Instructors,
Waking up this morning, some of you may have noticed a sudden change in how your courses are displayed within Moodle — most notably, the course no longer is running in "topic" mode. If your courses are using collapsed topics in "week" mode (the default for all new courses as of Jan 2021), this sudden change does not effect you. For everyone else, please read on.
Yesterday (4/26/21) at ~3pm, I reset the collapsed topics parameters on a test course within Moodle. There is a “reset to defaults” for the course you’re in, and a “reset all” option. Given the documentation available, I assumed the “reset all” would only reset MY courses but it indeed reset the layout preferences for EVERYONE’s courses site wide. A quick mistake with rippling effects for students and instructors alike.
Who does this issue affect?
Instructors/courses who changed their courses to use collapsed topics in “topic mode” instead of “weeks” and/or who’ve updated the collapsed topics layout preferences (changed colors, buttons, removed instructions, collapse all..ect).
Why did this happen?
Instructors have the same “Reset All” option and we've not experienced this issue before. My assumption is that Moodle only resets the course layout options for the courses you have access to — in Moodle Admin’s case, this equals ALL courses.
How quickly will this be fixed?
There's no easy "undo" button. Over the next several hours, I'll be creating a list of courses that used customized settings and begin reverting the changes. This will be a manual process but should go quickly.
Alternatively, instructors can fix the issue themselves today by editing their course and updating their course layout preferences. I will be prioritizing current courses (Spring 2021) over inactive courses (previous terms) but the repair will apply to all courses in the system.
Plan going forward?
After repair has taken place, I will be reaching out to our host and Moodle software developers to determine what safeguards can be implemented to avoid this issue in the future. This may include disabling the feature for all users, additional documentation, and/or additional confirmation screens.
I apologize for the interruption and confusion that this has likely caused both students and instructors alike. I’ll be working to reverse this error just as soon as I hit send.
-Josh
LMS Admin
Academic Technology Center’s (ATC) Hours
The ATC is open and ready to answer questions regarding your course delivery as well as help with software issues or other questions that may arise about your course.
- Zoom: ATC Virtual Support (live virtual help) | M-F 10a-2p
- E-mail: atc@lanecc.edu | M-F 8a-5p + limited weekend support
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