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Moodle Administration Essentials
Moodle Administration Essentials

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

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Moodle Administration Essentials

Chapter 2. Managing User Accounts and Authentication

Administrators can perform a wide range of tasks related to user accounts on the Moodle site. These tasks include creating users, editing users, defining cohorts (groups of users for help in enrolment process), and customizing the user profile with user pictures and extra fields.

In the first chapter, we looked at Moodle, the architecture, and the installation process. Once installed, the administrator needs to configure how users are added, edited, and managed within Moodle.

In this chapter, we deal with the essential areas of user account management that every administrator will have to deal with:

  • Add a new user
  • Upload users
  • User authentication
  • Tackle the common choices of user authentication:
    • Manual authentication
    • E-mail-based self-registration

Creating users

To create a user in Moodle:

  1. Log in as an administrator level user account.
  2. Access the user management options in the Administration block under Site administration | Users | Accounts.
  3. Click on Add a new user. This brings up the following page:
    Creating users
  4. To fill in the Username, use the person's first name and last name with no spaces and all in lowercase for the username.
  5. The username column must be all lowercase using letters, numbers, and any of the following characters: hyphen "-", underscore "_", period ".", or an at character "@".
  6. If you are creating an account for a user with external authentication, then select the relevant option for the Authentication method, otherwise leave the Authentication method to Manual Accounts.

    Tip

    External authentication is where Moodle connects to a different system, such as Microsoft Active Directory, to authenticate the users. There are a number of such systems supported by Moodle.

  7. Create a secure password...

Editing a user

A common task that administrators undertake is editing an existing user profile and changing details, such as their password or e-mail. The first step is to use the filters to search for the user that you want to edit.

Searching for a user account

  1. Navigate to Administration | Site-Administration | Users | Accounts | Browse list of users.
  2. Type the user's name or portion of their name into the User full name field:
    Searching for a user account
  3. Click on Add filter. This will display the list of users that have the text in their full name.
  4. To edit the user account, click on the cogwheel icon to the right-hand side of the user record. This brings up the user account editing page, as follows:
    Searching for a user account

Editing the user account

This process is the same for an administrator editing a user account and a user editing their own account with some exceptions not being available to the end user.

The administrator can change the username, authentication method, and password for a user, using the following options. Be sure to notify...

Uploading users

An administrator can bulk upload users in Moodle using a spreadsheet. This can be created in Excel, Open Office, or a similar application like Google Docs. In this section, we will refer to using Microsoft Excel.

Tip

The minimum information that is required as data in the spreadsheet includes the first name, last name, e-mail, username, and password. The password is not mandatory, and if you leave it blank, it will autogenerate the password and send an e-mail to the user immediately with their username and password.

Preparing the spreadsheet

To prepare your file for uploading perform the following:

  1. Open Microsoft Excel.
  2. Create five column names in the first row as the following—these should be lowercase and no spaces:
    • username
    • password
    • firstname
    • lastname
    • email
  3. Fill in the user details:
    Preparing the spreadsheet
  4. For the username, we suggest you use the first name and last name with no spaces, no special characters, and all lowercase or e-mail address in lowercase.
  5. If you are creating manual accounts, you...

User authentication

User authentication handles how a user profile logs into Moodle. Each user typically will have a username and password that they will enter into the login form.

When they submit the login form, Moodle determines if they are a user and how they should be authenticated as a valid user. To achieve this, every Moodle user account is designated an authentication type.

Authentication types

When a user attempts to log into Moodle, their authentication type will determine how Moodle authenticates their submitted data (their username and password).

The two most widely used authentication types are Manual accounts and e-mail-based self-registration, which will be described in more detail here.

The most commonly used authentication types are:

  • Internal
    • Manual accounts
    • E-mail-based self-registration
  • External
    • LDAP
    • External database
    • IMAP

In this section, we will just focus on the two internal authentication types.

How to enable authentication plugins

To configure the available authentication types...

Summary

In this chapter, we looked at the core administrator roles of user management in adding users, editing users, and bulk uploading users. We also looked at the most common user authentication types and how to configure them.

In the next chapter, we move beyond users into the site structure with categories and courses.

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Description

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 endofyear rollover
  • Install Moodle on a Linux Server
  • Monitor the usage and performance of your Moodle site
Estimated delivery fee Deliver to United States

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Publication date, Length, Edition, Language, ISBN-13
Publication date : Jul 23, 2015
Length: 156 pages
Edition : 1st
Language : English
ISBN-13 : 9781784395476
Vendor :
Moodle
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Product Details

Publication date : Jul 23, 2015
Length: 156 pages
Edition : 1st
Language : English
ISBN-13 : 9781784395476
Vendor :
Moodle
Tools :

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Table of Contents

9 Chapters
1. Moodle in a Nutshell Chevron down icon Chevron up icon
2. Managing User Accounts and Authentication Chevron down icon Chevron up icon
3. Managing Categories and Courses Chevron down icon Chevron up icon
4. Managing Site Appearance Chevron down icon Chevron up icon
5. Role Management Chevron down icon Chevron up icon
6. Managing Site Plugins Chevron down icon Chevron up icon
7. End of Year Course Rollover Chevron down icon Chevron up icon
8. Miscellaneous Admin Tasks Chevron down icon Chevron up icon
Index Chevron down icon Chevron up icon

Customer reviews

Rating distribution
Full star icon Full star icon Full star icon Half star icon Empty star icon 3.3
(4 Ratings)
5 star 25%
4 star 0%
3 star 50%
2 star 25%
1 star 0%
Donald Schwartz Aug 21, 2015
Full star icon Full star icon Full star icon Full star icon Full star icon 5
Full disclosure. I was a "technical reviewer" for this book.My function, as an experienced Moodle admin, was to verify the technical aspects of the book such as working URLs and correct directions within the current Moodle administrative menu trees.With that said, I want to say that I actually learned new processes I had not used in the past but do need in an upcoming project. I do not think that anyone uses 100% of a software, even software that I've been using for 12 years. I found the writing easy to follow, not too technical and the examples given are clearly stepped through. I highly recommend this book for the new Moodle admin.
Amazon Verified review Amazon
KSJ Jan 11, 2016
Full star icon Full star icon Full star icon Empty star icon Empty star icon 3
a little sparse and doesn't cover a lot of common tasks - like meta-courses, how to clear student records, etc. Good book but definitely not the final word or an extensive overview.
Amazon Verified review Amazon
Laura Apolo Nov 05, 2015
Full star icon Full star icon Full star icon Empty star icon Empty star icon 3
This is not a bad book but I was really disappointed with this purchase. The book is far too expensive for the basic information it offers, most of which is easily found in the same level of detail on moodledocs. If it's your first time administrating Moodle, I think you may want more detailed info about the many features than this book gives. If, however you are looking for a simple quick reference guide that is light, easy reading, this may be the right one for you.
Amazon Verified review Amazon
Michael E. Gilbertson Jun 06, 2019
Full star icon Full star icon Empty star icon Empty star icon Empty star icon 2
This book is far to advanced for what I needed. I was looking for simple explanations for how to set up Moodle. Perhaps someone with more experience would find it useful, but it was too daunting for the likes of me.
Amazon Verified review Amazon
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