MoodleCloud User Guide

Tami Belhadj, Pedagogical Consultant

RÉCIT Provincial Service for Voc. Ed.
Sir Wilfrid Laurier School Board
60, rue Lahaie, Laval H7G 3A8

T 450.688.2933 ext: 4120

C 514 592 0866
E recitvt@gmail.com

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 Table of Contents

Introduction
1. How it works?
1.1 Get started
1.2 Overview
1.3 Main functions available in MoodleCloud
1.4 Connecting to MoodleCloud
1.5 Creating a course

2. Adding Resources
2.1 Add a file
2.2 Add a folder
2.3 Add a web link (URL)
2.4 Add a label
2.5 Add a book

3. Adding Activities
3.1 Add a forum
3.2 Add a chat
3.3 Add an assignment
3.4 Add a quiz
3.5 Add a glossary

4. Blocks
4.1 Add a calendar
4.2 Add a list of participants

5. Online Help

References

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Introduction
MoodleCloud is a cloud based elearning platform for creating learning
communities around educational subjects and activities. MoodleCloud is a
software for "distance learning" or more accurately a "digital learning
environment". It allows to distribute documents (text, audio, video, etc.) and
support the interactions between teachers and students, using a variety of
communication tools, evaluation and management.

MoodleCloud allows educators to deploy their own server in the cloud. The
system is targeted towards small users of Moodle. The site has some limits:
 50 users maximum.
 200Mb disk space
 Core themes and plugins only
 One site per phone number
Whereas Moodle itself does not support video-conferencing, MoodleCloud
comes with BigBlueButton, an amazing solution for full online conferencing,
including video, audio, whiteboards and desktop sharing. In MoodleCloud the
free BigBlueButton sessions are limited to 6 people, with no recordings. It is
perfect for small study groups or for teachers to experiment with the platform.

1 How it works?

1.1 Get started

Got to moodle.com/cloud and click on: GET A MOODLECLOUD SITE NOW!

After completing the 5 steps registrations process, you are ready to create a
course.

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1.2 Overview

MoodleCloud being a free service, in order to help support it, users have to
endure advertising. Read terms of service to understand rules of use.

Here is a glimpse of an online course available on Moodlecloud, including the

advertising that users will see when accessing pages on line.

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1.3 Main functions available in MoodleCloud

Ressources…

◦ Download and share FILEs (regardless of its

type: Word, Excel, PDF, video, audio, etc.)
◦ Download and share FOLDERs containing
documents
◦ Go to a website (URL)
◦ Insert a text box (LABEL)
◦ Create digital contents (BOOK)

Activites…

◦ Discussion FORUM
◦ Facilitating a conversation (CHAT)
◦ Uploading assignments (ASSIGNMENT)
◦ Self-Assessment (Quiz)
◦ Review (QUIZ)
◦ GLOSSARY
◦ GAMES preprogrammed for learning words of a
glossary (Hangman, crossword, etc.)

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1.4 Connecting to MoodleCloud

Using a browser of your choice (Internet Explorer, Chrome, Firefox, etc…). Type in
the following web address: https://recit-vt.moodlecloud.com;

The first thing you need to do is to login in to the site, entre a user name (teacher)
and a password (12345). This account is for training purposes, and will give access
to limited parts of the training site.

A course named Introduction to MoodleCloud is available to all users, what is

important to renumber, it is that every time you or your students login,
MoodleCloud will track all activities on this web site. Interactions are visible to
teachers and to the administrators of the site.
The Dashboard is right under the picture of the user, it is the top view of the storage
three structure used by MoodleCloud. Using the navigation window, it is possible
to move to different view of the web site. The Dashboard allows to access 3 main
locations, Site home, Site page and My courses. The current view on the browser
has in the center of the page the course overview of Introduction to MoodleCloud.
The Dashboard can be customized to the layout preference of each user.

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1.5 Creating a course

To create courses in MoodelCloud, you have to be granted such a privilege by the

site administrator. Creating a course and registering students to a course are very
simple procedures that usually are not the responsibility of a teacher, and are not
discussed in this guide. However, such information is available at this location:
https://docs.moodle.org/30/en/Admin_quick_guide

2 Adding Resources

After clicking on the course titled Introduction to MoodleCloud, the page bellow will
appear. First Click the "Turn editing on" at the top right of the page.
To leave edit mode, click the button "Turn editing off ".

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 Next to each topic, on the right hand side, you will see a button
to add either an activity or a resource. Clicking on it will open
a window with all the options available.

