Moodle Administration Essentials

Learn how to set up, maintain, and support your Moodle site efficiently

About This Book

• Authorize and authenticate your Moodle site and learn about permissions and security
• Brand your Moodle site and manage users, roles, files, and courses
• Enhance your Moodle site to increase productivity

Who This Book Is For

If you are an experienced system administrator and know how to manage servers and set up web environments but now want to explore Moodle, this book is perfect for you. You’ll get to grips with the basics and learn to manage Moodle quickly, focusing on essential tasks. Having prior knowledge of virtual learning environments would be beneficial, but is not mandatory to make the most of this book.

What You Will Learn

• Manage user accounts, authenticate users, and control user permissions with roles
• Enhance your Moodle site with plugins such as activity modules, admin reports, admin tools, and more
• Brand your Moodle site with configured themes
• Set up the structure of your site using categories in Moodle
• Prepare your site for end-of-year rollover
• Install Moodle on a Linux Server
• Monitor the usage and performance of your Moodle site

In Detail

This book begins with a brief look at Moodle’s background and an examination of its architectural structure and LAMP architecture.

You’ll learn to create user accounts and understand the methods of authentication based on manual accounts and e-mail-based self-registrations. You’ll then develop the Moodle site structure and course set up, and discover how to edit it through a sample faculty site. Next, you’ll configure two of the standard themes in Moodle and apply them to organizational branding. You’ll also explore how plugins are configured and installed, and learn about backing up, resetting, and restoring Moodle courses.

Finally, you’ll learn Moodle’s security options, along with performance testing, and how to use the built-in Moodle performance testing script.

Table of Contents

Chapter 1: Moodle in a Nutshell
Chapter 2: Managing User Accounts and Authentication
Chapter 3: Managing Categories and Courses
Chapter 4: Managing Site Appearance
Chapter 5: Role Management
Chapter 6: Managing Site Plugins
Chapter 7: End of Year Course Rollover
Chapter 8: Miscellaneous Admin Tasks