Message-ID: <3323540.1182532574180.JavaMail.joeescobar@joe-escobars-computer.local> Date: Tue, 19 Dec 2006 06:46:42 -0800 (PST) From: moodleadmin Subject: Winter 2007 instance of Moodle now available Mime-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: multipart/mixed; boundary="----=_Part_58_1285915.1182532574179" GWItemID: 45872862.LCC-Mail.MC_PO3.100.1346735.1.2949.1 ------=_Part_58_1285915.1182532574179 Content-Type: text/plain; charset=MacRoman Content-Transfer-Encoding: quoted-printable Instructors, The Winter 2007 instance of Moodle is now available for you to work on your= classes. Thanks to all of you for your patience while you waited for us t= o get this done; there have been a number of changes under the hood, and it= took us rather longer than we'd expected to get things finished. On that = note, if you experience any problems or notice any missing pieces--blocks o= r modules that don't seem to be available, stuff like that--please send me = email. I am still in the process making changes, and it's entirely possibl= e that I overlooked something. Students have not been included yet; the fi= rst enrollment load will happen on Thursday, January 4. If you log in and don't see all of your expected courses, please verify tha= t Banner lists you as an instructor on the courses in question. If you are= , then please send me an email with the CRN of the course and your L-number= (there are cases where a course with multiple instructors in Banner doesn'= t get all of the instructors assigned in Moodle, and that may be what happe= ned). If you are not listed as an instructor for the course in ExpressLane= , however, please talk to the appropriate person in your department to get = yourself added. The list of instructors that we get from Banner is authori= tative for who we assign as the default instructors in Moodle. Herewith, some of the changes for Winter term: 1. There's a new form for creating and managing metacourses. We are tryin= g trying to make metacourse names more consistent (to allow for easier navi= gation), and to allow you to manage them a little more easily. The new met= acourse form is accessible through the =D2Metacourses=D3 link=D1on the main= page, it=D5s right underneath the =D2Courses=D3 link; on course pages, it = replaces the old =D2Child courses=D3 link. Two things about the new form = to be aware of: - You now select the child courses to assign to a metacourse as part of the= process of creating the metacourse. All of that is handled on the new for= m--you just click the courses you want and click a button, and the metacour= se is created for you with those courses automatically assigned as children= . Please don't use the course settings form to make a regular course into = a metacourse anymore. Among other things, this will probably cause all enr= ollments to fail. - The only courses that you can add to a metacourse are those for which you= 're listed as an instructor in Moodle. That prevents an instructor from ac= cidentally assigning someone else's course to his metacourse. If you need = to create a metacourse with child courses that don't belong to you (for exa= mple, if you are in a learning community with other instructors), then plea= se contact me about it, and I will work to get it set up.=20 I should emphasize that Metacourse form is new, and though we've done our b= est to test it, some bugs may still crop up. Please let me know if you see= any odd behavior. Also, I'd like to know if you prefer the old form for c= reating metacourses. We're trying to make it easier, not harder, to dea= l with metacourses, and I'd like to know if you think this process is too c= umbersome.=20 2. We've changed some pages so that students' L-numbers are returned along= with their names, so you can now find that information in one place. Not = every page has been changed, but you'll at least find the L-numbers in the = Participants list and in the Enroll students page. Unfortunately, you stil= l can't actually search for a student by L-number. 3. You'll see that we've added instructors' last names to the course title= s. This has been requested by a number of folks, and overall I like it muc= h better, but it has one possible drawback: it can make the breadcrumbs tra= il (the bit at the top of the page that indicates where you are in the site= --e.g., "Winter 2007 >> HST 229 (Dolan-50001)" so long that it can cause th= e page layout to get munged in some browsers (the content of the page will = be shunted off to the right, making it extremely difficult to read and to u= se). If this happens to you, you may want to use one of the other themes f= or the course (you can select a theme in the "Force theme" menu in the cour= se settings page). I would like to hear from you if you encounter this beh= avior. =20 Finally, a reminder: to get your course content from a Moodle course of you= rs from an earlier term, you will use the Backup and Restore process, outli= ned (at https://teach.lanecc.edu/moodle) and supported by the Faculty Webma= sters (online@lanecc.edu). I strongly urge you to review the materials pro= vided by the faculty webmasters on this topic, as there are some gotchas th= at can bite you if you haven't gone through it in a while. (Remember, for = example, that the course you want to restore TO should exist before you beg= in the restore process, so if you're restoring a metacourse, you should use= the Metacourses form to create it first.) =20 As always, please contact me about any problems you have logging in or find= ing your courses. I will be out of the office from Tuesday, 12/19 through = Monday, 1/1, but I will be checking email (frequently through this week, so= mewhat irregularly after that). If you're trying to report an emergency--t= he Moodle server is down, for example--please call the Help Desk at 463-444= 4. Hope all of you have an excellent break. David Walton =3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D= =3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D David Walton Moodle System Administrator Lane Community College For enrollment, course creation, logging in, or general server issues, emai= l moodleadmin@lanecc.edu For faculty assistance using Moodle, email online@lanecc.edu Voice: 463-3367 =3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D= =3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D ------=_Part_58_1285915.1182532574179--