2.1 Add a file

In the "Add a resource" section, select "File"; the page bellow will appear. First, in
the Dashboard area, you can see where the file being added will be located. Second
you have to give the file a name, this could be different from the actual file name.
A short description could be added, to explain the purpose of the resource in the
course. The file size restriction is 100 Mb maximum, remember that MoodleCloud
has a limitation of 200Mb disk space.
Third, drag and drop any file in the content section, where the blue arrow (looking
down) is located. Finally, click on save and display and the document will appear on
that section of the course page and will be accessible to your students.

4 3

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2.2 Add a folder

In the "Add a resource" section, select "Folder"; the page bellow will appear. First,
in the Dashboard area, you can see where the folder being added will be located.
Second you have to give the folder a name, this could be different from the actual
folder name. A short description could be added, to explain the purpose of the
resource in the course.

3
4

Third, drag and drop any older in the content section, where the blue arrow (looking
down) is located. Finally, click on save and display and the folder (including all files
and sub-folders) will appear on that section of the course page and will be
accessible to your students.

Adding a prepared folder, including all necessary documents, is sometimes faster

than adding files individually.

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2.3 Add a web link (URL)

In the "Add a resource" section, select "URL"; the page bellow will appear. First, in
the Dashboard area, you can see where the web link being added will be located.
Second you have to give the URL a name, this can be seen as a URL shorter. A
description could be added, to explain the purpose of the resource in the course
and may be when it was last consulted.

Third, type in of copy past the URL in the box. You can also click on Choose a link,
and a wild ow will pop-up, offering to pick from an embedded file, a URL
downloader or Wikimedia. This last option will allow you to search for Creative
Commons licensed pictures to link to the MoodleCloud course. Finally, click on save
and display and the folder (including all files and sub-folders) will appear on that
section of the course page and will be accessible to your students.

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2.4 Add a label

In the "Add a resource" section, select "Label"; the page bellow will appear. First,
in the Dashboard area, you can see where the label being added will be located. A
label is a spacer between sections of a course. It can be used to add text to help
improve the appearance and/or the navigation between parts of a course.

The label editor with a single toolbar (see above) or expanded toolbar (see below),
will not only support text entry, but also images, multimedia, hyperlinks or code.
Banners or descriptions may be added to labels to distinguish between sections of
a course.

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2.5 Add a book

In the "Add a resource" section, select "book"; the page bellow will appear. First,
in the Dashboard area, you can see where the book being added will be located.
Second you have to give the Book a name.

A book is a multi-page resource with a book-like format. You can use the book
module to present information in a well-structured, user-friendly format. This
module allows you to import individual web pages or folders of web pages, it is
useful for group work. It is possible to navigate a book using the links in table of
content, or through the book pages using the arrows located to the top-right and
bottom-right of each page.

Additional information on the Book module is available at this location:

https://docs.moodle.org/30/en/Book_module

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3 Adding Activities

Usually an activity, in Moodle, is something that a student will do that interacts with
other students and or the teacher. There are 15 different types of activities in
MoodleCloud that can be found when the editing is turned on and the link 'Add an
activity or resource' is clicked.

3.1 Add a forum

It is important to differentiate between News forum and forum. The News forum in
every new Moodle/MoodleCloude course is created automatically, and is just for
teachers to post announcements. It is NOT a discussion forum for students.
A discussion forum, is what can be added to a course, whenever necessary.

In the "Add an activities" section, select "forum"; the page above will appear.
First, in the Dashboard area, you can see where the forum being added will be

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 located. Second you have to give the forum a name. Third, you have to define the
type of forum desired. In a pulldown menu, 5 types of forums are available:

1. Standard forum for general use: It is an open forum in which any participant
can initiate a discussion at any time; this is the best choice for general use (eg
questions about the course, for more information, request for clarification,
etc.). It is this type of forum that is used by default;

2. A single simple discussion: only one topic of discussion developed on one

page, which is convenient for short discussions on a specific topic. It is not
possible to use this type of forum by separate groups;

3. Each person post one discussion: each person can start one discussion in
which everyone can meet. This type of forum is useful when you want
everyone gives his or her opinion on a topic and everyone can respond;

4. Q and A forum: Rather than initiate discussions, the participants ask

questions in the initial message. Everyone can give a response back, but he
cannot see the responses of other students to question before himself replied
to the same discussion;

5. Standard forum displayed in blog like format: open forum in which any
participant can initiate a discussion, but the display is similar to that blog.
Discussion topics are displayed on a page, with a "Discuss this topic" link to
respond;

