March 2018 Moodle News

Announcements Moodle News

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Moodle Maintenance Thursday, March 15, 2018

During Spring Break, on Thursday, March 15, 2018, UMass Amherst IT will perform scheduled maintenance on Moodle. Moodle will be unavailable beginning at 7 a.m. (for as long as 2 hours).

Turnitin Unavailable Saturday, March 17

Turnitin will be unavailable on Saturday, March 17th, from 11 a.m. to 5 p.m. while Turnitin performs maintenance on their system. No submissions or grading in Turnitin will be possible during the downtime. To monitor Turnitin availability, visit the Turnitin System Status page.

Moodle Course Request for Summer and Fall 2018

Moodle course request for summer and fall opens in SPIRE on Monday, April 2, 1018.

Instructors must request a Moodle course each term they wish to use Moodle for a course. Once your new, empty course is created, you’ll have the option to import a copy of a course you previously taught.

For details see Request a Moodle Course through SPIRE, and Reuse a Moodle Course Using Import.

Course Materials & Textbooks Due in SPIRE

Course materials and textbooks for fall 2018 are due in SPIRE by Sunday, April 1. Summer 2018 materials are due March 15th. For details see Instructors & Staff: About Amazon Course Materials for UMass.
Note: If you will be using iClicker, for the correct information to enter in SPIRE, see Before You Begin Using iClicker.

Instructional Innovation Workshops & Events

Spring workshops and events continue through the semester. New topics include Minecraft for education, managing “TechnoStress,” game-based learning, creating accessible course materials, Universal Design for Learning, and using Qualtrics and JMP in the classroom.

For a full list of events and to register, visit Innovate @ UMass Events.

Computer Classroom Reservation and Software Requests for Fall 2018 

UMass Amherst IT Computer Classrooms invites faculty and instructors to submit computer classroom reservation and software requests for the upcoming Fall 2018 semester.

  • We operate 8 computer classrooms on campus with different configurations to match a variety of teaching and learning styles.
  • We offer a specialized classroom for courses that require audio and video editing tools and software.
  • Reservations are accepted for an entire semester or individual class sessions when students will be working on computers.
  • Our computer classrooms provide access to an extensive collection of software.
  • Instructors may request installation of specialty software applications.

Visit UMass Amherst IT Computer Classrooms for more information. To reserve a computer classroom, email classres@umass.edu or visit Computer Classrooms: Information for Instructors to fill out an online request.

What’s New in Moodle?

Improved error reporting for grade import:

  • When importing grades to Moodle if the import fails because your file is missing an identifier (student ID number or email address) for a row of data, Moodle now provides an error report with instructions to correct the problem.

For details on preparing your file for upload, see Import Student Data to the Moodle Gradebook.

Moodle Help and Resources for Instructors

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

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