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Moodle

Moodle Upgrade - Summer 2008

As you know, we've been doing some work on Moodle over the past 10 days, and we're pleased to announce a number of improvements.

We will be writing additional training over the coming weeks to help you cope with some of these features and changes. However, if you need assistance before then, please contact the Learning Technology Team (email: LTT)

General Improvements and Changes

• Corporate Template
  Moodle now matches the look and feel of the main corporate website, bringing Moodle in to line with other web-based e-learning tools.
   
• Support for full module codes
  Moodle now supports modules with the following code formats, and will automatically enrol students based upon their module enrolments:
  • AAnnn - eg: HS101
  • AAnnn-n - eg: AC114-1¹
  • AAnnn-n-aa- eg: BS141-1-FY¹
   
• Performance increases
  Moodle should now run quicker than before.
   
• New Course Formats
  In addition to Weekly, Topics, and Social formats. Moodle now offers the following course formats:
  • Activities format
    Doesn't have any weeks/topics shown on the front page of the course. But instead lists a summary of all resources and activities in the course.
    See http://moodle.essex.ac.uk/course/view.php?name=UPG_Activities for an example.
  • Meta format
    In addition to any weeks/topics shown on the front page of the course, Meta format gives brief details and a link to any child courses that are linked.
    See http://moodle.essex.ac.uk/course/view.php?name=UPG_Meta for an example.
  • Noticeboard
    Rather than an introductory block to your course, Noticeboard format shows the latest post from your News forum.
    See http://moodle.essex.ac.uk/course/view.php?name=UPG_Notice for an example.
  Many of these formats can be combined. eg. Meta noticeboard format.

Moodle Improvements and Changes

• Groups
  There has been a fairly major overhaul of groups within Moodle.
  • Groupings
    You can now have groups of groups (known as groupings), giving a more hierarchical structure to the organisation of your students.
    See http://docs.moodle.org/en/Groupings for more detail.
  • Auto-create groups
    Moodle can now automatically create groups, dividing students by name or random distribution.
    See http://docs.moodle.org/en/Auto-create_groups for more detail.
  See http://docs.moodle.org/en/Groups for more details.
   
• Gradebook
  The gradebook has been completely rewritten. Grades can now be assigned to almost anything (including forum posts), and they are all collated in one place.
  See http://docs.moodle.org/en/Gradebook for more details.
   
• Question Engine
  There have been improvements to the way that Questions and Quizzes are handled in Moodle.
  See http://docs.moodle.org/en/Question_Engine_Changes_in_Moodle_1.9 for more details.
  • Question Banks
    Questions can now be shared between courses.
    See http://docs.moodle.org/en/Question_bank for detail.
  • Quiz
    The Quiz tool is now more robust and easy to use.
  Note: We continue to recommend our other assessment tool, QuestionMark Perception, for any summative assessment. We only recommend that you use Moodle's Quiz tool for formative assessment.
   
• Outcomes
  The gradebook can now be tied to a scale (grade), and with that a set of outcomes.
  See http://docs.moodle.org/en/Outcomes for more details.
   
• Notes
  You can now write notes on each student in Moodle, and choose to share them with other teachers.
  See http://docs.moodle.org/en/Notes for more details.
   
• Tags
  Moodle now allows people to add interest tags in their profile, enabling them to find other users with similar interests.
  See http://docs.moodle.org/en/Tags for more details.
   
• Change in the Course Reset procedure
  The procedure for resetting a course has changed slightly, making it more intuitive. We will be updating our documentation and training to reflect this, in the coming weeks.
   
• General bug fixes
  There have been over 1,000 bugs fixed in the new version of Moodle. Some of the more noticeable ones are below:
  • Save and return to course
    Rather than Save and Preview, Moodle now sensibly has the option to 'Save and return to course'
  • myMoodle
    The myMoodle page now works, providing a detailed summary of all the courses you are enrolled upon.
    See http://moodle.essex.ac.uk/my for more details
   

The Moodle website has a complete list of changes.

Notes:

1. at the start of the 08/09 academic year, module levels will change from 1-3 to 4-6.