Message-ID: <7252638.1182532590916.JavaMail.joeescobar@joe-escobars-computer.local>
Date: Wed, 18 Apr 2007 18:44:19 -0700 (PDT)
From: moodleadmin
Reply-To: moodleadmin@lanecc.edu
Subject: Important: Moodle down time this Friday, 6:00 - 7:00 PM, plus some other notices
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Instructors,

A couple of quick Moodle-related notices for you.

First: We have scheduled one hour's down time for Moodle this Friday, from 6:00 to 7:00 PM, to do some system maintenance.  If that will cause any problems with quiz or assignment deadlines, please let me know. 

Second: on a related note, IT has a regular, weekly maintenance window from 6:00 PM to 10:00 PM on Friday for our systems (the web server, Moodle, and so forth), which means that if we have to take Moodle down, it will typically be sometime during that window.  The fact that we have a window does NOT mean that we will take it down during that period without telling you; it's simply that whenever we have maintenance to do, that's when we'll schedule it.  In general, we urge you to avoid deadlines for assignments and quizzes during that time period.

Third: a reminder that if you're using secure online quizzes, you need to make sure to set have the list of approved IP addresses set up in the secure workstation list (Quizzes > [quiz] > Update this quiz > Secure workstation list, near the bottom of the screen).  That list is maintained by Toni Timmers, so please contact her if you don't have the current list.

Finally: Moodle has a 'feature' (some people use another word) which emails students whenever assignments are graded or grades are changed.  A number of instructors have expressed frustration with the resulting barrage of email that gets sent to their students, and have asked us to disable it.  I am planning to do that this Friday, during our maintenance outage, but wanted to alert you first.  If you do want to notify your students when grades are finished, there are a couple of alternatives available: you can send a message manually to your participants list, for example, or you can post a message in the announcements forum.  If you have questions about how best to do that, please talk to one of the faculty webmasters (online@lanecc.edu).  

We recognize that the automatic email feature can be useful in some cases, but on balance, the fact that it cannot be turned off seems to cause more harm than good.  (The ability to control this behavior for each assignment has been requested, and may make it into a future version of Moodle.)


As always: if you have any questions, please contact me.

David Walton


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David Walton
Moodle System Administrator
Lane Community College
For enrollment, course creation, logging in, or general server issues, email moodleadmin@lanecc.edu
For faculty assistance using Moodle, email online@lanecc.edu
Voice: 463-3367
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