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<p align=center style='text-align:center;'><font face="Trebuchet MS, Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif"><b><span lang=EN-US style='font-size:24.0pt;font-family:Arial'>Moodle 1.1</span></b></font></p>
<h3 align=center style='text-align:center'><font face="Trebuchet MS, Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif"><span lang=EN-US style='font-size:
24.0pt;font-family:Arial;'>Teacher's
Manual</span></font></h3>
<h3 align=center style='text-align:center'><font face="Trebuchet MS, Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif"><span style='font-size:24.0pt;
font-family:Arial'>
</span></font></h3>
<h3 align=center style='text-align:center'><font face="Trebuchet MS, Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif"><span lang=EN-US>contributed by </span><span lang=EN-US style='font-family:-moz-fixed;
'>Matt Riordan</span></font></h3>
<p><font face="Trebuchet MS, Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif"><span lang=EN-US style='font-size:14.0pt'>Moodle is the name
of a program that allows the classroom to extend onto the web. This program
allows a common place for students to go for many classroom resources and
also take part in many different activities. Using Moodle, you can post news items,
assign and collect assignments, post electronic journals and resources, and
more. This manual seeks to introduce you to the features of this program.</span></font></p>
<font face="Trebuchet MS, Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif"><br clear=all style='page-break-before:always'>
<p><span lang=EN-US>Go to your Moodle site (typically
www.yoursite.org/moodle or something like that). You will see the course screen:</span></p>
<p><span lang=EN-US>
<img width=336 height=200
src="./teacher-matt_files/image002.jpg" v:shapes="_x0000_i1109">
</span></p>
<p><span lang=EN-US>To log in, click on login in the
upper-right corner, or click on your class name. This will bring you to the
login screen:</span></p>
<p><span lang=EN-US>
<img width=276 height=166
src="./teacher-matt_files/image004.jpg" v:shapes="_x0000_i1026">
</span></p>
<p><span lang=EN-US>Fill in your “Username” and “Password,” and
click on “Login.” This will take you into your class. If this is the first time
you are entering the class, it will be mostly blank:</span></p>
<p><span lang=EN-US>
<img width=288 height=176
src="./teacher-matt_files/image006.jpg" v:shapes="_x0000_i1027">
</span></p>
<p><span lang=EN-US>In the upper left is the “People” box:</span></p>
<p><span lang=EN-US>
<img width=216 height=95
src="./teacher-matt_files/image008.jpg" v:shapes="_x0000_i1028">
</span></p>
<p><span lang=EN-US>“Participants” will show you everyone
enrolled in your class.</span></p>
<p><span lang=EN-US>“Edit Profile” allows you to change
information about yourself. If you click on this you will see something like
this:</span></p>
<p><span lang=EN-US>
<img width=396 height=116
src="./teacher-matt_files/image010.jpg" v:shapes="_x0000_i1029">
</span></p>
<p><span lang=EN-US>From here, you can change your password,
unenroll from the course (not recommended for the teacher!), or get an activity
report. To change your personal settings, click on “Edit profile.” This will
take you to a screen like this:</span></p>
<p><span lang=EN-US>
<img width=432 height=258
src="./teacher-matt_files/image012.jpg" v:shapes="_x0000_i1030">
</span></p>
<p><span lang=EN-US>Most of these settings rarely need to be
changed, but you can add a description of yourself, and toward the bottom of
the page you can add any (jpeg format) picture of yourself (or a representation
of yourself). When you are done making any changes, click on “Update profile.”
You should then see your updated profile:</span></p>
<p><span lang=EN-US>
<img width=420 height=165
src="./teacher-matt_files/image014.jpg" v:shapes="_x0000_i1031">
</span></p>
<p><span lang=EN-US>To get back to your class, click on the
short class name in the upper left (in my case, CMPTR1):</span></p>
<p><span lang=EN-US>
<img width=204 height=65
src="./teacher-matt_files/image015.jpg" v:shapes="_x0000_i1032">
</span></p>
<p><span lang=EN-US>This should take you back to the basic
screen.</span></p>
<p><b><span lang=EN-US>Administering Your Class:</span></b></p>
<p><span lang=EN-US>On the left-hand side of the screen are the
administrative tools for your class:</span></p>
<p><span lang=EN-US>
<img width=129 height=221
src="./teacher-matt_files/image017.jpg" v:shapes="_x0000_i1033">
</span></p>
<p><span lang=EN-US>“Turn editing on” allows you to make
changes to your class.</span></p>
<p><span lang=EN-US>“Settings” allows you to change the look of
your class (more on this later).</span></p>
<p><span lang=EN-US>“Teachers” lists all the teachers for the
course (typically just you, but could be more than that if the class were team-taught).</span></p>
<p><span lang=EN-US>“Students” lists all of the students in the
class. You can manually enroll or unenroll a student from here.</span></p>
<p><span lang=EN-US>“Backup” allows your class data to be
backed up. Your network admin will usually handle this.</span></p>
<p><span lang=EN-US>“Scales” allows you to define special
scales for evaluation. These are made up of word evaluations (i.e., Excellent,
Good, Average. etc.)</span></p>
<p><span lang=EN-US>“Grades” lists the grades of the tests and quizzes
of each enrolled student.</span></p>
<p><span lang=EN-US>“Logs” shows you all of the activity in
your class for a set amount of time.</span></p>
<p><span lang=EN-US>“Files” allows you to upload files to your
“classroom,” or to view any files that are already there.</span></p>
<p><span lang=EN-US>“Help” brings up the Moodle manual (and
it’s pretty good!).</span></p>
<p><span lang=EN-US>“Teacher forum” is a teacher-only discussion
board.</span></p>
<p><b><span lang=EN-US>Turn editing on –</span></b><span lang=EN-US> we’ll
come back to this one in its own section.</span></p>
<p><b><span lang=EN-US>Settings
– </span></b><span lang=EN-US>This allows you to change the look of the class.
If you click on the “Settings” link, you should see a screen like this:</span></p>
<p><span lang=EN-US>
<img width=336 height=203
src="./teacher-matt_files/image019.jpg" v:shapes="_x0000_i1034">
</span></p>
<p><span lang=EN-US>All of the individual settings have “?”
next to them to explain what they do. A few of these fields warrant special
comment:</span></p>
<p><span lang=EN-US>- Enrollment key – this is the classroom
password. If you fill in this field, students will have to put in the password
the first time they log in to the class. This is to keep people who are not in
your class from joining. The enrollment key can be anything – a word, numbers,
or a combination. This can be changed as many times as you like in case the
password gets spread outside of class. Again – students only need to put this
key in the first time – after that they do not have to. If someone from outside
of the class joins and then you change the key, they do not have to put the new
key because they have already joined, but they can be kicked out by you. Once
they are kicked out, they would have to know the new key to rejoin the class.</span></p>
<p><span lang=EN-US>- Format – this is an important field.
There are three different formats for the class – Weekly, Topic, and Social.
The weekly format organizes the class into weeks, with assignments, discussion
boards, tests, etc. all residing in a week-by-week block. The Topic format
organizes everything by topics (or units), regardless of how long they take.
