Moodle offers different types of courses to accommodate various teaching and learning needs. These are the following types of educational courses in Moodle:
- Award courses
- Non-award courses for staff (aka SCAR courses)
- Non-award courses for students (aka NCAR courses)
- Standard sandpit courses
- Self-enrolment sandpit courses
This page describes each type, how to request it and how to add users.
Award courses
Award courses are the most commonly used course type in Moodle. These courses provide an online learning space and teaching resources to students who are officially enrolled in a program at UNSW.
To obtain an award course for your teaching term, contact the TELT Administrator for your school or faculty. TELT administrators can begin to create award courses for academics 2 months prior to UNSW’s Orientation Week.
Award Course Un-enrolments
Due to the changing nature of circumstances students may face, students may decide to change programs, drop/swap courses etc. Moodle has a specific way it handles users which have unenrolled from a course. As a result, should a student un enrol from a course, they will;
- Lose visibility of the course in their Moodle course listing
- Lose access to the Moodle course
Moodle will, however, retain a student's name/details in a Moodle course enrolment listing, however, it will appear greyed out. This is to ensure any previous course contributions aren't lost. This removes the risk of potential disruption in the ongoing learning & teaching within the course.
Furthermore, data is kept due to historical archiving and record keeping purposes.
Non-award courses
Non-award courses are divided into two subcategories - SCAR and NCAR which are intended for staff or students respectively. Typically, non-award courses are only intended to be used as training or informational courses such as ‘UITSEC’ or ‘ELISE’ and are not available for faculties, schools or departments.
Non-award courses for staff (SCAR)
SCAR courses (like OH&S) are created in the official PIMS system, before being created in Moodle overnight. The completion of these courses by staff result in their completion status being passed back to 'MyUNSW' for formal recognition.
SCAR courses are managed by the Capability and Development unit within UNSW HR.
These course types are generally not available to UNSW faculty/schools/departments to utilise for their own courses, due to interface restrictions and/or inability to support at scale.
Non-award courses for students (NCAR)
NCAR courses (like ELISE) are created in Learning Management via 'MyUNSW', before being created in Moodle overnight. The completion of these courses by students result in their completion status being passed back to 'MyUNSW' for formal recognition.
These course types are generally not available to UNSW faculty/schools/departments to utilise for their own courses, due to interface restrictions and/or inability to support at scale.
Sandpit courses
The main purpose of sandpit courses is to allow a space for staff to test Moodle's features without the fear of altering an existing award course. When a sandpit course is initially being created, staff can request additional participants to be added alongside the course.
Sandpit courses exist in Moodle alone, they do not exist in any official system of record, are not directly visible to UNSW auditing, and will not be backed up long-term. For this reason it makes them unsuitable for official activities due to the inability for UNSW to meet appropriate business policies, or to meet governing data retention restrictions covered by laws such as the NSW State Records Act.
It can be hard to determine what counts as an official activity that needs to be tracked. A general rule of thumb is that if the course is required to track staff grades, student grades, or activity completion, or could otherwise impact a staff member's/student's status at UNSW, it requires tracking in an official system such as MyUNSW. Hence these courses are not appropriate.
To submit a sandpit request form, visit our Sandpit course creation page.
Self-enrolment sandpits
As the name suggests, users can enrol themselves in these courses by entering a password (an 'enrolment key') upon receiving the course URL from the course owner. To create your own 'enrolment key', click 'Learn More' below.
In certain cases you may require a course in Moodle for activities that support education but are not directly related to a student's progression throughout their degree, or not directly related to a staff member's progression throughout their career. Such courses are usually set up as sandpit courses with self-enrolment keys.
Examples of such a scenario include sites with general support or training resources, or a site to organise social activities to build community.
What is a self-enrolment sandpit?
In certain cases you may require a course in Moodle for activities that support education but are not directly related to a student's progression throughout his/her degree, or not directly related to a staff member's progression throughout his/her career. Such courses are usually set up as sandpit courses with self-enrolment keys. As the name suggests, users enrol themselves in these courses by entering a password (an 'enrolment key') upon receiving the course URL from you.
Examples of such a scenario include sites with general support or training resources, or a site to organise social activities to build community.
When should a self-enrolment sandpit not be used?
Sandpit courses exist in Moodle alone, they do not exist in any official system of record, are not directly visible to UNSW auditing, and will not be backed up long-term. For this reason it makes them unsuitable for official activities due to the inability for UNSW to meet appropriate business policies, or to meet governing data retention restrictions covered by laws such as the NSW State Records Act.
It can be hard to determine what counts as an official activity that needs to be tracked. A general rule of thumb is that if the course is required to track staff grades, student grades, or activity completion, or could otherwise impact a staff member's/student's status at UNSW, it requires tracking in an official system such as 'MyUNSW'. Hence these courses are not appropriate.
How does self-enrolment work?
Typically you would specify two enrolment keys, one for the instructor and one for the students. For self-enrolment courses, an instructor is a user who can edit the course and add activities or resources. A student is a user who can participate in the course and access the course activities and resources.
You can create a self-enrolment sandpit course or request self-enrolment keys to an existing sandpit course by following instructions on the Sandpit Course Creation and Enrolment Key Request page. Requests will normally be processed within 5 business days.
For instructions on how to access a self-enrolment course using self-enrolment keys see Enrolling in a self-enrolment course.