Wilmette Institute

Additional assistance with Moodle is available from the Office of Student Services. If you feel you need extra help, contact us by email: learn@wilmetteinstitute.org, or book a conference call with the Registrar during open office hours: Calendly Booking Page.

For help with Zoom, see: “Joining a Zoom Meeting.”

Moodle is the name of the software used by the Wilmette Institute to create its online learning platform. Here you will learn how to use some of Moodle’s basic features. Any software looks complicated and difficult the first time you use it, but if you become familiar with it, step by step, it can be a powerful and flexible way to learn and to express your learning.

Logging in to Your Course, and Navigating in Moodle

You should have access to your course at least a day before it starts. First-time learners can practice logging in after receiving their login instructions. As updates may be made to the course content, we recommend that you not download any readings or undertake any assignments (except for the self-study Orientation module) more than 24 hours before the course begins. Please do NOT post anything to the website until the course has begun. You will receive a “welcome to the course” message announcing its launch.

The following video tutorials will be helpful to you if you have never taken a Wilmette Institute course, or if your last course ended more than 2 years ago. You can also read or download a printable Fir st-Timers Guide containing a simplified version of the contents of the first three videos below.

1. How to Log In and Out (video, 7 minutes)

2. How to Create or Update Your Profile in Moodle (video, 5 minutes)

3. How to Post in the Forums (video, 11 minutes)

4. Forum audio and video posting (video, 3 minutes)

Creating Your Personal Learning Plan

At the beginning of some courses, you are asked to create a Personal Learning Plan or PLP. Your PLP can be very simple, and is also very important because it defines what you will actually do as an outcome of the course: whether you will create a presentation, host a devotional, undertake an artistic project, a research paper, or something else. It also helps your mentor to advise you. Please view or download this document for more details: How to Create Your Personal Learning Plan.

Tips for Making the Most out of Moodle

The Moodle course management platform is constantly being updated. If you have questions, the answer may well be on our Moodle FAQs page. Below are a few additional tips and resources to assist you. If you have a question that is not answered here, or on Moodle FAQs, please email us at learn@wilmetteinstitute.org.