/moodle/
Opening Learning Resources
One of the main functions of Moodle is to deliver learning materials to you over
the Internet. To work through your course, point to and click on each item in
order
Using Microsoft Internet Explorer browser
A new browser window will open and usually, a File Download box appears with
3 buttons:
•
•
•
Open – I want to see the file in a new window (or print out the file).
Save – I want a copy of the file on my computer.
Cancel – I don’t want to open or save the file
Open – the file (a Word document in this example)
opens in a new window. You can also Save the file
using the File menu in Word. Close this window to
return to the course page when you have finished
using the resource.
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Sydney Distance Education High School – http://www.sydneyh-d.schools.nsw.edu.au/moodle/
Save – the Save As dialogue box opens so you
can browse to a place on your computer to save
the file.
Cancel – a new browser window with nothing
inside it appears. Close this window to return to
the course page. Or a new page with a blank
frame appears. Click on the course name on the
top navigation bar to return to the course.
Note: In some cases Microsoft Office program files will open inside the
Internet Explorer browser. If this occurs, the file can still be saved or
printed via the file menu.
File Types
Anything that can be stored on a computer can be used as a learning resource
within Moodle. To begin with, you may be unfamiliar with how to use some of
these file types.
Your teacher will explain how to open, save and use the various resources that
you will find on Moodle.
Personal Profile
Once you have accessed a course, you can edit your personal profile. Click on
the Participants link in the People box (usually at the top left of the course page).
You will see a list of teachers and students on the course and a link to their
Profile.
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Sydney Distance Education High School – http://www.sydneyh-d.schools.nsw.edu.au/moodle/
Clicking on your own profile link gives 3 buttons:
•
•
•
Profile
Edit Profile
Forum Posts
On the Edit Profile page, there are a number of text boxes and drop menus for
you to update. You can even upload a picture to go with your profile.
Just the Beginning …….
This handout has only just started you on the road of using Moodle to support
your own learning.
With practice, you will become confident and competent when using this new
Learning Technology.
We hope you enjoy using Moodle and are very keen to hear from you about your
experiences (good and not so good) of using Moodle in your studies and learning.
See Appendix of common file types on next page.
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Sydney Distance Education High School – http://www.sydneyh-d.schools.nsw.edu.au/moodle/
Appendix 1: Common File Types
Image
File Type Extension
MS Word
doc, xls, mdb
Comments
Works well if you have MS Office or MS
Works on your PC. Other business software
may not be able to open this file format.
MS PowerPoint
ppt, pps
You will need MS Office on your PC to run
these presentations.
A common file type on the Internet. Get the
Adobe Reader free from
http://www.adobe.com/ to open and print
these files.
You will need a web browser (Internet
World Wide
Explorer, Netscape, Opera etc) to see these
Website
htm, html, shtml, asp, web pages. You may also need to download
xml, php, jsp etc
plug-in software to view some web page
components.
Other file types not recognised by Moodle.
General
various
Portable Document
Format
Pdf
Image
jpg, jpeg, gif, png
All these formats open in Paint or Windows
XP Picture and Fax Viewer.
Audio
Wav, mid, mp3
You will need audio software to hear these
sound files.
Video
mpeg, avi, mov
Compressed File
zip
You will need video software to see and hear
these video files.
These ZIP files should be de-compressed or
un-zipped into a folder to see what files they
contain. Use WinZip or Windows XP
Compressed Folder etc to do this.
Multimedia technology developed by
Macromedia to allow much interactivity to fit in
a relatively small file size. The Flash player
plugin will run the Flash file inside the Internet
browser. Follow on screen prompts.
Contains course files of any format for you to
browse and open/save.
Flash
Directory
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Sydney Distance Education High School – http://www.sydneyh-d.schools.nsw.edu.au/moodle/
Appendix 2: Moodle Activity Images
Image
Activity
Forum
(Discussion Group)
Chat
Quiz
Assignment
Choice
Journal
Glossary
Lesson
Wiki
Workshop
Learning Survey
Learning Object
Comments
You can post messages or reply to messages
from other students on any day or time.
Remember to visit the Forum regularly to see
what’s being said and to have your say too.
This is real-time text based conversation. For a
chat session, everyone has to be online at the
same time – sessions are held on specific dates
and times.
A question set created by your teacher and
marked automatically. These can be for self
assessment or as end of topic tests.
This facility allows you to upload your
assignment to Moodle for marking. Teacher
feedback on your work and a grade are shown
in your personal ‘Grade Book’.
A type of voting system where the opinions of
all students on the course can be collected for
specific questions.
This is a space private to you and your teacher
where you can reflect on specific study activities
or on your learning in general.
A list of words and acronyms along with their
meaning or definition. Some can be created by
the student group themselves.
A series of information pages followed by a
question or a set of choices. The route through
the lesson depends on how you answer the
questions and the choices you make.
This facility allows a group to collaboratively
create a web based information site where all
contributions, editing and updates are tracked.
Teachers can set up a situation where students
act as teachers to mark their own and other
students work according to set criteria.
One of three surveys that look at your attitude
and approach to using online resources for
learning.
Ready-made learning materials. They run inside
your Internet browser and usually contain a high
level of interactivity. Follow on screen prompts.
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