Course Requests Open in SPIRE
Spring 2024 course requests will open in SPIRE on Monday, November 6.
Don’t forget need to request a Moodle course for each class you plan on using it to teach.
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 Moodle 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.
For step by step instructions on requesting a Moodle course, see:
Planned Downtimes
There are no planned downtimes for Moodle outside of regular maintenance windows.
If you suspect an unplanned outage, you can check the status of Moodle, Zoom, and other supported teaching technologies on the IT Services Status for Remote Teaching and Learning page.
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.
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.