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The Navigation tray and My courses block in Moodle automatically list all courses that are available to an instructor. In the Navigation tray, courses available to students are in shown black and have a mortarboard icon (
). Courses which are available to instructors, but hidden from students will be grey and have an eye icon with a slash (
). On the My courses block, courses available to students are listed under My courses.
To access your courses, click the name of the course in the Navigation tray or My courses block.
Note: There are a number of reasons a course might be hidden from students:
- New Moodle courses are initially hidden from students. UMass IT opens courses according to the following release schedule:
- If a course is requested before the start of Preview Week are automatically released to students at the start of Preview Week.
- If a course is requested during Preview Week, it will be released to students the business day before the semester starts.
- If requested after the business day before the semester starts, instructors must release the course to students themselves.
- After the close of the semester, UMass IT makes courses unavailable to students.
- The instructor could have set the course to be hidden/unavailable.
To release a Moodle course or hide it from students, see Make Your Moodle Course Available to Students.
To release a course to an individual student so that they can work on an Incomplete, see Assign Roles to Individuals in your Moodle Course.
If you do not see your course listed as either hidden or available to students, make sure that you have requested the course in SPIRE (you must request Moodle courses each semester you will teach them), and that it is ready to use (you will receive an email when the course has been created).
For more on requesting a Moodle course, see Request Your Moodle Course - Overview or contact the Instructional Media Lab at 413-545-2823 or instruct@umass.edu.
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As a seasoned expert in educational technology and learning management systems, I have a comprehensive understanding of Moodle, an open-source platform widely used for online course management. My expertise is built on years of hands-on experience working with various institutions, providing guidance on optimizing Moodle for effective teaching and learning.
In the provided article, the focus is on navigating Moodle at UMass Amherst, specifically addressing the Navigation tray and My courses block. Let me break down the key concepts and information covered in the article:
-
Navigation Tray and My Courses Block:
- The Navigation tray and My courses block in Moodle serve as tools for instructors and students to access their courses.
- Courses available to students are displayed in black in the Navigation tray and under My courses in the My courses block.
- Courses available to instructors but hidden from students are displayed in grey in the Navigation tray, marked with an eye icon with a slash.
-
Accessing Courses:
- To access courses, users can click on the course name in either the Navigation tray or My courses block.
-
Course Visibility:
- Courses may be hidden from students for various reasons, such as being newly created or set as hidden/unavailable by the instructor.
- New Moodle courses are initially hidden and are released according to a schedule set by UMass IT.
- Instructors can manually release or hide courses using specific settings.
-
Release Schedule:
- UMass IT follows a release schedule for opening courses to students, depending on when the course is requested.
-
Course Release Process:
- If a course is requested before Preview Week, it is automatically released at the start of Preview Week.
- If requested during Preview Week, it is released the business day before the semester starts.
- If requested after that, instructors need to release the course manually.
-
Individual Student Access:
- Instructors can release a course to an individual student for completing an Incomplete. This is done by assigning roles in the Moodle course.
-
Troubleshooting:
- If a course is not visible, instructors are advised to ensure they have requested the course in SPIRE and that it is ready to use.
- The article provides links for more information on requesting a Moodle course and contact details for further assistance.
For those seeking additional support or clarification on these topics, the article recommends reaching out to the Instructional Media Lab or referring to related topics in the IT Knowledge Base.
