A Quick Tour of Moodle for Students

This page provides a quick introduction to Moodle, a learning management system (LMS) at UMass Amherst used to deliver course content and host online learning activities.

Logging in to Moodle

1. To log into Moodle, visit http://moodle.umass.edu
2. In the upper right corner, type your UMass NetID and password

When you first log into Moodle, you will see some boxes in the upper-left corner of the screen. These boxes are called Blocks and they contain all the links you'll be using to navigate to your courses and change your personal settings. Many of the Blocks are customizable.

Once you log in, look on the left side for the My courses block to see your current courses.

• Note: If you log-in and don't see your course in this block, it may not yet be open to students, so be sure to check again after the first day of class, or ask your instructor.

If you are still having problems, contact the OIT Help Center and notify your instructor so that we can help you and keep track of Moodle issues.

Finding Your Course

You can find your course a few different ways after you log into Moodle.

• On the main page, all of your courses will be listed under the My courses block at the upper-left corner of the screen.
• In the Navigation block, clicking the My Home link will take you to a personal homepage for all your courses.
• Also in the Navigation block, you can see a list of courses under My courses. This will list your courses in outline format, allowing you to go directly to a specific activity or document.

In each of these cases, to access your course simply click the course title.

My Home

For an overview of upcoming deadlines in all your Moodle courses, use My home (found at the top of the Navigation block). This page lists all of your currently enrolled courses and allows you to quickly navigate to new assignments. You can also customize this page and add additional blocks to the right side, including the calendar to help you stay organized.

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To add a calendar to the My home page:

1. Click the Customize this page button in the upper-right corner of the My home page.
2. On the next screen, find the drop-down menu below Add a block and select Calendar.
3. Click Stop customizing this page, and now your calendar will appear whenever you navigate to the My home screen.

Typical Course Layout

Courses in Moodle are usually organized in two to three columns. These columns may contain Blocks that are often customizable, and topics where your instructor will post content and assignments for your course. 

Three column layout

The three column layout consists of a center section where your instructor will post information about the course, links to resources and assignments, and other activities you'll be doing on Moodle. On either side are blocks which you can use to navigate around Moodle, as well as access resources specific to your course such as your grades, upcoming assignments, discussion forums, announcements, and a calendar.

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Two column layout

On occasion, you may see a course page with a two column layout. This works exactly the same as a three column layout except that all blocks are on one side of your screen (on the right).

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Docking Blocks

A great feature in Moodle is that you can customize how your course page looks while you use it. Specifically, you have the option of docking blocks to provide more space on your screen. You can still access these blocks in the bar that appears on the left-side of the page.

To move a block to the dock:

1. Choose a block you want to move (Such as Navigation or Settings)
2. Click the button in the upper right corner of the block (When you hover over this button it will say, "Move this to the dock")
3. When you want to access the links in that block, hover your cursor over the name of the block on the left-side of the page.

Tips on Submitting Work

• Submit assignments on time.  Really, you already know this, but on Moodle your instructor may close assignments for late submissions, so don't expect to be able to electronically submit an assignment past the deadline.
• Look for a confirmation screen to make sure your assignment is submitted. (This might look different depending on the kind of assignment.)
• Know which file formats your instructor will accept (.pdf and .doc are usually preferred).