Moodle Outage – Disruption – Mon 5-Dec-16 –

Block configuration – RESOLVED

Issues Reported:

Starting at about 1:00pm Mon 5-Dec, multiple Moodle users reported a failure after logging into Moodle, receiving a database error message rather than a Moodle view. We were unable to determine the exact severity of the issue immediately, but did not classify the situation as critical since we received only a handful of problem reports at the Service Desk and identified dozens of successful logins during this period.

Our hosting service, eThink, turned on system debugging messages while investigating the issue. These messages were annoying but did not actually prevent users from accessing Moodle functions, however many users might not have understood that the system was still usable since in some views the messages filled a screen, displacing regular page content..

eThink reported the login problems as resolved about 1:50 p.m. and identified the cause as an error resulting from their system reconfiguration of course blocks.  

Additional block problems were identified later in the afternoon by ITS staff, with Administration and Navigation blocks missing for all users.  eThink resolved the missing blocks configuration issue at about 4:30pm. A further block issue with the course listing in the user Dashboard was finally resolved at about 5pm. No user reports were received, but we believe the issue started at about 4:00pm.

Impact:

1-2pm – Not all users were affected by the login issue (we received about 7 total reports of problems), but all were at least inconvenienced by the debugging messages.

4-4:30pm – All users were missing Navigation and Administration blocks. Course listings were misplaced in the user Dashboard.

5pm – All blocks were restored to normal locations

Status:

Resolved

Please report any further Moodle issues to the ITS Service Desk.

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Overview:

Colgate’s Moodle Learning Management System (LMS) will be offline for maintenance from Mon Jun 20 at noon until Thu Jun 23 at 4:00pm.  

During this outage Moodle will be upgraded from version 2.5 to version 3.0 and hosting will be transferred from local servers to eThink Education servers.

Impact:

System Changes:

• Moodle will be upgraded to a new version, 3.0
• The general interface (theme) of Colgate’s Moodle will have a more modern look and feel to enhance navigation and the user experience. Lambda
• Standard logins will be changed to the Colgate CAS single-sign-on used in familiar sites such as the Portal
• Account, course, and enrollments will be fully automated
• File uploads will be limited to 64MB
• Our Moodle servers will be hosted off campus with eThink Education

Not changed:

• All courses and content on the current Moodle server will be transitioned automatically to the new v3.0 server
• CAS logins still use your Colgate network username and password

Time Frame:

Moodle will be removed from service at 12:00pm (noon) Mon June 20. Service will be restored at 12:00pm (noon) Thu Jun 23.  

The Moodle system upgrade will continue throughout the summer as we make final configurations, add features, and adjust settings.

Affected Users:

Faculty, staff and students who use our Moodle LMS.

For more Information:

The new Moodle is documented at our new Moodle Info site at Moodle-Info.Colgate.Edu

If you have questions about this transition please contact the ITS Service Desk (see Colgate.Edu/itshelp) or contact any of the following Academic Technologies staff:

• Doug Higgins (dhiggins@colgate.edu ext 6337)  
• Dan Wheeler (dwheeler@colgate.edu ext 7742)  
• Jeff Nugent (jnugent@colgate.edu ext 6347)
• Kelly Dempsey (kdempsey@colgate.edu ext 7596)  
• Zlatko Grozl (zgrozl@colgate.edu ext 6492)

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Moodle Transition to  v3.0 – Message for Faculty

In June of 2016, ITS will be upgrading Moodle to version 3.0. This upgrade will provide improved functionality, as well as an enhanced look and feel of the Moodle environment. The decision to upgrade Moodle was based, in large part, on feedback and recommendations that emerged from the Faculty Moodle Satisfaction Survey conducted by the Committee on Information Technology(CIT) in 2015. Faculty satisfaction with Moodle was, for the most part positive, and the upgrade will address several of the issues identified in the survey report. Colgate will be partnering with eThink to facilitate and support this upgrade (fully managed hosting, upgrade, data migration, and testing). Additional information about the upgrade is briefly outlined below.

Timeline

Key milestones for the upgrade include the following:

• April & May 2016 – ITS planning and technical preparation.
• June 2016 – Finalize a configuration of a test instance of Moodle v3.0
• End June 2016 – “Go live” with upgraded site.
• July / August 2016 – User education (faculty workshops / support resources)

What will this mean for you?

While the look and feel of Moodle 3.0 will be slightly different, the overall functionality will remain the same.  We have been working to identify and summarize those changes which we think are most relevant for Colgate faculty members. The linked document below, “Transition to Moodle 3.0” presents our analysis to date. In essence, we believe there are many positive changes yet few that change your environment negatively or dramatically.

