December 15, 2021, by Helen Whitehead

Advent Calendar #15: Adding your profile picture to Moodle

Santa headAs with all social networks and communities, having a picture associated with your profile gives you an immediate identity and oils the wheels of interaction. If you interact with a lecturer or student you didn’t know before, you have a chance of recognizing them in the corridor, coffee room, lecture hall or Teams meeting. If you are learning mostly online, it may be a quick way to get a feel for the people you are talking to.

So what kind of picture is best?  It could be a regularly changing current picture of yourself, as often happens on Facebook, or it could be a static picture of yourself (a strategy I often use, with a photo that’s taken when I was slightly younger…) If you prefer not to add a photograph of yourself, why not a custom logo or image that represents who you are?

Don’t use photos:

  • of yourself in learning-inappropriate poses: a bit worse for wear with a cocktail glass may be OK on Facebook but probably isn’t the image you want to project on Moodle
  • which include other people
  • in which you are a long way away (e.g., a holiday pic halfway up a mountain) – the profile pic is displayed very small in Moodle forums and on profile pages, even if the one you upload is larger
  • of your pet!

Do use:

  • a smallish version of a photo – 250 x 250 pixels and less than 200 KB is perfectly acceptable  (There are a number of picture resizing websites or apps that you can use to shrink it down.)
  • a good full face centred large in the middle of the picture
  • a picture in which you’re smiling (studies have shown people are 40% more likely to listen to you / click on your contributions if your profile pic is smiling)

Screenshot of uploading profile picture in MoodleHow to add a profile picture to Moodle

  1. Log into Moodle and on your Dashboard
  2. On the top right click on the down arrow for your personal menu (right)
  3. Click Profile
  4. Click Edit profile
  5. Scroll down to the section on “User picture”
  6. Separately, open a folder and drag an image file into the box OR
    To add a graphic, click the purple Add File button

    1. Select Choose file
    2. Browse to the photo you want and double click (or single click to select, then click Open)
    3. Click Upload this file
      The filename appears in the window
  7. Scroll down to the bottom of the page and click Update profile

Advent  Calendar 2021

Posted in Advent CalendarMoodle

Previous Post

Advent calendar #14: Monitoring student engagement in Moodle

Next Post

Advent Calendar #16: Where to get help and what to do when something goes wrong