Getting started

Logging in to Moodle

Log in to Moodle 4.5 using your Monash username and password.
When you first log in you will see the copyright warning box. To dismiss click the (X) in the top right corner of the box.

Navigating in Moodle

When you first open Moodle, the first page you will see is your Dashboard, where you can access your units.

On every Moodle screen the navigation bar on the top right can be used to access preferences and support, and the navigation drawer on the left can be hidden or shown to access quick links to units and unit sections.

Your Moodle Dashboard

The Moodle dashboard is the place to access all your units and see an overview of your upcoming events and assessments. You can return to the Moodle dashboard from any page in Moodle, by clicking dashboard in the top-left corner of the screen.

Click here to read a text-based version

Navigation bar	The navigation bar on the top right of every Moodle page, has links to: Unit previews - previews of Moodle sites for units you are not enrolled in. Handbook - information about all units at Monash including requirements and staff contact details. Help - links to various guides on Learn HQ for building your digital capabilities. Notifications - new notifications and messages will be represented by a red dot. Messages - this button will show/hide a sidebar on the right of the screen to access direct messages and group messages on Moodle. User menu - including links to your profile, grades, and preferences.
Edit mode	Edit mode allows you to customise your dashboard. You can easily reset your dashboard, so feel free to experiment with it and set it up in a way that works for you. To customise your dashboard: Click on edit mode. You can now move sections: Each section will have a four-directional arrow icon in the right hand corner of the block. Click and drag the icon to move them. You will see a greyed out preview of the block's new location. To reset your dashboard, click the reset page to default button which can be seen in the top right of the page while edit mode is turned on. To finish customising your dashboard, click the edit mode again to turn it off.
Timeline	The timeline allows you to quickly see important events such as due dates. You can: Filter by all or overdue items, or filter by due date, for example items due in the next 7 days, next 30 days, or the next 3 or 6 months. Sort the list by due date or by unit You can also search your timeline list by typing in the search box.
Your enrolled units	Click on any of the links in the main dashboard area to access your units. This list is also accessible from the ‘My units’ page. You can also filter, sort, and search your list of units.
Star/Remove	You can star a unit by clicking on the three dots next to the unit name. You can also use this menu to remove a unit from your list if you no longer need to access it frequently. If you have accidentally removed a unit you did not intend to, filter the list to removed from view using the drop-down menu on the left, then click the three dots for that unit and select restore to view.
Filter	Click the drop-down menu on the left of the search bar to filter your view. You can: View all of your units View only in progress units View only your past units View only units you have starred View only the units you have previously removed from view.
Search	Type in the search bar to look for a specific unit in your list by name.
Sort	Select an option from the sort menu to sort by course name (alphabetically) or by the date/time that you last accessed the unit.
Card/List	Select between card or list view to change the visual layout of the list.
Calendar	This calendar will show the events from your timeline in a monthly calendar format, and additional event information such as upcoming important dates and Moodle maintenance periods.

Your units on Moodle

Each unit in Moodle 4.5 has the same template, for a consistent learning experience to make it easier for you to find the materials and information you need.

The main pages in each unit are the unit dashboard, unit information, schedule, learning, assessments, forums, and support.

Unit dashboard View

The unit dashboard gives you an overview of your unit. It is a good place to check for upcoming tasks and understand your current progress. Click on the information hotspots below to find out about each of the dashboard’s information blocks.

