Course Requests Open in SPIRE
Summer and Fall 2023 course requests are currently available in SPIRE for Moodle, Blackboard, and Canvas.
If you haven’t done so already, you can still request your Spring 2023 Moodle course in SPIRE. Don’t forget that each semester you will need to request Moodle for the courses you are teaching.
For step by step instructions on requesting a Moodle course, see:
As part of a multi-year process the campus will be moving to a single LMS – Canvas. You can request a Canvas course instead of a Blackboard course in SPIRE. Some useful information for making this decision:
- The IDEAS Team is running series of webinars to introduce Canvas and give you hands-on experience and practice.
- All instructors have. access to a Canvas Sandbox course and Canvas Training and Resources Course.
- Instructors can request concierge migration services of their courses from Blackboard to Canvas.
- Note: Requests for concierge migration for the Fall semester must be received before Friday, June 16, 2023.
Moodle Tip of the Month: Upload Grades to Your Moodle Gradebook
Did you know that you can upload grades directly into the Moodle Gradebook? This means you can download data from other platforms like Gradescope or Perusall, and import them all at once into Moodle. You can also apply formulas and manipulate the data to match your grading schema in Excel, before uploading.
Planned Downtimes
There are no planned downtimes outside of regular maintenance windows for May 2023.
Scheduled routine maintenance windows for UMass Amherst Moodle in the Cloud are Thursdays 11pm-12am (ET). Regular maintenance is a necessity for a stable, secure, and improving service. Many of these maintenance windows will not actually have the site unavailable for more than a few minutes, but it is still not advised to plan activities or set due dates during maintenance windows.
You can check the status of Moodle, Zoom, and other supported teaching technologies on the IT Services Status for Remote Teaching and Learning page.
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) with a question, or to set up a time for a one-on-one consultation.
- Request a consultation with an Instructional Designer.
- Join our Instructor Support Zoom room between 10am and 3pm to meet with a staff member.