Moodle Resources for Faculty

Brandeis Moodle Communities, our second Moodle environment, hosts non-credit courses that are not tied to the academic calendar. These courses have existed for many years in LATTE, in the same environment as our for-credit courses. They generally have been referred to as “Special Courses,” and they are used for a variety of purposes including practice and experimentation with Moodle, non-credit training/orientation courses offered by several departments, and non-credit courses available to various types of Brandeis constituents.

Brandeis Moodle Communities hosts course pages under the following top-level categories:

• Professional Development and Training

• Student Services

• Student Clubs and Organizations

• Academic Groups & Programs

• Committees & Administrative Groups

• Orientation Courses

*NOTE: Unlike the Registrar-populated courses we've become accustomed to in the other Moodle Instances, Course in Communities will require special considerations with regards to providing access to students. Courses need to be Published, and they will also require an enrollment strategy. 

Orientation courses and Placement test courses fall under the Student Services top-level category, the subcategory called "Orientation Courses" is reserved for cases where enrollments are being provided by a special integration with Workday Student.

Practice Courses

Brandeis Moodle Communities additionally enables exploration and innovation through the availability of Practice Courses. During the Moodle implementation all faculty and staff were provisioned two Practice Courses in Brandeis Moodle Communities. To access your Practice Courses, enter your Brandeis login credentials at Brandeis Moodle Communities (https://communities.brandeis.edu/my/courses.php). You should see your homepage in the Brandeis Moodle Communities environment, along with your two Practice Courses. If you don't have Practice Courses provisioned yet, please follow the instructions below to request a new course.

Practice Courses provide a safe environment for faculty to learn and to experiment with Moodle functions in innovative ways before incorporating techniques into for-credit courses.

The Practice Courses top-level category contains course shells available for course development or Moodle functionality testing. While it is possible to enroll other community members within Practice courses, gradebook, activity completion, and course completion functionality is intentionally disabled within this category. 

Benefits of using Moodle Communities

• User-Friendly Interface: Intuitive and easy to navigate, ensuring a seamless learning experience.
• Flexibility: Access courses and training materials anytime, anywhere, whether you prefer in-person or online formats.
• Interactive Tools: Utilize forums, quizzes, and multimedia content to enhance learning and retention.
• Tracking and Reporting: Monitor your progress and achievements with comprehensive tracking tools.
• Collaboration: Engage with peers and instructors through discussion boards and group activities.

Requesting a blank course shell to build a course in Moodle Communities:

In Communities select Index.  Then select the link to the category where you would like to request your course (e.g. Professional Development and Training or Student Services).

Select the More dropdown on the right side of the screen and select Request a Course. 

Complete the form with as many details as you can, and select the Request a Course Button.

Up-to-date SLA times are available for review.