Click here to read a text-based version

Current focus	This block gives a short overview of the current learning topic or week. Look here to know what your unit coordinator wants you to focus on right now. Only the overview from the week/topic displays here. You need to go to the relevant learning section to see the rest of the content, including the activities and tasks you need to complete.
Quick navigation to learning sections	This block provides links to each learning section in the unit, so that you can easily look ahead or review past content.
Quick navigation current focus	Click on the current week/topic to access the current focus content in full.
Forums	This block displays the latest posts in the unit Announcements forum and other discussion forums, with the title, a preview of text and the post creator. Click on the title of a post to navigate directly to the post. Clicking the forward and back icons to view additional posts. Click see all forums to view a page which lists all of the forums in the unit.
Contacts	This block displays the teaching team, their roles, contact details and consultation hours (where available).
Task tracker	This block proves a short list of upcoming tasks in the unit including due dates and links to the tasks. Any tasks you have not completed which are past their due date will appear on this list with an ‘overdue’ tag. You can filter the list by status (‘all’ or ‘overdue’), or by the due date (7 days, 30 days, 3 months, or 6 months). For more information and a full list of your tasks, including completed tasks, access the assessments page.

Unit information View

Welcome message	Watch the welcome message from your unit teaching staff for an introduction to the unit and to understand their expectations.
Unit resources	The unit resources section is where you can access your reading list, and other key materials you will need to access and use for your study in the unit.
Unit synopsis	Read the unit synopsis for an overview of what the unit is about.
Learning outcomes	Read the learning outcomes to understand what to expect in the unit, and what skills and knowledge you will gain from the unit. You can also use your learning outcomes to help you revise the content you have learned throughout the unit and prepare for your assessments.
Teaching approach	Read the teaching approach for an explanation of how your unit content will be delivered, and what you will be expected to do on Moodle and in your classes.
Content disclaimers	Some units may contain sensitive material. Any warnings or content disclaimers for the unit will appear here.
Download content as PDF	Click the download content as pdf button to save a copy of all information on this page.

Schedule View

Learning area	The first column is the learning area where the task is located. This lets you know which content the task relates to.
Dates	Some tasks have different start and end dates. Check carefully and use them to plan your time and study schedule.
Assessments	Click on the assessment details to navigate directly to that section in Moodle for more information. This is just an overview of your tasks. Make sure you check the detailed instructions so that you understand your assessments and what is required.
Additional details	Some tasks may have additional details. Read them carefully and ask your teaching staff if you are unsure or have any questions.

Learning sections View

The learning sections on Moodle are where you will find your day-to-day coursework materials. Depending on your unit, the content may be structured into weekly, daily, topic, or project based sections.

Each learning section has an overview, followed by three categories of content based on how you need to interact with the content, own-time, real-time, and wrap-up.

Click here to read a text-based version

Learning drop-down menu	You can navigate between different learning sections by clicking on the learning tab and selecting from the drop-down list.
Date range	If your unit schedule has relevant date ranges setup for each week/topic, you will see them listed under the title. These dates tell you the main time frame that you are expected to complete content in this section. However, *before* these dates it can be very useful to read ahead so that you know what to expect, and *after* these dates it is important to return to each section to revise what you have learned.
Current week/topic	If your unit schedule has relevant date ranges, the current week or topic will be highlighted on the drop-down list so that it is easy for you to identify.
Learning journey task trackers	Each learning section is structured into own-time, real-time and wrap-up content. There is a separate task tracker for each of these, which lets you easily see how many tasks there are and whether or not you have completed them, so that you can track your progress, and know what you have left to do. You can hide or expand the own-time, real-time and wrap-up content accordions to make it easier to focus on one part at a time.
Completion progress	The progress bar will be filled in with a solid colour for tasks that you have completed, and the tick will turn green when you have completed all of the tasks.
Own-time	Own-time contains activities that you will complete outside the scheduled teaching times. You may be required to complete these activities before real-time sessions, or they may be things you can do anytime during the topic or week. Instructions for how to engage in the material will be in each section. You can also refer to the teaching approach section of the unit information page on Moodle, or contact your teaching staff if you are unsure of what is expected.
Real-time	Real-time contains all of your timetabled synchronous learning activities and their associated materials. These are undertaken in either face-to-face or online sessions. Depending on the unit structure, this may include a number of different activities that you are required to attend. It may also include activities that you need to complete during attendance at a live session, or during a particular time frame. You may also be able to access class materials such as slides in this section.
Wrap-up	Wrap-up is a consolidation of the learning you have undertaken. You may be asked to post in a reflection forum or do an activity to check your understanding of the key concepts covered. Depending on the unit, you may also find additional resources and readings here to further your learning.

