Kalamazoo College Moodle

Hello Moodle Users,

We have updated Moodle to version 4.1.  I wanted to highlight a new layout of the Dashboard for both instructors and students.

The Dashboard now prominently features a Timeline and Calendar.  The goal is to make it easier for students to find their Moodle Assignments in one place.  If the instructor adds a due date to an Assignment, it will appear here.  An example is below:

Student Dashboard

In addition, this layout can be useful to faculty members. We've heard feedback that instructors would like more convenient methods of keeping track of assignments requiring grading. The new Timeline can do that.  If you create an Assignment and enter a "Remind me to grade by.." date, the Timeline will display upcoming grading deadlines including a quick link to any ungraded submission.

Faculty Dashboard

The helpful "Recently Accessed Courses" block is later down the page. You can also click the "My Courses" link to access the familiar Course Overview Block.  In addition, the Dashboard's right menu includes "Recently Accessed Items" which can help to jump quickly to your most recent work.

We hope this helps everyone work more effectively and efficiently during fall quarter.
As always, I am happy to help with any questions and hear your feedback.

Best,
Josh Moon
Educational Technology Specialist

Hello Everyone,

I wanted to give all notify all users (staff, faculty, and students!) that we intend to upgrade to Moodle 4.1 this month. Being a major release, Moodle 4.1 looks substantially different in terms of how courses are displayed. For Instructors, gone is the familiar settings gear wheel. It has been replaced by a ribbon-style menu of Settings, Participants, Grades, and more.

For all users, including students, your Site Home, Dashboard, and other key links are part of a menu at the top of the page instead of located in the menu on the left. Hopefully, everyone will notice some more contemporary, mobile-first, and intuitive design. 

If you'd like to see a visual comparison of the design changes, Prof. Kathryn Sederberg has volunteered to show how her German 101 looks between the current Moodle 3.11 and 4.1.

GERM 101 Moodle 3.11

GERM 101 Moodle 4.1

A few other course design notes:

• Moodle 4.1 brings back more effective support for blocks in the right margin. If instructors find those blocks useful (Activities, Latest news, Recent Activity, etc.), they can now exist as part of a collapsible menu.
• Because of the design of Activities and Resources, I might suggest using Description fields displayed on the Course Page to add more information and context to weekly tasks.
  
•  Moodle also has a two-minute video on the 4.x update available
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