Setting Up Intercollegiate Classes in Moodle
Go to the Courses site and make sure you are logged in - click "Log in with SSO" in the top right corner if not.
Navigate to the course - e.g. using the list on the homepage.
Under "Intercollegiate Classes", click "Class Signup".
Click the "Administration" tab, then "Administrate groups", then "All" (if they are not already selected) to see the existing groups.
Adding Classes
Initial Allocation
If there are no classes set up yet...
Click "Create Groups".
Leave Mode set to the default value "Define number of groups N".
Set Number of groups N to the number of classes you want to create.
Click the "Create groups" button.
Check the preview is correct and click "Continue" to confirm.
Click "Administrate Groups", then edit each group in turn (cog/settings icon), set the description (e.g. tutor name + class schedule) and save it.
(Note: You will also need to set up the individual class sessions for attendance tracking.)
Adding Extra Classes
If there are already some classes set up, we need to use a slightly different method to avoid conflicting class numbers.
Click "Create Groups".
Change Mode to "Create groups with numbers from an interval".
Set From, to & digits in group names to (respectively):
- The starting number (e.g. if classes 1, 2 and 3 already exist, set this to "4")
- The ending number (e.g. "5")
- Minimum digits should always be "1"
Click the "Create groups" button.
Check the preview is correct and click "Continue" to confirm.
Click "Administrate Groups", then edit each group in turn (cog/settings icon), set the description (e.g. tutor name + class schedule) and save it.
Importing Existing Groups
This is not recommended.
If any groups are created directly in Moodle > Participants > Groups, instead of using the process above, they will not be added to the Class Signup module automatically. Instead, they will appear as Inactive groups.
Navigate to the "Administrate groups" tab, as described above, and click the grey icon in the "Status" column to make the group active (available for registration). Alternatively, you can tick multiple groups, select "Activate" from the dropdown menu and click "Start" to activate them all at once. This will import them into the Class Signup module.
Important: If any Participants were added to the group before this was completed, they will not be counted towards the class size limits, and they will be displayed in the Class Signup > Participants list with "?" status instead of " ". You must go to the Course > Participants list, remove them from the group and then re-add them again to get everything back in sync.
Setting the Registration Start/End Dates
The registration start/end dates/times are displayed at the top of the page. This is the period when students can sign up for classes and move between classes (details here). To change the dates:
- Click the "Settings" tab (just below the page title)
- Under "Availability", change the start/end dates
- Click "Save and display"
Changing Class Sizes
To change the default class size for a course:
- Click the "Settings" tab (just below the page title)
- Under "Instance settings", change "Group size" to the new default size
- Click "Save and display"
Note: The number of registered participants includes the class tutor and/or TA - so it will typically need to be 14 rather than 12.
To override the size of an individual class:
- Click the pencil icon in the "Size" column
- Type the new class size
- Press Enter to save the changes
To reset the size of a class back to the default:
- Click the pencil icon in the "Size" column
- Backspace the existing size so the field is blank
- Press Enter to save the changes
Removing Classes
The number of classes may vary between years, making it necessary to remove some of the classes.
Click the "Delete" icon, then "Yes" to confirm. This will delete it from Class Signup, and also delete the underlying Moodle group.
If the class is needed again, you can recreate it by following the instructions above ("Adding Extra Classes").
Warning: We do not recommend making classes (groups) inactive - this only deactivates new signups, not the group itself. In addition, the Class Signup group may then get out of sync with the underlying Moodle group (as noted in Importing Existing Groups). If not spotted and corrected before the group is reactivated, this could allow too many students to sign up to the same class.