The Social format is built around a forum (bulletin board), which is good for
announcements and discussions. I find the Weekly and Topic boards to be the
more useful, but someone may come up with a creative Social format use. The
different formats look like this:</span></p>
<p><span lang=EN-US>
<img width=264 height=164
src="./teacher-matt_files/image021.jpg" v:shapes="_x0000_i1035">
<img width=260 height=164
src="./teacher-matt_files/image022.jpg" v:shapes="_x0000_i1036">
</span></p>
<p><span lang=EN-US> Weekly Topic</span></p>
<p><span lang=EN-US>
<img width=264 height=163
src="./teacher-matt_files/image024.jpg" v:shapes="_x0000_i1037">
</span></p>
<p><span lang=EN-US> Social</span></p>
<p><span lang=EN-US>Notice that the Weekly and Topic formats
look very similar, but they are organized very differently. Weekly format lends
itself to classes that are structured in a regular format, and Topic lends
itself to classes that have units that are chronologically dynamic.</span></p>
<p><span lang=EN-US>For the rest of this manual, I will be
using the Topic format, but all the functions work in the Weekly and Social
formats as well.</span></p>
<p><span lang=EN-US>- Number of weeks/topics – this displays
the number of weeks or the number of topics displayed on your class page (the
default is 10 weeks or 10 topics).</span></p>
<p><span lang=EN-US>When done
modifying the class settings, click on “Save changes.”</span></p>
<p><b><span lang=EN-US>Teachers
– </span></b><span lang=EN-US>Again, this lists all the teachers in a course
(typically just you). From here you can add a co-teacher if you wish. To add
another teacher to your class, click on the “Add teacher” button next to the
name of the teacher you wish to add.</span></p>
<p><b><span lang=EN-US>Students</span></b><span
lang=EN-US> – From here, you may add or unenroll a student from your class. The
screen should look something like this:</span></p>
<p><span lang=EN-US>
<img width=575 height=192
src="./teacher-matt_files/image026.jpg" v:shapes="_x0000_i1038">
</span></p>
<p><span lang=EN-US>On the left are the students currently
enrolled in the class, and on the right are the students that could be added to
the class. To add a new student, click on the left-facing arrow next to the
student’s name. The student should move from the “Potential student” column to
the “Enrolled students” column. To unenroll a student from a class, click on
the right-facing arrow next to the student’s name. The student should move from
the “Enrolled students” column to the “Potential students” column. Please note
that if your class allows guests (set under “Settings” as described above),
then the students may enroll themselves by clicking on the class listing of
your class. If you do not allow guest access, then you must add students
manually using this method.</span></p>
<p><b><span lang=EN-US>Backup</span></b><span
lang=EN-US> – Generally, you will not have to worry about backup (that should
be done by the administrator).</span></p>
<p><b><span lang=EN-US>Scales</span></b><span
lang=EN-US> – This screen allows you to create a word-based evaluation scale
(like “fair,” “excellent,” etc.). The screen should look something like this:</span></p>
<p><span lang=EN-US>
<img width=336 height=210
src="./teacher-matt_files/image028.jpg" v:shapes="_x0000_i1039">
</span></p>
<p><span lang=EN-US>- Name – This is the name of the scale. It
can be anything that you like. In my example, I will call it “Computer Scale.”</span></p>
<p><span lang=EN-US>- Scale – This is where you input your
scale words. You can have as many as you like, but they need to be separated by
commas, and they should be from the lowest level comment (like “Poor”) to the
highest level comment (like “Excellent”).</span></p>
<p><span lang=EN-US>- Description – This is an optional field. You may type anything you
like here.</span></p>
<p><span lang=EN-US>My example now looks like:</span></p>
<p><span lang=EN-US>
<img width=384 height=232
src="./teacher-matt_files/image030.jpg" v:shapes="_x0000_i1040">
</span></p>
<p><span lang=EN-US>When you are done typing in the
information, click on “Save changes.” The new scale will now be available to
the resources that can use it (more on that later).</span></p>
<p><b><span lang=EN-US>Grades –</span></b><span lang=EN-US> This shows the
grades of tests and quizzes that students have taken.</span></p>
<p><b><span lang=EN-US>Logs
– </span></b><span lang=EN-US>Logs show you the activity in your class for
different days or times. This can be useful to check to see if everyone has
done a certain task.</span></p>
<p><b><span lang=EN-US>Files
– </span></b><span lang=EN-US>This allows you to upload files to the server.
These are private – students do not have access to these files unless you link
them to another part of the site (more on that later). This can be a useful
place to store class material while it is being worked on, or a place to store
notes and the like.</span></p>
<p><b><span lang=EN-US>Help – </span></b><span lang=EN-US>this is Moodle’s
own documentation, which is an excellent resource.</span></p>
<p><b><span lang=EN-US>Teacher
Forum – </span></b><span lang=EN-US>this is a forum that is accessible by
teachers only. It can be used to discuss anything you like, but may be especially
useful if face-to-face meetings are difficult (if schedules conflict). It may
also be useful for departmental discussions.</span></p>
<p><b><span lang=EN-US style='font-size:20.0pt'>Editing your class:</span></b></p>
<p><span lang=EN-US>This is where the majority of things happen
in your classroom. This is where you add discussion boards, journals, tests, quizzes,
online resources and more. To start editing your page, click on “Turn editing
on” (on the left-hand side, or at the top right of the page).</span></p>
<p><span lang=EN-US>This will change the look of the page
slightly. Editing symbols will now appear next to existing features, and an
“Add” box will now be in each topic box (or week box if you use Weekly format):</span></p>
<p><span lang=EN-US>
<img width=444 height=259
src="./teacher-matt_files/image032.jpg" v:shapes="_x0000_i1041">
</span></p>
<p><span lang=EN-US>For existing items (like “News forum”
above) there is a series of symbols next to the item. If you “hover” over each
symbol with the mouse, it will tell you what the button does:</span></p>
<p><span lang=EN-US>
<img width=408 height=131
src="./teacher-matt_files/image034.jpg" v:shapes="_x0000_i1042">
</span></p>
<p><span lang=EN-US>The “X” deletes the item.</span></p>
<p><span lang=EN-US>The double-arrows move the item up or down
in the list.</span></p>
<p><span lang=EN-US>The hand holding the pen edits the item.</span></p>
<p><span lang=EN-US>The eye hides the item from students (or
shows the item if it is already hidden).</span></p>
<p><span lang=EN-US>We can now add content to each topic. Note
next to the “Add” menus there is a “?” symbol. This brings up a window that
explains what each item is, in case you need an explanation.</span></p>
<p><span lang=EN-US>The first thing we can do is to add text to
the topic box (or week box if using Weekly format). To do this, click on the
hand holding the pen in the box to which you wish to add text:</span></p>
<p><span lang=EN-US>
<img width=456 height=210
src="./teacher-matt_files/image036.jpg" v:shapes="_x0000_i1043">
</span></p>
<p><span lang=EN-US>This will bring up the editing box:</span></p>
<p><span lang=EN-US>
<img width=575 height=198
src="./teacher-matt_files/image038.jpg" v:shapes="_x0000_i1044">
</span></p>
<p><span lang=EN-US>Add the summary, and click on “Save changes.”
If you change your mind about what you have typed, you can click on “Revert”
and the changes will not be saved. My example class now looks like this (after
several edits):</span></p>
<p><span lang=EN-US>
<img width=575 height=346
src="./teacher-matt_files/image040.jpg" v:shapes="_x0000_i1045">
</span></p>
<p><span lang=EN-US>We can now add more content from the “Add”
menus. The “Add” menus are pull-down menus, and include:</span></p>
<p><span lang=EN-US>Assignment</span></p>
<p><span lang=EN-US>Chat</span></p>
<p><span lang=EN-US>Choice</span></p>
<p><span lang=EN-US>Forum</span></p>
<p><span lang=EN-US>Journal</span></p>
<p><span lang=EN-US>Quiz</span></p>
<p><span lang=EN-US>Resource</span></p>
<p><span lang=EN-US>Survey (Note: this one probably should not
be used yet – it is in development)</span></p>
<p><span lang=EN-US>Workshop</span></p>
<p><b><span lang=EN-US>Assignment
– </span></b><span lang=EN-US>To add an assignment, click on “Assignment” under
the “Add” menu. This will take you to the “Assignment” screen:</span></p>
<p><span lang=EN-US>
<img width=575 height=348
src="./teacher-matt_files/image042.jpg" v:shapes="_x0000_i1046">
</span></p>
<p><span lang=EN-US>Again, notice there are “?” buttons next to
each menu to help explain what each does. One field deserves a special note:
the “Assignment type” field. You have the option of allowing students to do the
assignment offline (paper copies), or to upload a single file (they send you
the file electronically). In either case, you may enter a description of the
assignment. If you do want the students to submit the assignment
electronically, they can upload one file of any type (Word, PowerPoint, etc.). If
you do this, make sure you set the maximum size field to be big enough. I would
always set it to 15Mb just to be safe. Note that 15Mb is plenty for most
assignments, but that PowerPoints can exceed this amount.</span></p>
<p><span lang=EN-US>For my example, I will assign an essay on
PC safety, and require it to be submitted electronically. To do this, I type
the name and description, select that it is an online activity, set the size to
15 Mb and set the due date to October 10. When finished I hit “Save changes.”</span></p>
<p><span lang=EN-US>There is now an assignment on my main page
called “PC Safety”:</span></p>
<p><span lang=EN-US>
<img width=575 height=251
src="./teacher-matt_files/image044.jpg" v:shapes="_x0000_i1047">
</span></p>
<p><span lang=EN-US>If I click on the assignment’s name (“PC
Safety”), it will take me to what the assignment looks like, as well as provide
a link to look at any uploaded assignments:</span></p>
<p><span lang=EN-US>
<img width=575 height=214
src="./teacher-matt_files/image046.jpg" v:shapes="_x0000_i1048">
</span></p>
<p><span lang=EN-US>To get back to the main screen, click on
the class short name in the upper left (CMPTR1 in my example).</span></p>
<p><b><span lang=EN-US>Chat</span></b><span
lang=EN-US> – A chat is a chat room. It is used for live-time discussions.
