Applicable products: CertMaster Learn
Note: The following requires that you have an LMS integration with CompTIA already configured in your Moodle instance. If you are interested in setting this up, please contact your Sales representative, who can get you in touch with our integration team. For more info on the configuration process, see our other articles on configuring our products in Moodle.
KNOWN ISSUE – The ‘Study Tasks’ category of the content selector currently has a bug where items selected from it will not return grades to the LMS. We recommend you select items from the other categories. All content found in the Study Tasks category can be found in other categories; it’s simply a re-arrangement of the items by Lesson.
Note: The locations of buttons/menus mentioned in this article are based on the default Moodle user interface. As Moodle is highly customizeable, it’s possible that the instructions here may not reflect what you see if you have a custom theme or user interface. That said, customization almost always simply moves things around, rather than removing them completely; if you’re having trouble finding a given button or menu, reach out to your Moodle host or developer.
Adding CertMaster Learn content to your Moodle course
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In your Moodle course, click the Turn editing on button in the top right.
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Scroll to (or create) the topic you want to place CertMaster Learn content in.
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Click + Add an activity or resource at the bottom right of the topic to open the Activity Chooser.
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Find and select the desired CertMaster Learn tool in the All or Activites tabs, or search for it using the Search bar at the top.
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The tool name can be set to anything your LMS Admin wants, but if you followed our recommended configuration, it will be called ‘CertMaster Learn for <Certification Name>’
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If you cannot find the tool in the Activity Chooser, your LMS Admin may have chosen to not show it there. In this case, select External tool from the Activity Chooser, and in the dialogue that appears, select the desired tool from the Preconfigured tool dropdown second from the top.
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In the External tool dialogue that appears, leave the Activity Name blank, and click the Select content button near the top. After a few seconds, the content selector will appear.
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Check the boxes next to as many items as you wish to add to the module, then click the blue Submit button at the bottom of the content selector.
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Do not select items from the ‘Study Tasks’ category of the content selector. See the Known Issue Warning at the top of this article.
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Version note: Selecting multiple items from the content selector simultaneously is only available in Moodle version 3.10 or above. If you are on 3.9, you will need to add a single item at a time, and repeat steps 3-6 for each item you wish to add.
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Moodle will process the selected items automatically and show you a confirmation screen: ungraded items (like Lessons) will be processed into direct LTI links, and graded items (from the Practice Questions, Performance-Based Questions, or Assessments categories) will be processed into graded Moodle activities with a corresponding column in the Moodle course gradebook. Graded items default to 100 points, but the point value can be edited after the items are added to the course.
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Click Save and return to course and your selected items should now appear under the desired Topic.
Functionality and Tips
What should I use in my course?
The short answer is: Anything you want! However, being greeted by a list of many reading pages the first time you open the content selector can be a bit overwhelming. We recommend one of the following two structures.
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Create a Canvas Module for each Lesson in CertMaster Learn – this method is good for holding the student’s hand and making sure they go through the items in the order you intend. Create a module for each Lesson in the course, and in each module, use Method 1 above to add:
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Lessons (readings): Use just the first item in each Lesson, and students can continue reading from there. If you wish to be slightly more granular, you can link the first item in each Topic instead. These will not pass back grades or completion to the LMS.
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Practice Questions: In the Practice Questions section, you’ll find one question set for each Lesson, which is a set of 10-20 multiple choice questions. These will pass grades back, and so can be used as graded quizzes, or simply as ungraded review material.
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Performance-based Questions (PBQs): The number in the title of each PBQ is the Lesson it’s associated with. Not every Lesson has a corresponding PBQ, and some have multiple, but most Lessons have at least one. These are alternate question types, like drop-downs, drag-and-match, etc., and pass grades back to the LMS. Place a link and try one out if you’d like to see for yourself!
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Assessments: For each course, there is a single final assessment meant to mirror the certification exam. These have around 90 questions, which are a mix of multiple choice and PBQs. These do pass grades back to the LMS.
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(Optionally, CertMaster Labs: If you’re also utilizing our CertMaster Labs product, you can link these practical experiences to give your students practice in an actual Windows or Linux environment. There is documentation available for where to place each Lab within each CertMaster Learn lesson; just ask your CompTIA rep!)
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Single Entry Point – Students enter CertMaster Learn through a single integration link to the CertMaster Learn landing page, and grades pass back via student-invisible Moodle Assignments. This will use the CertMaster Learn platform to provide the structure and ordering of the course, while still allowing you to monitor assignment progress through the Moodle gradebook.
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Add all graded assets to a Moodle Topic. This will create the gradebook endpoints and allow grades to flow from CertMaster Learn to Moodle. You can then click ‘Edit’ → ‘Hide topic' to keep the individual items hidden from students, while leaving the gradebook endpoints intact.
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Speak with your integration specialist about creating an integration link to the Landing Page for the course. The Landing Page isn’t a selectable item in the content selector, but you can still access it via the integration by putting the URL in manually.
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Assignment and Grade Services (AGS) Functionality
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Our tools utilize LTI 1.3’s Advantage Services – specifically Deep Linking and Assignment and Grade Services (AGS) – to allow grades to automatically pass from our platform to the LMS gradebook as they’re completed. See our article LMS Integration: Assignment and Grade Services (AGS) for Technical Requirements, Frequently Asked Questions, and other information on this process.
Other Tips
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Other CertMaster Learn functionality from the native platform (like the Boost Dashboard and Group Reporting) is still available to integration customers.
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You can navigate the content selector more easily by clicking the blue header bars to expand or contract the sections you’re interested in.
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Though they don’t appear in the content selector, you can also create links to other CertMaster Learn assets, like the Learning Plan page, Flashcard games, or the Boost Dashboard for Instructors. For more info on this, reach out to your CompTIA integration specialist.
For more assistance, see the screenshots below.
Step 3. Select + Add an activty or resource. Clicking the highlighted one in the screenshot will add the selected content to the Moodle topic 'Demo Topic'.
Step 4. The Moodle Activity Chooser. You can search for ‘CertMaster’ at the top and then select the desired tool directly (such as ‘CertMaster Learn for A+’), or select ‘External tool’ and then pick the specific tool from the ‘Preconfigured Tool’ dropdown in the dialogue that appears.
Step 6. Expand the desired sections (except ‘Study Tasks’), check off as many boxes as you like, and click Submit. Click ‘Save and return to course’ on the confirmation screen that appears.
