Skip to Navigation | Skip to Content

Teaching & Learning: Moodle T&L

Moodle courses
There are three kinds of courses available to instructors in Moodle:
  • Master courses
  • Collaborative Master courses
  • semester courses
For example, an instructor who teaches NURS 141 will see three NURS-141 courses listed:

  • Master course NURS-141
  • Collaborative Master NURS-141
  • 11FA_NURS-141-D
Master courses

Instructors are provided with a Master courses (course shells) for every course they teach. Master courses are never deleted; therefore, we encourage instructors to build and develop their courses in these Master courses, then copy the material into individual semester courses.

(Note: There is not a dynamic connection between your Master and individual semester courses/sections. Copying your Master course into semester courses/sections is a manual process. Once you have copied your Master course into semester courses/sections, any new additions, deletions, changes will need to be made within each course/section.)

Collaborative Master courses

To encourage collaboration between colleagues, instructors are also provided access to the Collaborative Master course for any course with multiple sections and instructors. Master Collaborative courses can be used to develop courses and share content, then copied into individual semester courses/sections.

Semester courses

Semester courses are only available for the current semester. All semester courses are removed from Moodle three weeks after the last day of classes. If there is content in your semester course you would like to save, we encourage you to copy your course back into your Master course. You can also choose to backup (or archive) your courses. Courses are automatically generated/removed based on the schedule posted below. If you or your students temporarily need access to a course beyond the removal date, you may request a course extension using this online form. Only faculty may request course extensions.

Note: All semester courses become available to students three weeks before classes begin. If you don't want your students to see your course content, make sure to hide your content using the eye icon in the upper-right corner of each topic area or to the left of each content item. (Items shaded light gray are not available to students.)

Course generation schedule
Semester Courses available
to faculy
Courses available
to students
Course removal
(faculty & students)
Interim October 1 35 days prior to the first day of classes Three (3) weeks after the last day of classes
Spring November 1
May Interim March 1
Summer April 1
Fall May 1

See also: Faculty Technology Checklist