Moodle Quick Tour for Students

A brief overview of Moodle, the Learning Management System (LMS) used in most courses at Bethel University from sharing course resources to fully online courses.  How Moodle is used varies between different programs, majors, and faculty. For a brief overview video you may also view our Moodle Orientation Video (4 Minutes).

Accessing and Logging into Moodle

Access Moodle in one of the following ways:

1. Direct Access: moodle.bethel.edu (https://moodle.bethel.edu)
2. Alternative Access: my.bethel.edu (https://my.bethel.edu): Click on the Tools and Resources and then on Moodle.

Log into Moodle: On the Bethel Authentication page, type your Bethel Username and Password.  If you cannot log in, click the "Problems logging In? link. Do not bookmark the authentication page.  Bookmark moodle.bethel.edu .

Find Your Courses

1. Moodle My Courses List (moodle.bethel.edu): Once you have logged into Moodle all of your courses show up in alphabetical order in your "My Courses" list. 
   See Customizing Your Course List for more information.

2. Student Academics Dashboard (my.bethel.edu):  You may also access SOME of your courses from the Dashboard on Student Academics page of my.bethel.edu. NOTE that because of the way courses are added to Moodle, NOT ALL of your courses may show up in your Student Academics dashboard.
   
   

Moodle Course Component Terminology and Iconography

Below are the major types of Activities and Resources in Moodle.  Once you understand the Icons used in Moodle you will better know what to expect when you click on a Moodle component.

1.  Announcements are a special type of forum.  Only your professor can "post" an announcement, but everyone in the course receives an email of the announcement.  You can also see and review all current and past announcements in the Announcement forum, just in case you delete that important emailed announcement.
2.  Assignments are activities that learners complete in a Moodle course often with a specific due date and other expectations. Read each assignment's instructions carefully.
   For more information see How to Upload an Assignment to Moodle Successfully .  
   Learners submit your work to the assignment in one of two ways:
   1. Online Text Assignment: Your professor asks you to type or paste your assignment into an "Online Text" box in the assignment.
   2. File Upload Assignment:  Your professor asks you to upload your assignment as a file (word, powerpoint, excel or other) to the assignment.
3. Forums are the location for class conversations between the participants in the course.  For more in formation see Moodle - Activity - Foums - Students. 
   There are two main forum discussion types used by faculty:
   1. Standard Forum:  Each course participant can either "Add a new discussion topic" or "Reply" to an existing conversation topic.
   2. Q & A Forum: In the Q & A Forum the Professor adds the discussion topics (Questions) and Learners can only "REPLY" to each Topic thread or to other replies to within a topic thread.
4.  Quizzes (or tests) can range from multiple choice to essay with many different types of questions.  Moodle grades multiple choice tests as soon as you complete the test, however more complex question types or a test with mixed question types may require "Advanced Grading" feedback (grading) from your professor after they review and grade the exam.
5. Web Page links to an outside resource on the internet.
6. Moodle Page Resource is a "sub-page" of your Moodle course.  It may contain a movie, pictures, text, or other resources provided by your professor.
7.  PDF file that has been made available to download or read online by your professor. PDF files may be downloaded or opened in your browser depending on your professor's settings selections. Try right-clicking on the link to download or open in a new tab/window.  If you are requested to fill in a PDF you should download the PDF file first and then open the PDF file in Adobe Acrobat Reader.
8.  Moodle Text Editor Tools:  Moodle Text Editor Tools assist you in your work in Moodle assignments, forums, quizzes where you complete work in the Moodle environment.

Viewing your Grades in Moodle

Access feed back on your course work in the following ways.  For more information see Moodle - Feedback and Grades .

1. Feedback may be found in the Grades link found in the Navigation drawer on the left side of Moodle.
   
2. Feedback may also be found by clicking on the link to a Moodle "Assignment", Quiz, or some other Moodle "activity" types.

Related articles