Studying in a Moodle e-course 

The official e-learning environment of the University of Tartu is Moodle, located at https://moodle.ut.ee.

Most of your courses have an e-course in the Moodle learning environment (https://moodle.ut.ee). Information about whether the course is fully online (with no face-to-face meetings or no need to attend these) or partially online (learners must also attend face-to-face classes) is available in the SIS syllabus. E-courses usually include general course information, study materials, forums for communication (e.g. asking questions), quizzes to test your knowledge or taking tests, pass/fail evaluations or exams, tools for submitting assignments, groupwork and conducting webinars/practical classes.

Joining a course

Learners who enrol to a course in the SIS are usually added to a Moodle e-course through SIS by the lecturer when the course begins. You will receive an email with notification about enrolment from noreply@moodle.ut.ee. When you get this notification but you still have no access to the course, please contact the lecturer – the lecturer may have forgotten to open the course for learners in Moodle.

In some cases, the lecturer may ask you to self-enrol to an e-course in Moodle, previously giving you the self-enrolment key. An e-course may also be opened to guests (with or without key), who do not have to log in to Moodle.

If there are unnecessary (already completed, etc.) e-courses on your Moodle front page, and you do not need access to these, please contact the course lecturer.

Removing yourself from e-course

• Learners cannot remove themselves from Moodle e-courses.
• If the lecturer has made respective settings in SIS, and you deregister from the course in SIS, you will be automatically removed from the e-course during the following night.
• After the end of the course or before the beginning of the next course at the latest, the lecturer removes all learners from the e-course. Thereby also all learner-related information is deleted from the e-course.
• If necessary, the lecturer can also manually remove a learner from the course.

Moodle front page – Dashboard

If your first name and/or surname has changed, you have to first contact the Dean’s Office.

After entering Moodle, you can edit some parts of your profile. You cannot change your name in Moodle. If your name has been changed in SIS and it is not automatically changed in Moodle, please send a name change request to eope@ut.ee.

It is important to have a correct e-mail address in the profile because all Moodle-related notifications and posts are sent to that address. Your ut.ee e-mail address will be transferred from SIS to your Moodle account and it cannot be changed yourself in Moodle. Forum posts and notifications will therefore be sent to your ut.ee e-mail address.

Alternatively, make a change to the Moodle Notifications preferences page and have notifications sent to your personal email address. To do this, click the Preferences menu in the top right corner of Moodle, then select Notification preferences, click the Email link, enter your personal email address in the settings window that opens and Save.

It is recommended you add your photo to your profile. This information is not connected with a specific course but applies to the entire Moodle environment.

To change your profile:

1. click on your name at the top right corner and select Profile 
2. in the User details block, click Edit profile
3. enter an introduction of yourself in the Description box
4. add your picture
5. you may also add more information
6. click the button Update profile

In the messaging page (Your name – Preferences – Messages) you can choose which messages are sent to you by e-mail. These choices are not connected with a specific course but apply to the entire Moodle environment.

Forums

There are several options to submit homework in an e-course, and the lecturer will select and configure the most suitable of them. Homework assignments can be submitted as one or several files or a web text. To submit homework in a file, save the work in a pdf file and ensure it includes your name and the year. It is recommended that you also include the title of the course. If you submit a web text, you can write the answer directly in the Moodle text editor. If the text is longer, it is recommended you first write it in the computer and then copy it into the text editor of the e-course. This way you can be sure that you won’t lose the extensive work in case internet connection is interrupted.

The text editor has buttons to record audio and video. To record, you need a webcam and microphone and earphones or speakers. It is possible to record up to 2-minute clips.

Due dates are usually set for homework assignments. Follow the learning instructions and never leave the submission of work to the last minute. The possibility to submit the homework may be set to automatically lock after the due date.

After the end of the course the lecturer does not have to keep the learners’ submissions. If necessary, save your work and the feedback you received.

Grades

If the lecturer has arranged the submission and assessment of homework in the e-course, you can see your grades in the course Administration block Grades. Depending on the course, the gradebook may include grade points, textual marks, alphabetic or numerical grades. In the gradebook you can also view feedback to assignments. If homework is posted to the forum, the lecturer usually comments on it in the same forum. Grades appear in the gradebook automatically (for certain quizzes) or after the lecturer has entered the grades and published them to learners. Each learner can only see their own grades in the e-course. After making the SIS report, the lecturer will remove all learners and learner data, incl. grades, from the e-course. The lecturer does not have to keep the learner data (submitted work, scores, grades) after the end of the e-course.

Course completion block

The course completion block may be on either side of the course front page (if the lecturer has set it up). The block gives a colour-coded overview of the activities you have completed. Ideally, all items in this block should be marked in green at the end of the course. If the course completion block has not been enabled, there may be a checkbox to the right of the study materials and activities (forums, quizzes, assignments, etc.) on the course front page. The checkbox may in certain cases be automatically ticked (dashed outline) when the activity has been viewed/submitted/assessed, or you can tick it yourself (solid outline). By the end of the course or a due date, all checkboxes should ideally be ticked.

Taking attendance

Attendance in lectures, webinars and practical classes may be recorded. The teaching staff may take attendance or the learners may be asked to self-record their attendance.

To do so, first log in to Moodle in your phone at the beginning of lecture/webinar. For registration with a QR code, the lecturer will show the QR code of the lecture/webinar on the screen or paper, which you can read with your smart phone and which directs you to the respective page. Record your attendance on that page. In case of technical problems, IMMEDIATELY ask the lecturer to record your attendance.

Use this QR code to test the QR reader in your phone – it should take you to the website of the University of Tartu. If your phone is unable to read the QR code, install a QR scanner app on your phone.

Make sure that you enter Moodle via the default web browser of your smartphone, because this is where the QR code will direct you. 

Registration may also be conducted without the QR code. In this case enter Moodle, go to the right e-course and its attendance page, and record your attendance there.

Who can you ask for help?

• If you have forgotten your username and/or password, please call IT helpdesk 737 5500 or email arvutiabi@ut.ee. You can change the password at https://parool.ut.ee.
• If you have problems concerning content and assessment of Moodle e-courses, please contact the lecturer.
• If you have technical problems with using Moodle, contact eope@ut.ee.