Time may have become a flat circle abstraction in the age of COVID-19 and distance learning, but the fall semester approaches to remind everyone that time indeed does march on. Below you’ll find important Moodle dates relevant to the upcoming school year:

• Once Upon a Time in May — Moodle was updated from version 3.6 to 3.8: For more information on the new version of Moodle, check out our introductory video
• Monday, August 17th — Students populated in most Fall 2020 (2101) courses: If your course starts on the 22nd, you’ll be able to see student lists in Moodle on this day. If your course starts later, look for students 5 days before the start date. Students still won’t be able to see their courses, though (see below), unless you turn it on early
• Tuesday, August 18th — Summer 2020 (2003) courses turned off: We turn courses off 10 days after the course end date. If you need a course left open, please submit a ticket
• Thursday, August 20th (10 am – 5 pm) — #RUMoodleReady? (VIRTUAL): No donuts and snacks this year, but still the same friendly faces and patient support to help with anything Moodle-related – from gradebook setup, the creation of META shells, course transfers, or help on developing content and instructional design. You can find the link to the training on the “Keep Teaching” calendar in your NMC google calendar. Simply click on the link on the 20th to join us!
• Friday, August 21st — Fall 2020 (2101) courses turned on: The semester begins August 22nd. We turn on courses one day early so students can become familiar with their courses before instruction begins. If you are still preparing your course, we encourage you to write a short welcome message and then hide the sections of your course you are still preparing. Please do not hide the entire course, as this often causes confused students to contact the registrar wondering about their enrollment status. If you are teaching a late-start course, your students will be added 5 days before the listed start date, so they will not appear, and not be able to see course content, until that later date.
• Friday, August 28th — Spring 2019 (1902) 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 2020, 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, feel free to respond to this blog, give us a call or submit a ticket. We’re happy to help.