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Countdown to Moodle 4

By Aurelie, Eliot Hoving and Jason R Norton, on 20 March 2023

Previewing our new UCL Moodle, ahead of the summer upgrade. 

Hello and welcome to the new fortnightly news release for our upcoming Moodle 4 Upgrade. 

As announced by Jason Norton, Head of Virtual Learning Environments, in the Moodle 4 Upgrade Summer 2023 blog post on 6th March 2023, the UCL main instance of Moodle will be upgraded this July from Moodle 3.11 to Moodle 4.2. 

In this series of blogs, we aim to keep you up to date with what our team is working on each Sprint (fortnight) and to highlight a new Moodle 4 feature, in more detail. 

What are we working on? 

This week we wanted to share with you our progress with the dashboard redesign for Moodle 4. 

The new dashboard aims to improve the students’ experience with course updates including a timeline of activities, featured current and future course activities, and a ‘Recently accessed by Peers’ section to keep up-to-date and provide quick access to popular activities and resources. The clear buttons and fresh page layout aim to make managing deadlines, learning and signposting of support easier for our learners. 

screenshot of Moodle 4 dashboard redesign

Moodle 4 dashboard redesign

As well as the dashboard, the new “My courses” area introduces a central point where students can access all their available modules and courses, and allows searching and filtering of these courses in the overview section. 

What’s new in Moodle 4? 

Gradebook user experience improvements 

A better user experience (UX) has been a key focus for numerous Moodle 4 developments.  

One such change is that UX improvements have made the Gradebook easier to navigate, which allows graders to analyse the success of formative and summative assessments, and inform improvements to course design.  

In this new version of Moodle, a ‘Grades summary’ page has been added to provide a summary report of the grade averages for each course activity. This Grades summary report can be filtered by activity. 

Grade Summary page in Moodle gradebook

Grade Summary page in Moodle gradebook

There is now also an improved ‘User report’ with a more modern design and collapsible categories. 

Searchable and flexible user report in Moodle gradebook

Searchable and flexible user report in Moodle gradebook

The grader report has an improved search function with dropdown menus. There is also an option to open external assessment tools from the gradebook and add grade letters if needed. 

A ‘Single view report’ with improved design and a new search make it easier to review class and specific user grades. Graders can now search by user, group, or grade item. 

 

It’s now also easier to import/export gradebook elements. 

Have Questions? 

If you have questions, please do get in touch with the Digital Education team.

 

We’ll be back in a fortnight with further news and updates for you. In the meantime, happy moodling!
The Virtual Learning Environments team 

 

Moodle 4 Upgrade Summer 2023

By Jason R Norton, on 6 March 2023

Moodle Logo

The UCL main instance of Moodle (moodle.ucl.ac.uk) will be upgraded this summer from Moodle 3.11 to Moodle 4.2. The upgrade will take place in mid to late July of this year (2023).

The Road to the Moodle 4 Upgrade

The image below provides a high-level overview of the activities that will be taking place over the next few months leading up to the upgrade in July.

 

  • March: Continued user group engagement and a demo site with all courses will be made available to the Moodle Development User group
  • April: A Moodle 4 demo site including an “in development” UCL Theme will be made available to all staff
  • May: Moodle 4 Train the trainer sessions will begin, Online self pace material will begin to be made available
  • June: General staff face to face training will commence, Student resource will be published
  • July: Staff training continues, Moodle 4 upgrade occurs
  • Post upgrade: Staff training will continue, development of the UCL Theme will continue

 

Why are we upgrading Moodle?

Moodle version 3 was released in 2018 and has now reached its end of life for support, bug fixes and security patches. To ensure our platform remains up to date and our user data is secure we need to move to the Moodle 4.

 

A More Modern User Experience and a New UCL Moodle Theme

One of the biggest changes introduced by Moodle 4 is a revamped user interface and user experience. This was Moodle HQ’s primary focus with the release of Moodle version 4.0, and they have updated the underlying technology, the layout and the navigation. This re-design means that Moodle looks more modern and significantly cleaner in its user interface.

