As we prepare to welcome winter and race towards the conclusion of this unique fall semester, please make note of the following NMC-related Moodle news and calendar dates:
NMC MOODLE NEWS:
The Ed Tech team is excited to share the following Moodle updates/changes we have instituted this fall:
ABILITY FOR INSTRUCTORS TO REMOVE SUSPENDED USERS: It no longer requires a help desk ticket to remove suspended users from your class. If you have a suspended user (likely indicating the student has dropped your course), you can remove them by clicking the “trash” icon to the far right of their name on your course participants list. Importantly, please know that you still cannot remove (accidentally or otherwise!) enrolled students.
FORUM EMAIL RESPONSES: You and your students can now respond to forum postings directly from your NMC email account! If you have forum notifications set up, simply click “respond” from within a forum email in your inbox and your response will get recorded in the Moodle forum.
GROUP QUIZ MODE: We have installed an add-on to Moodle quizzes that allows for students to take and submit quizzes as a group. You can find this option on the administration block of a created Moodle quiz under “Results” > Group Quiz.
WORD COUNT: The Moodle text editor now includes word counts. This is most prominently displayed in forums, where you may have already noticed word counts displayed beneath postings.
MOODLE 3.9: Our team will begin testing Moodle version 3.9 in December, which will then be deployed during winter break. Version 3.9 is very similar to our current version of Moodle and you should notice only a few differences between the two versions.
MOODLE CALENDAR DATES:
Tuesday, December 22nd – Fall 2020 (2101) courses turned off. We turn courses off 10 days after final grades are submitted. If you need a course left open for a student with an incomplete, please submit a ticket.
Thursday, December 24th – Moodle upgraded to version 3.9. As mentioned, this is a fairly minor upgrade, but there are some new features. The most prominent will be to the changes to the activity chooser (the pop-up that appears when you add an activity or resource to your course). In the new version it is customizable and organized by tabs.
Wednesday, January 6th – Students populated into Spring 2021 (2102) courses. On this date instructor’s will be able to see students listed in their Moodle course shells. Students will not yet have access to these classes, however. Please note that if you have a late start course, students will be populated five days before those courses’ scheduled start dates, at which time students will be able to view unhidden course content.
Wednesday, January 6th from 10-5 pm – #RUMoodleReady? (VIRTUAL): No donuts and snacks this semester, 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 (or add it to your calendar HERE).
Sunday, January 10th – Spring 2021 (2102) courses will be turned on. The semester begins the following day (Monday, January 10th). If you are still preparing your course, please place a note to students at the top of the course page and hide all sections you want to remain unavailable.
Friday, January 15th – Summer 2019 (1903) courses removed from Moodle. You can backup/download a Moodle course for your records or reach out to us to learn about options for saving older course content. Remember that we also store course files dating back a total 6 years on a remote hard drive.
Finally, if you’ve been assigned to teach a course in the Spring of 2021, 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 the registration software.
If you have any questions please contact Ben Post (bpost@nmc.edu). If you need support, please submit a help desk ticket.