Assess Learning

Before logging into Moodle

If you’re here, it’s because you’re either an instructor or a student using Moodle to teach or learn.One important thing to understand before diving into how Moodle works is that each course has its own unique characteristics, which are closely tied to its objectives, content, users, and expected outcomes. That’s why course design doesn’t begin when you…

Moodle Dashboard

Everyone in Moodle has their own personal and customizable home page called the dashboard. The dashboard provides an overview of the courses you are enrolled in, and when you click on one of these courses it will take you directly into that class. If you go into a class there are a few ways to…

Course Settings

A teacher or Moodle administrator, can change course settings in Administration > Course administration > Edit settings. Frequently Asked Questions

Basic Editing

Here’s a short overview of some of Moodle’s editing icons and how you can use them to to give your students the best learning experience! Now that you are in your Moodle course, you may want to make changes and add content! In order to do so you first have to turn edit mode on….

Notification Settings

Notifications alert teachers, students and other users about events in Moodle such as new forum posts, assignments that need grading or have been graded or badges awarded. You can customize which notifications you receive in Moodle! Below are instructions that outline how: Caution! We recommend you do not turn off Subscribed forum posts. You are…

Participants

The participants in your Moodle course are yourself and students who have enrolled in your course via the Banner registration system. If you think you might have been added to the wrong Moodle course shell please check your course list in TRU employee and compare it to your participants list in Moodle, they should match!…

Importing Course Content

Do you have an Moodle course from a past semester with content that you want to reuse and edit for this semester? Did a co-worker teach the same class last year and tell you that you could use their work? You can reuse course content, this feature in Moodle is called Importing. Importing is taking…

Gradebook

Before we dive into learning about Moodle’s gradebook it is important to consider how you will be collecting assessment items. The reason for this is many activities in Moodle automatically enter a line item in the gradebook so these activities need to be added to your course before you can accurately set up your gradebook. …

Assignment Settings

The Assignments activity in Moodle allows students to submit work to you for grading. The work may be text typed online or uploaded files of any type your device can read. Grading may be by simple points, percentages or custom scales, or more complex rubrics and marking guides may be used. Assignments may be submitted…

Grading Assignments

Like with most features, there are several different ways to mark in Moodle, but in essence there are 3 ways to grade and add feedback: Frequently Asked Questions

Offline Grading

Offline grading is how you are able to add grades to a students submission without being logged into Moodle, or having access to the internet. To complete offline grades, there are 3 main steps that need to occur. Frequently Asked Questions

Quiz Settings

You can use quizzes in Moodle to evaluate student understanding of material. Moodle quizzes consist of a Quiz activity that contain one or more questions from your course’s Question bank. The Quiz activity allows you to administer a wide range of questions within a specific layout and order and the quiz activity allows you to…

Question Bank

Building and Using a Question Bank The Question bank is an organized repository for all the questions in your course, separate from any quiz activities that might use them. It is good practice to create categories to organize your questions. This makes it easier to find questions and it also allows you to use random…

Building/Managing Quiz

Now that you have successfully configured your Moodle quiz and populated a category with questions in the question bank we can “build” your quiz! Frequently Asked Questions

Groups/Groupings

To begin we are going to provide you with an audio overview of groups and groupings. Please take a listen as they can seem a bit confusing to start. The audio overview will help you to determine how much of the following you need to review! Frequently Asked Questions

Announcements

A special forum for announcements, and general news is called the Announcements forum. By default, whenever a new Moodle course is created, the Announcements forum is automatically created and added to the course at the top of the page. Also, every student has a forced subscription and all posts that you create within this forum…

Forum Settings

Asynchronous communication on Moodle is performed through the Forum activity. Forum activities can be made with different formats and settings to facilitate various discussion goals and are, by nature, asynchronous. Files such as images may be included in forum posts and, you can choose if you would like to grade the forum or not. Furthermore,…

Using/Grading Forums

How to grade using whole forum grading Posting to a group forum If you would like to post content to a group forum there are a few extra steps you have to take to ensure this works properly, you cannot post the way you would for all students/participants to see. Frequently Asked Questions

H5P in Moodle

Have you been hearing the buzz about H5P? These lightweight, easy-to-build interactive tools are designed for formative learning, giving students a chance to practice critical skills before assessments — and the feedback is built right in! They’re fun, engaging, and they work in Moodle! H5P allows you to create richer content. H5P allows you to…