To take advantage of these changes, UCL Moodle is moving to a new Moodle Theme. We are currently working with an external partner Titus Learning and internal and external design teams to bring a customised Moodle Theme that best supports UCL needs. This is an ongoing piece of work and one that will extend into the summer, post the release of UCL Moodle 4.2 in July.

The new theme (code name “Norse”) is currently being developed with input and comments from over a hundred and fifty staff, both tutors and course administrators as well as student focus groups. As you can see from our timeline, we aim to release an “in development” Moodle test platform to all staff that will enable you to look at a Moodle 4 environment with the new Moodle Theme applied in April.

This will enable you to see how the new theme and its interactions with course formats has impacted your course. From the review work and feedback already taken place, it is important to note that impact has been minimal.

The screenshots below of the new Moodle Theme should be taken as “in development”. Overall, the layout of the user interface will not change, however colour, icons, fonts, blocks, accessibility features are all still subject to change. However I hope these images give you a good idea of the new general look and feel.

 

Image of new Moodle Theme on a course using OnTopic (TABS) Course format

“In development” Moodle 4 Theme, showing left and right collapsable drawers and Tabs Course Format in the centre area

 

Image of new Moodle Theme on a course using Topics format

“In development” Moodle 4 Theme, showing left navigation drawer and right calendar drawer using the Topics Course Format in the centre area

 

What will courses look like after the upgrade?

The best way to see the changes coming will be to engage with the Moodle demo site that we will be making available in mid-April. This site will have the latest available version of Moodle 4 and the latest version of the new UCL Moodle Theme. From the development and testing work we have undertaken so far we are expecting impact on existing courses to be minor.

The Theme version on this platform is still in a beta state and will be updated as we work towards the upgrade in July. We expect between 2 and 4 additional updates will occur prior to the July upgrade as we refine the theme based on your feedback and complete accessibility checking and design reviews.

Moving from Moodle 3.11 to Moodle 4.2 will bring both changes and new functionality to Moodle. These changes will be detailed in a series of upcoming blogs and will also be the key focus of the training we are in the process of creating.

 

Staff Training

Staff training will be available via two distinct strands. The first will be an online self paced course that will be available on a Moodle 4.2 instance in late May. This course will walk you through the changes and additions to Moodle functionality including an initial topic on how the new Moodle navigation works. This self paced course will use Moodle activities, videos and course completion activities so that a badge or certificate will be received upon completion.

The second strand of training will be provided face to face or online in a more localised faculty/department context. We are currently working on a train the trainer programme, that will be delivered in May to the following individuals: Faculty Learning Technology Leads, Departmental Learning Technologists and Connected Learning Leads. If you would like to be part of the train the trainer programme, please discuss this with your Faculty Learning Technology Lead.

The online and face to face Moodle 4.2 training will commence from June and continue throughout the summer.

 

Student Support

A student Moodle user tour and updated student wiki guides will be made available in June.

 

Have Questions?

If you have questions please do get in touch with the Digital Education team.

 

Global Deactivation of Portico Mappings

By pauline.harding, on 21 February 2023

Global Deactivation of Portico Mappings

Portico mappings on Moodle pages were globally deactivated on 27th February, 2023.

Enrolled students will retain access to their Moodle courses.

How will this impact students on my course?

  • Students who are already enrolled on a Moodle course WILL continue to have access to that Moodle course.
  • Students who join a Module on Portico WILL NOT be automatically enrolled onto the corresponding Moodle course.  Students can still be manually enrolled.
  • Students who leave the module on Portico WILL NOT be automatically unenrolled.

Moodle and Portico mappings

If Portico mappings are active on a Moodle course, student enrolments on that course are automatically updated overnight to mirror the student registrations in Portico.  Consequently, students who change courses or withdraw from their studies are automatically enrolled or unenrolled from the Moodle course when their Portico record is changed.  This is desirable when students change/drop modules within the first few weeks of term, however, if students are automatically unenrolled after they have been awarded grades, these grades become inaccessible, which can be very problematic.