Note

If own-time, real-time, or wrap-up is not relevant to a unit, or a particular topic, the sections will still exist in Moodle, but one or more of them may be empty.

If you expect to find something and think it is missing, contact your teaching staff to confirm. The quickest way to ask is by posting a question in your Moodle forums.

Assessments View

This section lists all of the assessments in your unit in one location.

Assessments which are part of your learning sections, they will also be included here as an overview.
Assessments that fall outside of your learning sections may also be listed here directly.

On the Assessment page there are three places you can find information about your assessments. The Unit Assessment Approach key unit assessment information. The Assessment Structure lists all the assessments for your unit and information such as the weighting and due date. Finally, you can view detailed assessment instructions and submit your assessments in the Assessment Sections.

This section features key unit assessment information, your unit’s preferred referencing style and unit-specific support resources. This section also displays the AI notice, Managing academic Integrity LearnHQ resources and University assessment support resources. Check this section closely as the content is unit specific. Click on the button on the button on the right hand side of the image below to make it larger.
A screen shot of the Unit Assessment Approach from a Moodle unit. The specific content on your units may vary. This unit's Assessment Approach section includes a statement on the use of AI in this subject, details on the referencing system used by this unit, information on academic integrity, unit assessment support and assessment support offered by university wide services.
This table lists all of the assessments in your unit in one location. By default, the Summary view is displayed. You can freely toggle between the Summary view and the List view.
Both summary and list view have a status column that displays information about the assessment submission status:
- Submitted:The student has made a submission to the activity.
- Due Soon: The student has not yet made a submission to the activity and the due date is approaching.
- Overdue: The student has not yet made a submission to the activity and the due date has passed.
- Date passed: The activity has no submission point (eg. in-class presentations, labs, project presentations, Turnitin draft submission activities, etc.) and the due date has passed.
- Graded: The activity has been graded.
Below the table, you can expand the assessment sections to view the assignment dropbox, and any other Moodle resources or activities that support the assignment. This may include files, like instructions or the marking rubric or other activities, like an assessment-specific forums or a peer review activity.
Once you have expanded the assessment section, you can view more assessment details. This includes the weighting (contribution to overall grade) and the learning outcomes this assessment is related to. To view the learning outcomes, click on the number and a pop up will appear with the learning outcome details.

Forums View

Announcements	Every unit has an announcement forum where the staff will post important information about the unit.
Forums	All other forums in the unit will be listed below the announcement forum.
Description	Check the description for instructions so you know what to expect and how to use each forum.

Support View

Viewing units you are not enrolled in

In addition to accessing your currently enrolled units in Moodle, you can also preview units you are interested in taking and view past units you have previously completed.

You can use the Moodle unit preview option to search and preview units that you are not currently enrolled in.
1. Click on the search icon on the top-right of the page in Moodle or visit the unit preview search page directly.
2. Enter unit code or unit title to look up a unit.
3. Narrow your search down by teaching period using the filters on the left. Remember to click apply filters after selecting the desired options.

Viewing past units

The following content will be available where relevant, on a read-only basis	The following content will not be available
Announcements Assignments Books Calendar Database Glossary Files and Folders Interactive H5P Content Label Moodle pages URL links Wiki.	3rd Party content (e.g. Persons) All forums (except for announcements) Chat (Moodle activity) Choices (Moodle activity) Completion Progress Feedback (Moodle activity) Gradebook Group self-selection activity Lectures Lesson (Moodle activity) Quiz Survey Workshop (Moodle activity).

