Moodle Student FAQ — Using Moodle at LCC
I’m having trouble logging in. If you can’t log in to Moodle, it’s generally due to one of two things: either you’re not entering your L-number or PIN correctly, or your browser settings need to be changed. Make sure to do the following: • • Include the “L” and any leading zeroes in your L-number (e.g., “L00123456”). Use only the first six characters of your ExpressLane PIN (if your PIN is “caterwauling” only type in “caterw”—but never use a dictionary word as a password!). Enable cookies in your Browser: • • For Windows Internet Explorer, go to Tools > Internet options > Privacy, and make sure the slider is set to Medium. For Windows Firefox, the default settings should be fine. For Macintosh Safari, go to Safari > Preferences > Security, and set Accept Cookies to either “Only from sites you navigate to” or “Always.” For Macintosh Firefox, go to Firefox > Preferences > Privacy > Cookies, and make sure that “Allow sites to set Cookies” is checked.
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Be a registered student. Only students registered for the current term are allowed to log in to Moodle. Make sure you’re logging into the correct term for Moodle. For Winter 2008, the URL is http://moodle.lanecc.edu/winter2008; if you just type http://moodle.lanecc.edu in your browser, it will go to the current term automatically.
If you need more assistance logging in, you can get help from the Student Help Desk (SHeD): email shed@lanecc.edu, telephone 463-3333, or visit the SHeD web site at http://www.lanecc.edu/icl/shed.htm. If you don’t know your L-number or PIN, go to http://www.lanecc.edu/explane and click on one of the relevant links.
I just changed my password in ExpressLane; now I can’t log in to Moodle. Although Moodle uses the same L-number and PIN as ExpressLane, the connection to ExpressLane isn’t live: there’s a time lag between when you change your password in ExpressLane and when it gets updated in Moodle. Most of the time, the change will happen within five minutes, but some times it may take as much as twenty. If you’re having trouble logging in to Moodle after you change your ExpressLane PIN, try using your old PIN for Moodle until it stops working—then, you’ll know that your new password has taken effect.
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How do I change my Moodle password? In Moodle, your password is your ExpressLane PIN, so to change it, you must log in to ExpressLane and change it there (go to http://www.lanecc.edu/explane). Remember that there’s a delay between when you change your PIN in ExpressLane and when it’s updated in Moodle (see “I just changed my password in ExpressLane; now I can’t log in to Moodle” for more information).
When I log in to Moodle, my name is showing up as “Name Withheld-xxxx.” This happens when you request that your LCC student directory information be kept confidential. That means that the College cannot reveal your name, or the fact that you are a student here, to other students. To hide your identity in Moodle, we set your name to “Name Withheld,” plus the last four digits of your L-number. If you don’t want to appear in Moodle as “Name Withheld,” you have three options: • You can ask us to allow your real name to be revealed in Moodle. This will override your confidentiality request for Moodle only. Send an email to moodleadmin@lanecc.edu and specify that you would like your real name to show up in Moodle. This means that everyone in Moodle (instructors and students alike) will be able to see that you are registered as a student at Lane. Your name will automatically be visible in future terms in Moodle, unless you ask us to hide it again. You can ask to use a pseudonym for Moodle. Send an email to moodleadmin@lanecc.edu specifying the first and last name that you would like to use. This name will be associated with your account in Moodle for all future terms, until you tell us to change it. If you no longer need for your directory information to be confidential, you can ask Enrollment Services to remove the confidentiality hold. This makes your name public everywhere, not just in Moodle (for example, your instructors will be allowed to call on you by name in classes that meet in person).
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Any request you make to alter the status of your confidentiality request remains in effect until you ask to change it.
I just registered for a course in ExpressLane, but I can’t log in to Moodle. When you register for a class in ExpressLane, your account is not immediately created in Moodle. Enrollments and user accounts are updated four times daily (6:30 AM, 12:30 PM, 4:30 PM, and 11:30 PM). On the first day of the term, updates happen only at 6:30 AM and 11:30 PM, due to the extremely high demand placed on ExpressLane by student registration. So: if you only registered at Lane on Monday afternoon at 5:00 PM, your Moodle account won’t be created until 11:30 that evening. The same is true if you add a class: it may not show up on your Moodle course list until later that day, or early the next day, even if you can log in. (Also, see the question below, “When I log in, some of my classes don’t show up.”)
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When I log in, some of my classes don’t show up. After you log in, you should see a list of Moodle courses in which you’re enrolled. There is a delay between when you register for a course in ExpressLane and when you’re registered in Moodle, however: enrollments are updated at 6:30 AM, 12:30 PM, 4:30 PM, and 11:30 PM. So if you register for a course at 7:15 PM, you won’t see it in Moodle until 11:30 PM. There may be other reasons why some of your courses aren’t showing up: • • You may not be registered for the course. Log in to ExpressLane (http://www.lanecc.edu/explane), and verify that you’re properly enrolled. The instructor may not be using Moodle for your course, or may not be teaching it online at all. If the course is offered through Distance Learning, you can find out more about how to access it by going to the Distance Learning website at http://www.lanecc.edu/distance. The instructor may not have made the course available yet, especially if this is before the start of the term. Courses are hidden from students until instructors explicitly make them available, and many instructors continue to work on their courses until the term starts. Courses should be available by 8:00 AM on the first Monday of the term. If a course is still not visible after the first day of the term and you know that it’s being taught in Moodle, you may want to report the problem to the Student Help Desk (email: shed@lanecc.edu; telephone: 463-3333). Staff at the SHeD may be able to alert the instructor to the problem, but they cannot actually activate the course (that is the instructor’s responsibility).
