Moodle News: May 2014

As part of DELTA’s ongoing efforts to keep you informed, here’s the latest Moodle News to help you make the most effective use of Moodle in your courses.

Moodle Upgrade

We have upgraded Moodle to version 2.6, which applies to both courses and project spaces. For the most part, this a small upgrade focused on improved usability and enhancement of some features. To learn more about the new features in Moodle 2.6, view the “What’s New in Moodle” seminar recording.

Due Date Management

In addition to the Moodle upgrade, we have installed a new Date Report (Open University Date Report) that allows you to set all of the important due dates for your course from a single page. This is particularly helpful when rolling over your course from a previous semester. You can access this functionality from the administration block of your course by going to “Reports” > “Dates.” Click on “Expand all” to display every activity in the course on a single page.

New Instructional Support Role

The way your support staff (as indicated by your course scheduler) appear in your class has changed. They will now appear in Moodle with the role of “Instructional Support” instead of “Hidden Instructor.” The main reason for this change is to allow support staff to assist with your class by subscribing to forums to monitor student needs, which cannot be done with a hidden role. The “Hidden Instructor” role is still available if you wish to give someone editing access to your course without being visible to the students. Please see our Knowledge Base article about different roles in Moodle for more information.

Collaborate Upgrade

The Collaborate Activity in Moodle has been upgraded to the latest 12.6 version, and is now available. New features include integrated teleconferencing, a mobile app, conversion features for recordings, and more. Additionally, Mac users can now launch their sessions using the Collaborate Launcher, which solves Java configuration problems.

More Information

Check the WolfWare News section of DELTAwire from time to time for the latest LMS news.

Feature Requests and General Feedback: We welcome your input to make Moodle as useful as possible to your teaching. To provide feedback and to submit (or view) feature requests, go to wolfware.ncsu.edu and select “Send Feedback” at the bottom of the page.

LMS Maintenance Windows: We reserve blocks of time to take Moodle offline for upgrades and maintenance. View the maintenance schedule to stay up-to-date with Moodle availability.

As always, please don’t hesitate to call LearnTech at (919) 513-7094 or email learntech@ncsu.edu if you need assistance.