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Recommended Browsers

For security reasons, it is recommend that you update your browser to the most recent version for your operating system. We recommend that you use the latest version of Chrome, Firefox, or Safari for the best Moodle experience. Internet Explorer is NOT recommended.

Note:

Safari users may need to update their security preferences before using Turnitin. View article Safari Cookies for more information.

There are known challenges opening Adobe Portfolio in most browsers. If you need to open an Adobe Portfolio file, you will need to use Internet Explorer.

Browser Add-Ons

You may find it useful to install the following add-ons if your browser does not already have them:

PDF Reader

To view PDF files, you need a PDF reader to be installed on your computer. A PDF browser plugin will let you view PDFs in a browser window without opening a separate program.

Download Adobe Reader at http://get.adobe.com/reader/. The download includes the browser plugin. To install this plugin, follow the prompts.

Adobe Flash Player

Some instructors may post Adobe Flash interactive media or video. To play the media:

Download and install Adobe Flash Player http://get.adobe.com/flashplayer/
Most browsers require you to enable the Flash Player before you can access Flash media. See How to Enable Flash in Your Web Browser.

Note: Adobe Flash Player is not available for many mobile devices. Adobe is ending support for Flash in 2019.

Source: University of Massachusetts Amherst

Logging in and out of Moodle

You can access your courses by logging into Moodle with your Birmingham-Southern username and password. If you do not know your BSC username or password, please contact your adviser.

After retrieving your login credentials, open a browser window and enter the URL moodle.bsc.edu. Login with your BSC username and password.

How to Access Your Courses

To access your courses, click My Courses in the top right corner. From here, you can view your current and past courses.

Courses are listed by year on course cards. Toggle between tabs at the top of the page to view past courses. To view a course page, click the corresponding course card. Star a course listing to move it to the top of the page.

To the right of the course list are upcoming deadlines, messages from your instructor, and recent forum posts. Return this page at any time by clicking My Courses in the upper right corner.

Viewing Your Calendar

The calendar is found on the My Courses page under Deadlines. Select View my calendar to open the calendar page. From the calendar page, you can view dates for all courses or for a specific course and add new events to the calendar.

Linking your Moodle Calendar to Outlook or Google Calendar

If you would like the Moodle calendar events to populate on your personal Google or Outlook calendar, please use the directions found in Moodle Docs.

Adding Profile Photo

Click Profile from the menu at the top of the My Courses page. On the Profile page under User details, select Edit profile.

Scroll down to User picture. Under New picture, click the add icon to upload a photo.

Select the image file from your computer and then select Upload file.

When finished, click Update profile.

Viewing Your Moodle Master Dashboard

The master dashboard (not to be confused with your course dashboards) provides another view of your courses. From the Dashboard, you can view a master calendar, your course list, and a timeline of assignments by course or by date. The majority of this information can be accessed from the My Courses page as well. The dashboard just provides you with an additional view.

Viewing Your Course Dashboard

Each course also has its own dashboard. You can access the course dashboard at the bottom of the course content menu. This menu may be located on the left side or at the top of a course page. From the dashboard, you can view your grades, send messages to your instructor or classmates via Quickmail, and view course files.

Viewing Grades

There multiple ways to view your grades. You can view your grade in a specific course from its course dashboard or you can view your grades in all courses from the Grades page.

To view all course grades, select Grades from the menu at the top of the My Courses page (See image found under Viewing Your Moodle Master Dashboard).

All courses and grades will appear here. If there is no grade, verify that your instructor has made grades visible to students. By clicking on the course, you can view a detailed grade sheet that lists your grades on individual assignments. You can also view your grade inside of a course by visiting the course dashboard.

If your grades are not what you expected, reach out to your instructor with a well-written email using a respectful tone. It is possible that he or she may not have entered all of the grades at the moment you viewed them. See How to Email Your Professor.

Accessing Course Files

Instructors may organize their Moodle pages differently, but all course files can be accessed from your course dashboard. All files that have been added to a course will be listed under Activities. Click Resources to view a list of course files. Select the title of the resource to view or download the file.

