With a (small) Canvas pilot set to begin this fall, and widespread Canvas adoption planned for 2025, it’s a little sad to type in this space that this will be the final fall MOODLE important dates update. Alas, all things must pass (thank you, George Harrison). Despite Canvas coming down the pipe in 2025, for the vast majority of us, Moodle will remain our main teaching platform this fall. And, since Canvas is a big enough change to prepare for in the coming year, we promise there will be no major changes to Moodle in 2024-2025.

For more Canvas news and updates, please check out our regularly updated Canvas Adoption Timeline page, and, starting in mid-August, look for Ben Post’s all-new “Canvas Corner” weekly training videos (with accompanying training courses and tutorial links!).

And with that, please make note of the following dates as we progress into and through August:

• THURSDAY, AUGUST 15 (9 am – 4 pm) — Canvas Kick-Off (VIRTUAL & IN-PERSON): Ed Tech will be available in multiple formats to assist our Canvas pilot program instructors as they get their Canvas shells ready for students. If you are not in the pilot program, please do not attend! For non-piloting instructors, don’t worry: there will be a lot of training opportunities for Canvas coming this fall. This event will be in the Timothy J. Nelson Innovation Center room 123.
• MONDAY, AUGUST 19 — Students populated in standard-start Fall 2024 (2501) courses: If your course starts on the 24th, you’ll be able to see students in Moodle (and Canvas, if you’re in the pilot program) on this day. If you’re teaching a late-start course, look for students to be populated in the participant’s list 5 days before that course’s listed start date. Students in standard-start courses won’t be able to see their courses until Friday, however (see below)
• WEDNESDAY, AUGUST 21 (9 am – 4 pm) — #RUMoodleReady? (VIRTUAL & IN-PERSON): Ed Tech will be available in multiple formats to help with anything Moodle-related – from gradebook setup, the creation of META shells, course transfers, or help on developing content and instructional design. We will be in the Timothy J. Nelson Innovation Center room 123 all day or you can join us via Zoom (click to add this event to your calendar). There will be snacks!
• THURSDAY, AUGUST 22 between 1-2 pm — Fall 2024 (2501) courses turned on for students: The semester begins August 24th. We turn on courses (and hide META child courses) two days before the semester begins so students are able to confirm their course enrollments. Make sure your course shells have at least a welcome message by this date. If some of your content is not ready, you can always hide sections from students
• FRIDAY, AUGUST 23 — Summer 2024 (2403) courses turned off: We turn courses off 10 days after final grades have been submitted. If you need a course left open, please submit a ticket and let us know the course and the student(s) who need continued access
• SATURDAY, AUGUST 24 — Fall 2024 (2501) semester begins: Let’s go, Hawk Owls!
• FRIDAY, AUGUST 30 — Spring 2023 (2302) courses removed: We continually remove older Moodle courses to keep the Moodle server running optimally. You can backup/download a Moodle course on your own or reach out to us for help. Ed Tech also backs up courses before they’re removed from Moodle and saves copies of older courses remotely for an additional 3 years. If you need access to an older course, please submit a ticket

If you’ve been assigned to teach a course in the Fall of 2024, but the course doesn’t appear in your Moodle dashboard, check with your department manager to make sure you’ve been assigned to the course in Banner.

If you have any questions about these upcoming dates, please give us a call or submit a ticket.