August 2019 Moodle News

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Fall is coming soon!

The Fall 2019 semester is coming and it’s a great time to consider how technology can help you achieve your pedagogical goals. This month’s Moodle News includes information about our Summer workshops, Fall Workshops, Fall Moodle course requests, Echo360 course requests, Moodle tip of the month, What’s new in Moodle: Moodle upgraded to Moodle 3.5, and Moodle help and resources.

Summer 2019 Workshops

We still have a number of workshops on how to get comfortable and use supported technology at UMass, reinvigorate your teaching with technology, and more.  Check out the Instructional Innovation Events page for more information and to register.

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

Fall 2019 Workshops

Our Fall 2019 Faculty workshops are coming. We’re offering options for working with Moodle and Echo360, creating and editing media in Camtasia, Teaching with Zoom, Getting started on how to use blogs for your teaching and learning, Creating an accessible Podcast, Groups work with Google, Using Feminist Approaches in Moodle, Games and Game-Based Learning Meetup, and more. Check out our Innovation Events page to see more Workshops and register.

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

Moodle Courses open August 30th

Remember to request your Fall Moodle course in SPIRE. Don’t forget that each semester you will need to request Moodle for the courses you are teaching.

For detailed instructions, see:

Request Your Fall Echo360 Courses in SPIRE

Echo360 course requests for the Summer and Fall 2019 semesters are now 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 Universal 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: The Edit dates pages

Did you know that after you import your Moodle course from a previous semester, you can change all of the dates of Multiple activities and resources within the same page? This option will save time to instructors that reuse their previous Moodle courses and have to update all their activities and resources due dates.

What’s new in Moodle: Moodle upgraded to Moodle 3.5

UMass Amherst upgraded to Moodle 3.5 on July 11, 2019.  Moodle 3.5 comes with a new look and feel which is optimized for increased accessibility and ease of use a wide range of screens (laptops, desktops, tablets, and phones). Along with the interface changes, there are new activities and tools to help your teaching. See all the changes on our Moodle 3.5 Highlights page.

We have a number of workshops during our Summer and Fall sessions to cover the changes and learn more about the upgrade. Please see the Instructional Innovation Events page to find out more about workshops and sign up. We also have 1-on-1 consultations available.

If you have questions or would like to schedule a consultation, please contact:

The Instructional Media Lab
413-545-2823
instruct@umass.edu
Monday-Friday 10am -4pm

Moodle Help and Resources for Instructors

To learn more about Moodle or to get help, you can:

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