Frequently Asked Questions

Here are answers to some of the questions we've heard most often since we adopted the Boost theme:

How do I find my courses?

The best way to locate courses that are not available to you is to use the Search courses field above the list of My courses that appears on the Moodle landing page. Once courses are made available, you'll see them there, at the top of My courses. Note: Not all courses available to you and students appear in the list in the navigational panel on the left -- only courses that are currently "in progress" based on the course start and end dates appear in that list.

How do I make my course available?

The basic process has not changed, just the access point. See these instructions to make your course available.

Can I customize my course list?

This version of Moodle does not accommodate customization of your dashboard. See how do I find my courses above.

How can I tell if my course is available to students?

You may have noticed that your course name looks "live" in the breadcrumb trail at the top of your course pages, even when you have not yet made it available to students. If your course is live, you'll see it listed in red under My courses in the middle of your Moodle landing page. If not, it will appear in gray text. You can verify that your course is available by checking the course settings set out in this article.

How do I add a user to my class?

Adding a user begins with the Participants link in the navigation panel. Here are complete instructions for adding a user.

How do I copy a course from a prior term?

See these instructions to copy your prior course.

Why are there multiple "Announcements" links in my course?

See these  instructions for cleaning up redundant Announcements links.

Why can't my students find my course?

We no longer have a "Courses Available to You" block, so we'll all be relying more on the list of My courses in the navigation panel on the left. If your course is visible to students, but is not showing up under My courses in the panel on the left, follow these instructions to verify that your course start date is correct. 

How do I change back to the text editor we used to have?

The "Atto" editor is the current default text editor in Moodle. Atto was created to provide more accessible content online. Our set of Atto tools includes some advanced functions, but you may be missing some of the functionality of the former editor (TinyMCE). You can switch between these editors very easily by following these instructions for changing your text editor. Learn more about using the Atto editor.

Can I grade a forum with a rubric in this version?

Unfortunately, no. Advanced grading options for forums (rubrics, checklists and marking guides) are not yet available in standard Moodle. Those functions were created by Moodlerooms, our former host, and have not been released to the global Moodle community. We can still use those advanced grading methods for assignments, just not for forums.

So, how do I grade forums?

In the Grade option area, choose Manual or Rating for the Grade type. Manual scores have to be entered into the gradebook individually, while Ratings are applied via a drop-down menu within each post. If you choose the Rating type, open the Ratings option area and select a rating type -- sum of ratings will total all of the points you assign, highest will record only the highest point value you assign. See this article on grading forums.

Why did my video disappear?

If you are seeing a blank space where you had embedded a video prior to the migration, see these instructions for a simple fix.

What's with "Available but not shown on course page"?

This is a new advanced feature that you might encounter when you attempt to change an item's status from hidden to visible. See this article on how to make the item visible again and how to use this new feature.