This site requires JavaScript to be enabled
12 views

On this page:


I am having trouble logging into Moodle. What should I do?

Anyone with an active IT Account should be able to log in to Moodle.

If these steps do not resolve your problems, instructors and TAs can contact the Instructional Media Lab at instruct@umass.edu or 413-545-2823. (Students should contact the IT Service Desk).

I can log in to Moodle, but why I don't see my course listed under My Courses?

How do I get a course in Moodle?

Primary Instructors can request a Moodle course in SPIRE. The request form must be filled out each semester you want to use Moodle for a class.

Once your request has been processed you will be informed via email. Because this is a manual process (your course is not automatically created when you submit the form), it may take a day or so before your course is ready. Please plan accordingly.

Some things to keep in mind when requesting a Moodle course:

How do I reuse a course Moodle Course?

In Moodle, you do not reset a course to reuse it; you must request a new Moodle course each semester you teach a course, then you can import course content from a previous semester into the new course. For more, see Request a Moodle Course through SPIRE and Reuse a Moodle Course Using Import.

How long will my course remain on Moodle?

Courses are deleted from Moodle 18 months after the close of the semester taught to make room for future courses. Unfortunately, it is not possible for us to maintain long-term storage of Moodle courses due to limited physical space and resources. This allows ample time for students to resolve an Incomplete grade, and for faculty to make their own archives of course work for future reference.

How do co-instructors or other instructional staff get access to my Moodle course?

How do students get enrolled in my course on Moodle?

Once a Moodle course has been requested and created, students who are enrolled in the class in SPIRE, including 5 College students, are automatically added to the Moodle roster. Moodle rosters are updated each hour with enrollment data from SPIRE.

When does student access to a Moodle course begin and end?

Moodle courses are automatically made available to students one business day before the start of the term, and student access is removed two weeks after grades for the term are released. However, instructors can hide courses that are not ready for use, or open courses prior to the beginning of the semester. See Make Your Moodle Course Available to Students.
Note: Moodle courses requested after the release date at the beginning of the semester are not automatically released and must be made available to students by the instructor.

Why is a student who appears on my SPIRE roster unable to access my Moodle course?

There are a few possible situations that could be causing a student who is registered in SPIRE to be unable to access a Moodle course. Some troubleshooting to consider:

Note: Professors should direct student problems to User Services.

How do 5-college students access my Moodle course?

5-college students who are enrolled in a UMass course will be sent a NetID (IT Account user name) and password via email as soon as their enrollment appears in SPIRE. More about IT Accounts.

To access a Moodle course, 5-college students must:

Can my teaching assistant(s) get access to my Moodle course?

TAs must be listed in SPIRE as a Teaching Assistant or Undergraduate Student Assistant (Student Assistant Moodle Only) in order to have access to the Moodle course for the class.

By default, TAs and Student Assistants automatically receive access to Moodle in the role of Non-Editing Teacher, which allows them to access student resources and activities, as well as read and grade student submissions. If a TA needs to upload materials or add activities to a Moodle course, the instructor can add the Course Designer role for that individual.

I have a student who is working on an Incomplete. How can the student get access to my Moodle course?

I am co-instructing a course, or have a Course Designer in my course. What happens if we both edit something in Moodle at the same time?

Moodle does not warn users who are both editing the same item—the last person to Save will overwrite the other person's work. We recommend coordinating with your co-instructor or designer to avoid editing items simultaneously. Either plan which activities and resources "belong" to each of you, or e-mail each other when editing.
Note: Exception: In a Wiki activity, only one person at a time is able to edit a Wiki page.

Why do I (or my students) get an error message when attempting to upload a large file?

Each Moodle course has a course-level upload-limit that the instructor can control in the Course settings. The default Maximum upload size is 50 MB, but you can increase it if needed. For details, see Important Settings for your your Moodle Course.

In addition, some activities, such as Assignments, have an upload-limit determined in the activity Settings. For example, the default Assignment maximum size of 1 MB is generally adequate for text-based documents, but if students are submitting video or audio files you may need to increase the file size allowed. If your students are experiencing errors when trying to upload files, check to make sure the upload limit is adequate for the type of assignment.
Note: The upload limit for an activity cannot be set higher than the limit for the course, so you may need to change the course settings first.

When I (or my students) try to open files I posted on Moodle, nothing appears to happen. How can I fix this?

The results of clicking on a link to a File in Moodle depend on the options you chose when you added the file, the configuration of the browser you are using, and the file type.

Where is the File Manager in Moodle?  Is there a way to download all the files I've posted to a course at once?

Note: As a best practice, we recommend keeping a copy of student submissions and the files you have uploaded on your own computer or cloud-based storage. See Online File Storage & Collaboration.