Moodle provides you with a personal profile that applies to all of the units you are enrolled in. You can choose to hide or display your email address, include a photo or an image to display beside your forum posts, or add optional information about yourself.
When you have finished editing the settings, click on the update profile button at the bottom of the page to save your changes.
User picture
You can upload a photo or picture by dragging and dropping a file in the New picture box, or by clicking the Add icon then Browse to locate the image and Upload the file. Your user picture will display (see example below) and can be deleted by ticking the delete box.
Tips on choosing an image:
- Images must be in JPG or PNG format.
- Images will be cropped to a square and resized to 100x100 pixels.
- Large images may lose detail in the resizing process, images that are too large will not upload.
Note
Some of your profile information can be viewed by other Moodle users. Do not include inappropriate or private information.

Setting your forum preferences

The default text editor in Moodle is TinyMCE HTML editor. You can alter the Text editor settings in your preferences to select a different editor with different text input, media, and formatting options.
This setting will affect the text editor you use on every Moodle unit, including editors which are part of the assignment upload form.
The difference between editors
Each text editor has different options available to you for inputting and formatting text and other media. See below for more information.
Your pronouns will only be displayed if you have actively provided them via the Monash personal details form. To normalise pronoun usage across the Monash learning ecosystem, you are encouraged to update your pronouns.
When you are logged in, you will be able to see your pronouns in the top-right corner, below your name, and on your Profile Page, visible only to you and not other students. To support your educators' efforts to recognise and respect your personal gender identity, your pronouns will be visible to your teachers in Moodle in a few key places visible only to staff.

Using text editors in Moodle

Moodle has two in-built text editors that you will use whenever you need to post written content directly to Moodle, such as when writing a forum post, completing a written question in a quiz, or filling out the online text field (where required) of an assignment submission.

The two editors are known as TinyMCE and Atto. You can choose between the two different text editors in the preference settings.

The default editor is TinyMCE. It works well for general purposes, but is limited if you need to type equations or formulae.
The alternative editor is Atto. It is better for equations and formulae. It also allows quick recording of audio and video.

Expand the topics below for instructions on how to use each editor.

TinyMCE provides more inbuilt text editing and table tools. The TinyMCE text editor does NOT autosave your work so always save your work at the bottom of the screen before exiting.

Click here to read a text-based version

Edit	The edit dropdown list allows you to do a range of basic editing functions including: Undo/redo Cut, copy and paste Select all Find and replace text
View	The view dropdown list allows you to view source code, show invisible characters and expand the text box to fullscreen.
Insert	The insert dropdown list displays additional items you can insert including code, special characters, emojis, page breaks, anchors, date/time and more.
Format	The format dropdown list displays additional formatting tools.
Tools	The tools dropdown list displays the following tools: HTML view: Switch to HTML code view by clicking on the HTML icon. A pop up of the HTML code will be displayed and you can edit tags or codes directly in this window. Word count: Displays word count. Accessibility checker: Provides accessibility advice including recommendations and standard guidelines. Media manager: Manage the files which you have previously attached.
Table	Insert a table after selecting the number of rows and columns needed. Note: Some table formatting options in Moodle must be set for each cell, such as borders and content alignment.
Help	Click help to view useful information such as: Handy shortcuts Keyboard navigation Plugins currently installed Current version information
Undo/redo	Undo or redo changes you have made in the text editor.
Text formatting	Change the appearance of selected text within paragraphs with these options. Select the text and click the icon to apply the format.
Insert multimedia	Insert a range of enriching resources to the content, from left to right: Insert an image (png or gif). Note: When inserting an image the advanced options allow you to manage borders and how text is positioned relative to the image. Unless a high resolution is a critical requirement for your images, it is recommended that you use .gif, .jpg or .png format to reduce file size. Insert/embed video. Insert audio.
Create hyperlinks	Hyperlink text or images. From left to right: Linking text or images. Highlight the required text then click on the insert/edit link icon and enter the URL. Unlink text or images. Highlight the linked text, and click on the unlink icon to remove the hyperlink.
Paragraph alignment	Select whether text is aligned right, centre or left.
List and indent	Create bulleted or numbered lists. Place your cursor where you want the lists to appear and click on the bulleted list or numbered list icon as required. Indent and outdent text lines or paragraphs. When you click on the indent icon in a numbered or bulleted list, a new sublist is started. When a list is "outdented" into an existing list, the numbering is integrated.
Equation editor	Create or edit an equation with the Moodle equation editor. Note: To use this tool you need a Java-enabled browser. If required, you can download the latest Java plug-in from Java.com.

