Adding Units and Enrolling Students

FOR LECTURERS, SCHOOL ADMINISTRATORS AND PROGRAMME LEADERS · lms.tangaza.ac.ke

Creating your units, opening enrolment and managing your class list. ℹ️  New here? The first time, work top to bottom — create the unit, let students in, then keep the class list clean. After that, use the list below to find what you need. Tangaza University runs a single Learning Management System at lms.tangaza.ac.ke. Every taught unit is a separate course on that system, with its own materials, activities and participant list. Lecturers, school administrators and programme leaders may all create units. This guide covers creating a unit, letting students in, and keeping the class list clean.

---

In this guide 📖  The words used here 📘  Part 1 - Creating a unit 🧱 Part 2 - Building the unit 🔑  Part 3 - Letting students in 👥  Part 4 - Managing your class list ✅  Start-of-semester checklist 🛠  If something goes wrong 💬  Support and training

📖  The words used here

Term	Meaning
Unit	A course on the LMS. One taught unit, one course.
Category	The folder a unit sits in School, then programme, then academic year.
Enrolment method	How people get into a unit: you add them (manual), they add themselves (self enrolment), or a whole intake is synchronised in (cohort sync).
Enrolment key	A short password a student types once, at the moment of joining, to prove they belong in that class.
Role	What a person may do inside the unit: Lecturer or Student.

📘  Part 1  ·  Creating a unit

Create the unit once, at the start of the semester, and reuse it in later intakes by copying it rather than building it again.

1.1 Create it

1. Sign in at lms.tangaza.ac.ke using the Google sign-in button and your Tangaza staff account. Google is the only login route there is no separate LMS password.
2. Click Institutes in the top menu, open your Institute, then open the sub-category (Bachelors, Masters, Diploma or PHD) your unit belongs to. There is no gear or Site administration button for lecturers - going in through Institutes is your route to creating a unit.
3. Confirm you are in the right category (Undergraduate, Diploma, Certificate etc.). Get this right: it decides where students will look for the unit and which colleagues can help manage it.
4. At the bottom of that category’s course list, click Create a new course. If that button is not showing, use one of the three methods in the box just below - they all open the same New course form.
5. Enter the Course full name: the unit title as it appears in the programme document, for example Foundations of Peacebuilding.
6. Enter the Course short name: the unit code, for example ISTP 701. This must be unique across the whole University, so add the intake where a code repeats: ISTP 701 2026S1.
7. Set the Course start date to the first teaching day and the Course end date to the last. In weekly format the start date drives the week numbering, so a wrong date shifts your whole outline.
8. Choose the Course format: Weekly if you teach to a fixed timetable, Topics if you organize by theme or module.
9. Leave Course visibility set to Hide while you build the unit.
10. Click Save and display.
11. On the screen that follows, add yourself as Lecturer, together with any co-lecturer or teaching assistant.

Three ways to open the New course form — use whichever fits your access. Whichever you use, once the form opens, fill in the details in the steps below.

1. Via Site administration (if you have admin access). Go to lms.tangaza.ac.ke/admin/search.php, then Courses → Manage courses and categories → click your category → Create new course.
2. Direct link (any lecturer, instant). Open lms.tangaza.ac.ke/course/edit.php?category=ID in your browser, replacing ID with your programme category’s number (ICT can give you yours). This drops you straight onto the New course form.
3. Request a course (goes to ICT for approval). Open lms.tangaza.ac.ke/course/request.php, enter the unit’s full name, short name and category, then submit. ICT or your Institute Administrator approves it and the unit is created for you.

1.2 Naming conventions

Please follow these. They are what make units findable and sortable for everyone.

• Short name = the unit code in capitals with a single space: ISTP 701, BUS 204.
• Full name = Course name should contain: CourseCode|CourseFullname|CoursePeriod.
• E.g. TDCT1104 Fundamentals of Coding 2025-2026A

1.3 Add your colleagues

Anyone who will teach, upload or mark in the unit must be enrolled in it with a teaching role.

1. Open the unit and go to Participants.
2. Click Enrol users.
3. Type the surname or staff email address and select the person.
4. Choose Lecturer for a colleague who will teach, edit content and grade.
5. Click Enrol selected users and cohorts.

You cannot add yourself as a lecturer to a unit. That is deliberate. If you have inherited a unit from a colleague, ask the institute admin to enrol you.

🧱 Part 2 · Building the unit

Do this while the unit is still set to Hide. Students see nothing until Part 3.

