OP Moodle
OP Moodle is Otago Polytechnic's online learning site for students. In this guide you will be introduced to the basics of accessing course resources and activities available to you.
What's new in Moodle in 2023
On the 19th December 2022, OP Moodle will be upgraded to a new version, which includes many welcome changes, especially to the navigation and to how it looks.
New look
OP Moodle now has Te Pūkenga branding, but you will also notice that the interface is different as well. Overall, it is cleaner and easier to navigate.
Navigation
The biggest change in the navigation is that My courses have moved to their own tab. See more below for more information.
Watch this short video on how to Find your way around the latest version of Moodle (note this will look and function slightly differently from Otago's Moodle).
User tours
You will notice some pop-ups on the screen, called User tours, that will show you what's new in Moodle.
For example, how to expand the Blocks drawer for more information:
Dashboard
When you first login to Moodle, you will notice a new Dashboard:
My courses
You will notice that your courses have moved! They are now in a new tab of their own. Access your courses easily from the My courses tab at the top of the site:
Course index
The Course index is a new collapsible and expandable component on the left-hand side, which means you can move smoothly between course sections, making it easier and quicker to find activities and resources. One click from the menu will take you to any topic, activity or resource.
Block drawer
Another new expandable component on the right-hand side of the screen is the Block drawer. This is where you can add and prioritise blocks. You can choose to collapse or expand blocks, to reduce visual clutter and focus on the learning.
The downside is that important information blocks may not be visible by default when you expect them to be.
Remember to open the Block drawer if you are missing information.
Books
If you have Moodle Books in your courses, you may notice that the Table of Contents still remains within the Block drawer. If your Block drawer is closed you will need to open it to view the Table of Contents. You can however still use the Previous/Next navigation inside the book as well.
The Exit book option has been removed for now. You will need to use the breadcrumb menu to return to your course when you finish reading the book.
Getting support
If you are still having trouble navigating the new Moodle 4.0, please contact IT Support Services.
Accessing OP Moodle
You can access Moodle through the Student Hub or directly through the OP Moodle website.
Login through the Student Hub
To get to the Student Hub, you will need to log in to OP, using your network username and password.
2. Once logged in, your courses will load in the Moodle tile. You can access them directly from here. To access your Dashboard click View more Moodle courses at the bottom of this grey Moodle tile.
Login through the Moodle website
You can also go directly to the OP Moodle website.
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Go to: http://moodle.op.ac.nz/
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Choose the login option Students & Staff on the left, then enter your student username and password into the login area
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Click Sign in
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Access your courses from the My Courses area of your Dashboard.
Having trouble logging in?
If you are a first-time visitor, you should have received your username and password in the letter acknowledging your enrolment.
Please contact the IT Support Service Desk if you have any problems using OP Moodle.
If you can log in to OP Moodle but can't find your course, the document, link or activity that should be available, seek support from your teacher.
Learn your way around
Learn to navigate your way around Moodle and make sure you can find everything you need in your courses.
Moodle Dashboard
Your Moodle Dashboard is the home page of your Moodle. You can access your courses from here, search, view your badges and more.
Course overview
The course overview is displayed on your dashboard and shows all the courses you are enrolled in. Please note that the default number of courses you see in the course overview is set to 12. You can change this from the drop down menu at the bottom left of the course overview window.
You can sort your courses with the three dropdowns menus:
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An option to sort by All, In progress, Future, Past, Starred or courses that have been Removed from view
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An option to display courses by Course name or Last accessed
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An option to display course by Card, List or Summary view.
Navigation Sidebar – three lines icon
Open or close the navigation side bar by clicking on the three lines in the top right-hand corner.
Through here you can access your calendar, courses and useful links. When inside a course you will also be able to access sections of the course, badges and depending on your course, the Moodle Gradebook.
Timeline block
The Timeline block provides an overview of deadlines for learners. Deadlines may be sorted by dates or by course.
Bread crumbs
Another fast way to navigate is to use the breadcrumbs at the top of each page. These breadcrumbs should you how you have navigated to this where you are. You can use them to navigate back without using the back button on your browser.
Inside your courses
Most courses will contain these sections or tabs:
Find it in the Haere mai tab of your online course. The course schedule tells you what's happening week-by-week.
Know what you're being assessed on. This information is found in the Assessment tab of your online course.
The Modules tab holds all your course materials and activities.
Completion progress block
This helpful block sits in the top right-hand corner of most course pages (your teacher may choose not to use this function). The Completion Progress block lists the activities you are expected to complete during your course.
How it works:
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Each activity is represented by a small blue box
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When an activity is completed, the small box will turn green
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Sometimes teaching staff will set the box to turn red if an activity is overdue.
Support – where to find it
Facilitator block
Check out the Your Facilitator block on the right-hand side of your course. This should contain the contact details for your course facilitator.
Student Support Te Ama Tauira website
The Student Support Te Ama Tauira block also appears on the right-hand side of every course page. These links will point you in the right direction to provide support when you need it. There is also a link to the Student Support Te Ama Tauira website in the navigation bar at the top of the page.
Go to top arrow
Use the go to the top arrow to easily return to the top of a Moodle page.