Moodle also supplies a bulletin-board discussion space (see “Forum” below). The
main difference is that Chat is a very efficient way to discuss things in
live-time. If you expect your students to log in over several days at different
times, then the forum is a better choice. Please note: Chat will archive a
session if two (or more) people interact within a five minute span. Otherwise,
the program will not archive the session (why archive only one person
talking?).</span></p>
<p><span lang=EN-US>When you add a chat, you should get a
screen like this:</span></p>
<p><span lang=EN-US>
<img width=575 height=288
src="./teacher-matt_files/image048.jpg" v:shapes="_x0000_i1049">
</span></p>
<p><span lang=EN-US>- Name of this chat room – This can be
anything you like.</span></p>
<p><span lang=EN-US>- Introduction text – You can type anything
you like here. Whatever you type will appear on the introductory screen to the
chat room.</span></p>
<p><span lang=EN-US>- Next chat time – This is to advertise to
students when to enter the chat room. Students may enter the chat room before
the scheduled time, but this is useful to organize the start of a chat session.</span></p>
<p><span lang=EN-US>- Repeat sessions – This sets whether or
not to advertise when the chat room will be in session. If you choose to
advertise the “opening” time, you can choose whether it is a one-time chat
event, a daily event, or a weekly event.</span></p>
<p><span lang=EN-US>- Save past sessions – This is where you
set how long a chat room should be archived (from two days to “never delete”).</span></p>
<p><span lang=EN-US>- Everyone can view past sessions – This
sets if students can see past chat sessions (the teacher can always see past
sessions regardless of this setting). Please remember that a session will not
archive unless there is interaction between two (or more) users within a five-minute
period.</span></p>
<p><span lang=EN-US>When you have finished filling out the Chat
options, click on “Save changes.” In my example screen, I now have a chat
called “Building a Network”:</span></p>
<p><span lang=EN-US>
<img width=432 height=198
src="./teacher-matt_files/image050.jpg" v:shapes="_x0000_i1050">
</span></p>
<p><b><span lang=EN-US>Choice
– </span></b><span lang=EN-US>A choice is basically a poll. When you add a
choice, you ask a question, and supply two or more answers to the question.
Then students may vote. This only asks one question at a time, so works well as
a poll, but would not work well as a multiple choice test (that is under the
quiz option). To add a “Choice,” select “Choice” from the “Add” menu. This will
take you to the “Choice” screen:</span></p>
<p><span lang=EN-US>
<img width=420 height=263
src="./teacher-matt_files/image052.jpg" v:shapes="_x0000_i1051">
</span></p>
<p><span lang=EN-US>At this point, add a name and a question.
Then fill in the possible answers. You may then choose to post the results with
students’ names, publish them without names, or keep the results private (only
you can see them). When finished, click on “Save changes.” My screen now has a “Choice”
called “PC Memory” added (the question mark):</span></p>
<p><span lang=EN-US>
<img width=575 height=321
src="./teacher-matt_files/image054.jpg" v:shapes="_x0000_i1052">
</span></p>
<p><span lang=EN-US>If you click on the “Choice” name (“PC
Memory”), you can see how the “Choice” looks, or vote on the options, or view
results. To return to the main screen, click on the class short name (CMPTR1).</span></p>
<p><b><span lang=EN-US>Forum
– </span></b><span lang=EN-US>this is basically a bulletin board. You may
create a forum to discuss various topics for your class. To add a “Forum,”
select “Forum” from the “Add” menu. This will take you to the “Forum” page:</span></p>
<p><span lang=EN-US>
<img width=575 height=357
src="./teacher-matt_files/image056.jpg" v:shapes="_x0000_i1053">
</span></p>
<p><span lang=EN-US> Again,
there are help buttons next to each pull-down menu (the “?” buttons). The
“Forum type” offers three choices: “A single simple discussion,” “Each person
posts one discussion,” or “Standard forum for general use.” In “A single simple discussion,” students can
reply to the topic, but cannot create new topics. In “Each person posts one
discussion,” the students can each start one new topic, which could be useful
if they were all doing different books, reports, etc. In “Standard forum for
general use,” students may start new topics any time they wish.</span></p>
<p><span lang=EN-US>You have the option to allow students to
post to the “Forum” or not. If you do not allow students to post, the forum can
be used as a “News forum” (like the one created by default). In these cases,
you as a teacher could add to the “Forum,” but students could not. To set up
this kind of “Forum,” you would select “No discussions, no replies” from the
“Can a student post to this forum?” menu.</span></p>
<p><span lang=EN-US>You may also allow students to reply to a
topic only. In this case, a student can only reply to a topic that already exists,
not create a new topic. This is the set by selecting the “No discussions, but
replies are allowed” from the “Can a student post to this forum?” menu. This style
is probably the most common setting.</span></p>
<p><span lang=EN-US>Lastly, you can allow both discussions and
replies, where students can post anything they like – they can reply to an
existing discussion, or start a new discussion topic on their own. This is set
by selecting “Discussions and replies are allowed” from the “Can a student post
to this forum?” menu.</span></p>
<p><span lang=EN-US>The next section of setting up a Forum is
the option to rate posts in a discussion. If you do not want to rate posts,
then leave the “Use ratings:” checkbox blank. If you do want to rate posts,
check the box next to “Use ratings.”</span></p>
<p><span lang=EN-US>Once you check “Use ratings,” the other
options become available. Under the “Users” menu, you have the option of
setting who can rate posts. If you want to restrict rating posts to just
yourself (as the teacher), select “Only teachers can rate posts” from the
“Users” menu. If you would like the students to be able to rate posts (for peer
review or the like), select “Everyone can rate posts.” </span></p>
<p><span lang=EN-US>Once you have determined who can rate
posts, then you can select the rating method. To set the evaluation method,
select what you would like from the “Grade” menu. Under this menu, you will see
any custom scales you set up under “Scales” (see above), as well as any
numerical evaluation from 1 to 100. If you select a custom scale, the evaluator
(you or the students) can select any of the words you set up (Excellent, Good,
etc.). If you select a numerical evaluation, the evaluator can select a number
from 0 to the upper limit you set (if you set a grade of 85, then the evaluator
can select any number from 0 to 85).</span></p>
<p><span lang=EN-US>If you wish, you can limit the rating of
posts to just certain days or times. If you wish to do this, check the
“Restrict ratings to posts with dates in this range” box. Set your “From” date
and your “To” date, and the evaluator will only be able to assign grades during
those times.</span></p>
<p><span lang=EN-US>One last interesting option is the “Force
everyone to be subscribed?” menu. If you select yes, then everyone in your
class will be emailed every post in the forum. This might get old in a big discussion
group, but would be useful if the forum were a class news forum where students would
be emailed any new announcements.</span></p>
<p><span lang=EN-US>When you are done with the “Forum,” click
on “Save changes.” My example now has a “Forum” posted called “Computer Errors”:</span></p>
<p><span lang=EN-US>
<img width=575 height=144
src="./teacher-matt_files/image058.jpg" v:shapes="_x0000_i1054">
</span></p>
<p><b><span lang=EN-US>Journal
– </span></b><span lang=EN-US>this option adds an online journal for the
student. Each student has one, and the journal can only be seen by the student
and the teacher. The journal can be edited by the student and refined. You may
also assign as many journals as you wish (one/week, one/unit, one/chapter, etc.)
to see how each student’s thought process and writing skills improve. To add a “Journal,”
select “Journal” form the “Add” menu. This will take you to the “Journal”
editing page:</span></p>
<p><span lang=EN-US>
<img width=468 height=276
src="./teacher-matt_files/image060.jpg" v:shapes="_x0000_i1055">
</span></p>
<p><span lang=EN-US>Give the journal a name, and ask the
student a question (or describe what the journal is for). You then have the
option to set a grading scale. This can be “No grade,” one of your custom
scales (set up in “Scales” from above), or a number that represents the maximum
grade (from 1-100). Since the journal can only be seen by the teacher and the
individual student, only the teacher has the ability to assign a grade (no peer
review). The last menu lets you select how long the journal will be available
(from one day to “Always open”). When you are finished with editing the
journal, click on “Save changes.” My example class now looks like this, with a “Journal”
added (called “Repair Log”):</span></p>
<p><span lang=EN-US>
<img width=575 height=156
src="./teacher-matt_files/image062.jpg" v:shapes="_x0000_i1056">
</span></p>
<p><b><span lang=EN-US>Quiz
– </span></b><span lang=EN-US>this feature adds a quiz to the class. It can
contain any number of questions, and they can be true/false, multiple choice,
and fill-in-the-blank. The quiz may also have feedback, where it can explain to
the students why the answer is what it is. To add a “Quiz”, select “Quiz” from
the “Add” menu. This takes you to the “Quiz” editing screen:</span></p>
<p><span lang=EN-US>
<img width=575 height=348
src="./teacher-matt_files/image064.jpg" v:shapes="_x0000_i1057">
</span></p>
<p><span lang=EN-US>Again, there are help buttons available if
you need them (the “?” buttons). Note that the quiz has open and close dates.
