The word Moodle is an acronym for Modular Object-Oriented Dynamic Learning Environment.
Moodle is an open source Learning Management System (LMS). 
It allows instructors to easily post course information, hold class discussions, communicate with students, and hold exams online. Faculty do not need to know how to build a Web Site to use Moodle; content is added through the use of online forms, and files made in Word, Power Point, Excel, and various other programs can be added directly into Moodle.  Moodle also provides advanced learning content development tools such as the Glossary Module, Book Module, and Lesson Module. 

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Will students be happy with Moodle?

It is likely that many of them will. Humboldt Professor Kathy Munoz and Course Developer Joan Van Duzer’s research shows that Humboldt State University (HSU) students tend to prefer Moodle to Blackboard (an LMS close to WebCT. Blackboard and WebCT merged recently).¹
HSU Students have also requested that their University officially switch from their proprietary LMS (Blackboard) to Moodle.²

1: Blackboard vs. Moodle, Dr. Kathy Munoz and Joan Van Duzer http://www.humboldt.edu/~jdv1/moodle/all.htm
2: Resolution in Support of Humboldt State University Converting Blackboard, The Current Online Learning Management System (Lms) To Moodle - Adopted March 21, 2005
http://www.humboldt.edu/~hsuas/resolutions/RESOLUTION SUPPORT MOODLE.htm

What are other educational institutions saying about Moodle?

Check this list of universities and some research studies

How many people are using Moodle?

Check the Moodle statistics page.

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http://moodle.aub.edu.lb (Note that there is no "www" in the URL)

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MyMoodle is the first page you see after you login, using your username and password. It contains links to all your online courses that you are enrolled. It also includes announcements, events, calendar and links (in the main menu box) to instructors' and students' resources.

Once you are inside your course, you will see at the top of all of your course pages, a navigation bar starting with MyMoodle.  Clicking on this link will take you back to your MyMoodle page.

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Apart from the administrative accounts, there are four account types in Moodle:

Primary Instructor - Every Moodle course starts with a Primary Instructor, who has full control over the course.

Co-Instructor - If necessary, Co-Instructor accounts can be created for other instructors who co-teach the course or who provide assistance on course content development and maintenance. 
The Co-Instructor is also called "Instructor with Editing Permissions" and s/he can do exactly what the Primary Instructor does (e.g., create course activities, provide  feedback to students, and so on).

Teaching Assistant - Also called "Instructor without Editing Permissions," a Teaching Assistant can provide student feedback (e.g. assign grades, comment assignments, etc) but cannot add/modify course content. 

Student - Students enrolled in a Moodle course can access the course material and post assignments but they cannot change the course content. 

Note that Moodle allows a new type of access to your course called Guest access. Guests can view all areas of the course, but they cannot modify the course in any way. Click here to read more about Guest access.

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Every student, faculty member and staff at AUB has already a Moodle account since the username and password for this Moodle account are the same as the username and password of their AUBnet ID.

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Open AUB homepage and follow this path:  E-learning > Moodle > Moodle for Faculty > Request a Moodle Course.
After you read and accept the Moodle course agreement, you will go to a form in which you request your course creation in Moodle. Within 24 hours the Moodle administrator will inform you that your course has been created and added to your MyMoodle page.

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Adding students to your Moodle course is done automatically upon submitting this form. Check Start-of-Semester Checklist for complete information.

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How can I remove students from my Moodle course? 

To remove students from your Moodle course, you need to send an e-mail to the Moodle Administrator (moodle@aub.edu.lb) specifying: your course title, course id, and the IDs of the students you'd like to remove. The system administrator will notify you upon removal of these students from your course.

In case you need more information call the Moodle Administrator at 3518 / 3588

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How can I add a teaching assistant to my Moodle course?  

To add a teaching assistant to your course you need to send an e-mail to the Moodle Administrator: moodle@aub.edu.lb

In case you need more information call the Moodle Administrator at 3518 / 3588

How can I add another instructor to my Moodle course?  

To add another instructor to your course you need to send an e-mail to the Moodle Administrator: moodle@aub.edu.lb

In case you need more information call the Moodle Administrator at 3518 / 3588

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How can I remove another instructor from my Moodle course?

To remove another instructor from your course you need to send an e-mail to the Moodle Administrator: moodle@aub.edu.lb

In case you need more information call the Moodle Administrator at 3518 / 3588

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What is a guest access?

Any person who clicks "Login as Guest" on the main Moodle site is considered a Guest in Moodle.

Check the next question to know how to allow/deny guest accounts.

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You can decide, thru the course settings, whether to allow/deny the Guest access to your course. By default this is set to “Do not allow guests in”, but it can be changed to give access to guests with/without an enrollment key.

