Making a course available to guests

Opening up a course to guests means anyone on the Internet can access the course without needing an account.  It is possible to set an optional password for guests. If there is content under copyright or sensitive information in the course, but guest sharing is turned on, make sure to set a password to prevent open access to the material.

Enable guest access

Go to the Participants Tab (under the course title)

Open

1. In the pulldown menu labeled Enrolled Users → select Enrollment Methods

2. If Guest access is not already listed, select Add Method → Guest Access.  

3. If Guest Access is listed but greyed out, enable it by clicking on the eye icon.

4. If you wish to set a password, click the gear icon and type in a password in the text box. Most people who turn on guest access set a password because the course may have fair use copyright materials or because they don't want anyone on the Internet seeing the contents of their course. 

You can now copy the URL of your course main page and share it with non-Swarthmore users.  It is also possible for non-Swarthmore users to browse through the course catalog in Moodle and find your course.  

Add a guest password

To add a password to guest access, go to the Participants Tab (under the course title)

• In the pulldown menu labeled Enrolled Users → select Enrollment Methods

• To the right of Guest Access → select Gear Icon, enter a password → Save.  

Instructions for Guest Users

Follow the instructions above to allow guest access and optionally set a password. Email a copy the URL of the course and the guest password to your visitor or write the password on the board in class and ask non-enrolled students to browse through the Moodle course catalog to find your course.

Disable Guest Access

To remove the ability for guests to access your course:

1. Go to the Participants Tab (under the course title)

2. In the pulldown menu labeled Enrolled Users → select Enrollment Methods

3. Click on the Trash Can icon on the Guest access row

Is Guest Access Enabled?

You can tell whether Guest Access is enabled by checking for the following:

1. On your Moodle course page, go to the Participants Tab (under the course title)

2. In the pulldown menu labeled Enrolled Users → select Enrollment Methods

If Guest Access is in the list of Enrollment methods and it is not grayed out (the Eye icon does not have a slash through it), Guest Access is enabled. 

If Guest Access is listed but the Eye Icon has a slash through it, Guest Access is disabled.

If Guest Access is not listed as an Enrollment method it is disabled

Password setting

Follow the instructions above to check on guest access status. Click the Edit button (gear icon) on the Guest Access row to see if a password is set. If the Password field has a series of dots, a password is set.