Tag: Moodle

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Moodle Assignment: Moodle 4.5 Updates

Greetings all! Moodle has been updated to Moodle 4.5, and with this come a few shifts to Moodle Assignment which hopefully support the marking workflow a little more effectively. Below are directions to View All Assignments, Filter by Marking State, Lock Submissions and Release marks. If you have any issues, please contact me abigail.shaw@ucl.ac.uk sooner rather than later!

DigiEd Update: https://blogs.ucl.ac.uk/digital-education/2024/12/19/moodle-4-5-update/
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To View All Submissions: Go into the Assignment link on your Moodle page, and click on the Submissions tab.

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To filter papers by Marking Workflow status: In the Submissions tab, on the right hand side, click Advanced and use the Marking Workflow status dropdown to select the status you wish to view.

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To lock all submissions: Click the tick box either on the top of left submissions to Select All (and deselect any you do not wish to include) or individually select the papers you wish to lock. The toolbar at the bottom of the page appears with the Lock option. Click this and confirm in the resulting dialogue box that you wish to lock these papers.

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To change Marking Workflow status: Select the papers you wish to change the status of. From the toolbar that appears at the bottom of the page, select More > Change Marking State. Confirm that you wish to change Marking State in the resulting dialogue box. Select Release, and tick Notify Student. Save changes.

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Full UCL Moodle Assignment Guidance: https://ucldata.atlassian.net/wiki/spaces/MoodleResourceCentre/pages/31864956/M09a+-+Moodle+Assignment

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Releasing Marks in Moodle Assignment

Quick steps to release marked work and grades in Moodle Assignment. If you have any issues, please contact me abigail.shaw@ucl.ac.uk sooner rather than later!

1. In View All Submissions, select the assignments that are ready for release.

2. Scroll to the bottom of the page and, from the “With Selected…” menu, choose Set Marking Workflow State, and click OK to move through the popup.

3. Tick Notify Students to email students a notification that their marks have been released once you’ve completed this process.

4. From the options, choose Released. Save Changes.

5. Grades and feedback should now be released. Using this method, anonymity will be retained for all students.

UCL Moodle Guide: https://ucldata.atlassian.net/wiki/spaces/MoodleResourceCentre/pages/31870870/M09a1+-+Marking+and+Giving+Feedback+in+Moodle+Assignment#M09a1-MarkingandGivingFeedbackinMoodleAssignment-Step4:Returnmarkstostudents

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Term 2 modules: Checklist

Essential things for all those teaching and supporting modules in Term 2: all module leads must ensure they’ve engaged with all the steps below.

1. Ensure you are working in the correct, 2024/25 version of the module. This means that the previous instance of the module has been “rolled over” (copied into a fresh instance). Do NOT overwrite previous versions of a module – we are legally obliged to keep them intact. If you cannot see the 2024/25 instance of your module, in the first instance you should contact your departmental office for advice, as processes vary.

If your office instructs you to create your own rolled-over instance of the module, advice and support for this is available here: https://ucldata.atlassian.net/wiki/spaces/MoodleResourceCentre/pages/31863953/M30+-+Preparing+your+Moodle+course+for+the+next+Academic+Year

2. Check that all the dates are correct in your course. You can use Date Manager (located under Reports > Date Manager on every Moodle page) to support this, but don’t forget section headings, on-page text, and any module or programme handbooks. Students find it extremely useful if you use actual dates as well as “Week 1” or “Reading Week”.

3. All resources / readings should be located in a Reading List (which can be structured either for the whole module, or week-by-week. Use should be made of the ability to tag readings as Core / Optional wherever possible. Engaging in the Reading List process will also ensure that your readings are fully accessible, which is a legal requirement. For support with Reading List, and with managing readings/course content which has been inherited in outdated photographs/documents, please contact your Liaison Librarian: https://www.ucl.ac.uk/library/learning-teaching-support/teaching-learning-services-tls/readinglistsucl

4. All assessments, if already present in the module, should be located in a prominent Assessment section, should have their correct dates, a clear assessment brief, and a statement about the assessment’s AI category, and the permitted levels of use of GenAI for this specific assignment.

PLEASE consult the updated GenAI categories page to ensure this information is accurate – the categories have been updated for Term 2 2024/25. https://www.ucl.ac.uk/teaching-learning/generative-ai-hub/three-categories-genai-use-assessment

5. Finally, check that your module page is visible to students. If it is not, it will say “Hidden from students” at at the top of the page. To change, go to Settings > Course Visibility and change from Hide to Show; scroll to the bottom and select Save and Display.

As ever, any issues, grab me on Teams, or email abigail.shaw@ucl.ac.uk 😀

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Moodle Feedback Tracker – demo and resources

Video of A&H Feedback Tracker demo with Eliot Hoving, UCL DigiEd Senior Learning Technologist.

