Versions Compared

Key

  • This line was added.
  • This line was removed.
  • Formatting was changed.

Info

This page is for LSE staff using Moodle.  If you are a student, visit Moodle FAQ’s for students

You may also find our Turnitin FAQs useful. If you cannot find the answers you need, please contact eden.digital@lse.ac.uk for further help.

Table of Contents

Q1: How do I log onto Moodle? 

Go to http://moodle.lse.ac.uk/ where you can either log in with your Microsoft Office 365 account or your LSE Identity Provider account.  If you choose Office 365, you log in with your LSE email address and password.  If you choose LSE Identity Provider, you log in with your LSE network username and password.

Q2: I don’t know my Moodle username/password

If you are trying to log into Moodle using LSE Identity Provider, your Moodle username/password is the same as your LSE network username/password (i.e. what you use to log into LSE public computers).  If you are trying to log into Moodle using Office 365, your email address/password is the same as you use to log into any LSE Office 365 app (e.g. Outlook, OneDrive).

Q3: How do I change my Moodle password?

Your Moodle password is always the same as your LSE network password.  So, if you want to change it on Moodle, you’ll have to change it on the network.  You can do this in LSEforYou

Q4: Where have my courses gone?

The first thing to check is that you have logged in to Moodle as the new theme allows users to view Moodle before logging in.  Click on the right hand corner and select log in – then enter your LSE username and password.

You should then be taken to your dashboard which has your list of current courses.  If you are a Moodle editor make sure that your courses are visible to students.

Display of course overview after logging into Moodle.Image RemovedDisplay of course overview after logging into Moodle.Image Added

Q5: Where is the editing button located?

The editing button is located in the bottom right hand corner of the course image on a Moodle page.

Editing button is located on the course image of a Moodle page.

Q6: What is the different between the ‘Teacher’ role and the ‘Teacher (Editor)’ role on Moodle?

  • Teacher – When you have this role on a Moodle course you can see student grades, read their assignments, view their activity, give them marks etc.

  • Teacher (Editor) – When you have this role on a Moodle course, in addition to the above you can edit the course.

Q7: How do I become a ‘Teacher’ or ‘Teacher (Editor)’ on Moodle?

If you enrol yourself on a course, you only have student level access.  This means you cannot see student grades, read their assignments, view their activity etc.  To do that you need to be a ‘Teacher’ or ‘Teacher (Editor)’ on the course.

  • To become a ‘Teacher’ – contact your Moodle editor, who will then give you (non-editing) ‘Teacher’ access.  If you are not sure who is editing you course, look in the Navigation block for the Participants list, then choose Teacher (Editor) from the menu at the top.

  • To become a ‘Teacher (Editor)’ – If you need to be able to edit the course yourself then you will need to be a teacher (editor).  Some departments have the ability to create Teacher Editors.  Check with your administration team to see if this is the case, if it is not then please contact eden.digital@lse.ac.uk, giving the course code and the name of the lead academic.

Q8: I edited a file, but my changes don’t show up

Did you upload it to Moodle? The files on your computer or on your H: space and the files within Moodle are completely independent.  If you change a file on your H: space, for example, it remains unchanged on Moodle until you upload it.

Turn on editing and click on the Update button alongside the file in Moodle.  Click Add.. to re-upload the file and choose to overwrite the old one.

Q9: I can’t download a file for editing

You can’t save a file from the course by right-clicking and choosing “Save as…”.  This just saves the Moodle ‘container’ page, rather than the file itself.  To save the file, click on the link first to open it in the browser, then use File > Save as… from the browser menu.

Q10: I want to use Moodle for something other than teaching 

Use of Moodle at LSE is supported only for the purposes of teaching and learning (including staff development).  Eden Digital are unable to support the use of Moodle for purely administrative purposes or other non-teaching uses.  There are a variety of other tools that may be suitable for your requirements. Contact eden.digital@lse.ac.uk with an outline of what you are looking for and we can get back to you with some alternatives. 

Q11: How do I prepare my course for a new academic year? 

Moodle courses are re-used year to year. Each August/September we remove students and their data (e.g. assignment submissions) from the majority of courses so that they are ready for the new cohort of students. For detailed information see: Moodle end of year arrangements.

Start of year checklist
Each September, before the start of an academic year we recommend you review this checklist:

  • Links
    Check for broken links
    Ensure your epack (scanned readings) have been renewed (contact: epacks@lse.ac.uk)
    Ensure electronic readings are links and not uploaded files

  • Dates
    Update course and activity dates – If you are using the weekly format please ensure that you set the correct course start date. For half unit courses this will be the same as the start date for Michaelmas or Lent terms and for full unit courses it’ll be the same as the start of the Michaelmas term. See the school’s website for this year’s terms dates. You will also need to update dates in activities such as Assignments.

  • Your homepage
    Make sure your homepage is clearly organised – you can use the summary at the start of each section, text labels and indents.  See our blog post on layout and design for more info.

Finally and most importantly

Reveal your course to students – most courses are automatically hidden in early September. When your course is ready, reveal it via the ‘Course Visibility’ setting in ‘Edit Settings’ of the Administration block.

Q12: How do I make my course available to people outside LSE? 

In Spring 2020, LSE Moodle was migrated from in-house IT infrastructure to the cloud. This better enables us to meet the demands of the summer assessment period, wherein more students are accessing Moodle at any one time. Unfortunately, as a result of some of these changes, Guest Access is now no longer available as a login option for LSE Moodle. Instead, we can provide access for guest teachers and external examiners via LSE Public Accounts. These are accounts that allow for limited access to LSE Moodle without granting users a full LSE IT user account. Please contact Eden.Digital@lse.ac.uk to request an LSE Public Account for access to Moodle. 