2.1 Turn on Edit mode

1. Open the unit from My Courses.
2. Switch on Edit mode using the toggle at the bottom left of the page.

Nothing can be added or moved until this is on. Turn it off when you have finished so you see the unit as students do.

2.2 Name your sections

In weekly format the sections are dated automatically from your course start date. In topics format they are headings you name yourself.

Name them before you start adding. Click the pencil icon beside Topic 1 and give it something meaningful - Conflict Analysis, not Topic 1. A unit with named sections is navigable; one with fifteen numbered topics is not.

2.3 Prepare your files first

Rename files properly on your computer before uploading. If you drag several in at once, Moodle names each resource after the filename, and ISTP701lec3finalFINAL.pptx becomes what students see.

Keep files small. A student on a phone with limited data may never open a 40 MB PowerPoint. Export slides to PDF where you can.

2.4 Add a single file

1. With Edit mode on, click Add an activity or resource at the bottom of the section.
2. Choose File.
3. Drag your document into the Select files box, or click the file-picker icon and choose Upload a file. Wait for the thumbnail before continuing.
4. Enter the Name. This is the link students click, so make it descriptive: Week 3 - Conflict Analysis Frameworks.
5. Use Description for anything they need before opening it - the reading it accompanies, or what to prepare. Tick Display description on course page if it should show without clicking through.
6. Click Save and return to course.

2.5 Choose the right type

Use	When
File	A single document: slides, PDF notes, a worksheet
Folder	Several files that belong together, such as one week's readings
Page	Notes typed straight into Moodle - no download, opens instantly on a phone
URL	A link to something hosted elsewhere, including Google Drive or a video
Book	Longer notes split into chapters with their own contents menu

Prefer Page over File for anything short. It opens instantly, works on any phone, and you can edit it without re-uploading.

Use Folder rather than fifteen separate files in one week. Students get one link that expands instead of an outline they have to scroll past.

2.6 Add several files at once

With Edit mode on, drag files straight from your desktop onto a section. Moodle creates a File resource for each, named after the filename — so either name the files properly first, or rename each resource afterwards.

2.7 Hide material until you are ready

Every item has its own visibility, separate from the unit's.

1. Open the item's Edit settings.
2. Under Common module settings, set Availability:
   • Show on course page - students can see and open it.
   • Make available but don't show on course page - reachable only by direct link.
   • Hide from students - you see it, they do not.

Remember to reveal it. A hidden item looks perfectly normal to you.

2.8 Release material by date

If you would rather not remember to unhide things:

1. Open the item's Edit settings and expand Restrict access.
2. Click Add restriction → Date.
3. Set from the date the material should appear.
4. Click the eye icon beside the restriction to hide the item entirely until then, rather than showing it greyed out.

2.9 Naming your materials

The same discipline as unit names, for the same reason — a unit is navigable in week nine or it is not.

• Lead with the week or theme: Week 3 - Conflict Analysis Frameworks.
• Say what the item is where it is not obvious: Reading, Slides, Worksheet.
• Never leave a filename as the name.
• Never put the file format in the name. Moodle shows that already.

🔑  Part 3  ·  Letting students in

A unit is invisible to students until two separate things are true: the unit is set to Show, and an enrolment method is open. Doing only one of the two is the single most common reason students report that they cannot get in.

3.1 Publish the unit

1. In the unit, go to Settings.
2. Set Course visibility to Show.
3. Save and display.

3.2 Decide how students will join

Method	Use it when	Effort
Self enrolment with a key	Normal taught units. You keep control of who joins by controlling the key.	Set once, announce the key in class
Manual enrolment	Adding a lecturer	You add each person
Cohort sync	A whole registered intake that should be added and removed together.	Ask ICT to set up the cohort

3.3 Open self enrolment

1. Open the unit and go to Participants.
2. At the top of the page there is a dropdown reading Enrolled users. Change it to Enrolment methods.
3. If Self enrolment (Student) is listed but greyed out, click the eye icon to activate it, then the gear icon to edit it.
4. If it is not listed at all, choose Self enrolment from the Add method dropdown.
5. Set Allow new enrolments to Yes.
6. Set Default assigned role to Student. Never anything else.
7. Set or clear the enrolment key as described below.
8. Click Save changes.

3.4 Self Enrolment with a key (recommended)

1. In the self enrolment settings, click into the Enrolment key field and type your key.
2. Click the eye icon beside the field to reveal what you typed and check it.
3. Save changes.
4. Announce the key in the first class and put it on your unit notice or WhatsApp group.