UCL Feedback Tracker – Guidance

Link to A&H Faculty Research Survey on Feedback and Assessment: https://www.menti.com/alrb7gdvwhs4

For clarity, some FAQs:

Feedback Tracker automatically pulls in Moodle Assignment, Turnitin, Moodle Quiz and other items where they have a Grade added.

Feedback Tracker mirrors students’ individual SoRA, EC and DAPs deadlines where they have been manually updated in the assignment.

The default date for feedback release is 20 working days after the deadline. This excludes college closure days.

Future views are coming, including administrative reporting views (see video for a draft demo).

Feedback is welcome; the tracker is available now to all staff and students but continues to be iterated.

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Start of Term checks: Moodle 2024/25

Five vital checks for Arts & Humanities Module Leads at the start of term:

1. Check your Moodle page is correctly mapped, AND that the mapping is active. More info: https://reflect.ucl.ac.uk/abbiwrites/2023/09/19/moodle-activating-course-mappings-2023-24/

2. Check that all the dates are correct in your course. You can use Date Manager (located under Reports > Date Manager on every Moodle page) to support this, but don’t forget section headings, on-page text, and any module or programme handbooks. Students find it extremely useful if you use actual dates as well as “Week 1” or “Reading Week”.

3. Check that your module page is visible to students. If it is not, it will say “Hidden from students” at at the top of the page. To change, go to Settings > Course Visibility and change from Hide to Show; scroll to the bottom and select Save and Display.

4. All assessments, if already present in the module, should be located in a prominent Assessment section, should have their correct dates, a clear assessment brief, and a statement about the assessment’s AI category. Information on the categories is available here: https://www.ucl.ac.uk/teaching-learning/generative-ai-hub/using-ai-tools-assessment

5. All resources / readings should be located in a Reading List (which can be structured either for the whole module, or week-by-week. Use should be made of the ability to tag readings as Core / Optional wherever possible. For support with Reading List, please contact your Liaison Librarian: https://www.ucl.ac.uk/library/learning-teaching-support/teaching-learning-services-tls/readinglistsucl

For any issues or queries, please do get in touch: abigail.shaw@ucl.ac.uk

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A&H Module Lead & Teaching Admin #3: Digital Accessibility

Please find below the links, presentation, resources and discussion from the 11th October 2023 session on Digital Accessibility.

UCL Accessibility Policy

UCL Accessibility Hub – UCL policy, advice, resources and guidance to support both staff and students.

UCL Accessibility Fundamentals – basic guidance to improve everyday accessibility when creating resources.

Ben Watson presents on Digital Accessibility

Link to Ben Watson’s PowerPoint presentation slides.

Ben Watson and Abbi Shaw in conversation: Use of Reading List, accommodating students with SoRA, generative and assistive AI discussion.

UCL Reading List – supported by the Library.

Colour Contrast Checker – a really useful resource for checking accessibility of text on backgrounds.

The video Ben mentions on using GenAI to support non-academic tasks.

Forthcoming Digital Skills Development sessions – including multimedia, podcasting, and more, and, most relevant here, creating accessible Word documents.

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Moodle: Activating Course Mappings 2023/24

A refresher on activating course mappings:

Course mapping aligns your Moodle page with the correct student cohort. To start, go into Settings, and check that the Portico Identifier box has been filled in with the correct module code. Next, ensure you have Edit Mode switched ON.

Use the < on the top right of the page to open the right hand "drawer". Scroll to the Portico Enrolments block (if it is not there, scroll to the top of the page and add it, using the + Add a Block button). Click View / Edit Portico Enrolments. If this is already populated, that is likely from the previous year. Double check this, particularly if your module has moved term (T1 / T2) as you may need to change this.

To change this, click +add mapping on the right hand side (you may need to scroll across to see this if you have your screen on a large resolution). Search by module code, if a module, or if you need to enrol students from across a department/programme, search for this accordingly and then choose the year/s from the dropdown on the right hand side.

Allow pre-approval and Allow group import do what they say on the tin – if the student is “pre-approved” in Portico then their enrolment into Moodle can take place. Similarly if there are CMIS groups set up in Portico already, to which students can be allocated, these can also be imported straight into the relevant Moodle Groups.

Check Activate Mappings.

Save (if you do not save, it will not be saved!) and the mapping will be activated. Students will be enrolled into the module overnight, not immediately, when Moodle and Portico sync. If students are not visible the next morning, double check the mapping details, and that there are students showing on the module in Portico – if both seem fine, then please contact me as soon as possible to check if there is a wider issue.

