What's New
UR Courses was upgraded to Moodle 2.8.9 for the Winter 2016 semester.
Moodle 2.8.9 contains some new features worth noting, including numerous bug fixes. For more information regarding the most recent upgrade, please refer to the Moodle 2.8.8 and Moodle 2.8.9 release notes.
UR Courses was previously upgraded from Moodle 2.8.5 to Moodle 2.8.7 for the Fall 2015 semester.
Export Spreadsheet for DOME
A new export format has been added to UR Courses that works with the DOME (Web Mark Entry) system.
The new DOME spreadsheet export format generates an Excel spreadsheet that can be uploaded to DOME in order to simplify the process of transferring grades from UR Courses.
- To access the new export format within UR Courses, navigate to the Grades page and select the Export tab.
- Select the DOME spreadsheet tab.
- Click the Download button to save the export.
Learn more about uploading the exported grades into DOME by referring to Page 12 - Section D Uploading Grades from UR Courses in the DOME training manual.
Further information regarding the DOME Web Mark Entry System is available on the DOME landing page at http://www.uregina.ca/student/registrar/web-mark-entry.html.
Gradebook improvements
For an overview of the new grading features within UR Courses, view the Gradebook screencast from the Moodle 2.8 Release Highlights.
Improved Grader report
- The Grader report now uses the whole window; Smooth, stable scrolling in all directions; Works on all platforms, including phones and tablets
- Cells can be quickly edited without reloading
- Assignment grading table filters
- Gradebook search allows for filtering by student name
Learn more about the improved Grader report in the official Moodle 2.8 documentation.
New Single view
- A new Single view allows an instructor to view either all the grades of one single student (1) or a single grade item for all students (2).
A new export format has been added to UR Courses that works with the DOME (Web Mark Entry) system.
The new DOME spreadsheet export format generates an Excel spreadsheet that can be uploaded to DOME in order to simplify the process of transferring grades from UR Courses.
- To access the new export format within UR Courses, navigate to the Grades page and select the Export tab.
- Select the DOME spreadsheet tab.
- Click the Download button to save the export.
Learn more about uploading the exported grades into DOME by referring to Page 12 - Section D Uploading Grades from UR Courses in the DOME training manual.
Further information regarding the DOME Web Mark Entry System is available on the DOME landing page at http://www.uregina.ca/student/registrar/web-mark-entry.html.
For an overview of the new grading features within UR Courses, view the Gradebook screencast from the Moodle 2.8 Release Highlights.
- The Grader report now uses the whole window; Smooth, stable scrolling in all directions; Works on all platforms, including phones and tablets
- Cells can be quickly edited without reloading
- Assignment grading table filters
- Gradebook search allows for filtering by student name
Learn more about the improved Grader report in the official Moodle 2.8 documentation.
Learn more about the new Single view in the official Moodle 2.8 documentation.
Improved User report
- New design with clearer calculations, which includes a contributions column that explains grade calculations
- This report now includes the calculated weight of each grade item as well. It is set to show by default but may be hidden in the Course grade settings.
Improved Grade import/export
- Improved interface;
- Copy/paste import direct from spreadsheet programs;
- Robust handling of null data or bad data;
- Locked grade items are now protected from imports;
- Export to multiple display types (Letter, Percentage…)
New Grade history report
Natural weighting
- Combines grades simply;
- Clearer interface for using weights;
- Supports extra credit, excluded grades, hidden grades;
- May remove the need to use other aggregation types
Learn more about the Natural aggregation type from the official Moodle 2.8 documentation.
Categories and Items
The Categories and Items section of the gradebook has been simplified and renamed to Setup.
Scales
Ability to create a 'Like' or single value rating scale for Forums and other activities that support scales.
Learn more about creating scales within your course from the official Moodle 2.8 documentation.
Editing Content
Atto - An Alternate Text Editor
While TinyMCE remains the current default, a new, simplified text editor with autosave support is now also available to use within UR Courses. This editor loads faster and should provide better performance on phones and tablets.
View the Moodle 2.8 screencast highlighting some of the new features available when working with the new Atto editor.
To use the new editor, edit your profile settings and change the Text Editor selection to the Atto HTML editor.
Word Count
A word count has been added to the default TinyMCE editor, and is also available in Atto.
MathJax Filter
The MathJax Filter will render TEX statements using the MathJax library, a more modern approach to rendering TEX in the browser.
Learn more about the MathJax Filter in the official Moodle 2.8 documentation.
Activities and Resources
Improved logging for better reporting
A new logging subsystem provides opportunities for improved reporting as well as advancements in better learning analytics.
Learn more about the new log format in the official Moodle 2.8 documentation.
Enhanced Conditional Activities
Enhancements to this feature include an improved, streamlined interface, as well as added support to enable restricted access with "or" conditions, and use nested restrictions for complex access criteria.
Learn more about the improvements to conditional activities in the official Moodle 2.8 documentation.
View a screencast overview of the improvements to conditional activities, (from the Moodle 2.7 release highlights).
Forum enhancements
For an overview of the new Forum features within UR Courses, view the Forum screencast from the Moodle 2.8 Release Highlights.
- Subscribe to individual discussions
- Reply to discussion via email (Work in progress – Not currently available in UR Courses)
- Better navigation through threads
- Ability to “Like” forum posts (using the new single item scale option)
New options for Quiz
For an overview of the new Quiz building features within UR Courses, view the Quiz screencast from the Moodle 2.8 Release Highlights.
- Improved Quiz edit screen and completion settings
- The page where you assemble your questions to make a quiz has been completely re-built to make it much easier an more efficient to use. For example you can now drag-and drop questions to re-order them or move them between pages
- Quiz reports improved.
Question bank
To duplicate a question, you now start by clicking the duplicate icon, like for activities.
The various different ways to move questions in the question bank have been rationalised.
There is now a 'Save changes and continue editing' button when editing questions. Useful when you are working on a complex question with the preview open in another window.
The interface of the question type selector has been updated
Essay questions can now require an attachment, with the text optional, rather than the other way around.
New option for choice
- You can now allow users to select more than one choice when creating a Choice. Read more.
New options for Assignments
- Word limit feature added to online assignments.
- Instructors can now attach files for students when setting up assignments, such as example submissions or answer templates. See Assignment settings for more information
- New capability that allows to control which grader receives notifications
- now possible to comment directly on students' work on online text assignments
- When assignment is submitted by one team member it is now shown as submitted for all team members
Database activity
Availability can be set with a time as well as a date now.
Scheduler
- Students can now be allowed to book several slots at a time.
- Volatile slots replaced with guard time - students cannot change their booking for slots closer than this time to the current time.
- Notes field will now be shown to students at booking time.
- Major refactoring of instructor view (slot list), student view (booking screen), and instructor view of individual appointments.
Groups
The setting Group members only that was available within resources has now been removed, as the group and grouping restrictions possible within conditional activities now provide this functionality.
- New ability to auto-create groups from existing group or grouping membership
- New ability to ignore users that are already in groups when auto-creating groups
To learn more about the changes to Groups, visit the Moodle 2.8 Groups documentation.
Course Formats
Collapsed Topics
- Added print media styles
- New 'Do not show date' feature
- New 'Show section summary when collapsed' feature
Analytics and Reporting
For an overview of the new Event monitoring features within UR Courses, view the Event monitor screencast from the Moodle 2.8 Release Highlights.
- Stay in touch by subscribing to events. A new Event monitor can look for patterns of events and send you notifications
- Changes to the user interfaces for the Live logs and Log reports
- More detailed logging and events have been added, particularly in relation to grades.