Welcome to the NHC Institute's Moodle server! Moodle is the world's most popular open-source learning management systems (LMS) and is in use at more that 50,000 schools worldwide. (To find out more, visit moodle.org) An LMS provides teachers and students with a set of easy-to-use tools for accomplishing many classroom functions over the Web.

This guide will serve to get you started with Moodle. More specific guides to the various Moodle tools will be provided within the individual course sites
[Basic Elements: Logging In]
[Basic Elements: Navigating Within your Course]
[Changing Passwords and Modifying Your Profile]

Basic Elements: Logging in and Finding Your Way Around

Logging In: When you first access the NHC Moodle server at http://nhclearning.com/moodle
you will not be logged in. To access your courses, you must click on the Login link at the upper right corner of the screen.

NHC Moodle: Front Page: Not Logged In

 

Selecting Language: Before clicking on Login, you may select to work with Moodle in English, French or Spanish. All the menus, selections and dialogues that originate with Moodle itself will be presented in the language chosen. The course content, of course, will not be miraculously translated!

NHC Moodle: Front Page: Selecting Language

 

The Login Screen: Provide your Username and Password, as instructed by the Institute, then click on the [Login] button.

NHC Moodle: The Login Page

 

NHC Moodle: Front Page: Logged In Now that you have identified yourself to Moodle, new options are available from the front page. Most notably, you will find in the box "My Courses", at the left of the screen, direct links to all the courses in which you are registered. Click on the link for the desired course.

Important Note! If you are at a public computer, make sure to Log Out before leaving! It is safest to completely shut down the web browser, in case Moodle is open in a window you have forgotten.

NHC Moodle: Front Page: Logged In

 

NHC Moodle: Course Front Page Clicking on a course link from "My Courses" will bring you to the front page of your course. As you scroll down, you will note the various course materials on the left and a number of important function boxes on the right. To access the various course documents listed on the left, simply click on the name of the document.

Important Note!This course will present documents in documents in Powerpoint and Word, as well as short videos. Your computer must be equipped with the tools to open and read these files. These tools are freely available on the Web. For your convenience, most Powerpoint slide shows are also presented in Pdf (Acrobat Reader) format. Depending on your browser and on any firewalls you may have installed, you may have to give explicit permission before your computer will open or download certain documents. You may use any mainstream browser that you wish, but Firefox will give you the best Moodle experience. Firefox is also freely available on the Web and downloads and installs easily.

NHC Moodle: Course Front Page

 

NHC Moodle: Course Front Page: Navigation Bar Just under the course title, at the top of the screen, you will find the navigation bar. As you delve into various functions within the course, a trail of breadcrumbs will be placed across the bar. You may return to a previous level by clicking on the appropriate link. To return to the Course Front Page, for example, always click on the second link. To return to the Choice of Courses, click on the first link (NHC).

Important Note! Avoid using the "Back" function of your web browser. While this may work in most instances, as well, its use may confuse the server. At some point, the results may not be what you intended.

NHC Moodle: Course Front Page: Navigation Bar

 

NHC Moodle: Course Front Page: Topics Your course front page is divided into discrete Topics. At first you may only see one or two topics, but more will be revealed as the course progresses. After a time, the course front page may become quite long and it will take you time to scroll down to the desired topic. To control this, you may press on the single white box found at the right-hand side of each topic. It will be replaced by a double-white box, indicating that you have chosen to view only one topic at a time. Click again, at any time, to return to the original screen, showing all topics at once.

NHC Moodle: Course Front Page: Topics

 

NHC Moodle: Course Front Page: Jump To When viewing only one topic at a time, there is a drop-down menu at the bottom of the screen which allows you to jump to another topic.

NHC Moodle: Course Front Page: Jump to Other Topics

 

Viewing Grades, Changing Passwords, Modifying Personal Profile

NHC Moodle: Activities, Administration

 

NHC Moodle: Function Boxes at the Right of the Screen Once inside your course, various function boxes are visible at the right of the screen. The "Administration" box provides links whereby you can check your grades and modify your personal information.

 

NHC Moodle: Profile

 

NHC Moodle: Changing your Password At any time, you may decide to change your password. When you click on the [Change Password] button on your profile screen, you are brought to a screen where you must type first your old password and then your desired new password. You must type your new password twice, to make sure you have not made any errors. Note that Moodle passwords are case-sensitive! In other words, "Friend", "friend" and "FRIEND" are all different passwords. Once you click on [Save Changes], you will get a confirmation screen as long as there are no errors. From that point on, you must use your new password.

Should you forget your new password, Moodle has a 'Forgot Your Password?' option. Assuming your email in the system is correct, Moodle will send you a new password. If this does not work for you, you may contact the NHC Administration. Note, however, that not even the administrators of the site can discover your new password.

NHC Moodle: Changing your Password

 

NHC Moodle: Profile Under the Edit tab, you can change your personal information as well as various aspects of how you interact with Moodle. You may, most notably, add a personal photo, which will appear next to your forum postings. Do not modify the Timezone field: It should read 'Server's Local Time'. If you click on 'Show Advanced', you will see even more settings. Do not change the "When Editing Text" or the "JavaScript" settings.

NHC Moodle: Profile

 

NHC Moodle: Profile You must "Update Profile" for your changes to be recorded. If Moodle refuses to update the page, then you have forgotten to fill in all the boxes marked with a red star. Go back and review the page.

NHC Moodle: Profile