Moodle: Course Sites and Enrollments

Overview 

Carleton pre-populates courses and enrollments into Moodle so that instructors do not have to. However, any additional participants require other types of enrollment. In this article, read about course sites and enrollment types 

Courses 

Moodle course sites should be automatically generated on your Moodle Dashboard a few weeks before the term starts. These course sites start out hidden from students, but not from instructors. 

Multiple Course Sections 

When teaching two or more sections of the same course, an additional course site is created called a Metacourse. Enrollments from each section are automatically populated into the course. Additionally, groups are created for each section, allowing you to send an announcement or make an assignment for only one section 

Ex: An instructor is teaching 2 sections of Japanese 101 (japn101.01 and japn101.02). Three course sites are created: japn101-01-f23, japn101-02-f23 and japn101-f23 (Name). The course with the instructor’s name is the Metacourse.  

Requesting an Additional Moodle Site 

Not seeing your courses on your Moodle dashboard? Submit a Moodle Support ticket. 

Enrollment Types 

If you would like to add others to your course site, you can do so by going to the Participants list for your course.   

Automatic Enrollment 

Students and teachers are automatically enrolled into courses through ENROLL. Enrollment will usually appear in Moodle 3-5 hours after official enrollments are done through ENROLL or entered by the Registrar/ 

Manual Enrollment 

We do not automatically add any people other than enrolled students and the teacher of record. A participant with the Teacher role can add others (e.g. TAs, Graders, Writing Assistants, and R&I Librarians) to their course site with manual enrollment. Here’s how: 

1. From the course page, click the Participants tab 
2. Click the Enroll users button 
3. In the Search box next to Select Users, type the participant’s email address  
   • Repeat this step if adding more than 1 participant with the same role 
4. Use the Assign roles drop-down to pick a role 
   • Find out more about Roles and Permissions 
5. Click the Enroll selected users and cohorts button when finished 

Import Enrolls (Bulk Enrollment)

If you have a large number of students that need to be manually enrolled, you can do so by uploading a file with the students’ information.

In a spreadsheet (Google sheets or Microsoft Excel),

1. In a column, list either students’ email addresses, usernames, or ID numbers
2. Optionally, list which group each student belongs to in a second column
3. Export the spreadsheet as a Comma Separated Values (.csv) or Text (.txt) file

In Moodle:

1. Go to the Participants page
2. On the Enrolled users dropdown menu, select Import Enrolls
3. Make sure the following settings are checked:
   1. User field: Username, Email, or ID Number (depending on which one you listed in your spreadsheet)
   2. Role: Student
4. If you are assigning students to groups:
   3. Assign to group: Yes
   4. User group: Use file data
   5. Create groups: Yes
5. Select your file and click Import

Self-enrollment 

If self-enrollment is enabled, users can sign up for a course themselves with a link to the course. 

To enable self-enrollment: 

1. Click the Participants tab on the top of the course page 
2. Click the Enrolled users dropdown menu and select Enrollment methods 
3. Click the eye icon in the grayed-out Self-enrollment (student) row 
   • If you don’t see this row, click Add method > Self-enrollment at the bottom of the screen. Then, click Add method at the bottom of the page that opens 

Managing Enrollments 

To manage your current enrollments, click the Participants tab on the top of the course page. Scroll down to see all enrolled participants in your course. You can edit these enrollments with the following options: 

• Roles: click the pencil icon () in the Roles column to change their role and save with the floppy disk icon () 
  • Be sure participants have ONLY 1 role 
• Groups: click the pencil icon () in the Groups column to change their group(s) membership and save with the floppy disk icon () 
  • This method is for existing groups. To create new groups, read the Moodle: Groups and Groupings article 
• Status 
  • Gear: Adjust enrollment settings (ex: status, timeframe, duration) 
  • Trash can: Unenroll the participant 

Additional Enrollment Resources 

For more information about enrollment, please refer to the resources below: 

• Moodle: Roles and Permissions 
• Moodle: Adding Non @carleton.edu participants 
• Moodle: Linking to a Metacourse 
• Moodle: Groups and Groupings 

Questions? 

If you need further assistance or have specific questions that aren't covered in this article, please don't hesitate to reach out for personalized support by submitting a Moodle Support ticket. 

Acknowledgement  

Created by Carly Born, 8/17/22. Last modified by Fiona Ibrahim ‘25, 10/23/24.