Approximately two months before the term begins, you will gain access to your upcoming courses in Moodle. Once notified that your course is ready, you can begin updating the course and its materials.
This page outlines the necessary tasks to prepare your course and a recommended timeline for completing them. We strongly encourage following this timeline rather than waiting until the last minute.
IMPORTANT: Many sections in this guide contain multiple tabs, each with essential information. Ensure you click on each tab to update all items thoroughly. We will regularly update this guide with more detailed instructions and screenshots to support your course development process.
Courses should open for students one week before the start of the term. See the bottom of this page for instructions on opening the course. At this time, students should have access to the following:
We recommend hiding Weeks 4-10 initially. If you do so, remember to re-open each week two weeks before it begins.
Course Backups from LATTE have been shared with Faculty via Brandeis's Box tool. This allows for that content to become available for use in either the Brandeis Moodle Courses site or in Brandeis Moodle Communities site. An additional benefit is that using Box will allow an instructor to upload a course that is larger than the maximum file size upload limit (of 60mb).
This procedure is Described in detail on the Design Your Course Page of this LibGuide.
Once you have access to the course in Moodle, take some time to familiarize yourself with it, even if you have taught it before. Open all sections, click on each link, and review the assignments and evaluation criteria. Update any typos or broken links you encounter.
After your initial review, follow the steps in this guide to update and prepare your course.
Access course settings below the course header. On the course settings page, you can:
Instructors can add films from the Brandeis Library’s collection to their Moodle course. Students can access these films anytime, on- or off-campus.
If a film is not already in the library’s collection, you can submit a course video request. The library will add the film if it is available. Course videos are only accessible to students enrolled in the course and cannot be shown publicly.
To request a course video, use the "Request a Course Video" link in your Moodle course.
Log in to Moodle and open the course where you want to add a video.
Scroll to the bottom of the page and click the question mark/help button.
Select "Request a Course Video."
When requesting a new video, include as much information as possible, such as:
You will receive an email confirmation when your request is received.
A second email will notify you when the video is ready.
The video will also appear on the Course Videos page in your Moodle course.
Brandeis students can use this Moodle features to view their course syllabi. The course instructor chooses whether to share the syllabus with the Brandeis Community.
Instructors can also choose to make a course syllabus public via the Brandeis Registrar’s Schedule of Classes interface.
To share your syllabus only with the students registered in the class, follow these steps to upload and share the file.
Select the course you are teaching from the Moodle Dashboard.
Select the arrow on the grey tabbed handle at the top right corner of any Moodle page. This will open the right-hand block drawer..
Select the Upload Course Syllabus link from the Moodle Course Tools block.
Select the Choose File button on the left-hand side. Browse for your file on your computer, and select Open to select the appropriate file.
Select the Upload button to upload the syllabus for browsing.
After you make a syllabus public, the Make Course Syllabus Private link will appear.
To remove the public link from the Registrar's Schedule of Classes, click on the “Make Course Syllabus Private” link.
You can update your uploaded syllabus by taking the following steps:
To see all uploaded syllabi, click the Browse Course Syllabi link in the Course Tools block of your Moodle course.
Once someone uploads a syllabus, they can't remove it. However, a new version can replace it. If someone has not yet prepared a revised syllabus, they can upload a blank file temporarily.
The Course News & Announcements Forum allows you to send emails to all enrolled students. Instructors are strongly encouraged to send an announcement welcoming students to the course on the Sunday prior to the first week of class. Many faculty members choose to write their announcements in advance and schedule them to appear on their preferred days of the week (see the next tab in this box for instructions).
Suggested content for the Welcome Message:
Scheduling Announcements
You can send announcements instantly or schedule them in advance. Scheduling announcements gives you the flexibility to send messages at a set time, even when you're busy with something else. The announcement will be stored in Moodle, but hidden from students until the display time. There is no limit to the number of announcements you can schedule.
1. Open the News & Announcements forum in the top section of your course.
2. Select the blue Add discussion topic button.
3. Enter a subject and a message.
4. Select the advanced link
5. Enable Display Start. Set it to the date and time that students can see the post.
6. Do not enable Display End.
7. Select the blue Post to forum button.
At least one week before the course starts
All courses are hidden by default so students cannot access them before they are ready. Faculty are responsible for opening their courses at least one week before the term starts.
You must open the course before sending any announcements. If scheduling announcements, you must open the course before the display start date of the Welcome Message.
1. Select settings from the course home page.
2. Change the Course visibility from Hide to Show.
3. Scroll to the bottom of the page and select the blue Save and display button.