It is possible to specify the size of files that the student can attach in the forum (10
kb to 50 mo).
When a student is subscribed to a forum he or she receives by email a copy of all
messages posted on this forum. It is therefore very important to properly configure
the subscription mode for students to receive an email after each publication.
There are 4 subscription modes forum:

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 1. Subscription Optional: Participants can choose to subscribe or not to each
forum;
2. Subscription imposed: all course participants are subscribed and cannot
unsubscribe;
3. Automatic Subscription: all course participants are initially subscribers, but may
choose to unsubscribe whenever they want;
4. Subscription off: the subscription is not allowed;
Important: Changes made to the subscription type only affect future enrolled in
the course. If a subscription plan is modified after the students were enrolled in the
course, you should ask students to go post a small sentence in this forum and ask
them to click on the box "Subscribe me to this forum" before clicking the "Send"
button. They will then be subscribed to this forum, and will receive a copy of every
publication in their inbox;
Finally, click the "Save and return to course" and your forum will be ready for use.
3.2 Add a chat

In the "Add an activities" section, select "chat"; the page above will appear. First,
in the Dashboard area, you can see where the chat being added will be located.
Second you have to give the chat a name. Finally, click on save and display and the
chat will appear on that section of the course page and will be accessible to your
students.

The module "Chat" allows participants to hold a conversation in real time over the
Internet. This is a very convenient way to share different points of view about a
subject. It contains several tools to guide and monitor the discussions. It's like a
phone conversation, but in writing instead of being heard.

When a student wishes to communicate in real time with teachers or with students
of the course, they must be connected to the same Moodle or MoodleCloud course
and at the same time, each one would click on the "Chat" link. The "Chat" window
will appear.

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 1

3.3 Add an assignment

Assignments allow the teacher to give students a task requiring them to prepare an
electronic document (any size) and drop it on the site. Examples of assignments
include essays, projects, reports, etc. This module also offers the grading facilities.
It provides a space into which students can submit work for teachers to grade and
give feedback on. This saves on paper and is more efficient than email. It can also
be used to remind students of 'real-world' assignments they need to complete
offline, such as art work, and thus not require any digital content.

A teacher can require them to submit one or several files and/or to type text essays.
It is possible to have them submit work as a group and you can also choose as a
teacher to grade their work 'blind' in other words not to see the identities of those
who have submitted assignments. Assignments can have deadlines and cut off
dates - which can be extended if necessary.

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 In the "Add an activities" section, select "Assignement"; the page bellow will
appear. First, you have to give the assignement a name. Second, you can drag and
drop any file in the additional files section, where the blue arrow (looking down) is
located. The file would contain the instruction and/or the template of the
assignment to be returned. Students can type directly into Moodle, upload files or
add media. The options are in the "Submission types" section. Students can upload
files of any type the teacher can open. The teacher can select a maximum number
of files to upload and a maximum size for each file.

Finally, click the "Save and display" and your assignment will be ready for use.
Additional information on the Assignment activity is available at this location:
https://docs.moodle.org/30/en/Assignment_activity

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3.4 Add a quiz

The QUIZ activity allows the teacher to create self-assessment quiz and even exams
completely online. These tests may consist of variety of different types of questions,
including:
◦ Multiple choice;
◦ Write a short answer;
◦ Write a text to development;
◦ True or false;
◦ Pairing;
◦ Etc.
These questions, once created, are automatically saved in the "Quiz Bank" and can
be reused in different teaching/learning situations. The multiple choice, true or
false, matching or requiring short answers are corrected automatically by Moodle
(no intervention on the part of the teacher is necessary for the correction), allowing
the saving of considerable time to correct for large groups of students.
Tests are created in four phases namely:
1. Create a test with parameters;
2. Create a bank of questions;
3. Assign questions to test previously created;
4. Set the value of the marks awarded to each question and the total test.

3.4.1 Create a test with parameters

In the "Add an activities" section, select "Quiz"; the page bellow will appear. First,
in the Dashboard area, you can see where the Quiz being added will be located.
Second, you have to give the Quiz a name. Third, you have to specify the parameters
of the Quiz, to do so a number of selections have to be made. Each of the following
sections have an impact on the way the quiz will behave; Timing, Grade, Layout,
Question behaviour, Review options, Appearance, Extra restrictions on attempts,
Overall feedback, Common module settings and Restrict access. In the timing
section, a start and closed date can be set for when the quiz will be open, also a
time limit (in minutes) can be specified for the quiz performance. Grades can be
automated and the quiz layout can be customized as well as the navigation method
(sequential vs. free).

