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Faculty Resources & Support
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Update

Welcome to Fall 2024

Aug. 13, 2024

Welcome faculty to Fall 2024! As we begin the new school year, we'd like to share some important news and updates we’ve made to the LSU Moodle site this summer. We would also like to remind you of new features and improvements that we have previously communicated, as well as an important maintenance update. This communication is also emailed from Erica Daigle (via LSU Moodle 4.1) with a noreply@lsu.edu email address to the Primary Instructor, Non-Primary Instructor, Non-Editing Instructor, Guest Instructor, and the TA roles.

Upcoming Maintenance Outage: Turnitin Services

On Saturday, August 17, the following Turnitin services will be unavailable between 8:00 a.m. and 4:00 p.m.:

  • Originality (including Moodle integrations)
  • SimCheck (including Moodle integrations) 
  • Similarity (including Moodle integrations)
  • Turnitin Core API (including Moodle integrations)
  • Crossref Similarity Check
  • Draft Coach
  • Authorship
  • Turnitin and TurnitinUK (including Moodle integrations)
  • Roster Sync
  • Feedback Studio for iOS
  • iThenticate 2.0
  • iThenticate

Gradescope will be available, but the following will not work during this time: exporting submissions, Gradescope Moodle integration, and Gradescope Code Similarity Reports. Please note that these services will also not be available on the Turnitin website.

Important Reminders

The following updates and improvements were previously communicated at the beginning of the 2024 summer term.

Honorlock Pilot: We are continuing our pilot of Honorlock, a new online proctoring option in Moodle. Honorlock is a fully automated proctoring service that removes the need for student scheduling. For more information about Honorlock’s features for instructors and students, including walkthroughs of exam setup and the proctoring process, visit https://honorlock.kb.help/. For information about pricing, training, and joining the pilot for your fall courses, please contact Wen Fan, Director of Academic Technology, at wfan10@lsu.edu.
Turnitin Assignment 2 Activity Deprecation: As of Spring 2024, the standalone Turnitin Assignment 2 activity is no longer supported or available to add to courses. Instructors are encouraged to replace this tool with the updated Turnitin Plagiarism Plugin integrated directly into Moodle Assignment, Workshop, Forum, and Quiz activities (see GROK 20591: Moodle Activity Settings: Turnitin Plagiarism Plugin).
Course Freezing: At least 30 days after the end of the term, teaching courses will enter a read-only mode to freeze academic records. At this point, no further changes can be made to the course. Instructors can continue to access course content by using Simple Restore (for more information, see GROK 20596: Moodle: Read-Only Course Mode). If you need to accommodate students with “Incomplete” grades, please contact the FTC.

Global Search: We have enabled a Global Search function that allows users to perform a keyword search on the Moodle site anywhere they currently have access. More details on using the global search functionality can be found in the Moodle documentation.

Upcoming Moodle Theme Change

In the near future, our Moodle sites will have a new look! To better align with the latest academic tech, we will soon transition to the standard Moodle theme. This will ensure that we are in sync with Moodle’s latest developments, providing an immediately accessible experience for all users. Additionally, our new theme is consistent with all current official Moodle documentation (https://docs.moodle.org), making it easier for instructors and students to find additional support.

To ease this transition, we will customize the theme to align with LSU’s standards and minimize changes to the user experience. Users will have the opportunity to preview the new look before the official switch, and we will fully communicate the transition timeline, including specific dates. More information on this preview period and its impact on Moodle is forthcoming.

Technology Training & Support

Last, we want to remind you that academic technology support is always available to you should you have any questions or need assistance. The Faculty Technology Center (FTC) provides Moodle support, consultations, and innovative solutions to faculty and graduate teaching assistants tailored to their individual teaching. Services include workshops, webinars, and customized workshops by request. The following training opportunities are forthcoming. Click the links to register!

The FTC also provides Moodle support through ticketing, one-on-one consultations, and just-in-time virtual assistance. You can contact the FTC by: 

We also invite you to leverage the In-Residence Support provided by LSU Online & Continuing Education’s Design & Development team to enhance your courses. This team provides dedicated, personalized course design support to all LSU faculty. To explore resources related to online and blended course design and development, please visit the LSU Online Faculty Resources & Support website.

Thank you for the opportunity to continue serving LSU. Have a great semester!

LSU Academic Technology
LSU Online & Continuing Education

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