If these are set incorrectly, the students will not be able to take the quiz. A
student cannot take a quiz before the opening time or after the closing time.
These times can be changed by the teacher at any time.</span></p>
<p><span lang=EN-US>“Shuffle Questions” changes the order of
the questions on the quiz every time the student takes it (or for every
different student who takes the quiz). This helps to prevent students from
copying each other.</span></p>
<p><span lang=EN-US>“Shuffle Answers” is very similar, except
it changes the order of the answers given for multiple choice or matching
questions.</span></p>
<p><span lang=EN-US>“Attempts allowed” sets the number of times
a student may take a quiz. This can be very useful if the quiz is a review
exercise, as the student can take it as many times as the teacher wants (and
each grade does get reported to the teacher).</span></p>
<p><span lang=EN-US>“Each attempt builds on the last” sets
whether or not the quiz builds on previous quizzes. If multiple attempts of a
quiz are allowed, and this is set to “Yes,” then the former quiz results will
be included in this attempt (including feedback, if turned on). If this option
is set to “no,” then the quiz will be a fresh (blank) quiz every time the
student takes it.</span></p>
<p><span lang=EN-US>“After answering, show feedback” can
immediately give a student feedback on a question. You type the feedback into
the question when you create it (more on that soon).</span></p>
<p><span lang=EN-US>“In feedback, show correct answers” can
show students the correct answers to questions if feedback is on. To activate
this option, set this to “Yes.”</span></p>
<p><span lang=EN-US>“Allow review” lets students see the full
quiz(zes) they took. If this is set to “Yes,” then students can still see
(review) the quiz after it closes.</span></p>
<p><span lang=EN-US>“Maximum grade” is an important field. This
sets the maximum grade for the quiz (from “No grade” to 100). If this field is
set to “No grade,” then the student can take the quiz, but will not be
evaluated (although feedback will still work if enabled).</span></p>
<p><span lang=EN-US>When you have the settings the way you want
them (and they can always be changed), click on “Continue.” This will take you
to a screen like this:</span></p>
<p><span lang=EN-US>
<img width=575 height=212
src="./teacher-matt_files/image066.jpg" v:shapes="_x0000_i1058">
</span></p>
<p><span lang=EN-US>On the right, you may select a category
(there is one set up called “default”). These are ways of organizing your
questions. If you use the same questions over and over, you may wish to
organize them (into categories like “Othello,” “Hamlet,” etc.). The questions
are then available to pick and choose from to create your quiz (this is useful
if your electronic classroom has spanned several semesters and you have
questions built up). To add new categories, click on “Edit categories,” add the
new category, and click on “Save changes.” Also, you have the option to publish categories to all teachers
(this is an option under “Edit categories”). This makes all the questions in
that category available to any teacher, which can be handy if you are teaching
the same book/lesson/unit as someone else.</span></p>
<p><span lang=EN-US>To “build” a question, select a category
(for my examples, I will use “default”) and click on “Show.” The screen will
then show any existing questions, and allow you to add new ones:</span></p>
<p><span lang=EN-US>
<img width=372 height=172
src="./teacher-matt_files/image068.jpg" v:shapes="_x0000_i1059">
</span></p>
<p><span lang=EN-US>In my example, I already have one question
made (“PC Case”), and I have the option to “Create new question,” “Import
questions from file” or “Create multiple questions.” </span></p>
<p><span lang=EN-US>- Create new question – this is discussed
in detail below.</span></p>
<p><span lang=EN-US>- Import questions from file – this imports
existing questions from file systems Moodle recognizes (special text files or
files exported from Blackboard).</span></p>
<p><span lang=EN-US>- Create multiple questions – this feature
creates a specified number of random questions. These questions are drawn
randomly from your database of pre-existing questions. You specify the category
the questions come from, so Moodle will not accidentally ask questions about <u>Othello</u>
when you are teaching <u>Hamlet</u>!</span></p>
<p><span lang=EN-US>- Create new questions:</span></p>
<p><span lang=EN-US>When you create a question, it is stored in
the category you select. It is then always available to add to any quiz any
time. To create a new question, select the type of question you want from the
pull-down menu, and click on “Create new question.”</span></p>
<p><span lang=EN-US>You have the option of adding a true/false
question, a multiple choice question, a short answer, a numerical answer, matching,
description, random, random short answer, or a special question called
“embedded.”</span></p>
<p><i><span lang=EN-US>True/False</span></i><span
lang=EN-US> – the questions are just that – true/false. To add a true/false
question, select True/False from the “Question” pull-down menu and click on “Create
new question.” This will take you to a screen like this:</span></p>
<p><span lang=EN-US>
<img width=575 height=350
src="./teacher-matt_files/image070.jpg" v:shapes="_x0000_i1060">
</span></p>
<p><span lang=EN-US>Fill in a question name (a short name that
tells you what the question is), and then fill in the actual question. If you
have uploaded images to your course (in the “Files” section from earlier), you
can add an image if you want to ask a question about the picture. Then you
select the answer (true or false). You may then add feedback to each answer
(text explaining why the answer the student chose is right or wrong) if this is
a feature you wish to use. When everything is the way you want it, click on
“Save changes.” This will take you back to the questions page. You should see
your question added to the available questions (“Class Mascot” in my example):</span></p>
<p><span lang=EN-US>
<img width=575 height=291
src="./teacher-matt_files/image072.jpg" v:shapes="_x0000_i1061">
</span></p>
<p><i><span lang=EN-US>Short
Answer</span></i><span lang=EN-US> – To create a short answer question, select Short
Answer from the “Question” pull-down menu, and click on “Create new question.”
This will bring you to the short answer question screen:</span></p>
<p><span lang=EN-US>
<img width=575 height=348
src="./teacher-matt_files/image074.jpg" v:shapes="_x0000_i1062">
</span></p>
<p><span lang=EN-US>Fill in the question name (something that
will tell you what the question is) and the question itself. The question can
have up to 5 short answer “answers.” This can be very flexible. You can make a
fill-in-the-blank (Matt is ___ years old), or just ask for answers (Name the
first 3 presidents). One big caution to pass on to students: a misspelled
answer is WRONG (unless you put in the right answer and the 2 or 3 most common
misspellings – that would work).</span></p>
<p><span lang=EN-US>Next to each answer is the “Grade” field. The
total points of the question must equal 100%. In the case of the presidents
question above, you would make each answer worth 33% of the question. In the
case of the fill-in-the-blank question, one answer (32 years old right now…)
would be worth 100%.</span></p>
<p><span lang=EN-US>You can have multiple answers be worth 100%
(in the case of listing common misspellings, or in the case of “Name 1 of the
first 3 Presidents” – where 3 answers would be worth 100% each).</span></p>
<p><span lang=EN-US>You may also fill in feedback for each
answer. My tests show that the feedback only comes up if you type an answer
that the quiz has, so on short answer questions, the feedback is limited to
telling you why your answer is correct (on short answer questions only). The
feedback can show the student the correct answer if the student guesses wrong,
even if the wrong answer is not in the list of answers.</span></p>
<p><span lang=EN-US>Once you are finished, click on “Save
changes.” This will take you back to the quiz screen, and the new question
should be there (“The First President” in my example):</span></p>
<p><span lang=EN-US>
<img width=575 height=302
src="./teacher-matt_files/image076.jpg" v:shapes="_x0000_i1063">
</span></p>
<p><i><span lang=EN-US>Numerical
Question</span></i><span lang=EN-US> – To add a numerical question, make sure
“Numerical” is selected in the “Question” pull-down menu and click on “Create
new question.” This will take you to the numerical question screen:</span></p>
<p><span lang=EN-US>
<img width=575 height=348
src="./teacher-matt_files/image078.jpg" v:shapes="_x0000_i1064">
</span></p>
<p><span lang=EN-US>A numerical question is a question that
expects a number for the answer. It has the added flexibility to accept a range
of answers (10 +- 3 would accept anything from 7 to 13). Fill in the “Question
name” with anything that will help you identify the question. In the “Question”
box, fill out the question you wish to ask (“How fast can Matt run?”). If you
have loaded any picture images to the system (in the “Files” section from
above), you will have the option to display the image as part of the question.