Classroom Ideas

Overall, we advocate for an open, transparent approach to addressing the changes that generative AI is making in our disciplines. As you determine where you fall along the continuum of AI use, we offer some classroom activities and conversation starters to explore with your learners. If you have an AI activity you’d like to share…

Syllabus Language

As with any other academic tool or mode of working, instructors should set explicit expectations for GenAI use, reinforce them throughout the term, and address the privacy implications of using these tools. Since AI features now appear in many platforms, it is essential to align syllabus statements with in-class conversations so students understand expectations in…

Tool Inventory

The emergence of Artificial Intelligence tools is occurring at a rapid pace. To showcase the variety of AI tools that exist, we’ve compiled a list below. It features examples of tasks AI can assist with and examples of tools that can perform those tasks. Note: Only Copilot has undergone a Privacy Impact Assessments at TRU….

Critical AI Framework

In choosing whether a generative AI tool is right for your project, classroom context, or workflow, we encourage you to consider the following process in making your decision. What problem is being solved? There are some important applications of AI to improve equity and access, like improved captioning of video or higher quality audio transcription….

Backup Your Course

Moodle courses will automatically be archived 2 years after the semester end date. We recommend you save a backup of your Moodle courses so you can restore/reuse them without any wait times or delays. To save a backup of your Moodle course: Note Do you have a backup file that you want to restore into…

AIxAI

Impact of Generative Artificial Intelligence on Academic Integrity Concerns about AI and academic integrity are not surprising: Technology has been blamed for decades for academic integrity concerns. Sarah Eaton (2023) reminds us that calculators in schools caused widespread panic around academic dishonesty in the 1980s, and the internet had a similar impact in the 1990s….

Attendance

Overview Moodle’s Attendance activity allows instructors to record attendance during class, either by recording it themselves or allowing students to report their own attendance. It also allows students to view their own attendance record within the activity or in the optional Attendance block located in the block drawer which provides quick access to a summary…

Restore Your Course

After you have created a backup file of your course in Moodle, the need may arise to restore your course back into Moodle. Restoring a course is a similar process to creating a backup. To restore your course: (A) (B)

AI Prompt Library

Generative AI tools can be used to assist instructors with creating and adapting educational materials such as quiz questions, problem sets, case studies, examples, personalized learning experiences, diagrams, audio files, glossaries, and more. The prompts below serve as a template for creating a variety of activities. Strategies for Responsible Use Generative AI should not be…

Guidance

Teaching and Learning Guidance for the Use of Generative AI at TRU. Recommendations for TRU Instructors 1. State your policy clearly in course syllabi, including what is permitted, what is prohibited, and expectations for acknowledgment or citation. 2. Use unapproved tools with caution as they may breach TRU’s privacy, IP, or data security standards. As…

Determine GenAI Use

Overview The GENAI Assessment Scale (Perkins et al., 2024) is a useful resource for educators, designed to help you define and communicate acceptable uses of Generative AI (GenAI) in your classroom. When considering this, it’s important to reflect on things such as: The GENAI Assessment scale provides educators a practical framework to guide the appropriate and ethical…

Overview

What is Online Synchronous? According to the draft definitions from the TRUly Flexible initiative, Online Synchronous is a mode of teaching where courses are delivered entirely online in a live, synchronous format with the same academic schedule and contact hours as in-person courses. Students and their instructor are co-present in a synchronous online environment and…

Goals

When considering how to design and teach your online synchronous course, reflect on your specific situation, the context of your future students, and your teaching goals. Consider the following goals when teaching in online synchronous environments. Then, explore the recommendations for more specific guidance around planning and teaching in online synchronous environments. 1. Foster active engagement and…

Planning Your Session

Browse the following drop downs to learn strategies to help plan online synchronous class sessions. References Center for Teaching Excellence. (n.d.). Best practices for Synchronous Online Courses. University of South Carolina. https://sc.edu/about/offices_and_divisions/cte/teaching_resources/adapting_courses_changing_academic_needs/synchronous_online_course/index.php Center for Teaching Excellence. (n.d.). Planning an Online Synchronous Session. Boston College. https://cteresources.bc.edu/documentation/synchronous-teaching-considerations/planning-an-online-synchronous-session/ Centre for Teaching Learning and Research. (n.d.). Principles of online…

