We’ve got a series of posts to help you prepare for the new academic year on Moodle. This is our second post and will cover managing content and ensuring consistency on modules across a programme.

Course formats in Moodle enable different layouts and structures for your module. At City, the City Course Format is applied by default to all taught modules. This provides a three-column layout with content presented in collapsible sections and a prominent Module dashboard for quick access to key activities and links. 

The Grid format is also available at City. This is another three-column layout where content is presented as a series of Grids. New for this academic year, the Module dashboard has been redeveloped so that it will display as a block on the Grid format to provide students with quick links to key activities on a module (e.g. Lecture Capture) and provide automatic links to the module Reading List and Library Guide.

Modules within a programme must have a consistent layout for students so discuss any format changes with your programme team as the change will need to be applied to a whole programme.

Use the Moodle module checklist to guide the design of your Moodle module. This checklist shares best practices for the design of Moodle modules, which LEaD has collected from across the university. It aims to help you to design and deliver blended and online teaching.

If you are teaching on a current, rather than a new, module your first task is to decide if you want to import specific content or rollover all content. Our guidance outlines the pros and cons and provides instructions on how to complete this task.

After rolling over or importing content to your Moodle module, remember to update your file names, content and settings and review the accessibility of your content. Tips for a quick module spring clean are available in EdtechGuides.  

Many Moodle 4 modules contain direct links to modules in Moodle 3.9 or to last year’s modules on Moodle 4 e.g. links to template documents in Programme modules. If students are not enrolled on the modules in Moodle 3.9 or on last year’s Moodle modules they will not be able to access the links. Remember to update links to the module for the coming academic year on which the current cohort of students is enrolled.

Use Anthology Ally to check that your learning content is accessible to all students. Ally provides accessibility feedback and assistance on individual resources and on the module overall. It can also automatically provide alternative formats for students.

City has redeveloped the Module dashboard so that it can be used in modules using the Grid format. This will automatically provide students with a link to the module Reading List and Library Guide. You can also provide links to relevant sections of the reading list under each week / topic on the Moodle module, so that students can easily access the relevant resources at the right time. 

Our training programme this summer will concentrate on revising Moodle basics, especially creating and markings assessments. There is a new workshop on tips and tricks to make working with Moodle 4 as efficient as possible, and one that compares and contrasts all the assessment tools available in Moodle. There will also be regular hands-on, in-person introductions to the teaching room presentation systems nearly every Tuesday and Thursday. To see details of the full range of workshops and to book, please see the LEaD training calendar.

Our next post will concentrate on connecting Lecture Capture to Moodle and maximising your audio quality.