Transition to Moodle 3.0 (Google Doc) 

Education & Support for Faculty

Faculty can anticipate a range of support opportunities prior to the start of the Fall 2016 term. Specific scheduling details about these opportunities will be made available in follow-up communications.

• Hands-on workshops
• 1:1 consultations
• Self-paced tutorials
• Documentation
• Exploring test site

Contact

Please direct any questions or requests for additional information to our project lead for the transition to Moodle 3.0, Dan Wheeler, in Academic Technologies — via email (dwheeler@colgate.edu) or phone extension 7742.

Ongoing updates and information will be made available on the following web page:

colgate.edu/moodle

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All Fall 2014 academic class Moodle sites were made invisible to students at noontime today, Friday 13-February.

We effect this one-time change to make the previous semester’s courses invisible and therefore clear students’ active course listings. Professors always see their hidden courses listed in gray.

Professors who want any of these courses to still be available students are free to change them back to visible at any time (using the Quicksets block) or can request that we do so (e-mail your request to ITSHelp@Colgate.Edu).

Dan Wheeler
dwheeler
moodle administrator

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Overview:  The ITS Academic Technology team would like to assist faculty in preparing for the new Spring 2015 semester with:

• January Workshops
  • Exploring Technology for Enhancing Learner Feedback
  • Exploring Technology for Enhancing Communication and Collaboration

REGISTER FOR A WORKSHOP

• Moodle End-of-Semester/Start-of-Semester Reminders

Do-it-yourself or assisted content migration from old courses, combining Moodle courses, creating personal grade and course backups, and more…

• Classroom Technology Orientation

If you are interested in an orientation to the technology in a classroom please send an email request to ITSHelp@colgate.edu and we can schedule an orientation meeting.

• Technology Project Planning

Now is the time to reserve a spot on our planning lists for student technology projects, be they via CEL – send an email request to cel@colgate.edu – or with ITS – send an email request to ITSHelp@colgate.edu  

• Teaching with Technology Microgrants

Interested in trying a new piece of software or a mobile app with your class?  Up to $500 is available for software and apps just by completing this simple application.

• Other Needs?

Just send us an email at ITSHelp@colgate.edu or call x7111 and we will be glad to assist you however we can.

Learn about projects your colleagues have done:

You can review many projects undertaken here; we are also happy to discuss and apply other educational technologies in support of teaching and learning.

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These are just some of the curricular uses of technology that Colgate Faculty have used this semester. Library and ITS provide support on these, and many other, types of projects.

If you are interested in incorporating technology into your curriculum and want more information please contact the faculty member mentioned, or email CEL@colgate.edu to reach a librarian or technologist for assistance.

Video Narratives

Students use video to enhance a story, report their research, describe a concept, or generate a call to action. Video Narratives incorporate photos, video, maps, charts, music, and voiceover.

• Susan Woolley EDUC101A

• Barbara Regenspan EDUC309A

• Sheila Clonan EDUC307/507A

• Shaohua Guo CHIN222

• Craig Hamilton WRIT103

• Jacob Mundy CORE185A

• Mark Stern CORE153C

CEL PROJECTS

• Jessica Graybill GEOG/REST308

• Mark Stern EDUC101B

• April Baptiste ENST321

• April Baptiste ENST390

• Catherine Herne CORE104SA

Wikis/Blogs

Online classroom workspace where faculty and students can communicate and work on writing projects alone or in teams.

• April Sweeney ENGL357

• Matthew Miller Freiburg Study Group

Wikipedia Editing

Students used what they learned from course readings, class discussions and research to contribute to and improve Wikipedia content related to the course subject matter.

CEL PROJECTS

• Aisha Musa CORE151

• Aisha Musa RELG234

iClickers

iClickers are hand-held devices that allow faculty and students to dynamically interact in real-time in the classroom.

• Doug Johnson PSYC309

• Todd Springer PHYS112

• Ken Belanger, Barbara Hoopes, Geoff Holm BIOL212

• Catherine Cardelus, Tim Mckay, Eddie Watkins, Damhnait McHugh BIOL211

• Daisaku Yamamoto CORE 167CA GEOG315A

• Steven Ludeke PSYC261A

• Catherine Herne PHYS336

• Jasmine Bailey CORE164CA

iPad Class Sets

The iPad Pilot projects are intended to encourage faculty to explore whether mobile tablet technology enhances or enables our ability to:

• Promote student engagement in the classroom, the lab, or in the field
• Assist small group collaboration in idea creation and sharing or information search, analysis, and visual representation
• Provide access to and manipulation of digital content

• April Sweeney ENGL357

• Jessica Graybill GEOG/REST308

Mellon Digital Humanities Projects

Pilot projects designed to explore the strategic use of technology in the teaching of the humanities and humanistic social sciences. The goal is to enable faculty to develop genuinely creative projects, increase the information available to faculty as they reflect on the best ways to use technology in teaching, and enable the lessons learned by individual faculty to be more easily shared.