Teaching Your Session

Browse the following drop downs to learn strategies for teaching and facilitating online synchronous class sessions. It is organized into strategies to be implemented before, during, and after the live class session. Before the Session During the Session After the Session References Center for Teaching Excellence. (n.d.). Best practices for Synchronous Online Courses. University of South…

Designing Your Moodle Course

Your Moodle course can be used as the ‘hub’ for learning. You can include important information and key resources that students need to access before, during, or after the class. Organization of this digital space is key for efficient navigation.  Chunk your course into sections Organizing your course into weeks or topics helps structure the…

Preparing Students

Learning How to Learn The science of learning is continually advancing as learning scientists continue to uncover the best research-based strategies students can use to help themselves. Here are six essential ways students can help themselves learn from the Learning Scientists (link opens in a new tab). Click the images below to learn more about each…

Example Activities

Browse the following example activities to learn about strategies that can be used in online synchronous class sessions. Whole class group activities Whole class activities can be as simple as having students raise their virtual hand to share their ideas with the class using their microphone and/or camera or share their ideas in the chat….

Technologies Available

The following drop downs highlight common technologies that the Learning Technology & Innovation team supports that can be used to achieve certain functions. All button links open in a new tab. Note: When introducing a new technology for the first time, consider using it for a low stakes activity to help build confidence with the…

Checklist

Moodle has a new Activity/Resource called Checklist: Using checklists in your course can be a helpful tool that provides students with structure, predictability, and transparency. This is what it appears like for the student: Why use checklists in your classroom? The following video (6 minutes) will describe what checklists are, why use them in your…

PDF Annotation

Moodle has a new Activity/Resource called PDF Annotation: What is the PDF Annotation tool? The PDF Annotation tool in Moodle allows you to upload a PDF file for students to add text-based comments for their peers, draw on the document, write personal notes for themselves, and write private comments to the instructor.  Why use it?…

PDF Annotation (Students)

The PDF Annotation tool in Moodle allows you to add text-based comments, drawings, personal notes, or private notes to a PDF document uploaded by your instructor. The following video showcases how to use the tool: Frequently Asked Questions

How to Send Messages within Moodle

There are various ways to communicate with a student and with an instructor. Within Moodle, the private way to send messages is by sending them directly to the person, which allows for closer communication within the educational environment. It is important to keep in mind that if you delete a conversation, it is removed only…

Big Blue Button

What is BigBlueButton? BigBlueButton is an open source virtual classroom software for synchronous discussions or lectures between students and instructors. Emphasis is placed on real-time communication. Sessions can easily be recorded and made available; however, uploading may take several hours or even days depending on the size of the recording. If you are looking for…

WordPress

What is WordPress? WordPress is one of the world’s most popular and powerful open source content management systems. LT&I works with the TRU community to support the creation of WordPress websites, blogs, portfolios and apps. Visit trubox.ca for more information. What Can You Use it For? Uses Teaching and learning: course sites, blogs, portfolios, and interactive learning…

Kaltura

What is Kaltura? Kaltura is a media platform used for creating, storing, editing, and sharing primarily asynchronous multimedia content. You can think of it like YouTube – you can upload or record a new video and choose which course you would like to publish it in. There are four primary options when using Kaltura: What…

PressBooks

What is Pressbooks? Pressbooks is an easy to use digital book production software used for self-publishing books in a number of formats. Pressbooks is an open-source platform based on WordPress. What Can You Use it For? Uses Benefits Tip! Interested in learning more about Open Education Resources (OERs)? Be sure to check out the TRU…

H5P

What is H5P? H5P is a free, open-source content creator that allows you to easily create, share, and reuse interactive HTML5 content and applications. H5P activities can be created and embedded directly in Moodle or WordPress, making it easy to add rich, interactive learning content to your courses. What Can You Use it For? Uses…

Slido

What is Slido? Slido is an audience engagement application that can help you create more interactive presentations, meetings, or class lectures through the use of live polling, quizzes, and surveys. Consider Slido as an alternative to other polling or quizzing tools, such as Kahoot or TopHat, due to it’s accessibility, privacy compliance, and support offered…

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Advance Your Career

Teaching & Learning Conferences TPC (TRU)    TOTLC (Regional)   STLHE (National)    ISSOTL (International) Awards TRU Annual Merit Awards for Teaching External Teaching Awards  Tenure & Promotion Please join the T & P Connect Teams for more resources via the following link:  General | T&P Connect-O365 | Microsoft Teams  Please use the following link…

TRU Global Horizons Conference

Join us at this annual event to present and discuss your work related to TRU Strategic Internationalization Plan with colleagues (every Fall).