Note: the ‘inaccessible’ grades, submissions and logged activity are not deleted.  These can be accessed again if the student is re-enrolled manually, however while a student is no longer enrolled on a course, there is no way to view their content.

Why deactivate Portico mappings?

To reduce the likelihood of this particular ‘inaccessible/missing grades’ problem occurring, Portico mappings have been deactivated on all Moodle courses.

For more information about Portico deactivation and why this is done, please see the wiki guide – Deactivating Portico enrolments.

Can I re-activate Portico mappings on my courses?

Doing so may unenrol existing students in error.  Before making any changes, please contact us at digi-ed@ucl.ac.uk

New digital skills training sessions released for Term 3

By Louise Pollock, on 17 February 2023

What’s on offerImage of two badges on a blazer. One of them says Digital Skills

ISD Digital Skills Development Team has released new dates for Term 3. Most of our sessions will be offered remotely using Microsoft Teams with some also on campus only. Scroll down for more!

See our latest schedule below.

We are offering a wide range of courses covering data analyis with SPSS, RStudio and Stata; productivity with Microsoft apps; multimedia and graphics creation; and much more.

New highlights include the following:

  • DSD: Enhancing the Accessibility of your Moodle Courses
  • DSD: User access and multiple instruments in REDCap
  • DSD: Managing participants in REDCap
  • DSD: Qualtrics tips and tricks
  • DSD: Scripting Stata’s new Tables and Collections.

How to book

As a reminder, please note that most of our events are interactive training sessions and are not recorded. Therefore, we ask that you please ensure you are able to attend before booking and cancel your place if you are no longer able to attend. If you have any accessibility requirements, please let us know by emailing the ISD Digital Skills Development mailbox in advance: isd-digiskills@ucl.ac.uk

Please ensure you are using Desktop@UCL or the UCL VPN when booking.

Prizes to be won!

We have new monthly term-time prizes to be won by staff and students who attend and evaluate our courses.  All you have to do to be in the running to win £20 ‘Love to Shop’ Gift Voucher is complete one of our training sessions, and submit our course evaluation form. The evaluation form should take no more than 1 minute to complete. Good luck!

Find out more

For more information on how to book and join a session on the day, please visit our Practical Course Information page.

Drop-ins

We are also hosting our usual weekly drop-in sessions remotely and on campus for those who would like individual support on a specific issue. The dates and times of the sessions are available on our ISD Digital Skills Development drop-in page.

More digital skills development opportunities…

Learn online with a vast range of high-quality video-based courses from LinkedIn Learning.  These cover technical skills but also business, personal and creative skills as well.  Visit the UCL LinkedIn Learning page to find out more.

 

Latest schedule: T2 & T3

Date Start End Session name Venue
14/03/2023 & 24/03/2023 10:00 17:00 DSD: Introduction to Matlab – 2 parts Campus-based session
14/03/2023 10:00 11:30 DSD: OneDrive for sharing files This session will take place via MS Teams
15/03/2023 & 16/03/2023 17:00 20:00 DSD: An Introduction to R with Rstudio (Campus-based) 2 parts Campus-based session
16/03/2023 10:00 11:30 DSD: Creating accessible PowerPoint Presentations This session will take place via MS Teams
15/03/2023 10:00 11:30 DSD:Vlookup in Excel – Workshop This session will take place via MS Teams
21/03/2023 10:00 12:00 DSD: Software for success: Survey tools This session will take place via MS Teams
22/03/2023 14:00 16:00 DSD: Intermediate statistics with Excel 2016 This session will take place via MS Teams
22/03/2023 10:00 11:45 DSD: Charting with Excel This session will take place via MS Teams
23/03/2023 12:00 13:00 DSD: Qualtrics tips and tricks This session will take place via MS Teams
23/03/2023 10:00 11:45 DSD: Pivot Tables in Excel – Workshop This session will take place via MS Teams
23/03/2023 14:00 16:00 DSD: Better Tables in R This session will take place via MS Teams

