The document describes enhancements made to the Moodle homepage interface to make it more course-focused for students. A new block was added to centralize key course information like the course description, recent forum posts from all modules, and tabs with modules, assignments, and tutor details. The goal is to emphasize the student's overall course rather than just a collection of individual modules. Other blocks on the homepage were chosen to complement this course-focused approach and target information to students, staff or faculty.

1. CUOnline Moodle - Student Orientation 1
Enhancing the My home page to display news
forum postings and more
Andy Syson
&
John Tutchings
Coventry University

2. CUOnline Moodle - Student Orientation 2
This presentation will show how Moodle’s My home page has been customised to focus on the students’ current studies.
At the heart of the page is a new block which reorganises the information that is normally displayed as an unstructured
list as a highly structured compact display that enables students to see at a glance what is happening on their course.
The philosophy is to pull key information out of the students’ several module webs and display it directly on the My
home page. This is to emphasize that the student is on a coherent course not just a collection of modules. To reinforce
this all students now have a course web which brings together all the students on the course and is managed by the
Course Director.
The new ‘Course Focused’ block occupies the central area of the My home page and has three parts. The upper part
displays a link to the students’ course web together with the text of its course summary which has been edited by the
Course Director. In the middle of the ‘course focused’ block there is a rolling display of unread news forum postings
from all the students' modules. Only the first few lines of the news forum postings are shown but, if a posting is clicked
on, the student is taken directly to the full posting in the module web. Having been read the posting is no longer shown
on the rolling display.
The lower part of the block is a tabbed display that lists the students' current modules with each module indicating if
any new activities, e.g. forum postings or assignments, have been added since the students' last login. Other tabs list
previous year’s modules, contact details of their tutors and a full list of all their assignments.
The blocks to the left and right of the My home page have been chosen to complement the course focused nature of the
My home page and use site wide roles to target information at students, staff or to faculty members.
Abstract

3. CUOnline Moodle - Student Orientation 3
The Course Focused block
The enhancements are realised by a Course Focused block that is
located in the middle contents area of the My home page.
View a movie demonstrating how it works
Explore a Flash interactive simulation of the course focused block
Login to Moodle for a live demonstration (conference presentation only)
Jump to the Course Focused slide of this PowerPoint simulation

4. Welcome to the CUOnline Moodle Student Orientation
This is an interactive simulation of the University’s virtual
learning environment
CUOnline Moodle
It takes you from its Login page through to the My Course page
and on to its Home page
Each of these pages has multiple clickable ‘hotspots’
The mouse pointer changes from an arrow to a finger as you
move over a hotspot
These three images are hotspots
See what happens when you click on them
4CUOnline Moodle - Student Orientation

5. CUOnline Moodle Student Orientation
5CUOnline Moodle - Student Orientation
This is an interactive simulation of the University’s virtual
learning environment
CUOnline Moodle
It takes you from its Login page through to the My Course page
and on to its Home page
Each of these pages has multiple clickable ‘hotspots’
The mouse pointer changes from an arrow to a finger as you
move over a hotspot
These three images are hotspots
See what happens when you click on them

6. This is an interactive simulation of the University’s virtual
learning environment
CUOnline Moodle
It takes you from its Login page through to the My Course page
and on to its Home page
Each of these pages has multiple clickable ‘hotspots’
The mouse pointer changes from an arrow to a finger as you
move over a hotspot
These three images are hotspots
See what happens when you click on them
Clicking on a hotspot displays a label
like this
Click the label or any other hotspot to
remove it
Login Page
http://cumoodle.coventry.ac.uk
CUOnline Moodle Student Orientation - Login
6CUOnline Moodle - Student Orientation
Start the simulation

7. This is an interactive simulation of the University’s virtual
learning environment
CUOnline Moodle
It takes you from its Login page through to the My Course page
and on to its Home page
Each of these pages has multiple clickable ‘hotspots’
The mouse pointer changes from an arrow to a finger as you
move over a hotspot
These three images are hotspots
See what happens when you click on them
CUOnline Moodle Student Orientation - My Course
Clicking on a hotspot displays a label
like this
Click the label or any other hotspot to
remove it
My Course page
Displays information about you, your
course and your faculty
7CUOnline Moodle - Student Orientation
Start the simulation

8. This is an interactive simulation of the University’s virtual
learning environment
CUOnline Moodle
It takes you from its Login page through to the My Course page
and on to its Home page
Each of these pages has multiple clickable ‘hotspots’
The mouse pointer changes from an arrow to a finger as you
move over a hotspot
These three images are hotspots
See what happens when you click on them
CUOnline Moodle Student Orientation - Home
Clicking on a hotspot displays a label
like this.
Click the label or any other hotspot to
remove it
Moodle home page
Displays information about the
University with links to
the Student Portal
8CUOnline Moodle - Student Orientation
Start the simulation

9. StartIntroduction 1
9CUOnline Moodle - Student OrientationSeptember 2013
Start
9CUOnline Moodle - Student Orientation

10. The login page
10CUOnline Moodle - Student Orientation
The simulation has
started.
Move the pointer
over the page and
click on a ‘Hotspot’
to continue

11. Login page - Student Portal images
Clicking on any of these
images takes you to the
relevant Student Portal
page
11CUOnline Moodle - Student Orientation

12. Login page - Menu Bar
The menu bar is present at
the top of every page
Help is always
available
12CUOnline Moodle - Student Orientation

13. Login page - Lost password
If you forget your
password you can reset
it online if you know
your Student ID number
13CUOnline Moodle - Student Orientation