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Moodle 4.2 forthcoming upgrade: Links and Info

Greetings, all! A quick round-up of links to info and UCL sites about Moodle 4.2:

ETA: The date and time for this upgrade have now been confirmed: 9am. Thursday 27th July.

Moodle 4.2 Preview Site: https://4-demo.preview-moodle.ucl.ac.uk/ all staff can log in, and check any 2022/23 Moodle page to see how it will look in Moodle 4.2. Please note: this is NOT the forthcoming Moodle 4.2 site, and nothing that is done to, or changed, on these pages will be retained, it is for information only.

Moodle 4.2 Wiki: https://wiki.ucl.ac.uk/display/MoodleResourceCentre/Moodle+4.2+Pre-release+resources – links to training courses, self-paced learning, FAQs and more info from the central Moodle team.

DigiEd Blog: https://blogs.ucl.ac.uk/digital-education/ – the DigiEd blog contains updates on everything the central team is working on, including the latest updates and expectations around the Moodle upgrade.

The Moodle upgrade will happen to the entire Moodle site at the end of July (dates to be confirmed) and no action needs to be taken for the upgrade to take place. You do not need to wait for the upgrade to take place to roll over your Moodle courses, or to start updating them for next year, but once the upgrade has taken place, it’s best to take a look to see if there are any changes or additions you’d like to make ahead of the start of teaching.

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Moodle Rollover: DigiEd Blog information about rolling over for 2023/24.

The staff guide to rolling over module pages: https://wiki.ucl.ac.uk/display/MoodleResourceCentre/M30+-+Preparing+your+Moodle+course+for+the+next+Academic+Year which also contains the link/info for requesting a new Moodle course.

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I hope that covers everything! As ever, please keep in touch regarding any approaches you’re taking to the Moodle upgrade, and if you’d like to discuss creating templates, workflows or any other elements, please drop me a line in Teams or by email. No question too small, strange, or tiresome 😀

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Term 2 Modules: Course Rollover & Mapping Students

Greetings, all! A reminder to all teaching in Term 2 that the Course Rollover process, introduced this year, applies to all Term 2 modules in the same way it did Term 1. To refresh the memory: every taught module will have an individual annual instance in Moodle. There is NO snapshot of last year’s modules: they must remain as-delivered. Do not overwrite 2021/22 modules, only update/change things in the newly-created 2022/23 modules.

Each A&H department has a slightly different setup for module rollover: please check with your Teaching Administrator if you are unsure as to how/when the rollover and mapping activation takes place. If you teach in SELCS, you are tasked with your own module rollover and activating mapping: it is essential you carry this out prior to the start of teaching, as students will otherwise not have access to your course in Moodle.

For central guidance on the Course Rollover, please read the applicable info below:

1) Rolling over a module taught in 2021/22
2) Rolling over a module last taught prior to 2020/21
3) Rolling over a T1 module to be taught in T2
4) If you have a module where the code has changed for 2022/23, you must ensure that you are working in a Moodle page created under this code. Please check for a page with the new code in Moodle, as it may have been automatically created. If you then need to import content from a module with a different code, this can be done via the Import function in Moodle, but do contact me for any support with that. If you cannot find a course with the correct new code in Moodle, and are certain that this is the code you will be teaching under in T2, please follow the rollover process for the old module, remove the suggested alignment/delivery for the existing course code and use the search box to search for the new course code. This is the only situation in which you should change any prepopulated course code or course title.

Ensuring students are mapped to your module:

This process is the same as T1: I have written a quick guide to the process here: mapping students to modules.

Finally, ensure that at least the first two weeks of course content have been populated, and that anything you want enrolled students to see is visible; anything you wish to hide from them is hidden. When your students have been enrolled, and the course status has been changed from Hide to Show (Module page > Administration block > Course Visibility > Hide/Show).

As ever, any issues, grab me on Teams, or email abigail.shaw@ucl.ac.uk 😀

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A&H Faculty Research – Student Experience of Moodle (Changemakers 2021/22).

In 2021/22, the third iteration of our A&H Faculty Research recruited 5 students, including one Project Lead, to carry out research to deepen our understanding of the student experience of Moodle. The main aim was to find out which practices stood out as particularly positive amongst the diversity of student experience. This project led to a conference presentation at RAISE 2022, in Lincoln, and has further been written up into a review of staff-student collaborative research, which has been accepted for publication in the December 2022 edition of SEDA Magazine.

Link to the post containing a video of our student-led report to A&H Module Leads, with a brief summary of the recommendations made: Student Moodle Experience; Moodle Rollover & Recommendations.

Presentation slides for Jesper and Abbi’s report to Arena: The Search for Clarity: A&H Students’ Perception of Moodle.