TERM 3

Start date Start time End time Venue
25/04/2023 14:00 15:30 DSD: Enhancing the accessibility of your Moodle courses (Campus based) Campus-based session
02/05/2023 10:00 11:15 DSD: Basic image editing using free tools This session will take place via MS Teams
02/05/2023 14:00 15:00 DSD: Basic video editing using iMovie on a Mac This session will take place via MS Teams
02/05/2023 14:00 16:00 DSD: In a Nutshell: Excel functions we should all know This session will take place via MS Teams
03/05/2023 10:00 11:00 DSD: Best practice for video captions and transcripts This session will take place via MS Teams
03/05/2023 14:00 15:00 DSD: Explore the potential of UCL Mediacentral This session will take place via MS Teams
03/05/2023 11:00 13:00 DSD: Software for success: Survey tools This session will take place via MS Teams
03/05/2023 15:00 16:00 DSD: Word tips and tricks This session will take place via MS Teams
04/05/2023 10:00 17:00 DSD: Introduction to Matlab (Campus based) (1 of 2) Campus-based session
04/05/2023 14:00 15:00 DSD: Introduction to Stop Motion Animation (Campus based) Campus-based session
09/05/2023 11:00 13:00 DSD: Charting with Excel This session will take place via MS Teams
09/05/2023 14:00 15:00 DSD: Digital book making This session will take place via MS Teams
09/05/2023 10:00 11:00 DSD: Podcasting made easy – workshop This session will take place via MS Teams
10/05/2023 11:00 12:00 DSD: Excel Essential Skills – WORKSHOP 1 (Campus based) Campus-based session
10/05/2023 12:00 13:00 DSD: Introduction to REDCap for research This session will take place via MS Teams
11/05/2023 14:00 15:15 DSD: Creating accessible PowerPoint presentations This session will take place via MS Teams
11/05/2023 10:00 17:00 DSD: Introduction to Matlab (Campus based) (2 of 2) Campus-based session
25/04/2023 11:00 13:00 DSD: Pivot Tables in Excel – Workshop This session will take place via MS Teams
16/05/2023 12:00 13:00 DSD: PowerPoint for Researchers and Presenters: Words, Images and More This session will take place via MS Teams
16/05/2023 14:00 15:00 DSD: Filming advice for a short film This session will take place via MS Teams
18/05/2023 14:00 15:00 DSD: Creating Infographics using free web-based tools This session will take place via MS Teams
18/05/2023 12:00 13:00 DSD: Qualtrics tips and tricks This session will take place via MS Teams
23/05/2022 17:00 20:00 DSD: An Introduction to R with Rstudio (Campus based) 1of 2 Campus-based session
23/05/2022 14:00 15:30 DSD: Creating accessible Word documents This session will take place via MS Teams
23/05/2023 14:00 15:30 DSD: Managing your digital profile and social media presence This session will take place via MS Teams
23/05/2023 10:00 11:00 DSD: Mentimeter for Continuous Module Dialogue (CMD) This session will take place via MS Teams
24/05/2023 11:00 12:00 DSD: Excel Essential Skills – WORKSHOP 2 Campus-based session
24/05/2024 14:00 15:00 DSD: Online social interaction platforms This session will take place via MS Teams
25/05/2023 17:00 20:00 DSD: An Introduction to R with Rstudio (Campus based) 2 of 2 Campus-based session
25/05/2023 14:00 16:00 DSD: Getting Started with SPSS (Campus based) P1 Campus-based session
25/05/2023 14:00 15:30 DSD: Make a short film using your iPhone This session will take place via MS Teams
25/05/2023 10:00 11:00 DSD: Planning a short film This session will take place via MS Teams
30/05/2023 14:00 15:00 DSD: Design an impactful research poster using UCL templates This session will take place via MS Teams
30/05/2023 14:00 15:00 DSD: Excel tips and tricks This session will take place via MS Teams
30/05/2023 12:00 13:00 DSD: In a Nutshell: Git version control This session will take place via MS Teams
30/05/2023 10:00 11:00 DSD: Record a narration over your PowerPoint on a PC This session will take place via MS Teams
31/05/2023 12:00 13:00 DSD: Managing participants in REDCap This session will take place via MS Teams
31/05/2023 10:00 11:00 DSD: User access and multiple instruments in REDCap This session will take place via MS Teams
01/06/2023 14:00 15:00 DSD: An introduction to free graphic design tools This session will take place via MS Teams
01/06/2023 14:00 16:00 DSD: Getting Started with SPSS (Campus based) P2 Campus-based session
01/06/2023 10:00 12:00 DSD: Scripting Stata Graphs This session will take place via MS Teams
06/06/2023 10:00 13:00 DSD: Dive into Git version control This session will take place via MS Teams
07/06/2023 11:00 12:00 DSD: Excel Essential Skills – WORKSHOP 3 Campus-based session
08/06/2023 10:00 12:00 DSD: Format your Thesis (Windows) This session will take place via MS Teams
08/06/2023 14:00 16:00 DSD: Scripting Stata’s new Tables and Collections (Campus based) Campus-based session
07/06/2023 12:00 14:00 DSD: VLookup in Excel – workshop This session will take place via MS Teams
12/06/2023 14:00 15:30 DSD: Enhancing the accessibility of your Moodle courses (Campus based) Campus-based session