14. Login page - The login block
Enter your university username
and password
The simulation will do this for
you
studenta
………….
Click the Login button if you are
ready to move on to the next
part of the simulation,
otherwise click another part of
the screen
14CUOnline Moodle - Student Orientation

15. My Course page
15CUOnline Moodle - Student Orientation

16. My Course page – Logout link
The (Logout) link returns
you to the login page
Click the (Logout) link again
to logout
16CUOnline Moodle - Student Orientation

17. My Course page – Menu bar
The menu bar is present at
the top of every page
Help is always
available
17CUOnline Moodle - Student Orientation

18. My Course page – Course web
A link to your Course web will be displayed at the
top of the central area together with some
information written by your Course Director
18CUOnline Moodle - Student Orientation

19. My Course page – Rotating display
In the middle of the My Course page is a
rotating display of all the News Forum
postings from all your modules
19CUOnline Moodle - Student Orientation

20. My Course page – Toggle Headlines
Clicking on the Toggle Headlines graphic
stops the rotating display and presents a list
of the New Forum postings
20CUOnline Moodle - Student Orientation

21. My Course page – Main module list
When you are logged in to CUMoodle
clicking on the module’s title will take
you to its home page
Click on the tabs to see
what they do
21CUOnline Moodle - Student Orientation

22. My Course page – Current
The Current tab displays the modules you
are enrolled on in the student record system,
Universe, for this academic year.
These icons indicate
that there are activities
available
22CUOnline Moodle - Student Orientation

23. My Course page – Other
The Other tab lists all your
other modules
A link to login to the old Moodle
Hub, for accessing your previous
year’s modules, is located
underneath the list
23CUOnline Moodle - Student Orientation

24. My Course page – Other module list
When you are logged in to CUMoodle
clicking on the module’s title will take
you to its home page
24CUOnline Moodle - Student Orientation

25. My course page - Assignments
Details of all your Moodle
Assignments
25CUOnline Moodle - Student Orientation

26. My Course page – Tutors
Tutor’s name
abc123@coventry.ac.uk
Phone. 123456
All your tutors are listed on this tab
26CUOnline Moodle - Student Orientation

27. My Course page – Edit
Instructions explaining how you can move
modules from your Other list to your Current
list are shown in the Edit tab
27CUOnline Moodle - Student Orientation

28. My Course page – Logged in user
The Logged in user block displays your
photo, if you have uploaded one, and
some other information about you
Clicking on the image displays your full
Moodle profile page. You can edit your
profile page to upload a photo and
move modules from the Other list to
the Current list
28CUOnline Moodle - Student Orientation

29. My Course page – Calendar
The Calendar block is fully integrated with
all your Moodle modules and courses.
Activities such as the hand-in dates of
online assignments are highlighted in colour
Moving the mouse pointer over a
highlighted date will cause additional
information about the activity to pop up
If you click the date you will see full details
of the activity
29CUOnline Moodle - Student Orientation

30. My Course page – Messages
You can send messages to other students on your
course. If they are online when the message is
sent it will appear as a pop up on their Moodle
page. If they are off-line it will be sent as an
email
IMPORTANT Moodle messaging is not a reliable
method of communication as the person you are
messaging may have turned their messaging off
30CUOnline Moodle - Student Orientation

31. My Course page – Private files
The My private files block displays the
files you have uploaded to your Moodle
private files area
You have 100MB of storage
31CUOnline Moodle - Student Orientation

32. My Course page – Faculty links
The Faculty links
block contains links
related to your
particular Faculty
32CUOnline Moodle - Student Orientation

33. My Course page – Study support links
The Study support links block
contains links to various University-
wide units, such as the Centre for
Academic Writing, and online
facilities such as LOCATE, the
library catalogue
33CUOnline Moodle - Student Orientation

34. My Course page – Student notices
The Student notices block contains
the links to the two most recent
notices. Clicking on the links
displays the full notice as well as
allowing to view all the previous
notices
34CUOnline Moodle - Student Orientation

35. My Course page – Home link
The Home link takes you to
Moodle’s home page
Click the Home link
again to go to
Moodle’s Home page
35CUOnline Moodle - Student Orientation

36. Moodle Home
36CUOnline Moodle - Student Orientation

37. Moodle Home – Menu bar
The menu bar is present at
the top of every page
Help is always
available
37CUOnline Moodle - Student Orientation

38. Moodle Home – Student Portal images
Clicking on any of these
images takes you to the
relevant Student Portal
page
38CUOnline Moodle - Student Orientation

39. Moodle Home – University links
The University links block contains
links to NOVA and SOLAR as well as
links to key areas of the Student
Portal
39CUOnline Moodle - Student Orientation

40. Moodle Home – Study support links
The Study support links block
contains links to various University-
wide units, such as the Centre for
Academic Writing, and online
facilities such as LOCATE, the
library catalogue
40CUOnline Moodle - Student Orientation

41. Moodle Home - Settings
The Settings block has a link to your
profile. In module webs this block has
a link to your Grades
Please note that all grades in Moodle
are provisional and subject to change.
Confirmed grades can be found on
SOLAR
41CUOnline Moodle - Student Orientation

42. Moodle Home – My Course link
The My course link returns
you to the My course page
Click the My course link
again to go to the My
course page
The My course link in the
‘breadcrumb trail’ will also take you
to the My course page
42CUOnline Moodle - Student Orientation

43. Moodle Home – Logout link
The (Logout) link returns
you to the login page
Click the (Logout) link again
to logout
43CUOnline Moodle - Student Orientation