Structuring Moodle

The purpose of a good Moodle unit structure is to give students an optimal user experience, provide a clear overview of the unit and let them know what they are expected to do and when. Moodle is more than a content repository; it is an online environment where learning and collaboration can take place. The new Moodle Standard Template has been introduced to streamline the Moodle experience for both students and educators.

For students, the key concept is multiple pathways to information.

For educators, the key concept is auto-population.

Monash Standard Unit template pre-populates information from other parts of the unit, elsewhere in Moodle, or even other university systems. This system relies on the concept of a single source of truth, which is then shared automatically to other areas, reducing the amount of double-handling and multiple entries required. This process will reduce your workload and remove sources of errors, while delivering a dynamic and informative design for students.

Watch the video below for an overview of the Moodle and the Monash Standard Unit template

Benefits of structuring Moodle View

Tips for structuring Moodle View

Monash Standard Template Educator Checklist View

Checklist

Once your unit has been migrated to the standard Monash template, review the checklist and instructions below to prepare your unit for teaching.

Review your Moodle unit and ensure details about your Unit information, assessments and schedule are correct.
Review your Moodle unit preview and ensure details about your key contacts are correct.
Update information as required (review the instructions below for specific guidance). Once information has been updated, changes will automatically be reflected/surfaced in other areas of the template.
For example: Updating assessment due dates in the assignment activity settings will automatically update the date displayed in the Assessment summary table.
Preview your unit from the student view (guide). Consider how the journey fits together for a student and continue to make changes to your unit as necessary. Please note, assessment due dates won't be visible in student view. You will need switch back to your normal view to preview assessment due dates.

Note: We are in active development so some functionality of the template will be released later and advised to faculties. You can check the Digital Learning Uplift timeline for planned feature release dates.

Instructions

1. Update Key Contacts information (how-to guide).
2. Add a personalised profile picture (how-to guide).
Watch the short video below for a quick overview of the Unit dashboard
Credit: Ross McQueen, Educational Designer, Faculty of Information Technology
1. Create a great welcome message and video in Unit Welcome (how-to guide).
2. Review your Unit Resources, and Teaching Approach. Update details if required (how-to guide).
Watch the short video below for a quick overview of the Unit information tab
Credit: Ross McQueen, Educational Designer, Faculty of Information Technology
1. Check dates in the Schedule tab, and populate the free-text column with any other information as required.
Watch the short video below for a quick overview of the schedule tab
Credit: Ross McQueen, Educational Designer, Faculty of Information Technology
1. Check that the unit learning format is appropriate (weeks/modules/etc.). Adjust if required (how-to guide).
2. Review the Overview section for each learning section. Update if required (how-to guide). Consider making the Overview section meaningful as it’s now surfaced on the Unit dashboard via auto-population.
3. Confirm that learning sections dates are correct, update if required (how-to guide).
4. Consider how to structure content under the Own-time/Real-time/Wrap up sections. Review the placement of activities/resources and move them into the appropriate sections (how-to guide).
5. Where relevant, ensure that activities/resources are hidden (how-to guide) or that activity restrictions have been applied (how-to guide).
Watch the short video below for a quick overview of the Learning sections tab
Credit: Ross McQueen, Educational Designer, Faculty of Information Technology
1. Set up the Unit assessment approach (how-to guide).
2. Create assessments in the learning section and/or the assessment section (how-to guide).
  Note: Where you choose to create your learning activities will affect how they are displayed in the Assessment structure table:
  - Activities added in learning sections will be displayed in the list view and will contribute towards the learning journey task tracker, but will not be displayed in the Summary view.
  - Activities added in the assessment sections will be displayed in the Summary view and list view (chronologically), however they will not contribute towards the learning journey task tracker within the learning sections.
3. Create supplementary and non-weighted activities that support your assessment in the appropriate Assessment section (how-to guide).
4. If needed, reorder how activities are displayed in each section by changing the order in the Assessment sections (how-to guide).
5. For assessment activities, update all due dates (how-to guide).
1. Add announcements via the Forums tab.
2. Create other forums in the Learning sections.
1. No actions are required. Unit specific support resources can be add under Unit information.
1. Check that the Moodle Gradebook setup is correct (how-to guide).
2. Double check all links and External tool configurations (eg. Echo360, Pearson, Perusall). While every effort has been made to ensure all links are functioning, as subject matter experts you know the content better than others.
3. Preview your unit from the student view (how-to guide). Consider how the journey fits together for a student and continue to make changes to your unit as necessary. Please note, assessment due dates won't be visible in student view. You will need switch back to your normal view to preview assessment due dates.

Need support?

Education Performance Standards Framework

You can use the tabs on the left-hand side menu to navigate between the sections or click on the links below:
1. The How-to section provides you with instructions and/or strategies to implement in your teaching.
2. The Supporting your students section provides you with key strategies for creating a good learning experience and a list of resources to share.
3. The Related resources section provides you with additional resources.
Biggs, J. (1999). Teaching for Quality Learning at University. Buckingham: Open University Press
Goodyear, P. (2015). Teaching as design. HERDSA Review of Higher Education, 2, 27-50. Retrieved from http://www.herdsa.org.au/system/files/HERDSARHE2015v02p27.pdf
Tobin, T.J, & Behling, K.T. (2018). Reach Everyone, Teach Everyone. West Virginia University Press.

Your feedback matters

Let us know how we can improve this resource.

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This MEA module provides examples and strategies about how to create more interactive learning activities using technologies.

Behavioural Science meets online Learning

Dr Erin Leif uses the science of Behaviour Analysis to promote student engagement and knowledge transfer from classroom to professional practice, in a primarily asynchronous online learning environment.

What is the story of your unit? Storytelling in Learning Design

When designing a unit in Moodle, we tend to cluster similar activities together but this might not be the preferred learning method for students.

The Education Performance Standards identify the expectations of education practice at Monash – See the Education Performance Standards for more details.
Impact on student learning				Impact on educational knowledge		Impact on educational environment
Effective teaching and learning	Responsive program design	Student- centred orientation	Professional learning engagement	Pedagogical content knowledge	Education research performance	Education innovation	Education leadership
✓	✓	✓
You could address marking and grading across these Practice Elements by providing evidence of how you: Demonstrate evidence of contribution to unit coordination Demonstrate use of appropriate learning technologies by creating engaging activities in Moodle Demonstrate contributions to development of activities, units and courses in line with current best practices Demonstrate contributions to support positive student learning experiences in practice

Learning and Teaching: Teach HQ

Learning and Teaching: Teach HQ

Structuring Moodle

Watch the video below for an overview of the Moodle and the Monash Standard Unit template

Benefits of structuring Moodle View

Tips for structuring Moodle View

Top tips for making the most of the Monash standard template

Monash Standard Template Educator Checklist View

Checklist

Instructions

Watch the short video below for a quick overview of the Unit dashboard

Watch the short video below for a quick overview of the Unit information tab

Watch the short video below for a quick overview of the schedule tab

Watch the short video below for a quick overview of the Learning sections tab

Need support?

Faculty support

ServiceDesk

Your feedback matters

Draw inspiration

Increasing interactivity in your classroom

Behavioural Science meets online Learning

What is the story of your unit? Storytelling in Learning Design

Popular resources

Add and customise a Quiz

Manage the question bank

Create a learning pathway using labels

Create an assessment section

Gradebook quick start

Set up Moodle Gradebook

H5P quick start

Set up unit completion

Track activity completion