Welcome back!
We hope everyone is having a good start! This Moodle News includes information about Spring workshops, Add-drop Ending, Requesting Moodle Courses, Moodle Planned Downtime, Requesting Echo360 Courses, Updated Echo360 Interface, Moodle Tip of the Month, What’s New in Moodle, and Moodle Help and Resources.
Spring 2019 Workshops!
Our Spring 2019 workshop series has begun. This semester, we’re offering options for working with Moodle and Echo360, creating and editing media in Camtasia and iMovie, Podcasting basics, and more. To find out more and register, see the full list of workshops on the Innovation Events page.
Can’t decide which workshops to take? Have questions? Contact the Instructional Media Lab for help in deciding which workshops are right for you. Call us at 413-545-2823 or email instruct@umass.edu
Add-drop ends February 4th
Spring 2019 Add-drop ends February 4th. This is a great time to consider creating groups in Moodle.
Request Your Moodle Course in SPIRE
You can still request a Moodle course the for Spring 2019 semester. Don’t forget that each semester you will need to request Moodle for the courses you are teaching.
For details, see:
Fresh New Look in Echo360
Instructors and students using Echo360 now have a streamlined interface. The new Echo360 Home page makes it easier to search, share, and access content.
Echo360 course requests for the Spring 2019 semester are still available in SPIRE. Just like Moodle, each semester you will need to request Echo360 for the courses you want to use it in. While making your request you can specify that you’d like to:
- Automatically record in-person class meetings in Classrooms Equipped with Lecture Capture.
- Re-use recordings from a previous semester.
- Create screencasts and record custom lessons for students to watch outside of class with Echo360 Personal Capture.
For step by step instructions, see Request Lecture Capture. Once your Echo360 courses are ready, it’s easy to give students access to Echo360 recordings through Moodle.
Moodle Tip of the Month: Create Student Journals in Moodle
Did you know that you can use Moodle to create journals for your students? Using groupings and forums, you can make journaling spaces private so that only the instructor and TAs can read students’ posts. You can set up journaling spaces to be available to only the student, or to make them visible, but prevent others from commenting.
Moodle Planned Downtime Thursday, February 21
Moodle will undergo required maintenance on Thursday, February 21. During the maintenance window, Moodle may be unavailable for students and instructors for a short period between 8am and 9am. If you need assistance rescheduling timing for assignments, please contact the Instructional Media Lab (instruct@umass.edu | 413-545-2823).
What’s new in Moodle?
UMass Amherst IT is planning to keep Moodle at UMass Amherst and Open UMass on Moodle version 3.1 for the 2018-19 academic year.
We may periodically add features and will perform security updates during our regularly scheduled update window (Thursday mornings), but no major upgrade is planned at this time.
Moodle Help and Resources for Instructors
To learn more about Moodle or to get help, you can:
- Review our Moodle Support Articles.
- Contact the Instructional Media Lab (instruct@umass.edu | 413-545-2823) with a question, or to set up a time for a one-on-one consultation.