You then fill in the correct answer (10 in my example), and the accepted error
(2 in my example would allow a correct answer of 8-12). You may then fill in
feedback if you wish to use that feature. When everything is filled out the way
you want it, click on “Save changes.” The question will then appear in the list
of questions (“Matt’s Speed” in my question):</span></p>
<p><span lang=EN-US>
<img width=504 height=284
src="./teacher-matt_files/image080.jpg" v:shapes="_x0000_i1065">
</span></p>
<p><i><span lang=EN-US>Multiple
Choice</span></i><span lang=EN-US> – To add a multiple choice question, make
sure Multiple Choice is selected in the “Question” pull-down menu and click on
“Create new question.” This will take you to the multiple choice question
screen:</span></p>
<p><span lang=EN-US>
<img width=575 height=352
src="./teacher-matt_files/image082.jpg" v:shapes="_x0000_i1066">
</span></p>
<p><span lang=EN-US>This works like a standard multiple choice
question. Type in the name of the question (something to help you identify the
question in the list), and type in the question. You do not have to type the
answers in the “Question” box – the program will list the answers you type in
the various “Choice #” boxes.</span></p>
<p><span lang=EN-US>You may select
an image to display, if you have any loaded in your “Files” section.</span></p>
<p><span lang=EN-US>You may then select if students are allowed
to select more than one answer, or if there is only one answer allowed.</span></p>
<p><span lang=EN-US>You may then fill in your answers for the
multiple choice question, and include feedback text if you wish.</span></p>
<p><span lang=EN-US>Something that is different for multiple
choice questions is they have weight. The positive answers must add up to 100%,
or the system will ask if that is what you want to do. You do have the option
to assign negative weight to an answer, such that a wrong answer might actually
count against the student, instead of being no credit. This might be true where
multiple answers are possible, such that A) is worth 50%, B) is worth -50% and
C) is worth 50%. A student selecting A) and C) would get full credit, but a
student selecting A) and B) would get no credit at all. You do have the option
to make a wrong answer not count either way as well.</span></p>
<p><span lang=EN-US>When you are done filling in your
questions, answers, feedback, and grade, click on “Save changes.” You should go
back to the quiz screen again, with the new question listed (“Matt’s Foods” in
my example).</span></p>
<p><span lang=EN-US>
<img width=575 height=340
src="./teacher-matt_files/image084.jpg" v:shapes="_x0000_i1067">
</span></p>
<p><i><span lang=EN-US>Matching</span></i><span
lang=EN-US> – To add a matching question, select “Matching” from the pull-down
menu and click on “Create new question.” This will take you to the matching
question editing screen:</span></p>
<p><span lang=EN-US>
<img width=528 height=319
src="./teacher-matt_files/image086.jpg" v:shapes="_x0000_i1068">
</span></p>
<p><span lang=EN-US>Fill out a
question name that you will recognize, and then write the “big” question – this
is the introduction the student sees. This could be “Match the following
questions with the correct answers,” or “Match the name of the president with
the year he was elected,” or anything else you like. You then need to fill in
at least 3 questions that will be matched to the answers you provide. The
“questions” can be one word to be matched to the answer. Each matching part is
worth an equal amount (if you have four matches, each is worth 25% of the whole
question. The whole question then can be weighted on the quiz – more on
weighting later).</span></p>
<p><span lang=EN-US>When you are
finished filling in the whole question (remember the program treats all the
matches – even if there are eight – as one question), click on “Save changes.”
You will then be taken back to the quiz editing screen, and the new matching
question should be listed (in my example, it is “Matt’s Past”):</span></p>
<p><span lang=EN-US>
<img width=575 height=348
src="./teacher-matt_files/image088.jpg" v:shapes="_x0000_i1069">
</span></p>
<p><i><span lang=EN-US>Description</span></i><span lang=EN-US> – To add a
description, select “Description” from the pull-down menu and click on “Create
new question.” A description is not actually a question. It allows you to add
text to a quiz (such as a story or an article) that you can then ask other
questions about. The description editing screen looks like this:</span></p>
<p><span lang=EN-US>
<img width=575 height=348
src="./teacher-matt_files/image090.jpg" v:shapes="_x0000_i1070">
</span></p>
<p><span lang=EN-US>Fill in the
“Question name” with a name that will help you remember the description. Then,
in the “Question” box, fill in your description (story, article, etc.). If you
have uploaded pictures in the “Files” section, you can choose to display them
with the description (so your description can describe a picture). When
everything is filled out the way you want it, click on “Save changes.” Your
description should now appear in the list of questions (“Cats” in my example):</span></p>
<p><span lang=EN-US>
<img width=575 height=348
src="./teacher-matt_files/image092.jpg" v:shapes="_x0000_i1071">
</span></p>
<p><i><span lang=EN-US>Random question</span></i><span lang=EN-US> – To
select a random question, select “Random question” from the pull-down menu and
click on “Create new question.” A random question will select a question that
already exists randomly from all the questions in any category you specify. If
you have 10 questions in an <u>Othello</u> category, this feature will pick one
of those questions at random. The random question editing screen looks like
this:</span></p>
<p><span lang=EN-US>
<img width=575 height=172
src="./teacher-matt_files/image094.jpg" v:shapes="_x0000_i1072">
</span></p>
<p><span lang=EN-US>Select the
category you wish to draw the question from (“Default” in my example). You may name
the question if you wish (you might want to add the category to the name – i.e.
“random default #1”). Note that you can mix random questions with “normal”
questions on a quiz. When you are done, select “Save changes,” and you should
see the “edit quiz screen,” with the new random question added (“Random Default
#1” in my example):</span></p>
<p><span lang=EN-US>
<img width=575 height=357
src="./teacher-matt_files/image096.jpg" v:shapes="_x0000_i1073">
</span></p>
<p><i><span lang=EN-US>Random Short-Answer Matching</span></i><span
lang=EN-US> – This question makes a matching question by drawing random
questions and answers from among the short-answer questions you have created.
You must have at least two short-answer questions in a category for this
feature to work. The random short answer matching editing page looks like this:</span></p>
<p><span lang=EN-US>
<img width=575 height=341
src="./teacher-matt_files/image098.jpg" v:shapes="_x0000_i1074">
</span></p>
<p><span lang=EN-US>The category is
whatever category you were in when you selected the random short answer matching
question. The question name can be anything you like, but I would suggest
adding a number to the end (#1, #2, etc.). You may leave the existing default
introduction, or you may change it if you wish. You then select the number of
questions you would like to have. When you are finished, click on “Save
changes.” You should see the quiz editing screen with the new question listed
(“Random Short-Answer Matching #1” in my example):</span></p>
<p><span lang=EN-US>
<img width=575 height=348
src="./teacher-matt_files/image100.jpg" v:shapes="_x0000_i1075">
</span></p>
<p><i><span lang=EN-US>Embedded
Answers (Cloze)</span></i><span lang=EN-US> – These question embed the answers
into the question. This allows you to have questions that look like this (taken
from Moodle help):</span></p>
<p><span lang=EN-US>
<img width=240 height=112
src="./teacher-matt_files/image102.jpg" v:shapes="_x0000_i1076">
</span></p>
<p><span lang=EN-US>These are great questions, but do require
some formatting. The Embedded Answer (Cloze) editing page looks like this:</span></p>
<p><span lang=EN-US>
<img width=575 height=348
src="./teacher-matt_files/image104.jpg" v:shapes="_x0000_i1077">
</span></p>
<p><span lang=EN-US>The “Question name” names the question for
the list. The “Image to display” lists any pictures you have uploaded to your
“Files” section. The “Question” part is where you type your question, but this
MUST include the formatting. This can take some getting used to. This text
(from Moodle help) is a valid question:</span></p>
<p><span lang=EN-US>This question consists of some text with an
answer embedded right here {1:MULTICHOICE:Wrong answer#Feedback for this wrong
answer~Another wrong answer#Feedback for the other wrong answer~=Correct
