Topic outline

  • General

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    Welcome to this course on Moodle Administration. This is a self-paced course scheduled for a notional 30 study hours. It will equip you with the skills to install, configure and maintain a secure and stable Moodle Learning Management System to host your institution’s flexible and blended learning courses.

    First, let's get to know each other. Please introduce yourself in the Introductory Forum.


    • Introductions and Expectations Forum
      Use this forum to introduce yourself to other course participants. Make sure to say something about yourself, your institution and expectations of this online course. Please explain whether you already have a Moodle LMS or the institutional plans for supporting online learning. Please also remember to say something to your fellow participants and make friends as you learn together.

      Estimated time: 30 mins.
    • Glossary of Terms

      Here you will find a definition of common terms used in this course. In case you encounter a term that you do not understand and is not in this glossary please inform the facilitator accordingly for definition and clarification.

  • Course Overview

    In this section of the course, you will understand how the course is organized and determine for yourself whether you are capable of undertaking it. It is compulsory that you go through this section before you proceed. Click on the learning module below to begin. (Estimated time: 45 mins)

    Lesson: 1

  • Pre-course assessment

    Before you begin the course, please take this assessment here to gauge your readiness and current capabilities as you embark on the course. (Estimated time: 15 mins)

    Feedback: 1

  • Session 1 - Getting to know Moodle

    Welcome to our first session. In this session you will determine whether Moodle is the best choice for your institutions. You will also get to know the various Moodle versions and releases with their associated requirements and pre-requisites. (Estimated time: 90 mins)

    Lesson: 1Quiz: 1

  • Session 2- Moodle Hosting Options and Pre-requisites installation

    Moodle is a Web Based System and thus it must run within a Web Server. Moodle may be hosted as a cloud service or as a local server. In this session you will be able to identify the most appropriate hosting environment for your needs and install and configure a practice Ubuntu Server 16.04.3 server which we shall use to host our Moodle installation. Before undertaking this course, you must have scored over 80% in Session 1 Quiz. You also need to have downloaded an appropriate Ubuntu Server .iso image for your practice deployment from here. (Estimated time: 240 mins)

    Lesson: 1Assignment: 1Forum: 1

  • Session 3 - Installing Moodle dependencies

    In addition to the Web Server, Database and PHP , Moodle relies on a functional Mail Server to deliver notifications and alerts and a Domain Name Server to implement domain name resolution. These are optional systems but are critical for a production level Moodle installation. In this session we shall look at how to install and configure these dependent systems. For you to participate productively in this session, you must have a working Ubuntu Linux 16.04 LTS installation.  (Estimated time: 240 mins)

    Lesson: 1Assignment: 1Forum: 1

  • Session 4 - Moodle Installation & default structure

    In this session, we will learn how to install Moodle. We highly recommend that you create a practice installation before creating a production environment for your installation. You will try out all the concepts in this course on the practice installation before finally deciding what you will install or set-up in your production environment. Though our focus will be on installing Moodle on a Linux environment, additional resources have also been provided in case you would want to install Moodle on a Microsoft Windows platform (though this platform will not be used in this course). For you to continue with this session, you must have a working SMTP and DNS installation. (Estimated time: 120 mins)

    Lesson: 1Assignment: 1

  • Session 5 -Moodle Customization and Theming

    Moodle offers various options to tailor its look and feel to the organization, the learner and to the learning devices. Moodle uses themes to define its look and feel. A Moodle theme is currently a plugin which is responsible for setting up the structure and output of any page. In this session we shall learn how to perform various common Moodle customisation procedures including creating custom menus, static pages, changing fonts, colors etc and creating a custom theme. For you to continue in this session, you must have a working Moodle installation. (Estimated time: 240 mins)
    Lesson: 1Assignment: 1

  • Session 6 - Securing Moodle

    The Security of your Moodle installation will revolve around guaranteeing data confidentiality, availability and integrity/correctness. In this session, we will limit our study to ensuring that Moodle’s data is accurate (i.e has integrity) and can be accessible to the right persons. We will not cover issues like Business Continuity / Disaster Recovery Management, Capacity Management, Performance Management etc which are general ICT Security topics which are outside the scope of this session. We will look at Moodle Application level security, Host based security and Moodle data encryption which should serve our learning objectives. For you to proceed with this session, you must have a working Moodle on an Ubuntu 16.04 LTS Server installation (Estimated time: 240 mins)
    Lesson: 1Assignment: 1

  • Session 7 - User Management

    In this session we will look at how to manage users and groups in Moodle. We will review various authentication schemes and see how we can be able to create users within the Moodle system. As part of user management, we shall see how to create, authenticate and deactivate a Moodle user and how to manage their associated groups and/or cohorts. For you to proceed with the session, you must have a working Moodle 3.3 installation. (Estimated time: 120 mins)
    Lesson: 1Assignment: 1

  • Session 8 - Working with Moodle Plugins

    Moodle is a modular system which as we have seen can be extended by plugins. This pluggable architecture supports Moodle extensibility making it flexible and easy to customise to suit your institutional needs.In this session we will see how we can use Moodle’s plugins to extend Moodle’s functionality and how to manage the various types of plugins. For you to proceed with the session, you must have a working Moodle 3.3 installation.(Estimated time: 120 mins)
    Lesson: 1Assignment: 1

  • Session 9 - Moodle Administration Tasks

    As a Moodle Administrator you will generally be responsible for the configuration, maintenance and day to day running of the institution’s Virtual Learning Environment. You will have the primary responsibility of optimizing Moodle performance, investigating and resolving any application and server errors, ensuring the continued availability of Moodle and address any user support issue that may arise. In this session we shall learn how to optimise Moodle’s performance and implement an appropriate backup strategy to guarantee restoration of the institution’s Moodle upon any disruption.For you to proceed with this session, you must have a working Moodle on an Ubuntu 16.04 LTS Server installation. (Estimated time: 240 mins)
    Lesson: 1Assignment: 1

  • Feedback and Course Evaluation

    It is our hope that you have enjoyed the course and you are now ready to set-up your production Moodle server for your institution but before you go, please take this end of course survey below and provide us with your feedback.

    As a way forward from here, you are now required to install a Moodle server for your institution (in case where the institution does not have one as yet) or further improve what you have based on what you know. Once you have done that,send an email to: ameadrichardson at col.org for a review and the subsequent issue of your certificate.

    (Estimated time: 15 mins)

    Feedback: 1

  • Optional Session - Installing Moodle on a Cloud Service

    As was discussed on Session 2 - Moodle Hosting Options and Complementary Systems, Moodle can be hosted in a Cloud Server where its installation will be held in several virtual machines and made available to you on a pay-per-use basis leading to cost savings . In this optional session, we will see how to install Moodle on some of the popular cloud services.

    (Estimated time: 45 mins)

    Lesson: 1