TRU AI Showcase

A showcase TRU faculty’s work on AI in teaching and learning (every Spring).

Colleague Talks

Join your colleagues and hear about new and exciting ideas on teaching and learning at TRU. These sessions are intended to foster campus-wide collaboration, communication and resource sharing about new and emerging areas related to teaching and learning. Sessions will feature a brief presentation followed by a larger discussion about how the strategies shared might…

Video Creation

Why should I use video? Video has many benefits for learning by including both visual and verbal components. Videos can be organized into more easily digestible chunks and provide students with the flexibility to choose when to watch, what to watch, and the ability to re-watch. To enhance accessibility, they should also provide students with…

Podcasting

What is a podcast and why would I create one? As the term “podcast” gets increasingly buzzy, it seems to be increasingly used to refer to all kinds of things. In basic terms, a podcast is recorded spoken-word audio created for distribution. It can take lots of different forms: monologue, interview, documentary. Video podcasts exist, too, and…

Artificial Intelligence

What is Artificial Intelligence? “Artificial intelligence” is a catch-all term that encompasses a wide range of machine learning technologies that use large data sets – collections of information – to make predictions or conclusions. AI can be classified as Narrow, General, and Super. You may also hear the term “weak AI” to describe Narrow AI,…

Lightboard

What is a Lightboard? Have you ever wanted to use a whiteboard in a video? Are you frustrated that you have to keep turning away from the camera to write on the white board? A Lightboard is a teaching tool for video presentations that utilizes a clear glass board for you to create and draw…

Alternative Assessments

What are alternative assessments? Alternative assessments focus on learners creating a response to a question, prompt, or a task. They allow you to see what students can do and can’t do, versus what they know and do not know. They tend to assess how proficient a student is at doing something, rather than simply measuring…

Multimedia Design

How does theory support the design of multimedia? Implementing or creating multimedia – videos, slideshows, diagrams, infographics, podcasts etc. – requires careful planning and consideration of how multimedia resources can support learning. Multimedia design principles draw on cognitive research and can help guide the development of learning resources that effectively combine multiple modalities. When this…

Technology Selection and Integration

How do I select suitable technologies for my classroom? It is easy to feel overwhelmed when trying to determine which learning technology to use for your situation. There are so many technologies available and many of them seem to offer similar functionality. How do you determine which technology is best suited for your context and…

Resources

Institutional learning outcomes Program-level learning outcomes Ready to implement learning outcomes and assessment for your program? Start here: A Guide to Writing and Assessing Learning Outcomes at Thompson Rivers University Writing program learning outcomes Examples of learning outcome statements (by discipline): Curriculum mapping Assessment planning Value of using the learning outcomes approach Additional resources

FAQ

Peer Review of Teaching and Instructional Support

The Peer Review of Teaching and Instructional Support Working Group, a sub-committee of the Teaching and Learning Committee of Senate, recommends the process outlined below for peer review. We also invite departments to adapt this process and the associated forms and templates as appropriate for their own contexts. If you are new to peer review…

The Teaching Triangles Program

One of the realities of life as a university instructor is that we rarely get a chance to learn from our colleagues by watching them teach. The Teaching Triangles program offers faculty the opportunity to work in groups of three (or more) and spend time in each others’ classrooms with the aim of reflecting upon…

Instructional Skills Workshop

This workshop is for faculty members and staff interested in developing and enhancing their instructional skills. It consists of teaching practice, theory application and topical sessions specifically relevant to each instructor’s context. During this supportive workshop you will have opportunities to develop new teaching skills, to enhance existing skills, and/or try implementing new and challenging…

Teaching Tips

Face-to-face classrooms The following documents offer tips on various topics related to pedagogy, including links and references to related resources: Open-book examsSupporting students in group workUsing good questions to foster discussionSupporting students as self-directed learnersFostering student reflection for deeper learningTen Assessment Tips Remote classrooms due to COVID-19 or other crises that move courses online Whether…

New Faculty Support

The Centre for Excellence in Learning and Teaching has a role in supporting faculty new to TRU. We hold new faculty orientations in August and January prior to the fall and winter terms. Our goal is to reach out to all new (or almost new) faculty, including tenure-track, limited-term contract and sessional faculty. We want…

Academic Integrity

Learn more about Academic Integrity at the Center for Academic Integrity website.