Choosing a good key:

• Easy to say aloud and to type on a phone.
• Unit code plus intake works well: ISTP701-Sep26.
• Change it every intake. If you do not, last year’s class can still let people in.
• Never use one of your own passwords as an enrolment key.

Understand what this does: any person with an LMS account can now join without asking anyone. That is fine for an induction unit. For a unit that carries marks, either use a key or close enrolment once the add-drop period ends.

3.5 Group enrolment keys

If your unit has tutorial groups or streams, a group key sorts students into the right group at the moment they join, so you do not have to move anyone by hand.

1. Create the groups first: Participants → Groups → Create group.
2. Open each group, put a different Enrolment key in its settings, and save.
3. Go to Participants → Enrolment methods → Self enrolment (gear icon).
4. Set Use group enrolment keys to Yes.
5. Make sure the method’s own Enrolment key field also has a key in it. This is the master key, and group keys will not work without it.
6. Save changes, then give each group its own key.

A student who types the master key joins the unit but no group. A student who types a group key joins the unit and that group.

3.6 Close enrolment after add-drop

1. Participants → Enrolment methods → Self enrolment (gear icon).
2. Set Allow new enrolments to No, or put an End date two weeks into the semester.
3. Leave Allow existing enrolments as Yes so your current class is not affected.
4. Save changes.

Do not close a unit by deleting the key. Clearing the key field does the opposite of what you intend — it opens the unit to the entire University.

👥  Part 4  ·  Managing your class list

4.1 See who is in

Participants shows everyone in the unit, their role, the method that brought them in, when they joined and when they last accessed the unit. Use the filters at the top to show only students, only a group, or only people enrolled by a particular method.

4.2 Remove or suspend someone

You want to	Do this	Effect
Remove a student who joined the wrong unit	Participants → the bin icon on their row	They lose access. Their submissions and marks are removed with them.
Stop access without losing the record	Participants → edit icon on their row → set Status to Suspended	They cannot enter, but everything they submitted is kept.
Remove everyone who self enrolled	Enrolment methods → Self enrolment → delete the method	Use with great care. This removes all their work as well.

4.3 Reusing a unit next intake

Do not build the unit again. Ask ICT to copy the previous unit, or use Course reuse → Import to bring last intake’s materials into a new empty unit. Then change the dates, change the enrolment key, and check that no student from the previous intake has come across.

✅  Start-of-semester checklist

#	Check
1	Unit exists in the correct School → programme → year category
2	Short name carries the unit code and the intake
3	Start and end dates match the teaching calendar
4	You and any co-lecturer are enrolled with a teaching role
5	Course visibility is set to Show
6	Self enrolment is active and Allow new enrolments is Yes
7	A new enrolment key has been set for this intake
8	Default assigned role is Student
9	The key has been announced to the class
10	Enrolment is closed again once add-drop ends

🛠  If something goes wrong

Students report	Cause	Fix
They cannot see the unit at all	Course visibility is Hide, or the category is hidden	Settings → Course visibility → Show. If it is still missing, the category is hidden — ICT.
No Enrol me panel on the unit	Self enrolment is disabled or missing	Participants → Enrolment methods → activate or add Self enrolment.
The key is refused	Wrong capitals, a trailing space, or an old key	Reveal the key with the eye icon and re-issue it. Ask them to type rather than paste.
Group keys do nothing	No master key on the method itself	Put a key in the self enrolment method as well as in each group.
Students from other programmes have joined	The key field was left blank	Set a key, then remove those who should not be there.
A change you made had no effect	Pages are cached	Sign out and in again. If it persists, ask ICT to purge caches.
A student sees an empty account with no units	They signed in with a personal Gmail rather than their university Google account	Have them sign out completely and sign in again with their tangaza.ac.ke address.
You cannot find a colleague when enrolling them	They have never signed in, so no account exists yet	Ask them to sign in once with Google, then enrol them.

💬  Support and training

LMS support and staff training are provided by the Institute Administrator in your respective department. Contact them for:

• Course creation rights in your School or programme category
• Copying a unit from a previous intake
• Setting up cohort sync for a whole registered intake
• Bulk enrolment from a spreadsheet
• One-to-one or departmental training on the LMS
• Google sign-in and account problems for staff or students

Accounts are created by Google sign-in. A colleague or student who has never signed in does not yet exist on the LMS and cannot be enrolled. Ask them to sign in once, then add them.

Enrolment keys are yours to set and issue. ICT does not hold them and cannot give them to students.