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 1

The Question behaviour is the most important specification. Seven different types
of questions can be selected. Most of them are designed for formative evaluation.
With CBM (Certainty-based marking), the student does not only answer the
question, but they also indicate how sure they are they got the question right.

No Question Type Behavior Purpose

Formative
1,2 Adaptive mode Allows students to have multiple attempts at the question before Evaluation
and moving on to the next question. This behavior requires that the

Adaptive mode "Whether correct" box is ticked under "During the attempt" in the

(no penalties) "Review options" section, at a minimum.

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 Formative
3 Interactive After submitting one answer, and reading the feedback, the student Evaluation
mode has to click a 'Try again' button before they can try a new response.

They can be given hints to help them. Once the student has got the

question right, they can no longer change their response. Once the

student has got the question wrong too many times, they are just

graded wrong (or partially correct) and get shown the feedback and

can no longer change their answer. There can be different feedback

after each try the student makes. The number of tries the student

gets is the number of hints in the question definition plus one.

Formative
4 Immediate Similar to interactive mode in that the student can submit their Evaluation
feedback response immediately during the quiz attempt, and get it graded.

However, they can only submit one response, they cannot change it

later.
Formative
5 Immediate With CBM, the student does not only answer the question, but they Evaluation
feedback with also indicate how sure they are they got the question right. The

Certainty-based grading is adjusted by the choice of certainty, so that students have

marking (CBM) to reflect honestly on their own level of knowledge in order to get

the best mark.

Summative
6 Deferred With CBM, the student does not only answer the question, but they Evaluation
feedback with also indicate how sure they are they got the question right. The

Certainty-based grading is adjusted by the choice of certainty, so that students have

marking (CBM) to reflect honestly on their own level of knowledge in order to get

the best mark.

Summative
7 Deferred Students must enter an answer to each question and then submit Evaluation
feedback the entire quiz, before anything is graded or they get any feedback.

Finally, click the "Save and display" and your assignment will be ready for use.
Additional information on the Assignment activity is available at this location:
https://docs.moodle.org/30/en/Quiz_activity

3.4.2 Create a bank of questions

Creating a Quiz activity in a course, is one thing, and populating a quiz with
questions is an entirely other thing. MoodleCloud has a bank of questions that can

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 be accessed by every course on the platform. Questions can be imported from
other eLearning platforms like Blackboard and WebCT.

To add a question to a Quiz, it is possible to use and exisitng one from the
question bank or to create a new one. The most frequetly used question types are
: Matching, Multiple choice, Essay, Short answer, True/False and Description.

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 Question type Description
Matching The answer to each sub-question must be selected from a list
of predefined options.
Multiple Allows the selection of one or more answers from a
choice predefined list.
Essay Allows a response from several sentences or paragraphs. This
issue must be evaluated manually.
Short answer Allows a response or a few words evaluated by comparing
various response patterns that can contain wildcards.
True/False A simplified form of multiple choice with only two options
"True" and "False".
Description It is not a real question. Rather, it is a way to insert
information into the quiz, in the same way that the labels on
the course page.
Calculated Numerical questions whose numbers are drawn randomly
from a set of data when the quiz is done.
Calculated Multiple choice questions, in which the choice of items may
multichoice include the results of random functions including variable
values from one data set launched during the quiz.
Calculated Simplified version of the calculated question type (numerical
simple questions whose numbers are randomly drawn from a set of
data when the quiz is done).
Drag and drop Add the missing in the correctly numbered boxes in the
'Choice' section. (words or phrases, markers or images)
Embedded consist of a passage of text (in Moodle format) that has
answers various answers embedded within it, including multiple
(CLOZED) choice, short answers and numerical answers
Numerical Let’s a numeric answer, if necessary with the units, which is
assessed by comparing different response patterns, including
a tolerance.
Random short- A question of pairing created from the short-answer
answer questions from one category.
Select missing Similar to the Drag and drop into text question type, but uses
word drop-down menus in the text instead of drag-boxes.

Additional information on the Quiz activity is available at this location:

https://docs.moodle.org/30/en/Questions

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 3.4.3 Assign questions to test previously created

Once all your questions are created, they must be assigned to the Quiz that was
created to host them. First click on the Quiz name with the editing mode turned
off.

The quiz should appear with the message ‘No questions have been added yet’.
This time you have to click on "Edit quiz", in order to add questions to the quiz.

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 Similar to the question creation stage, this time questions will be added from the
question bank.

Once questions are added, it is possible to check the view that your students will
have of the quiz, by clicking on "Preview" in the block "Administration". Your tquiz
will appear in the final release.

