Instructor Support

Hello Instructors,

Winter 2024 courses are now available in Moodle. Student enrollments will be added ~two weeks prior to the beginning of the term (Tuesday, December 26th, 2023). If you don’t see your section listed, check the class schedule to ensure your department administrator has added you as the instructor of record.

🆕 Sitewide Changes Beginning Winter 2024:

1. Activity due dates will be shown by default on the main course page. Instructors can turn this function off in their courses via Course Settings > Appearance > Show activity dates (show/hide).
   
   
   
2. The editing time delay for all forum posts will be reduced from 30 minutes to 5 minutes (Effective January 1st, 2024).
   

Rational for Activity Due Date Decision:

I'm deeply grateful to the faculty who participated in our survey and I remain steadfast in my commitment to collaborative improvement and refinement of our learning management system. Recognizing the narrow margin (53% against and 47% in favor of displaying dates), I sought guidance from the instructional design, tutoring, and academic technology center teams.

It's evident that many faculty members intuitively understand the value of visibility, as they've historically incorporated due dates within course titles. While we now have better ways to work with due dates, the intent behind such practices underscores its positive impact on student success. This display strategy also aligns well with OSCQR guidelines, which emphasize the significance of clear due dates.

I'm mindful of the shared concerns about additional scrolling required in some courses — especially those with lots of activities. Please know that the flexibility remains for any instructor to adjust this setting however they see fit.

LMS: Improvements 2023-2024 Survey Results: 75 Responses (~20% Faculty Participation)

• Collapsed Topics: 58% prefer the default "As is" setting where hidden sections are shown but content is "not available", and 42% want hidden sections to be completely invisible. (Based on 71 responses)
• Dates on Course Homepage: 53% prefer activity dates not be shown by default, while 47% want activity due dates to be displayed. (Based on 71 responses)
• Forums: 27% want no change to the 30-minute posting delay, but 73% believe the editing time should be reduced with preferences at 34% for 5min, 32% for 15min, and 7% for 1min.
• Course Deployment: 57% are neutral about potential changes, 31% feel positive (20% general, 11% strongly), and 11% have reservations (7% hesitant, 4% strongly negative). (Based on 73 responses)