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When I log in, I don’t see any courses. All I see is a link to courses for Winter (or Fall, or...), and something called “Miscellaneous.” This happens when you’re not registered for any courses, or when none of the courses you’ve registered for have been made available by their instructors. See the question above (“When I log in, some of my classes don’t show up”).
I dropped a course in ExpressLane, but Moodle says I’m still enrolled in it. Moodle enrollments are synchronized with ExpressLane four times daily, so your drop may not have shown up yet. The updates happen at 6:30 AM, 12:30 PM, 4:30 PM, and 11:30 PM. If you’ve waited twenty-four hours after you dropped your course and it’s still showing up in Moodle, please contact the Student Help Desk for assistance (SHeD@lanecc.edu, or 463-3333). Be sure to include your name, your L-number, and the CRN of the course you dropped.
If I dropped a course but I’m still enrolled in Moodle, will I be billed for it? Not if you dropped the course in ExpressLane before the deadline to receive a refund, no. For Winter 2008, the deadline is Sunday, January 13th, at midnight. FAQ: Using Moodle at LCC Page 3 2/12/08
My email address isn’t set correctly in Moodle. Your email address is set initially to your most recent email address in ExpressLane. If that address isn’t correct, you should change it both in Moodle and in ExpressLane. For Moodle, log in and click on the link with your name (on most pages, look in the upper right-hand corner where it says “You are logged in as”), and on the next screen, select the “Edit profile” tab. For ExpressLane, log in at http://www.lanecc.edu/explane, click “Personal Information,” and then click “View/Update Email Address(es).”
My instructor wants me to change my profile. How do I do that? Log in to Moodle and click on the link with your name (on most pages, look in the upper right-hand corner where it says “You are logged in as”), and on the next screen, select the “Edit profile” tab. Then, change whatever settings you like. Note that some settings (last name and first name), are locked and cannot be changed in Moodle.
I click on the link to take a quiz and nothing happens. Moodle may display quizzes in a pop-up window, so if you have a pop-up blocker installed, the quiz window may not come up. To turn off the most common blockers: • • • • For Windows Internet Explorer, go to Tools > Pop-up Blocker > Pop-up Blocker Settings and add “moodle.lanecc.edu” as a site. For Windows Firefox, go to Tools > Options, click the Content tab, click the “Allowed Sites” button, and add “moodle.lanecc.edu.” For Macintosh Safari, go to the Safari menu and make sure that “Block Pop-up Windows” is unchecked. For Macintosh Firefox, go to Firefox > Preferences > Web Features and either uncheck “Block Popup Windows,” or click the “Allowed Sites” button and make sure there’s an entry for “moodle.lanecc.edu.”
You may also need to turn off your firewall or security software.
When I try to take a quiz, it tells me that quiz has been locked. Your instructor may require that you take your quizzes only from a proctored testing lab. If you try to take the quiz from an unauthorized machine, you will get a message: “Sorry, this quiz has been locked so that it is only accessible from certain locations. Currently your computer is not one of those allowed to use this quiz.” If you get this message, you’ll have to go to one of the approved locations to take it. Check your syllabus or talk to your instructor if you don’t know where the approved locations are.
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How do I send a message to my instructor or to a classmate? In the past, you used to be able to click the Participants link in your course and then click on the name of the person you wanted to message. For technical reasons, that procedure has changed. Now, you need to do the following: • • • • • • Click "Partipants." Click the "Select" checkbox next to the name of the person you want to message. Scroll to the bottom of the Participants window. From the "With selected users..." menu, choose "Add/send message." On the next screen, type the message, and when finished, click "Preview." On the next screen, click "Send" (click "Edit" if you need to make any changes).
Downloading files from Moodle (The following instructions were written by Dr. AnnMarie Johnson at the University of Wisconsin, Oshkosh.) In some places, your instructor will upload files for you to use. When a file is uploaded, it appears as a link. To access a linked file, just click on the name of the file. Depending on how the file was linked and how your computer is configured, several things may happen when you select on a link: • The link may open in the Main Course Area. You may need to use the browser’s back button or the left-hand navigation to return to the course. This is an Internet Explorer feature for Office files. If you want to save the file, or open it in the full version of the office program, right-click (PC) or control-click (Macintosh) and select the option to save the file/shortcut/link to disk. Select the folder you want to save it in. Then, open the appropriate program and the file. The link may open in a new browser window. When finished with the document, close the window to return to the course. You can also return to the course by just clicking on the course window button in the Start Menu toolbar (Windows 95+) or selecting Window in the file menu across the top (Windows or Mac) and highlighting the course window. The link may prompt you with a dialog box, asking if you want to save the file to a local drive. Select the folder you want to save it in. To help you find the document, you might want to create a folder just for saving course documents in. Then, open the appropriate program and the file. The link may ask if you want to open it without saving. If you have virus protection software, save the document first so that your virus check runs. The link may launch a different program (such as Microsoft Word) and display the file. To return to the course, just return to your browser. You may need to install a plug-in for the file, especially if the file is a media file like a Windows Media or QuickTime movie.
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