If you try to log in to Moodle with your correct username, but your password is refused, there are three possibilities:
- Moodle or a Moodle administrator have secretly changed your password.
- You have forgotten your Moodle password
- You have not changed your school network password in time.
Of these three options, the first one can be discounted immediately since Moodle cannot change any passwords and the Moodle administrators would only change passwords upon special request from you yourself.
The second option is the most common cause, since in the information society everyone has multiple electronic identities and it can be quite challenging to keep track of your usernames and passwords, especially if you do not use a service regularly. When faced with this situation, you will want to contact either the eLearning Centre, if your password is manually created, or the student affairs office staff, if your password is taken from the school user database. You can easily check which applies to you by checking your Moodle profile (before such a situation occurs, obviously). If you have the option in your profile to change your password, your ID is manual. If you do not have that button, your Moodle ID is tied to your school network ID (see below). (Incidentally, when you do check your profile, you may want to update it too, e.g. with a description and a recognisable user picture.)
That leads us to the third option. If you are a user whose Moodle ID is taken from the school database, as is the case for most students who started their studies in September 2009 or later, your Moodle password depends on your school network password (in other words, the username and password that you use to access your school email also open Moodle). The school network password has to be changed regularly and the system reminds you of that two weeks in advance of the fact. However, if you do not use the school email regularly, you could fail to notice the upcoming password change and consequently your school network password will expire. As soon as that happens this password will not give you access anymore to Moodle either. To solve this situation, you will have to contact the student affairs office staff in order to obtain a new network password (a temporary one) that you can use to log in to your school email and change your password. Once that is done you can use the changed password to log in to Moodle.
Hence, it is of importance that all Moodle users also use their school email and check it frequently. School email is the designated channel to send school work-related messages among staff and between students and staff, because it identifies the user (Example, an unsigned message from “hot.chick @ hotmal.com” will not tell a teacher which student has sent that message, let alone whether it is a student at all. Such unidentifiable messages can easily end up in the spam bin). Furthermore, Moodle uses the school email by default to send messages such as forum post and messenger message copies and assignment submission notifications, etc. If Moodle users do not check the school email regularly, they may fail to spot important information in time. Finally, if users do not use their school email, their inbox will get clogged with messages and the full inbox will generate error messages that put an extra strain on the email system.
So, the advice to all Moodle users is to check (and update) their profile and use their school email regularly and properly (i.e. use the school email only for school issues and clean the inbox of old and irrelevant messages).