Make it yours
Once you have logged into OP Moodle, there are a couple of things you should do straight away to make your Dashboard and Moodle account yours.
1. Editing your profile
The first thing you should do is check your profile and make sure all your information is correct.
To update your profile:
2. Your email notifications at OP
Your Moodle notifications will automatically be sent to your OP email address, and we highly recommend you get in the habit of checking your OP account like you do your own personal email accounts. Services like the Robertson Library and OPSA use your OP address to communicate with you, as well as your teachers.
You can also sync your OP email to your phone which makes it even easier to check it regularly, either by adding it to the mail app you currently use or by downloading the MS Outlook app which you can use on either Android or iOS. Check your App store to find and download it.
We do not recommend using forwarding to your personal email account as this connection can break causing you to miss important information.
If you would like your Moodle notification emails to go to a personal email address rather than your OP email address, you can add a notification email in Moodle. Remember, this is only for Moodle and not for any other emails you may get in your OP email inbox.
How to add a notification email address in Moodle
Follow these instructions to add a Moodle email notification address:
IT Support Service Desks
Dunedin and Central Campuses - H Block, level 1, Room H107
Auckland Campus - Level 1, Room 103
DN 0800 765 948 AK 0800 111 212 servicedesk@op.ac.nz OR aicservicedesk@op.ac.nz
3. Changing your forum preferences
We also recommend you change your email digest type so you don't get so many emails when posting to forums.
To change your forum preferences:
4. Customise your dashboard
You can rearrange things on your Dashboard to make it easier to find things. Rearrange your courses and add blocks to your dashboard. Watch the video below to find out how.
Moodle Dashboard
Watch this video to learn how to customise your dashboard
3:42Starred and hidden courses
- To 'star' (bookmark) a course, click the three dots by its name and then click 'Star this course’
- To hide a course, click the three dots by its name and then click 'Remove from view'
- Courses may be filtered by ‘Starred’ or 'Removed from view’ courses. Alternatively, for starred courses, the ‘Starred courses’ block may be added to your dashboard.
Other useful dashboard blocks
You can customise your dashboard with any of these other useful dashboard blocks below.
Forums and Messaging
There are several ways to communicate through OP Moodle.
Forums in Moodle
Moodle allows teachers to set up online forums for groups or sub-groups of students, which can include text and other media. Participants can receive posts by email, and/or log onto Moodle to view them.
Course announcements
Course announcements are a type of forum that the teachers use to make announcements about your course. Your teacher may use this to let you know about upcoming events, notices or reminders. They appear on the Haere mai page of your course. As a student you won’t be able to post in a course announcements forum, but you can reply to a post from a facilitator.
Messaging in Moodle
The messaging interface in Moodle lets you communicate with others in your course, individually or as a group. A number at the top of the screen reflects the number of people who have sent new messages.
- Clicking the icon displays the messaging drawer, divided into starred messages, group messages and personal messages
- Contacts and contact requests may be accessed from the Contacts link
- To add a message to your starred (favourited) messages, a star may be added by clicking the three dots when viewing a message
- From the three dots, messages may be muted, so that email notifications of new messages are no longer sent
- Personal messaging space - Each user now has their own starred area where they can add draft messages, links and notes for later use.
Online users block
The 'Online users' block shows a list of users who have been logged into Moodle.
- The list is updated on a regular basis (the default is every 5 minutes).
- Clicking the message icon next to somebody's name, you will be able to send a private message to that person (using Moodle's messaging system)
- If you have the 'Online users' block added to your course, you can hold the cursor over somebody's name to see how long ago that person was last "seen" in the course.
Note:
- If separate groups are enabled in a course, and this block is added onto the course page, only members of the group will be visible to other group members within the 'Online users' block
- Even though a user may have been logged into a course within the last 5 minutes, it does not necessarily mean that this user is still online.
Software requirements
Viewing, printing, editing and authoring documents
- Microsoft Office 365 is available free while you are a student at OP. You can find more details through the Office 365 page.
- The free Open Office Suite will also allow you to view and edit files. Browsers other than Internet Explorer work better with this software.
Viewing & printing documents only
- Adobe Acrobat Reader (free) for .pdf documents
Online study
Learners planning to study online will require access to these things:
- Email programme such as Outlook which you can access through Microsoft Office 365. Or an online email account like Gmail or Hotmail.
- Internet browser. We recommend using Firefox, Chrome or Safari.
- A media player: software for playing common audio and video files either as a standalone software (e.g. Windows Media Player, iTunes, QuickTime, VLC media player).
- Adobe Acrobat Reader for displaying PDF files.
- Word processing programme, either Microsoft Word, Open Office, Google Docs, or some other equivalent.
Multimedia players
Attributions
Hero image: Christmas tree light blur. mirekmurmir. Image retrieved from: https://pixabay.com/en/christmas-tree-light-blur-boketh-1226220/ Licensed under Creative Commons License CC0 Public Domain.
Woman and laptop image by Christina Morillo retrieved from https://www.pexels.com/photo/african-american-woman-black-girl-black-woman-chair-1181414/, licenced under Creative Commons License CC0 Public Domain.