answer#Feedback for correct answer~%50%Answer that gives half the
credit#Feedback for half credit answer} and right after that you will have to
deal with this short answer {1:SHORTANSWER:Wrong answer#Feedback for this wrong
answer~=Correct answer#Feedback for correct answer~%50%Answer that gives half
the credit#Feedback for half credit answer} and finally we have a floating
point number {2:NUMERICAL:=23.8:0.1#Feedback for correct answer
23.8~%50%N/A#Feedback for halfcredit answer in the nearby region of the correct
answer}.</span></p>
<p><span lang=EN-US>This produces this:</span></p>
<p><span lang=EN-US>
<img width=240 height=112
src="./teacher-matt_files/image105.jpg" v:shapes="_x0000_i1078">
</span></p>
<p><span lang=EN-US>The formatting works like this:</span></p>
<p><span lang=EN-US>- Normal text is just typed (like “This
question consists of some text with an answer embedded right here” from above).</span></p>
<p><span lang=EN-US>- To open a field in the embedded question,
use the left bracket { and close the field with the right bracket }.</span></p>
<p><span lang=EN-US>- To insert a pull-down menu, type the number
of points the field (the menu) is worth (1,2,3, etc.). The entire question is
worth the total of all the points of each part (the menus and the short answer
parts). Follow the number by a colon, followed by the word MULTICHOICE followed
by another colon (1:MULTICHOICE:). Then type your possible answers followed by
tildes (~). The correct answer must start with an equals sign (=). An answer
that counts for partial credit starts with the percent sign followed by the
credit followed by a percent sign (%50% for 50 % credit). A full example would
be:</span></p>
<p><span lang=EN-US>{2.MULTICHOICE:Washington~Jefferson~Lincoln~=Franklin~%50%Adams}</span></p>
<p><span lang=EN-US>This would make a pull-down menu of 5
items. This menu would be worth 2 points. In this example, Washington,
Jefferson and Lincoln are wrong, Franklin is right, and Adams is worth
half-credit.</span></p>
<p><span lang=EN-US>- To insert a short answer
(fill-in-the-blank), put in the points the short answer is worth, followed by a
colon followed by SHORTANSWER followed by a colon (2:SHORTANSWER:). Then put an
equals sign (=) followed by the right answer inside the brackets. An example
would be {2:SHORTANSWER:=Maine}. This would make a blank worth 2 points where
the answer is Maine (and spelling does count!). You may list other correct answers
by separating them by a tilde sign (~) – like this (don’t forget the “=” sign):</span></p>
<p><span lang=EN-US>{2:SHORTANSWER:=Maine~=Ohio}.</span></p>
<p><span lang=EN-US>When you have everything the way you want
it, click on “Save changes.” Your Embedded Answers question will now be in the
list (“Nice Places” in my example):</span></p>
<p><span lang=EN-US>
<img width=575 height=348
src="./teacher-matt_files/image107.jpg" v:shapes="_x0000_i1079">
</span></p>
<p><span lang=EN-US>Let us suppose that those are all the
questions I want for my quiz. To construct my quiz, I check the box next to
each question I want (remember, there may be questions I don’t want to use
because they are from another unit), and I click on the “Add selected to quiz”
button:</span></p>
<p><span lang=EN-US>
<img width=575 height=352
src="./teacher-matt_files/image109.jpg" v:shapes="_x0000_i1080">
</span></p>
<p><span lang=EN-US>I selected five questions for my quiz. I
may edit them just for the quiz and leave the originals alone by editing the
“quiz” side of the screen. I can also change the order of the questions by
clicking on the up or down arrows on the left. The random question will pick a
question not used on the quiz .</span></p>
<p><span lang=EN-US>Finally, I can weight each question. Under
“Grade” is a pull-down menu. I can select any grade weight I want for that
question, from 0 to 10. If most questions are weighted as a “1,” then a weight
of “5” will be worth five times as much as the “1” questions. This is important
as you can use this to make matching questions worth more than normal
questions. If most of your questions are worth “1,” and you have 2 matching
questions of 5 parts each, you might want to make those worth “5” each to
reflect that they have more parts. The total of the quiz can be anything (it
does not have to total 10 or 100). This total will be “scaled down” to the
maximum grade you set on the first screen.</span></p>
<p><span lang=EN-US>Once you have your quiz constructed and
weighted, click on “Save this whole quiz,” and the quiz will be added to your
class.</span></p>
<p><span lang=EN-US>My example page now looks like this, with a
quiz named “Quiz”:</span></p>
<p><span lang=EN-US>
<img width=575 height=168
src="./teacher-matt_files/image111.jpg" v:shapes="_x0000_i1081">
</span></p>
<p><b><span lang=EN-US>Resource
–</span></b><span lang=EN-US> this is used to add a resource to your class. A
resource can be text, a web page, an uploaded file, or other things. The
specific resources you can add are:</span></p>
<p><span lang=EN-US>Plain text – this adds whatever you type.</span></p>
<p><span lang=EN-US>HTML text – this adds text that
“understands” HTML formatting.</span></p>
<p><span lang=EN-US>Program – this adds an interface so that
other programs can get information from Moodle.</span></p>
<p><span lang=EN-US>Reference – this adds a text box used to
cite books and other articles (a bibliography).</span></p>
<p><span lang=EN-US>Uploaded File – this adds a link to a file
you have uploaded to your “Files” section.</span></p>
<p><span lang=EN-US>Web Link – this adds a link to another web
page, which takes the user out of Moodle.</span></p>
<p><span lang=EN-US>Web Page – this adds a link to another web
page, but the page opens in Moodle, so the user can remain in Moodle.</span></p>
<p><span lang=EN-US>Wiki text – this adds a text file that
understands Wiki-style formatting. For a description of Wiki formatting, add a
Wiki resource and click on the help button that reads “How to write Wiki text.”</span></p>
<p><span lang=EN-US>All of these resources require that you
name the resource, add a short description of the resource, and either fill out
a text box, select a file, or fill in a web page address. For my example class,
I will add a resource of a web page. My class example now looks like this (with
a resource named “CVCA Web Page”):</span></p>
<p><span lang=EN-US>
<img width=575 height=177
src="./teacher-matt_files/image113.jpg" v:shapes="_x0000_i1082">
</span></p>
<p><b><span lang=EN-US>Survey
– </span></b><span lang=EN-US>this adds one of 2 pre-built surveys to the
class. These are typically used for online, distance learning courses. If you
are curious, feel free to add one – you can always delete it later if you don’t
find it useful. Future versions of Moodle are supposed to allow the user to
design surveys. </span></p>
<p><b><span lang=EN-US>Workshop</span></b><span
lang=EN-US> – This creates a workshop space for the class. It is used to
facilitate peer review. It has a range of options. To add a workshop, select
“Workshop” from the “Add” menu. This will take you to the workshop edit screen:</span></p>
<p><span lang=EN-US>
<img width=575 height=340
src="./teacher-matt_files/image115.jpg" v:shapes="_x0000_i1083">
</span></p>
<p><span lang=EN-US>The “Title” and
“Description” can be whatever you like (“Peer Review,” “Othello,” etc.).</span></p>
<p><span lang=EN-US>“Formatting” determines how the program
displays information. I recommend leaving it as “Moodle auto-format.” If you
want to change the formatting, click on the “?” Moodle help button to evaluate
the other options.</span></p>
<p><span lang=EN-US>The “Maximum grade” is set to a number from
0 to 100. For all of my examples, I will use a maximum grade of 100.</span></p>
<p><span lang=EN-US>The “Grading strategy” has several options
– Accumulative, Not Graded, Error Banded, Criterion, and Rubric. These will be
covered in detail shortly.</span></p>
<p><span lang=EN-US> <b>Accumulative grading</b> – This is the
default setting. Accumulative grading breaks each
project into sections (you determine the number, from 1-20) that can be individually graded and commented upon.
The grades of each piece determine the
final grade (based on the maximum grade you set). This style of review uses yes/no questions, grading scales
(i.e., “poor” to “excellent”) and purely numeric grading (1-100).</span></p>
<p><span lang=EN-US> <b>Not Graded</b> – This setting is used for
peer review where the students may comment
on work, but not grade it. The teacher may assign grades to the comments that are made; not assigning grades
on the comments means the assignment
does not count for a grade (it is used for peer comments only).</span></p>
<p><span lang=EN-US> <b>Error Banded</b> – This style of grading
sets up multiple yes/no expectations for an assignment.