The ATTO text editor provides better usability and accessibility, equation editing (TeX equation editor) and emojis.

Click here to read a text-based version

Toolbar Toggle	You can use the toolbar toggle icon to show/hide tools.
Text formatting	Change the appearance of selected text within paragraphs with these options. Select the text and click the icon to apply the format.
Embed Panopto video	You can use the Panopto icon to embed new videos or upload existing videos directly into Moodle.
List, indent and paragraph alignment	Lists: Create bulleted or numbered lists. Place your cursor where you want the lists to appear and click on the bulleted list or numbered list icon as required. Paragraph alignment: Select whether text is aligned right, centre or left. Indent and outdent text lines or paragraphs: When you click on the indent icon in a numbered or bulleted list, a new sublist is started. When a list is "outdented" into an existing list, the numbering is integrated.
Hyperlinks	Linking text or images. Highlight the required text then click on the insert/edit link icon and enter the URL. Unlink text or images. Highlight the linked text, and click on the unlink icon to remove the hyperlink.
Emoji picker	You can insert emojis with the emoji icon. From the Emoji picker window, you can select an emoji and insert it into your text. Filter emojis by theme with the tabs along the top row, or use the search bar. Once an emoji is selected, you will see a larger preview and the text description of the emoji.
Equations, special characters and tables	Insert a range of special characters. From left to right: Create or edit an equation with the Moodle equation editor. Note: To use this tool you need a Java-enabled browser. Download the latest Java plug-in from Java.com. Insert special non-standard characters including Greek letters Insert a table after selecting the number of rows and columns needed. Note: Some table formatting options in Moodle must be set for each cell, such as borders and content alignment.
Remove formatting	You can quickly remove any formatting that you have applied to the text by highlighting the text and clicking the remove formatting icon. The formatted text will revert to plain text.
Insert multimedia	Insert a range of enriching resources to the content, from left to right: Insert/edit an image (png or gif). Note: When inserting an image the advanced options allow you to manage borders and how text is positioned relative to the image. Unless a high resolution is a critical requirement for your images, it is recommended that you use .gif, .jpg or .png format to reduce file size. Insert/embed video. Record audio (as file sizes are limited, Panopto is recommended instead). Record video (as file sizes are limited, Panopto is recommended instead).
Undo/Redo	Undo or redo changes you have made in the text editor. The ATTO Text editor automatically saves entries every 60 seconds. Text typed into the Atto Text editor is automatically saved if you leave the page. If you accidentally close the tab or leave the form without submitting, the text in the Atto Text editor will be restored next time you open the page. To discard a restored draft, cancel the form or press the undo button in the editor.
Insert files	Insert, upload or manage files.
Accessibility tools	Accessibility checker: Provides accessibility advice including recommendations and standard guidelines. Screenread helper: Displays the order in which a screen reader will scroll through the content.
HTML view	Switch to HTML code view by clicking on the HTML icon. A pop up of the HTML code will be displayed and you can edit tags or codes directly in this window.
Expand your editing window	Click and drag on the shaded corner to expand the size of the editing window Click on the toggle full screen icon to expand your editing window to full screen. To go back to the settings page, just click the same icon.

Back Next

Student Academic Success

Student Academic Success

Getting started

Logging in to Moodle

Navigating in Moodle

Your Moodle Dashboard

Your units on Moodle

Unit dashboard View

Unit information View

Schedule View

Learning sections View

Note

Assessments View

Note

Forums View

Support View

Viewing units you are not enrolled in

What you can access in past units

Note

User picture

Note

Note

The difference between editors

Using text editors in Moodle