Creating a New Course in Moodle
Please do not create new courses from scratch because they will not include the standard course structure and settings - copy the appropriate template instead. Contact IT Support if you need any assistance.
Copy the Template
Click "Home" in the top navigation.
Go to Courses > Other > Templates, then either "Prelims / Part A Template" or "Part B / C Template" as appropriate. For postgrad courses, which one you use will depend on whether they have intercollegiate classes or not.
Go to More > Course reuse, then click "Copy course".
Enter the course name and year - e.g. "Sample Course (2022-23)".
You must include the academic year because every course name in Moodle must be unique. Not doing so will cause problems with the annual rollover. It also makes it harder for people to find the correct version of a course.
Put the same name into the short name field.
Under "Course category", open the "Search" box and choose the right course and term category.
For "Course visibility", select "Hide" initially.
For "Course start date", put 01 September 20XX 00:00.
For "Course end date", put 31 August 20YY 23:59.
All courses should use the academic year start/end dates - the start of September to the end of August - not the specific course dates. If you set the dates incorrectly, the course may not be visible to students in My Courses or the MyOxford app, or it may still be shown as "In progress" after the academic year ends.
Leave "Include user data" set to "No".
Click "Copy and view".
Wait for the copy process to complete.
Enter Course Information
Click the Settings tab.
Expand the "Course information" section and fill in all fields that are relevant to the course.
Click "Save and display".
Set up Enrolment Methods
Click the Participants tab.
Click the "Enrolled users" heading/dropdown, then select "Enrolment methods".
If you want to allow students to self-enrol, click the "Enable" icon next to "Self enrolment (Student)". This is the case for most courses - the main exception is courses with restricted access, such as MCF.
If you want to prevent public access (e.g. for MCF courses), click the "Disable" icon next to "Guest access".
If you want to automatically sync students from a cohort, click Add method > Cohort sync, select the cohort and click "Add method". Note that it is not possible to remove/exclude individual students added via this method, so it should only be used for required courses.
Set up Lecture Recordings
You must do this before scheduling any recordings, else the recordings may be added to the wrong folder.
In the right sidebar, look for the "Panopto" block. If it says "This course has not yet been provisioned", click "Provision course".
Schedule the lecture recordings as normal.
Set up Reading Lists
See Setting up Reading Lists for details.
Set up Intercollegiate Classes (if applicable)
See Setting up Intercollegiate Classes and Setting up Class Sessions for details.
Change the Course Order
Go to the category that contains the course.
Click "Manage this category" in the right sidebar.
In the right column, drag-and-drop the course into the correct position.
Add Linked Courses
If the course spans multiple terms, or is available to any graduate courses, create the linked course(s) pointing to this one.
Add Course Materials
Get the lecturers to add the course materials.
Publish the Course
Click the "Settings" tab.
Change "Course visibility" to "Show".
Click "Save and display".