If the element is there (a “yes” answer), credit is given; if not, (a “no” answer), no credit is given for that part
of the assignment. Each individual part may
be weighted if desired.</span></p>
<p><span lang=EN-US> <b>Criterion</b> – For this type of grading
scale, you set up criteria for the peers to choose
from. The students then chose ONE criterion that most closely matches the project. Each criteria has a grade assigned
to it, so by choosing one criterion, the
reviewer gives the grade associated with that comment.</span></p>
<p><span lang=EN-US> <b>Rubric</b> – This review setting is very
similar to “Criterion,” except that the teacher assigns different sections to each project. Then, within
each section, the reviewer selects one
comment that most closely matches the project being reviewed. The grades from each section are then combined to
give the final grade.</span></p>
<p><span lang=EN-US>The “Number of Comments, Assessment
Elements, Grade Bands, Criterion Statements or Categories in a Rubric” field
determines how many elements an assignment will have evaluated. This is the
number of things you wish to have evaluated. You could set this to “3,” and
have the peers evaluate on style, content, and grammar (for example). If this
field is set to 0, then the group may only make comments in the “General
Comments” section of an assignment.</span></p>
<p><span lang=EN-US>The “Allow Resubmissions” field allows
students to resubmit their assignment at any time. This can be useful to encourage
students to write several drafts incorporating suggestions made. The system
will then keep the highest grade of all the assignments submitted by the
student (the highest grade is the largest teacher-peer combined score).</span></p>
<p><span lang=EN-US>The “Number of Assessments of Examples from
Teacher” forces the students to walk through one or more example projects that
the teacher has put online. The student will have to make comments and grade
the project, and then these comments can be graded by the teacher. Students can
NOT submit their own work until they have gone through all of the examples the
teacher has set up.</span></p>
<p><span lang=EN-US>The “Number of Assessments of Student
Submissions” field sets how many other projects the student can evaluate and
comment on. If there are more submissions than the allowed assessments, the
reviewer will get a random set to evaluate.</span></p>
<p><span lang=EN-US>The “Self Assessment” field, if set to
“Yes,” allows students to evaluate and grade their own work. This is added to
the “Number of Assessments…” (if the “Number of Assessments…” is set to 5, the
student must still evaluate 5 other students’ work). If the “Number of Assessments…”
is set to “0” and this field is set to “Yes,” then the project is for
self-evaluation only.</span></p>
<p><span lang=EN-US>If the “Assessments must be agreed” field
is set to “Yes,” then the assessments from students are open to review from
other students. If other students disagree with the evaluation made by the
original reviewer, then the evaluation process will continue until the students
do agree, or until the assignment passes the closing time.</span></p>
<p><span lang=EN-US>The “Hide Grades before Agreement” field
allows the teacher to hide the numeric grades from other reviewers while they
are trying to reach agreement. If this field is set to “Yes,” then all the
numeric parts of the evaluation are hidden – students can only see each other’s
comments. The grades will appear after the reviewers agree with each other.</span></p>
<p><span lang=EN-US>“Maximum
Size” limits how big the project can be. In general, I recommend making this as
big as you can (it goes up to 15 MB).</span></p>
<p><span lang=EN-US>The “Deadline”
field sets when the workgroup assignment closes. After this point, student
grades will appear (if hidden) and peer evaluation stops.</span></p>
<p><b><span lang=EN-US>Workgroup Evaluation Types</span></b></p>
<p><span lang=EN-US>Getting a workgroup ready for evaluation
requires setting up each section (called evaluation elements). These element
vary depending on the type of evaluation you select.</span></p>
<p><span lang=EN-US>Once you have added a workgroup, it has no
evaluation elements in it. To add the elements, click on your new workgroup. In
my example, it is called “Uses of Computers”:</span></p>
<p><span lang=EN-US>
<img width=575 height=167
src="./teacher-matt_files/image117.jpg" v:shapes="_x0000_i1084">
</span></p>
<p><b><span lang=EN-US>Accumulative
Grading Strategy</span></b><span lang=EN-US> – This is the default grading
strategy. It allows for various styles of evaluation, including yes/no
questions, scaled questions, and numeric evaluations. If you selected this
strategy on the setup screen, you will see something like this when you click
on the workgroup (“Uses of Computers” on mine):</span></p>
<p><span lang=EN-US>
<img width=575 height=348
src="./teacher-matt_files/image119.jpg" v:shapes="_x0000_i1085">
</span></p>
<p><span lang=EN-US>I have selected to have 5 elements on my evaluation
(2 are off-screen). 5 to10 elements is pretty typical, but you can have
anywhere from 1 to 20 elements.</span></p>
<p><span lang=EN-US>In the blank space next to “Element 1,”
fill in your evaluation standard. This varies on the type of element you are
using. For Element 1, I will use a “2 point Yes/No scale.” Note that the
2-point does not refer to how much the question is worth (that is set using the
weight). The 2-point refers to the fact that there are 2 options available (yes
or no). Since I am using a yes/no answer, I need an element that can be
answered using yes or no. For my example, I will use “Is the paper 2 pages long
or longer?”</span></p>
<p><span lang=EN-US>“Type of Scale” allows you to set how you
want the element evaluated. The options are:</span></p>
<p><span lang=EN-US> 2
point Yes/No scale</span></p>
<p><span lang=EN-US> 2
point Present/Absent scale</span></p>
<p><span lang=EN-US> 2
point Correct/Incorrect scale</span></p>
<p><span lang=EN-US> 3
point Good/Poor scale (a sliding scale with 3 options)</span></p>
<p><span lang=EN-US> 4
point Excellent/Very Poor scale (a sliding scale with 4 options)</span></p>
<p><span lang=EN-US> 5
point Excellent/Very Poor scale (a sliding scale with 5 options)</span></p>
<p><span lang=EN-US> 7
point Excellent/Very Poor scale (a sliding scale with 7 options)</span></p>
<p><span lang=EN-US> Score
out of 10</span></p>
<p><span lang=EN-US> Score
out of 20</span></p>
<p><span lang=EN-US> Score
out of 100</span></p>
<p><span lang=EN-US>In all cases, the points are for the
element ONLY. A “Score out of 100” is not for the whole project, but for the
element is it assigned to only. In my “Element 1” example, I will use a 2-point
Yes/No scale.</span></p>
<p><span lang=EN-US>“Element Weight” sets the weight of the
element. In my example, right now all 5 elements are weighted with a weight of
1. That means each element is worth the same, or 20% (5 elements at 20% each =
100%). If I feel an element should be worth more or less than other elements, I
can change the weight (from 0 to 4 times weight – there are negative weights as
well, but they are experimental). In my examples, I will leave the weight as 1.</span></p>
<p><span lang=EN-US>For “Element 2,” I will choose one of the
sliding scales, the 5-point Excellent/Very Poor scale. This creates a scale
that has 5 options, from Excellent to Very Poor. The grade of the element is
based on the choice. In my example, each element is worth 20%. If someone rates
my paper as a 3 on the scale, I will get 3/5 (a rating of 3 out of a possible
5) of 20, or 12 points for this element. I need to fill in the element
description in a way that can be answered by the scale Excellent to Very Poor.