Communicating with Quickmail

Quickmail is Moodle's convenient messaging system. You can use Quickmail to message your instructor or classmates. Messages are sent to a user's inbox in Moodle and their BSC email address via outlook. In Moodle, new message alerts will appear on the My Courses page.

You can access Quickmail from any course dashboard. Only the course instructor and students enrolled in that course will be listed in Quickmail.

Manage Your Email Notifications

From the My Courses page, select Preferences from the menu at the top.

Under User account, select Notification preferences.
Adjust the notifications based on your preferences by clicking the red and green boxes to turn a notification on or off. You can also completely disable notifications.

Accessing Outlook From Moodle

You can access Outlook using the link found in the footer. The grey footer can be found on every page except the My Courses page.

From any other page (homepage, course page, etc), scroll to the bottom and locate the BSC Email link in the footer under My BSC Links. Sign-in to Outlook using the same username and password you used to log-in to Moodle.

Setting up Your TurningPoint Account

Some courses may require that you use the real-time polling software, TurningPoint. TurningPoint collects data through clickers, mobile/tablet app, or from a web browser. There are three steps to setting up your TurningPoint account. The mobile application is free and clickers can be purchased in the bookstore. Refer to your course syllabus to determine whether a course will use this tool.

Go to https://account.turningtechnologies.com/account/ and enter you Birmingham-Southern email address.
Once you enter your BSC email, you will be taken to a login page where you can use your BSC credentials.
When you login to your account, you should see a TurningPoint Student subscription, Mobile ID, and Moodle check mark. Clicker IDs are optional and only for classes in which professors require a physical clicker to be purchased from the Bookstore.

Submitting Assignments

Responding Moodle Forums

Your instructor may use discussion forums to continue a discussion from class or to start a new online discussion. Forums are discussion boards where you can post a response and reply to peers. There are different types of forums:

You may be asked to participate in an ongoing discussion where anyone can start a new topic and others can reply.
A forum may have only one topic, where you can post replies, but can't start new topic.
Forums may be used for private journals (where only you see your post), or for open journals (where you can read other students' posts but can only write on your own page).
When forums are assigned for group work, you may be able to read another group's discussion, but not post to that discussion.
Only instructors can post to the Announcements forum (previously News forum) for a course, and replies are not allowed.

To respond to a forum, locate the link on the course page. Click the name o the forum.

Depending on the type of forum, you will either click Add a new discussion topic or Reply to a post a response. Give your post a title and any desired attachments. Click Submit to post response.

Editing Your Forum Post

To embed media, change the alignment, or use other editing features, click Use advanced editor an additional options in the bottom right corner of the text box. From the advanced editor, you can set your forum subscription preferences, add attachments, use the HTML editor, and more.

Using the Editor Ribbon

Click arrow at the end of the editor ribbon to reveal the full toolbar.

Submit a Turnitin Assignment

Your instructor may require that you submit assignments using the plagiarism tool, Turninitin. If your instructor requires this, the assignment will be marked with the Turnitin logo. To submit your assignment:

Click on the name of the Turnitin assignment. The My Submissions page will open. ( You may be asked to accept the license agreement before proceeding.)
At the top of the page, you will find the Start date, Due date, Post date, and point total. The start date is the earliest date that you can submit work. The post date is the date at which your grade and any feedback will be made available. Below this box, you will find the Submission inbox.
In the Submission inbox, click the Submit Paper icon on the right.
In the Submit Paper dialog box:
- Select File Upload or Text Submission from the Submission type drop-down menu.
- Enter a name for your submission in the Submission Title field. This is usually the same as the title of your paper.
- Drag and drop your file to the blue arrow in the File to Submit field or click the Add button to locate and upload the file on your computer.
- Click the Add Submission button.
- A Digital Receipt will appear showing the Turnitin submission id and Submission abstract. You may want to print this receipt for your records.
- Click Close in the top right corner to return to the My Submissions page.

Some assignments may have multiple parts. You instructor may ask you to submit your original paper, provide you with feedback, and then ask you to submit it again for a final grade. If your assignment has multiple parts, each part will have it's own tab at the top of the My Submissions page.

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