We would like to introduce a new feature in Moodle that provides administrator roles (Course Administrators, Tutors, and Category Administrators etc.) greater flexibility in managing their courses. Previously, unlocking a course site set to Read-Only mode required assistance from our support team. With the new unfreeze functionality, this process is now simpler.

How to unfreeze your course

If your Moodle course site has been set to Read-Only mode, you can unfreeze it by clicking the Enable editing button in the Lifecycle block. A confirmation pop-up message will appear for you to proceed.

By default, the course will automatically revert to Read-Only mode the next day. While the new feature allows you to extend or disable this automatic reset, we strongly recommend using the Read-Only mode to avoid potential data loss within the Moodle courses. If you need to keep a course active indefinitely, it should either be placed in a Timeless category, or have no end date set in the course settings.

If you need additional assistance, please contact us via MyServices.

The Feedback Tracker has been updated today (Thursday 12th December 2024).

The update introduces improvements for staff. The display for students will not change.

The display of the Feedback tracker configuration page has been changed to align it with UCL’s design system and improve accessibility and useability.

The update also introduces two new features to assist staff in marking and returning feedback:

• a progress indicator showing the % of marking completed for each assessment, and
• a count of extensions applied on Moodle assignments and quizzes based on user and group overrides.

Configuration options have been relocated to make the editing of the Feedback tracker more intuitive.

Several bugs have also been resolved, with any outstanding issues listed under Known issues.

To learn more about the Feedback tracker, please see the Feedback tracker documentation.

UCL Moodle quizzes now support the CodeRunner question type.

CodeRunner questions allow students to submit code and for teachers to run a program in order to grade a student’s answer.

CodeRunner will be of most benefit to programming courses where students are asked to write program code to some specification and that code is then graded by running it in a series of tests. CodeRunner questions are also relevant for areas of computer science and engineering to grade questions in which a program must be used to assess correctness.

UCL Moodle has support for the following common coding languages: Python, Java, C, SQL, PHP.

CodeRunner questions are an advanced question type. You should always run a practice assessment with students prior to any summative assessments to ensure your questions are working properly and that students are familiar with answering CodeRunner questions.

If you wish to run a summative assessment using Moodle Quiz. Please follow UCL guidance and notify Digital Education in advance to ensure any necessary checks can be completed.

To learn more, please see the CodeRunner documentation.

We would like to inform you that the Moodle text editor will be updated on the 7th of November 2024 (Term 1 Reading week). The new editor, TinyMCE, will replace the old Atto editor. 

What’s new with TinyMCE? 

TinyMCE provides a smooth and intuitive editing experience more akin to modern text editors like Microsoft Word. It is designed with accessibility and usability in mind and has enhanced formatting tools like improved table handling and multimedia integration.   

The old Atto editor

The new TinyMCE editor

 

Why the change? 

This change is necessary as the old Atto editor has reached end of life and is being retired by the supplier. There are numerous accessibility and usability issues that due to the product being end of life will not be fixed. The TinyMCE editor fixes these issues and provides more powerful editing and formatting options. 

All staff and students will need to use the new TinyMCE editor, but there will be no loss in functionality. TinyMCE retains key features of the Atto editor, such as embedding Moodle Quiz questions, Lecturecast videos, and Mediacentral videos. 

Try it out and give us feedback! 

We encourage all students and staff to access a preview of the TinyMCE editor to try it out. Simply edit any text to see the new editor.  

Your feedback is crucial to ensuring a smooth transition. Please share any comments, suggestions, or questions using the Moodle text editor feedback form. 

Note: STACK math questions 

Users of STACK questions are reminded that these questions are best edited using the Plain text editor. You should not edit STACK questions with the TinyMCE or Atto editor as these editors may remove HTML and JS from your question. You can change your editor to the Plain text editor from the user menu in the top right of Moodle, under Preferences then Editor Preferences. 

Moodle is UCL’s centrally supported digital learning environment. 

A Moodle course page is a digital representation of a module which allows tutors to communicate and share activities, assessments and resources with students. 

As you explore your course pages, you may find that assessments are in different weeks and areas depending on how each course is designed.  

Luckily, Moodle provides students with three handy features to help them find their next assessment deadline and stay up to date with feedback.  Read on to find out about each feature and how to use it.  