In my example, I will use “Rate the paper on how well it is written.”</span></p>
<p><span lang=EN-US>For “Element 3,” I will use the “Score out
of 100” scale. This allows the reviewer to select a score of 0 to 100 for this
element. The grade of this element is based on the score given. If I get a
score of 75 on the scale, I will get 75/100 credit, or 15 points (75% of 20
total points). I need to describe the element in a way that can be evaluated on
a 100-point scale. For this example, I will use “On a scale of 100, rate how
well the author did research.”</span></p>
<p><span lang=EN-US>Other elements are filled out in a similar
way. When I have filled out the other elements, my example looks like this:</span></p>
<p><span lang=EN-US>
<img width=575 height=333
src="./teacher-matt_files/image121.jpg" v:shapes="_x0000_i1086">
</span></p>
<p><span lang=EN-US>Click on “Save changes” to save your
changes. The system will then ask if you want to “Amend Assignment Elements
again.” If you want to go back and make changes, click on “Yes”; otherwise,
click on “No.”</span></p>
<p><span lang=EN-US>You will then see a screen something like
this:</span></p>
<p><span lang=EN-US>
<img width=575 height=311
src="./teacher-matt_files/image123.jpg" v:shapes="_x0000_i1087">
</span></p>
<p><span lang=EN-US>The links at the bottom allow you to
control the workgroup. The “Amend Assessment Elements” link takes you back to
where you can modify the elements, the scoring, and the weights. The
“Administration” link allows you to evaluate student evaluations, papers, and
so on.</span></p>
<p><span lang=EN-US>The 4 stages near the bottom allow you to
control the pacing of the workgroup. The screen above shows step “1. Set Up
Assignment” as the current stage. To move to the next stage, click on “2. Allow
Student Submissions and Assessments.” Students then can submit projects and
start evaluating other student projects. “3. Calculation of Final Grades”
allows you to make changes to the grades, and “4. Show Final Grades” allows
students to see their grades.</span></p>
<p><b><span lang=EN-US>What an accumulative evaluation looks like:</span></b></p>
<p><span lang=EN-US>At this point, it might be useful to see
what a student would see for an evaluation. For the accumulative evaluation
from above, a student would see this:</span></p>
<p><span lang=EN-US>
<img width=575 height=348
src="./teacher-matt_files/image125.jpg" v:shapes="_x0000_i1088">
</span></p>
<p><b><span lang=EN-US>Not
Graded Grading Strategy</span></b><span lang=EN-US> – This grading strategy is
used for peer comments only. You may still have as many elements as you like,
but each elements only has a comments section – there is nowhere for a
numerical evaluation. When you click on a workgroup that has been set up with
“Not Graded,” you will see a screen like this (mine has five elements):</span></p>
<p><span lang=EN-US>
<img width=575 height=348
src="./teacher-matt_files/image127.jpg" v:shapes="_x0000_i1089">
</span></p>
<p><span lang=EN-US>Fill in each element field with a
description to guide the reviewer’s comments (like “Discuss the strength or
weakness of the thesis statement.”) When you have filled in all of the
elements, click on “Save changes.” The system then follows the same steps as
above (See the Accumulative Grading Strategy section above).</span></p>
<p><b><span lang=EN-US>Error
Banded Grading Strategy</span></b><span lang=EN-US> – This grading strategy is
based entirely on yes/no responses for the evaluation. Each element is set up
with a yes/no system. When you first click on the workgroup, you should see
something like this:</span></p>
<p><span lang=EN-US>
<img width=575 height=324
src="./teacher-matt_files/image129.jpg" v:shapes="_x0000_i1090">
</span></p>
<p><span lang=EN-US>In addition, there is a Grade Table to set
up at the bottom of the page (mine is set up as an example):</span></p>
<p><span lang=EN-US>
<img width=575 height=252
src="./teacher-matt_files/image131.jpg" v:shapes="_x0000_i1091">
</span></p>
<p><span lang=EN-US>The grade table allows the teacher to set
up suggested grades based on the number of “No” answers recorded by the
reviewer. It does not have to be linear (my example takes off 5 for the first
“No,” 10 for the second “No,” and 15 for the third “No.”). These are only
suggested grades – the reviewer may modify the grade up or down by up to 20
points (you might want to stress to the students they should have good reasons
for changing you suggested grades!).</span></p>
<p><span lang=EN-US>Fill out each element with a yes/no
question and set the weight. When you weight a question, it will count that
weight against the yes or no count. For instance, if I had 3 questions, and
weighted one question as “2,” and the other two questions as “1,” the first
question would have twice the weight of the other two. That means if a reviewer
selects “No” on the first question (the weighted one), it would count as two
“No’s” on the grade (or an 85 in my example grade chart).</span></p>
<p><span lang=EN-US>When done, click on “Save changes.” My
example screen looks like this:</span></p>
<p><span lang=EN-US>
<img width=575 height=342
src="./teacher-matt_files/image133.jpg" v:shapes="_x0000_i1092">
</span></p>
<p><b><span lang=EN-US>Criterion
Grading Strategy</span></b><span lang=EN-US> – This strategy lets the reviewer
pick ONE statement that matches the project. Each statement has a grade
assigned to it. When you click on a Criterion workgroup for the first time, you
will see a screen like this:</span></p>
<p><span lang=EN-US>
<img width=575 height=348
src="./teacher-matt_files/image135.jpg" v:shapes="_x0000_i1093">
</span></p>
<p><span lang=EN-US>In each element section, write the
statement you want and assign a suggested grade to that statement. The reviewer
may change the suggested grade up or down by up to 20 points. When you are
finished, click on “Save changes.” My example looks like this:</span></p>
<p><span lang=EN-US>
<img width=575 height=334
src="./teacher-matt_files/image137.jpg" v:shapes="_x0000_i1094">
</span></p>
<p><b><span lang=EN-US>Rubric
Grading Strategy</span></b><span lang=EN-US> – This strategy is very similar to
the Criterion. In the Rubric, the reviewer must select ONE statement that most
closely matches the project. Each statement has a grade attached to it. The
difference with the Rubric is that it allows a statement for multiple elements,
so a project might have 5 elements to it, each of which has statements to be
matched to the project. The total grade is based on each element grade. When
you click on a Rubric workshop for the first time, you will see a screen like
this:</span></p>
<p><span lang=EN-US>
<img width=575 height=340
src="./teacher-matt_files/image139.jpg" v:shapes="_x0000_i1095">
</span></p>
<p><span lang=EN-US>The Element box is where you describe what
you want the reviewer to evaluate. You may then set the weight of the element.
You then fill in at least two of the “Grade” boxes. You do NOT have to fill in
all five (but you can if you wish). The system will ignore everything after the
first blank box, and will calculate the grade based on how many possibilities
are present. An example will help. If I have 5 elements all weighted as 1, each
element is worth 20%. Each grade box (inside each element) divides the 20
points available to the element. If I fill in 2 boxes, Grade 0 is worth zero
points (Grade 0 is always worth zero points, no matter how many boxes are
filled out), and the statement in Grade 1 is worth all 20 points. If I fill out
3 boxes, Grade 0 is worth 0, Grade 1 is worth 10 points, and Grade 2 is worth
all 20. If I fill out all 5 boxes, Grade 0 is worth 0, Grade 1 is worth 5,
Grade 2 is worth 10, Grade 3 is worth 15, and Grade 4 is worth all 20 points.
The reviewer will pick ONE statement for EACH element.</span></p>
<p><span lang=EN-US>Fill in each element description, pick the
weight, and fill in as many grade boxes as you like for each element (you must
fill out at least two Grade boxes for each element, or the element will not
count). Click on “Save changes.” My example looks like:</span></p>
<p><span lang=EN-US>
<img width=575 height=341
src="./teacher-matt_files/image141.jpg" v:shapes="_x0000_i1096">
</span></p>
<p><span lang=EN-US>In my example, Element one would have 3
choices. The reviewer would pick one of them for this element, and would then
do the same for the remaining elements.</span></p>
<p><span lang=EN-US>This covers all of the resources available
from the “Add” menu. There is one more resource on the class page that is
useful – the News forum. You will notice that at the top of the class pages
there is a forum called “News forum.” This is always present, and the system
recreates it if you delete it. It is a place for you to post news items
relating to your class. To add a news item, click on the News forum icon at the
top:</span></p>
<p><span lang=EN-US>
<img width=575 height=108
src="./teacher-matt_files/image143.jpg" v:shapes="_x0000_i1097">
</span></p>
<p><span lang=EN-US>This will take you to a screen like this:</span></p>
<p><span lang=EN-US>
<img width=575 height=192
src="./teacher-matt_files/image145.jpg" v:shapes="_x0000_i1098">
</span></p>
<p><span lang=EN-US>Before we “Add a new topic,” I want to
point out the link in the upper right. By default, “Everyone is subscribed to
this forum.” This means that every time you add a news item, the system will
email everyone in the class automatically. To change this option, click on the
“Everyone is subscribed to this forum” link, and it will change to where the
students have the option to sign up to get emailed. If you do change this, and
then want to change back, click on the “Everyone can choose to subscribe” link.</span></p>
<p><span lang=EN-US>If you click on the “Add a new discussion
topic…” link, you will be taken to a screen where you give the announcement a
name, type the details of the actual announcement, and have the option to attach
a file to the announcement (up to 15 MB in size). The attachment can be any
file – Word, PowerPoint, etc. When you are done adding the announcement, click
on “Save changes.” The system will then
tell you that you have 30 minutes to make changes to the announcement. Click on
“Continue.” The news item will now show up in the news forum:</span></p>
<p><span lang=EN-US>
<img width=575 height=222
src="./teacher-matt_files/image147.jpg" v:shapes="_x0000_i1099">
</span></p>
<p><span lang=EN-US>If you go back to the main screen (click on
the short class name, CMPTR1 in my case), you will see that the “headline” now
appears on the right under “Latest news”:</span></p>
<p><span lang=EN-US>
<img width=143 height=204
src="./teacher-matt_files/image149.jpg" v:shapes="_x0000_i1100">
</span></p>
<p><span lang=EN-US>One word of warning – the default news
forum allows students to reply to your posting, but not add new postings. To
turn this off, click on the edit button (the hand holding a pen) next to “News
forum,” and change the menu item “Can a student post to this forum?” from “No
discussions, but replies are allowed” to “No discussions, no replies.”</span></p>
<p><span lang=EN-US>This covers everything about editing your
class page. When you are finished, click on the “Turn editing off” button to
see how your page looks.</span></p>
<p><span lang=EN-US>One thing to point out to your students: on
the right-hand side is a box labeled “Recent activity.” This lists everything
that has changed in the class site since the last time the student logged in:</span></p>
<p><span lang=EN-US>
<img width=167 height=217
src="./teacher-matt_files/image151.jpg" v:shapes="_x0000_i1101">
</span></p>
<p><span lang=EN-US>This is a good
place to see if there are new things in the class.</span></p>
<p><span lang=EN-US>If you have any questions, remember to
click on the “?” buttons – Moodle’s help is very good.</span></p>
<p><span lang=EN-US>Thank you for using this resource!</span></p>
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