Instructors & Facilitators

What is an "Ad Hoc Community Course"?

Ad Hoc courses in Moodle allow non-credit courses, online trainings, collaborative groups, and other course-like activities to be hosted on umass.moonami.com if they are not officially listed as classes in SPIRE.

Ad Hoc courses are best suited for activities that involve an instructional goal (such as trainings) or activities that involve a facilitator (teacher) and participants (students) engaging in online discussions or submissions. Some collaborative activities will work in Moodle.  Others may be better hosted in Google Apps or on a wiki. Contact the Instructional Media Lab if you would like to discuss options.

How do my students/participants get enrolled in my Ad Hoc course?

If the only people who need to access this course are the instructors/facilitators listed in the request form, they will be added to the course as part of the initial setup. If there are additional students or participants with a student-level role (not teachers or facilitators), you (or the "teacher") will enroll them using the Tracker feature in SPIRE. If you are not familiar with this tool, we are happy to send instructions or give you a demonstration. This is a manual person-by-person enrollment process.

How long will my course be available on Moodle?

The current lifespan of an Ad Hoc course on Moodle is one year. We will review the Ad Hoc courses each year to ensure that they are active and effective. It is possible to request that an Ad Hoc course be available for longer.

How do I request an Ad Hoc course on moodle.umass.edu?

Please complete the Moodle Ad Hoc Community Course request form.
 

Students & Participants

How do I get enrolled in an Ad Hoc course?

Enrollment is not automated as it is with for-credit courses on Moodle. Your instructor or facilitator will need to enroll you.

Once you are enrolled in a course, you will see a link to the course in the My Courses block after you log in to Moodle with your NetID.

How long will this course run?

Ad Hoc courses are not semester-based. Access will end according to the instructor/facilitator of the course, or when your NetID expires (should you leave the University).