Students will find these three features on the home page of Moodle when they log in. 

1. Check the Timeline to see upcoming deadlines 

The Timeline shows you a list of upcoming deadlines on Moodle. You can change the display to show all due dates, or those in the next 7 days or 6 months. 

2. Check the Feedback block to see recent feedback  

The Feedback block shows you the latest feedback that has been released to you.  

You can click on the assessment name to view your feedback.  

 

3. Check the Feedback tracker to see an overview of all your assessments and feedback 

In the Feedback block, click the link to the Feedback tracker to see an overview of your assessments and feedback. 

 The Feedback tracker is also available from your profile menu in the top right of Moodle. 

 The Feedback tracker shows you a list of your Moodle assessments organised by academic year and course. 

For each assessment you will see whether you submitted on time, submitted late, or have missed the deadline and so your submission is overdue. 

You will also see the status of your feedback and whether feedback has been released, released late, or is overdue.  

Lastly, the Feedback tracker shows any mark you have received, and whether the assessment is summative or formative (summative assessments contribute to your overall course mark whereas formative assessments do not). 

The Feedback tracker can help you to find and review feedback. Sometimes you may have assessments that are outside of Moodle, so it is important to always double check with your course tutor what the assessment requirements are for your courses.  

You can learn more about the Feedback tracker by reading the Feedback tracker student guide. 

In summary, the Moodle home page provides you with three features to manage your assessments. Use the Timeline to see upcoming assessment deadlines, the Feedback block to see recent feedback and the Feedback tracker to see an overview of your assessments and feedback. 

Best of luck in your assessments!  

The Digital Learning Environments (DLE) team is excited to announce the launch of several new features to support assessment on Moodle: 

• Assessment categorisation  
• Feedback tracker report 
• Mark transfer update 

Assessment categorisation 

Staff can now indicate whether an assessment is summative or formative on Moodle. This will make assessment requirements clearer to students.  This feature will also enable more useful assessment reporting for Departments and Faculties.

Assessment categorisation is available for the following activities, with more to follow: 

• Moodle assignment 

• Moodle quiz 

• Turnitin assignment 

• Moodle workshop 

Staff will be prompted to add an assessment category when creating or editing an assessment.

Categories can also be added in bulk for all assessments on a course using the date management report tool.

Assessments will be automatically listed as summative where staff have mapped their assessments to Portico using the Mark Transfer tool. So staff preparing courses should map their assessments early and then use assessment categorisation to indicate any formative assessments.

You can learn more by reading the Assessment categorisation documentation. 

Feedback tracker report 

The Feedback tracker is a new report on Moodle that shows students the status of their Moodle assessment submissions and feedback on one single page. 

The report will make it easier for students to access feedback. 

It will also give students and staff a clearer view of feedback turnaround. A status is shown for when a student submits on time or late, and whether feedback is returned within UCL’s policy of 20 working days. 

The report will also show whether an assessment is summative or formative based on Assessment categorisation.

Staff can customise the report with the option to add additional information or exclude items.

The following video provides an example of how the Feedback tracker can be accessed, and configured (6 mins 48 seconds).

The DLE team will focus next on early life support for the Feedback tracker. Followed by developing a Department report to allow Departments and Faculties to better monitor feedback turnaround and to improve marking workload planning.  

You can learn more by reading our pre-release blog, and the Feedback tracker documentation. 

Mark transfer update 

Finally, if you wish to transfer marks for Late Summer Assessments from Moodle, it is now possible to do so with the Moodle-Portico Marks Transfer tool. 

This works in a similar way to marks transfer for standard assessments. However, when accessing the dashboard for completing the set up, you choose the Re-assessments page. When transferring marks, they will be sent to the relevant reassessment record in Portico. 

For more information, see the Reassessments How to Guide on the Marks Transfer wiki. 

Should you experience any issues using the tool, please check the FAQs wiki page. 

If you are unable to resolve the issue, you can request support as follows: 

• For any issues with Portico data, contact examboards@ucl.ac.uk 

• For issues with incorrect assessment set up, contact lifecycle@ucl.ac.uk 

• For general questions, feedback or suggestions, contact your Faculty Champion 

Questions and support

For any issues with using these new features, please contact Digital Education via MyServices