Integrative Biology 100 and 101

Integrative Biology 100 and 101
Moodle, Fall 2008

Accessing Moodle

Three Moodle Courses

Left Side
Blocks

Right Side
Blocks

Topic Outline
(Forums)

Reading and
Writing in
Moodle

IB 100/101 Home Page

Directions to login and use Moodle.

Accessing

  • User name = net ID

  • Password = Campus Active Directory password

Three Moodle Courses:

  • All students will use Moodle Course "Integrative Biology 100/101" for:

    • Quick connections to course web pages

    • Communication with instructors and classmates

        (Talk to Sarah and Ed – Talk to __[Your TA’s name]__ - Talk to the Virtual TA)

    • Completing “Moodle Assignments”

        • (Your TA will have a forum for each Moodle assignment)

    • Participating in Extra Credit Projects

        • (Virtual TA for Questions and Help – Extra Credit forums for the various types of extra credit projects)

  • IB 100 students will use Moodle Course "Integrative Biology 100 Grades" to view discussion and course grades.

  • IB 101 students will use Moodle Course "Integrative Biology 101 Grades" to view laboratory and course grades.

    The two "Grades" courses include nothing but grade records.
    (Administration block on left-hand of page – select Grades)

Organization of the "Integrative Biology 100/101" Moodle Course

  • Blocks on the Left and right of the Moodle course page

    • Left side blocks

      • People Block – you can search the list of course participants

      • Activities Block

        • Forums – Quick access to a list of all the forums in the Moodle course

        • Resources – Quick access to a list of the web links in the Moodle course

      • Administration Block

        • Profile – You may access and edit your personal profile for Moodle.

          Do not change your name entry. This is your “Official“ course roster name that will be associated with your course grade record.

          You may add a picture and other personal information to be associated with your profile and forum posts.

          Please use common sense and consider the sensibilities of your classmates and teachers when selecting an image or personal information to associate with your name.

      • My Courses Block - A list of Biology Moodle Courses for which you are registered.

        		•

    • Right side blocks

      • Latest News – Watch this block for course announcements – this information will also be noted on the course Announcements web page.

      • Upcoming Events - Calendar of upcoming course events

      • Recent Activity - a listing of your Moodle activities

        		•

  • Topic Outline in the center of the Moodle Course page

    • Topic Outline – Introductory section

      • Talk to Sarah and Ed – Forum to use to communicate directly with course lecturers.

      • News Forum – We will use this forum to post Course Announcements.

      • Check this out..... – We may all use this forum to post links to web sites or other resources related to biology.

      • Topic Outline – Section #1 - IB 100 and 101 Web Resources - Quick Links to course web pages.

      • Topic Outline – Section #2 - Virtual TA and Extra Credit

        • Virtual TA Forums to ask questions about Moodle and Extra Credit Projects.

        • Web Links for Extra Credit Project directions and Forums to post extra credit projects and dialog entries.

      • Topic Outline – Sections #3 - 8 – Discussion and Lab forums for each instructor for communication and posting of your Moodle assignments.

        		•

      • Clicking the small white box to the right of a section in the topic outline will close all but that section and the introductory section.

      • Clicking the two small white boxes to the right of a selected section in the topic outline will open all sections.

    Reading, Composing, and Editing Forum Posts and Replies.

    • Click on the forum you want to enter.

      • You may read previous posts and associated replies by clicking on the discussion “subject” of the posting you want to read. This will open the posting and all the attached replies.

      • Clicking on the name of a post’s author will display the author’s profile information.

      • To add your own posting, click on the “Add a new discussion topic” button. Type in a meaningful subject and then compose your message.

      • To reply to a previous post click on the subject of the post to display the posting and previous replies. You may write a reply to the original posting or to any reply attached to the original. Click on the appropriate “Reply” button and compose your reply post.

    • Composing and Editing Your Moodle Post

      • Click the “Add a new discussion topic” button to post a new message or click “Reply” on an existing message to compose a reply to a message.

        Or

      • Be sure to enter an appropriate and meaningful “Subject” line.

      • Type your post in the “Message” blank. Press “Post to Forum” to post your new message to the forum.

      • Edits - You have 24 hours from the time you post your message to make edits. Note that the message posting time will reflect the time of the last edit. If you need to make additions after your editing privileges have expired or the due date and time for an assignment have past, you can simply compose a reply to your original message and include your changes/additions. You may delete your message at any time.

      • Note: Some Moodle functionality, like the editing menu,  is not properly supported by the Safari web browser. We encourage the use of Firefox.  Please contact Ed Dole if you find problems with other web browsers.

      • The horizontal menu at the top of the Moodle message blank allows you to customize your message, much like word processing software. You can select the font, font size, bolding, italics, underline, text alignment, list functions, font color, and text background color. Rolling your mouse cursor over the editing icons will pop up a label for each one.

      • If you wish to post a long message, you may compose your message in a word processing program, like MS Word, and copy and paste the text into the Moodle message blank.  Be sure to check your posting and edit out extraneous code that might be inadvertently added at the top of your posting.

      • You can include links to web pages in your Moodle messages. This is required for Moodle assignments and extra credit projects. Find the web page you want to link in your Moodle message and copy the address to your computer memory. (This is facilitated by opening a second browser window.) Type the text that describes the web page in your Moodle message blank. This text will be the clickable text of your link. Click and drag your mouse cursor to select the text for the link and click on the “Insert Web Link” icon () in the editing menu at the top of the message window. (The icon looks like 3 tiny chain links.) Paste the web page address in the URL blank of the dialog box and click “OK”. When you have finished your new message, press “Post to Forum” or “Save Changes” if you are editing a previous posting. Be sure to test your link in your message to be sure it works.

      • You can add web images to your message. Find the web image you want to include in your Moodle message and copy the address to your computer memory. Click on the picture icon () in the editing menu at the top of the message window. Paste the web image address in the Image URL blank of the dialog box and click “OK”. When you have finished your new message press “Post to Forum” or “Save Changes” if you are editing a previous posting. Be sure to check out the image in your message.

      • You can add a table to your message. This is handy if you want to include a table like a Punnett square in your message as part of an assignment. Click on the table icon () in the editing menu at the top of the message window. Select the number of rows and columns you will need and click “OK”. A blank table will be inserted into the message blank and you can type in the information for each cell. When you have finished your new message press “Post to Forum” or “Save Changes” if you are editing a previous posting.

      • Other editing Icons allow you to insert a selection of “Smiley faces”, use special characters, and conduct a search and replace of your message test.