Q13. How do I prevent people from enrolling themselves onto my course?

  1. In the ‘Course Administration’ block, click ‘Users’, then ‘Enrolment methods’ and click ‘Self enrolment (student)’.

  2. Click on the ‘eye’ icon to close it which will result in the self enrolment option for the course to unavailable (greyed out). The only enrolment method that should now be listed is ‘Manual enrolments’.

Self enrolment option greyed out within enrolment methods area.

Image Removed

Image Added

Q14. How do I add students or teachers to my Moodle course?

Go to your course in Moodle and in the Administration block, go to Course administration > Users > Enrolled users. Check the list to see whether the user is already enrolled on the course.

If they are:

  1. Check the Roles column to see what role they have. If the role they need (e.g. student, teacher) is not listed, click the pencil button and choose the appropriate role.

If they are not:

  1. Click the Enrol users button at the top right (or bottom right).

  2. Choose the role you wish to add in the menu at the top.

  3. Type the student or teacher’s surname into the search field at the bottom and press enter.

  4. Find their name in the list, and click Enrol to add them to the course.

An image of the participant list of a course where a user can be enrolled using the Enrol users option or have their role on Moodle adjusted using the pencil icon.Image RemovedAn image of the participant list of a course where a user can be enrolled using the Enrol users option or have their role on Moodle adjusted using the pencil icon.Image Added

Q15. How do I check which students have access to my course?

  1. Log onto Moodle and go to your course.

  2. In the Administration block click ‘users’, ‘enrolled users’.

  3. Check who has enrolled on your course and add or remove students.

See ‘How do I add students or teachers to my Moodle course?’ and ‘How do I remove students or teachers from my Moodle course?’.

Q16. How do I remove students or teachers from my Moodle course?

Go to your course on Moodle, and in the Administration block, go to Course administration > Users > Enrolled users. Find the person in the list of enrolled users.

  1. Hover over the ‘i’ icon in the Status column to see how they have been enrolled to your course.

Please Note: You cannot remove students who have been added by LSE IMS Messaging. This is because they have registered to take the course and they must drop the course in LSE For You.

2. Click the red ‘dustbin’ icon (unenrol) in the Status column.

3. A warning message will appear: Do you really want to un-enrol user “Firstname Lastname” from course “coursename”?

4. If you wish to do so, click “Unenrol”.

An image of the unenrol message that appears for confirmation of removing a user from a Moodle page.

Q17. How do I restrict access of a Moodle course to specific students using an enrolment key?

Anyone with an LSE account (username/password) will be able to enrol (add themselves as a student) onto Moodle courses. If you want to restrict access to specific students you can create an enrolment key.

An enrolment key is a password you create and distribute to only those you want to have access to your Moodle course. For example you can create an enrolment key in Moodle and distribute it to your students during their first class or lecture.

To set an enrolment key (or view/remove an existing one):

  1. Log onto Moodle and go to your course.

  2. In the Administration block to go Users > Enrolment methods

  3. Click on the ‘cog’ icon (‘edit’) in the Edit column of ‘Self enrolment’

  4. Enter an enrolment key. Click on the ‘eye’ icon (‘reveal’) to see what you are typing.

  5. To remove an existing enrolment key, just delete it.

  6. Click ‘Save changes‘ at the bottom of the page.

Don’t forget to check that the course is available to students for enrolment.

You will notice that there are a number of other settings you can use to control self enrolment. Click the grey question mark next to each one to find out more.

To manage enrolments (i.e. control who has access to your course) you can follow the steps below:

  1. Request that all students enrol by a specific date.

  2. Once this date has passed change the enrolment key so that no further enrolments are accepted.

  3. Check who has enrolled onto your course and add or remove students.  See ‘How do I add students or teachers to my Moodle course?’ and ‘How do I remove students or teachers from my Moodle course?’.

If you have any problems viewing recorded lectures please email eden.digital@lse.ac.uk.

Q18. How do I make my course available for students?

By default courses are set to be unavailable to students. Once your course is ready, you can make it available to students by following the steps below:

  1. Log onto Moodle and go to your course

  2. Look in the Administration block and click Edit settings

  3. Change the ‘Course Visibility’ setting to ‘Show’

  4. Click ‘Save’ changes on the bottom of the page

Your course will now be listed and will appear on students ‘My courses’ lists when students search for it.

Note: When a course is available anyone with an LSE username/password can enrol (have access) to it. If you wish to restrict the access of your Moodle course to only your students you can use an enrolment key.

Q19. I want to request a new Moodle course, what do I do?

To request the creation of a new course email eden.digital@lse.ac.uk the following information:

  1. The name of the course

  2. The name(s) of the Teachers/Editors to be added onto the course

The Eden digital team will create the course and email you back.

Q20. How do I add a hero image to my course?

Adding an image to your course is a very simple process. You can find instructions on how to do this in our guide to adding a Moodle course hero image.

Q21. What image size should I use for the course hero image?

Images should conform to the minimum and maximum resolutions as noted below. Images should maintain a 4:1 aspect ration. More information on this can be found in our guide.

  • Minimum resolution: 1200 x 300px (WxH)

  • Maximum resolution: 2560 x 640px (WxH)

Q22. What is a 'Key Holder'?

A Key Holder is a user that is noted down on the system as having/knowing the enrolment key – providing that your course is using the self-enrolment method with an enrolment key. Not all courses use enrolment keys or have the option to self-enrol.

Q23. How do I make someone a Key Holder?

There are two main ways of making someone a Key Holder: at course and category level. Both of these methods are outlined in our guide to making someone a Moodle enrolment key holder.

Q24. How do I change to student view in Moodle?

This feature in Moodle 3.9 is under your Profile menu. Click on your profile picture/icon at the top of the site and from the dropdown select Switch role to…