3.4.4 Set the value of the marks awarded to each question and the total test

Enter the maximu grade, for total final weighting assigned to each question
(number of points per question).

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3.5 Add a glossary
A basic glossary is important, creatively applying the glossary can really make an
impact on the class. Students can create the glossary as they encounter unfamiliar
terms. A collaborative glossary can serve as a focal point for collaboration in a
course. Each member of the class could be assigned to contribute a term, a
definition, or comments on submitted definitions. Multiple definitions can be rated
by you and by the students, with the highest-rated definitions accepted for the final
class glossary.

When students are responsible for creating the definitions, they are much more
likely to remember the word and the correct definition. Engaging in the process of
learning, debating, and refining a glossary can go a long way toward helping
students begin using new terms.

Additional information on the glossary activity is available at this location:

https://docs.moodle.org/30/en/Glossary_activity

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4 Blocks
Blocks can be added to a page by turning editing on then using the 'Add a block'
drop-down menu. They may be added to the left or right of any page in
Moodle/MoodleCloud.

Any block can be made 'sticky' so that it appears in all the contexts below, such as
throughout a course or a particular activity.
After adding a block, it is possible to configer it clicking on the ‘Edit, icon in th block
heater.
A teacher might wish for example to display the ‘Messages’ block everywhere in
the course. This would allow students easily to message each other and their tutors
not only on the course from the main page but also on individual activities. The
block would be available on admin pages too.
Note: The ability to add a particular block to a page is controlled by an add
instance capability, which is allowed for the default role of teacher.

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 1. As a teacher in the course, turn on the editing
on the course main page and add the block
you wish to make sticky.
2. For Display on page types, choose 'Any page'
3. Decide other settings according to your
preferences and save.
4. The block will now appear on all pages of the
course.

Additional information on the block activity is available at this location:

https://docs.moodle.org/30/en/Blocks

Additional information on the block settings activity is available at this location:

https://docs.moodle.org/30/en/Block_settings#Block_settings

4.1 Add a calendar

The Calendar block displays the following events:

 Site (event viewable in all courses - created by admin users)

 Course (event viewable only to course members - created by teachers)
 Groups (event viewable only by members of a group - created by teachers)
 User (personal event a student user can create - viewable only by the user)

First, You can view the previous and next month in the calendar by clicking the left
/ right arrows next to the name of the month;

Second, the current date is highlighted so you can locate you self quickly;

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 1

2
Finaly, to add a new event in the calendar:

Click on the name of the desired month (eg. In March 2016);

A window in the center of the page will open with the current month.

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 Click on the "New Event" button;

1
2

First, select the type of event (eg. Course event);

Second, enter the event name and description;

Last, enter the ‘date’ and ‘time’ of the event.

In the "Date" field, select the start time; you can hide or show various categories of
events by clicking on the colored icon located in the ‘Events key’ area. This can
facilitate reading, especially if there are many events in the calendar. For example,
if you want to hide groups of events (events assigned to groups of students that
you created), click on "Group Events". All groups of events will be hidden and the
color of the icon will disappear. To display these events, click on the icon again.

Additional information on the block Calendar is available at this location:

https://docs.moodle.org/30/en/Calendar_block

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4.2 Add a list of participants
Participants are the teachers and students who are part of a course. The list of
participants can be found by the teacher at any time and by students (if the
teacher added the block "people" in the course).

To add the "People" block you must click on the button "Turn editing on" at the
top right of the home page and click on the "Add a block" within thedesired
course; In the pulldown menu choose "People" to add the participants block.
Additional information on the block People is available at this location:
https://docs.moodle.org/30/en/People_block

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5 Online Help

Help for Moodle/MoodleCloud is available from multiple sources. First, there is the
help provided by Moodle HQ (Head Quarters), it is located on the web at
https://moodle.org and consist of the shared expertise of one of the largest open-
source community in the world.
The most up to date documentation for Moodle (Ver 3.0) is available at
https://docs.moodle.org/30/en/Main_page

Also Moodle has a network of Moodle Certified Service Provider, that offer various
services such as consulting, installation, support, theme design, training,
courseware creation and of course hosting.

Additional information on Moddle partners is available at this location:

https://moodle.com/partners/

References

 Faculty Moodle Instruction Manual

Shaw University, Office of Educational Technology (2013)
Link to PDF File

 Guide d’utilisation Moodle de l’UQAC

Université du Québec A Chicoutimi
Service des technologies de l’information (2015)
Link to PDF File

 Moodle 2.0 E-Learning Course Development

A complete guide to successful learning using Moodle
William Rice (2011) Packt Publising

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