Student Course Evaluations Overview

Student course evaluations are an important source of insight that help faculty members continuously improve their teaching to increase student success. Others include, but are not limited to, instructors’ statement of learning outcomes on course outlines, peer review of teaching, receipt of teaching awards, scholarly studies of teaching practices — the scholarship of teaching and…

Information For Students

Student course evaluations are an opportunity to provide your instructors with feedback on your experience of learning in their course so TRU is implementing an “every course every time” process so you can have this opportunity for all of your courses. Student course evaluations will be administered during the last three weeks of the semester….

Information For Instructors

The former Moodle based course evaluations are no longer supported. Evaluation reports (results) will not be processed for Moodle based evaluations. We have moved to the Qualtrics survey tool, which is relatively user friendly for students and instructors. Evaluations will be completed online via the link posted in students’ MyTRU accounts or in some situations…

Student Course Evaluation FAQ

Dashboard Reporting

Thompson Rivers University uses an online course evaluation tool called Qualtrics, which was implemented in Summer 2018. Dashboard reports are available to all on campus faculty and Chairs; new results will be published to dashboards at the end of each semester and faculty and Chairs will be notified by email. This tool offers enhanced reporting…

Open Education

Open education is a philosophy of teaching and learning that can include resources, tools, and practices to facilitate collaboration and flexibility in order to maximize access to education for the greatest number of learners, within and without formal institutional environments. OEGlobal, a worldwide community supporting open educators, has set out the following principles of open…

Open Pedagogy

Adapted from BCcampus, shared with a CC-BY designation. What is Open Pedagogy? To define open pedagogy, we need to break it down to its two components, open and pedagogy: Open, in this instance, refers to open educational resources (OER) – defined by UNESCO as “any type of educational materials that are in the public domain or introduced…

Open Research

Adapted from Open UBC, with a CC-BY-SA Designation. What is Open Research? Open Research is the effort to make the process, engagement, and results of research openly and freely available when feasible and appropriate. In the context of reproducibility, open research may be referred to as open science; for knowledge translation and inclusive research, it…

Open Educational Resources

Adapted from BCcampus, shared with a CC-BY designation. What are Open Educational Resources? BCcampus shares its definition of open educational resources (OER): “teaching, learning, and research resources that, through permissions granted by the copyright holder, allow others to use, distribute, keep, or make changes to them.” OER are teaching resources that have an open-copyright licence…

Creator Resources

References: Research guides: Open education resources (oers): Find images, videos, and more. Find Images, Videos, and More – Open Education Resources (OERs) – Research Guides at Thompson Rivers University Library. (n.d.). https://libguides.tru.ca/oer/ancillary

Sharing Your Creation

Introduction You’ve created something meaningful—now let’s help it reach the people who need it!This guide is here to support TRU Open Press project developers in promoting and disseminating their fabulous open educational resources (OER). Sharing your work is an important part of the open education journey. By increasing visibility and access, your OER can support…

What is accessibility and why does it matter?

Whether you are teaching in the classroom, online, or, more likely, some blend of the two, you are likely already in the habit of uploading some of your course content online for students to access. Designing for accessibility refers to designing course materials in a way that is usable and understandable by all students, regardless…

Open Press Project Showcase

Flexible Delivery and Learning Modes

In-Person Learning In-person courses are when learning experiences are held at regularly scheduled instructional times where learners and instructors meet in-person at a defined location to achieve the learning outcomes. There are three variants of in-person learning (TRUFlex 1, TRUFlex 2 and TRUFlex 3) with additional details outlined below. TRU Flex 1 Where: Off-campusWhen: Scheduled…

About Us

Vision To be a respected and trusted centre of excellence, supporting and advancing flexible, open, and accessible learning at TRU, in Secwepemcúl’ecw, the province, the country, and beyond.  Mission A consolidated centre fostering open and engaged learning experiences through teaching, technology, design, and curriculum supports, resources and professional learning opportunities.  Values The Centre focuses on: