As we race towards the end of the fall term and spring towards, well, spring, please make note of the following NMC-related Ed Tech news and Moodle-related calendar dates:

ED TECH NEWS:

MOODLE 3.11: Our team has begun testing Moodle version 3.11, which will be deployed during winter break. Version 3.11 is similar to our current version of Moodle and you should notice only a few changes. Among the most significant upgrades are the ability for instructors to control due dates and other notifications that appear on their course pages, improved accessibility features, and more intuitive quizzing functionality. PANOPTO: We are pleased to officially welcome the video platform Panopto to the NMC family of digital resources! Panopto is available to faculty, staff, and students and can be used to upload, create, edit, store, and share videos. It is also fully integrated with Moodle. Full support for Panopto will begin with an introductory Zoom training with Jay Minster from Panopto at 9 am on January 12, 2022 (Add the training to your calendar). Expect much more information on Panopto in the coming weeks.

MOODLE CALENDAR DATES:

Friday, December 24th – Moodle upgrades to version 3.11. As mentioned, this is a fairly minor upgrade, but there are some new features worthy of discussion. Look for a short video introducing these new features in the notification banner at the top of your Moodle dashboard. Tuesday, December 28nd – Fall 2021 (2201) 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 and let us know the course that needs to remain open and the student(s) who require access. Monday, January 10th – Students populated into Spring 2022 (2202) 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. Thursday, January 13 (10 am – 5 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 Innovation Center room 123 all day or you can join us via Zoom (click to add this event to your calendar). We hope to see you there! Thursday, January 13th – Spring 2022 (2202) courses turned on. The semester begins the following day (Friday, January 14th). If you are still preparing your course, please place a note to students at the top of the course page and hide sections you want to remain unavailable. Friday, January 21st – Summer 2020 (2003) 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 and those courses can be retrieved via request. Finally, if you’ve been assigned to teach a course in the spring of 2022, 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.