Moodle Notes

We had a great info session this week with Carolyn T from Production. Here are a few things I noted:

• No more course “Home Page” so no more folders. The landing page when opening a course is the Course Guide.
• Media appears in a player if in the context of an activity or assessment, but it will link and open in a new tab if the media is in a list.
• No internal messaging or email.
• Assessments appear in sequence in the modules/lessons, but they also appear in “This Course” tab at the top. This Course lists all assignments, tells the submission points (which module/lesson), due dates, grades, and gives upload submission tools. If the course is designed with an “Assignment Overview” type file, that will appear after the module/lesson tabs at the top.
• Academic Integrity policy appears under Assessments in CG.
• Suggested Schedule and Strategies for Success appear in the CG now. The Suggested Schedule doesn’t allow to enter dates. (Do we need it?) There is a calendar in Moodle for instructors to post key dates. Perhaps students could also update this calendar instead of the suggested schedule?
• Activity checklists do not function as workable checklists. (Do we still need them?) Moodle has check boxes and a “Key Course Milestones” status bar to help students keep track of their progress.
• We are moving to anchor text instead of writing-out URLs to aid students who use screen readers. We don’t need indicators such as “go to”, “visit”, or “at”. Use meaningful text for anchor text (a citation, the title, perhaps a description of the media).
• Discussions are called “forums” and they appear in context of the module/lesson. The “Student Cafe” forum appears as a tab after the modules/lessons. If graded, students will compile their posts into a Word document and upload it like an assignment. Under “Profile” the student can see all discussion posts in Moodle for all courses, which could help in compiling the work for grading. Under “This Course” students may be able to see their posts, or perhaps we could include a reminder of when the discussion was assigned, so students could find their posts in the course. Discussions have a 45 minute “editing” delay so students can make changes before it posts.
• When students log-in for the first time, they are already enrolled in the OL course. On-campus courses require students to search and enter an enrolment code.