• Carolyn Guile, Wenhua Shi, Adam Burnett – Art and GIS

  • ArcGIS

  • Google Earth

  • Camtasia Lecture Capture & Ensemble to Moodle GIS tutorials

• Sasha Nakhimovsky, Alice Nakhimovsky, & Robert Garland – Social Network Analysis

  • NodeXL

• Christopher Henke (SOCI453) & Elana Shever – Qualitative Data Analysis with MAXQDA software

  • Virtual Desktop Infrastructure (VDI) implementation

  • Archiving of student research data with Dataverse

• Janel Benson, Mary Simonson, Alicia Simmons, Meg Worley – Quantitative Literacy

  • PowerPoint & Easel.ly

• John Crespi, Jessica Graybill, & Ian Helfant – Across the Global Curriculum: Integrating Foreign Languages,Core Components, and Area Studies through Digital Technologies

  • JCrespi – VoiceThread

  • IHelfant – Transparent Language

  • JGraybill – Video Narrative

VisLab Classes

Using the real-time imagery of the Digistar system, students can experience detailed fly-bys of geographic regions around the globe and in the solar system. Student-created animations and models add a valuable perspective across the curriculum.

• Catherine Herne CORE104S

• Damhnait McHugh, Tim McCay BIOL211

• Connie Soja GEOL215

• Mike Loranty GEOG131

• Marcus Edino GEOG329

• William Stull LATN121

• Neil Albert PSYC375

• Jeff Bary ASTR102

TimelineJS

• Karen Harpp CORE138

• Karen Harpp GEOG220

Data Visualization

• Janel Benson SOAN250

ePortfolios

The Education department continues its use of Google Sites to create portfolios for each graduate student.

• Barbara Regenspan MAT candidates

Online Class / Learning

• Karen Harpp CORE138

Lecture Capture

A tool that allows for the recording of a class or student presentations that can get uploaded to Moodle or another platform. Video, audio-only, and powerpoint presentations can all be integrated into the recording.

• Beth Parks PHYS432

Prezi

A cloud-based presentation software and storytelling tool for presenting ideas on a virtual canvas, which allows users to zoom in and out of their presentation media.

• Monica Facchini – ITAL201A

Website Creation

Students creating websites to communicate with public audiences

CEL Project

• Nick Rutter – HIST200

NodeXL

• Susan Cerassano ENGL321B

MaxQDA

Qualitative Data Analysis

• Emilio Spadola ANTH211A

Video Conferencing

Connecting with people off campus and around the world

• Karen Harpp CORE138 – BlueJean conferencing

• PCON Faculty Conflict Lab

Digital Mapping

Using ArcGIS or online tools such as Google Earth, EJView, and other online mapping and geospatial data sites

• April Baptiste ENST 232

• Danny Barreto SPAN 353

• Marcus Edino GEOG/SOAN 314

• Jacob Mundy CORE 185

• Jun Yoshino PSYCH 109

Academic Posters

• Catherine Herne PHYS3356

CEL Project

• Anna Rios-Rojas EDUC303

• Susan Woolley EDUC241

• Marcus Edino GEOG329

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According to Carl Straumsheim reporting in Inside Higher Ed, the learning management system (LMS) is not yet dead. We contrast this with David Raths’ report on BYU jettisoning its standard LMS in favor of a locally-developed, simplistic alternative.

There is no way that LMS vendors can match the features of specialized tools, such as wikis and blogs, but they still offer a package of a functional suite of tools with consistent interfaces, controlled access, and  institutional support. New LMS systems (e.g., Canvas and Schoology) continue to appear, develop, and grow in market share.

Still, most professors don’t need most of the function of the average LMS and a simpler alternative might be more accessible to both faculty and students and may prove to be more useful.

• Not Dead Yet (Nov ’13)

• Building a Do-It-Yourself LMS (May ’13)

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John K. Waters in Campus Technology summarizes the current state of the rapidly evolving MOOC ecosystem.

• What Will Happen to MOOCs Now that Udacity Is Leaving Higher Ed? (Dec ’13)

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In this short, 2013, Inside Higher Ed blog post, Kenneth C. Green, founding director of The Campus Computing Project, offers some insights into the current state of the LMS. Perhaps we are looking towards a name change, from LMS to SEG (for Student EnGagement platform). 

• LMS 4.0: Will Semantic Remorse Lead to Student Engagement?

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