Student Guide to Moodle

Updated and expanded guide to everything Moodle at SOU!

Navigating Your Course

To open a course, click on its name. In the course information area at the top of the page, you will likely see an Announcements link, the course syllabus and other materials posted by your instructor. The sections below will contain links for activities and resources that you will need to access throughout the term.

In the navigation panel on the left, you'll find links to course utilities such as a course participant list, your grades and your dashboard, as well as links to your current courses. On the right side of the page (or at the bottom, depending on your screen view) you may find course tool blocks such as course Activities, Quickmail and Calendar. The Activities block offers quick links to all of the activities and resources posted in your course. With the Quickmail block, you can send email to your instructor or classmates (all messages go to SOU email accounts). Your course may also include blocks for a course calendar, SOU Resources, upcoming events, recent announcements, etc.

At the top of the page, in the left corner, you'll find an icon with three lines that Moodle calls a "hamburger." Click on the hamburger to collapse the left column; click on it again to view the left column again.

A so-called "breadcrumb trail" appears just below the quick links near the top of the Moodle page. Each time you open a new page, a link to the previous page appears on this trail.

  • Click on "Home" to return to your Moodle home page (where you land after you log in).
  • Click on the course name to return to the course home page (where you land when you first open the course).

Screenshot of course page with key points highlighted