 

 

Copy content using the Moodle Sharing Cart

By Eliot Hoving, on 7 February 2023

The Sharing Cart is a new Moodle block that increases the ease and speed of duplicating content between Moodle courses. It is viewable only to course administrators and tutors.

It works by creating a Sharing Cart block on Moodle that works a bit like the shopping cart you find on most e-commerce websites.  Staff can copy content into their own Sharing Cart, storing it there, and then they can copy the content from their Sharing Cart into any Moodle course. Copying content takes just four clicks!

Sharing Cart Block

To copy content into the Sharing Cart block, turn on editing and look for the Sharing Cart icon next to your Moodle sections, activities and resources.

Sharing cart icon

Content copies without user data—similar to the “Import” function on Moodle.  In addition, items can be collected and saved in the Sharing Cart, serving as a personal library of frequently used content ready for duplication.

Please note that Sharing Cart should not be used to share Quiz activities, as copying a quiz can copy the entire Question bank. If you need to copy Moodle Quizzes between courses please speak to IT services.

To learn more see the Sharing Cart Staff guide.

 

Opinio Decommission

By Tom Walters, on 3 February 2023

Please note that the survey tool Opinio will be decommissioned at UCL on 31st July 2023. We are transitioning to an existing platform Qualtrics XM, which offers a wider variety of features such as offline design and video submissions. Qualtrics XM will be available to all staff and students without the need for an account to be created, whereas Opinio was only available to staff and authorised postgraduate students.

© www.cxtoday.com

What do I need to do?

We encourage you to familiarise yourself with Qualtrics XM and other survey tools on our dedicated Sharepoint site: https://liveuclac.sharepoint.com/sites/ISDResearchSurveyTools

Please do not create any new surveys on Opinio that go beyond 31st July, or you will need to end them early and recreate the surveys on an alternative platform. In preparation for the decommissioning, we strongly urge all users to download their survey data as soon as possible and store it locally or on a departmental shared drive. It will not be possible to transfer surveys from Opinio to Qualtrics XM or other platforms, so new surveys need to be created from scratch.

Our annual Opinio usage survey is now closed, but we will not be removing non-respondents before the platform is decommissioned on 31st July. No new Opinio accounts will be created in the meantime.

For training sessions on Microsoft Forms, REDCap and Qualtrics XM please see below:

DSD: Microsoft Forms Demo (being discontinued: last one is on 23 February)

Microsoft Forms Essential Training

Microsoft Forms Quick Tips

DSD: Introduction to REDCap for research

New! DSD: Managing participants in REDCap

New! DSD: User Access and Multiple Instruments in REDCap

New! DSD: Qualtrics tips and tricks

More information will follow on this announcement, in the meantime please contact us at digi-ed@ucl.ac.uk if you have any concerns about the Opinio decommission. For questions about the Qualtrics XM platform, please contact qualtrics@ucl.ac.uk.