Overview:

The standard Grader report in Moodle Grades has some interface deficiencies, among them the failure to maintain the student name column when scrolling right into course grades. For this reason we have always included the LAE Grader option in our Moodle configuration. Although it provides better scrolling and other nice features, the LAE Grader installed this summer had some display issues of its own.

We have tested and installed the latest version of LAE Grader at mid-day Tue 26-Nov to correct these issues and provide some other new features. Among the advantages of the new LAE Grader:

• (Existing) Maintain student name column while scrolling right through grade columns
• (New) Option (default) to remove unneeded columns from gradebook (specifically email address and department)
• (New) Options for setting the display size of your gradebook
• (Existing)  Enter grades as letters (entry only, Moodle will convert letters and store them as numbers)
• (Existing) Quick Export to CSV option for grades backup
• (Existing) Quick reset of Overridden grades

Impact:

The LAE Grader is an option which provides a better interface for many grading operations, but the standard Moodle Grader report remains available. Either can be used to update your grades.

The upgrade corrects previous LAE Grader issues

• Limited display size
• Column header offset

Time Frame:

This change is effective immediately (implemented 11:30am Tue 26-Nov).

Affected Users:

The upgrade affects directly only faculty using Moodle Grades and the LAE Grader. It potentially will help any faculty using Moodle Grades who select the LAE Grader.  Students viewing grades are not affected.

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This posting originated from and is archived on the Colgate Moodle Site News

This and all other ITS communications are archived at http://blogs.colgate.edu/its/

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Skidmore has an active GIS Center for Interdisciplinary Research. Check some of their recommended tools and tutorials here.

• Tools

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Librarian Peter Rogers has collected a variety of mapping resources on a Colgate Libraries’  Course and Subjects Guide page.  Peter is not only an aggregator for mapping resources, he is an experienced GIS professional available to help with your mapping projects (his contact information is on the maps page).

More Libraries map information is available in their Fall 2013 newsletter (not yet on-line as this is posted; check for your printed version).

Categories include:

• Physical Maps at Colgate Libraries,
• Virtual Map Collections,
• Virtual Globes,
• Interactive Mapping Sites,
• Geoportals,
• Gazetteers,
• Historical Maps ,
• Hydrofracking Counter Maps,
• Geospatial Data

• SubjectsPlus: Maps

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EDUCAUSE ELI (Education and Learning Initiative) publishes a very useful series of short (two-page) summaries on educational technology topics; several of these relate to the topic of mapping. Here’s a collection of some 7-Things mapping-related offerings, ordered by date:

7 THINGS YOU SHOULD KNOW ABOUT Data Visualization II – August 2009  (PDF)

• Mapping is only one of the facets of data visualization, but an important one, supported by many free on-line tools

7 THINGS YOU SHOULD KNOW ABOUT Location-Aware Applications – March 2009 (PDF)

• Your phone knows where you are; that might be a valuable thing for  research and at the same time a nightmare for privacy

7 THINGS YOU SHOULD KNOW ABOUT Geolocation – August 2008 (PDF)

• Applications which can geotag their data, automatically or with minimal effort, offer interesting opportunities for data collection and mashup applications

7 THINGS YOU SHOULD KNOW ABOUT Google Earth – October 2006 (PDF)

• A powerful, quirky, and free tool to visualize and tour the Earth, including ocean depths, the Moon, and Mars

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EDUCAUSE ELI (Education and Learning Initiative) publishes a very useful series of short (two-page) summaries on educational technology topics. This overview of lecture capture is a bit old, but still informative and useful as I post this in Nov 2013.

• 7 Things You Should Know About Lecture Capture – December 2008 – (PDF)

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In its infancy lecture capture was mostly focused on providing a class record for students to review. This article by Michelle Fredette in Campus Technology, November 2013  relates how lecture recording can provide:

• Interactivity
• Increased instruction
• Cross-disciplinary sharing
• Customized content
• Language instruction
• “Khan Do” — short, instructional modules

• Lecture Capture: Capturing the Imagination (alternate viewer)

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Campus Wireless Outage Tuesday Nov 12th at 5:00AM

To Colgate Employees, Students 

Overview:
Beginning at approximately 5:00 AM, Tuesday  November 12th 2013, Colgate’s Network administrators will be making mandatory changes to the Universities wireless network that will require all wireless access points across campus to restart.   Expected wireless downtime will be 15 minutes. Wired network connections to all network resources will not be affected.

Time Frame: 

Work on the Campus Wireless network will occur between the hours of 5:00 AM and 5:15 AM, Tuesday November 12^th 2013.

Affected Users: 

All users using accessing the campus wireless network will be affected.

Things you can do: 

Use the campus wired network to access all network resources during this service event.

More Information: Contact the ITS Helpline at itshelp@colgate.edu or call 315.228.7111.

This event and all other ITS communications are archived at http://blogs.colgate.edu/ITS/

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Overview:
Google recently updated the Google Apps menu found in Gmail, Google Calendar, Google Drive and most other Google Apps. Links to these items are no longer presented in a horizontal menu.

Google apps are now accessed, from within other Google Apps, via an icon found in the upper right top of each app.

Most changes, such as this menu change, occur globally for all users of Google Apps for Education.

Impact:
The horizontal menu that links to other Google Apps has been removed. A new icon, when clicked, reveals a drop down menu to provide links and access to Google Apps. This change has been made for all apps in Google Apps for Education including Gmail, Google Calendar, Google Docs, Google Drive, Google Sites and Google Contacts.

Time Frame:
This change is effective immediately.

Affected Users:
All users of Google Apps for Education are impacted by this change.

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