Note that guests cannot change anything in a course: they are not allowed to access quizzes, submit assignments or post to forums, but can only read or see certain parts of your course (Forums, Documents, etc)

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Because such courses will likely last longer than one semester, we want to name them differently from semester-based courses. This is an administrator function, so email moodle@aub.edu.lb your request, and we will create an empty course for you. You can then customize it as usual, via Course Settings.

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No. Only students registered in a course where the instructor has chosen to use Moodle may access the course. Instructors may allow guest access to a course.

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You can access Moodle from any computer connected to the Internet:

- Connect to AUB homepage and click on E-learning >> Moodle >> Log in to Moodle.
- or type the following URL: http://moodle.aub.edu.lb

In case these don't work, contact your Internet Service Provider (ISP) to inform the problem. 

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Be sure your students are using Adobe Acrobat version 4.0 or higher. If they are using Adobe Acrobat 3.0, they cannot save PDF files on their hard disk, they can only read them or print them. A  free copy of Adobe Acrobat Reader can be downloaded from the Adobe Acrobat site at: http://www.adobe.com/products/acrobat/readstep2.html

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In order to end a session you must click on Log Out.  If you do not Log Out your account will remain active. The next person to use that computer will have full access to your account.

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A student forgot his/her Moodle password.  How can I help?

Students' Moodle username and password are the same as their AUBnet IDs.  When students forget their passwords they need to contact the Computing and Networking Services (ext. 2260) to reset their passwords.  The same applies to faculty and staff members.

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Check End-of-Semester Checklist for complete information.

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Which Internet Browser is the best for running Moodle?

You may use Netscape (version 6.2x or above) or Internet Explorer (version 5.0 or above), Mozilla Firefox, Opera, and others. Some old versions of Internet Browsers are not supported by Moodle.

If you are using quizzes and essay questions in Moodle, you should use Mozilla's Firefox since essay questions use extensively the HTML editor, a script that use multiple instances. Such script works fine on Firefox. You can have unexpected results (browser halt/crash) if you use essay questions in Internet Explorer!

Firefox is open-source and free! You can download it from here.

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Do I need to install any software plug-in?

If you are attempting to view a MS Word/Excel/PowerPoint document for example make sure that the computer you are using has Microsoft Office. If you do not have Microsoft Office installed you can download a viewer to view those Office documents.

If you are attempting to view Flash material and you don't have a Flash player installed on your computer then download the most recent Flash player from the macromedia site: http://www.adobe.com/shockwave/download/download.cgi?P1_Prod_Version=ShockwaveFlash

Other Common free plug ins you can download to your computer to access audio and video files:

QuickTime:
http://www.aub.edu.lb/cgi-bin/ftpsearch.pl?search=quicktime

Real One Player:
http://www.aub.edu.lb/cgi-bin/ftpsearch.pl?search=real+one+player

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Moodle doesn't have a built-in Equation Editor but you can write equations in the LaTeX/Tex code or use a free software called TeXaide.  You can download it from here.  Once installed, run the TeXaide and write your equation.  Then, copy/paste the code into any HTML editor in Moodle. 
NOTE:
To run the TeXaide code smoothly in Moodle, you need to change some of its settings--prior to any copy/paste of the code:
    - Run TeXaide
    - Go to Edit >Translators
    - Uncheck the two little boxes:
               □ Include Translator name in translation
               □ Include MathType data in translation
    - Click OK.

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Can I upload MS Office 2007 (.docx, .xlsx) to Moodle?

Yes you can upload MS Office 2007 documents to Moodle.

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The Academic Computing Center offers workshops on Moodle every semester on fixed dates or upon request at any other time. Check Academic Computing Center > Workshops > Schedule for times and dates. 
You can also learn how to use Moodle through tutorials and sample courses available in this site at the Moodle Tutorials, Tips, and Sample Courses page.

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Where can I get help on Moodle?

You can get help in several ways:

Check the FAQ for faculty and/or post your question there.

Check the Moodle tutorials in Moodle for Faculty.

Send an e-mail to the Moodle Administrator: moodle@aub.edu.lb

Call the Moodle Administrator (3518 / 3588)

Ask The Moodle Community Forums at: http://moodle.org/course/view.php?id=5

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Your Moodle ID must be the same as your AUBnet ID (e.g. ab99)

Always close your browser when you finish working with Moodle.  Otherwise, others can assume your identity when they use the same machine,  this applies to your students also.

Always use the MyMoodle navigation bar and NOT the Back/Forward buttons of your browser.

Don't use special characters in your filenames or passwords. Special characters such as a blank space, * / \ ? " ' { } etc., are not allowed in filenames or password.  

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