The nights are getting cooler and the days shorter, which can only mean one thing: fall semester is nearly here! As you prepare for a new year of instruction, here are a few important things your friendly neighborhood Education Technology Department has been working on:
OLO is Now a Requirement for New Online Students
Starting this fall all new online learners are required to take the Online Learning Orientation (OLO). Moodle and Banner have been set up to automate this process, which means there are no additional requirements for instructors other than to know that if a student logs into Moodle and only sees the Online Learning Orientation in their My Courses block, it means they need to complete the training. Once the training is completed, they can log off and back on and their courses will then appear. Please remind your online students of OLO and let them know it takes less than 60 minutes to complete. We have also prepared an OLO FAQ if you desire additional information on this new student requirement.
Moodle Has Been Updated to Version 3.6
On Tuesday, August 14, the college upgraded Moodle to version 3.6. Overall, 3.6 is very similar to 3.5, which was in use at NMC for almost exactly one calendar year. There are a couple of changes worth noting about the new version:
- Improved course overview features: Users can now sort, hide, and display courses more efficiently
- New messaging options: There are now more messaging features and control over how and who you can message. Groups messaging has been added for instructors
- Clearer privacy links in profile: More transparency for users in how their account is being accessed and viewed
- “Copy” tag added to duplicated items: This is a nice feature that adds the label “(copy)” after items that are duplicated within a course
R U Moodle Ready?
On Wednesday, August 21 from 9 am – 5 pm, the Ed Tech team will be available in Scholar’s Hall room 206 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 have snacks, so come with questions and an appetite!