Summer 2022 Moodle Updates

In keeping with our commitment to providing a robust teaching and learning environment, we have several exciting Moodle updates and additions to share. Most of these new tools were brought to our attention through our New Features Intake Qualtrics survey, which all LSU faculty and staff can use to request new learning tools for Moodle. A few update highlights are described below.

Panopto

As a reminder, LSU has fully transitioned video services from Kaltura to Panopto. Panopto offers robust features including video creation, uploading, auto-captioning, editing, and sharing. Panopto content can be added to course sections, lessons, quizzes, and discussion forums to make your Moodle course more interactive. Look for the green Panopto icon to include your video content using the Atto editor. For more information on Panopto, see our website, contact the FTC, or attend one of the training sessions available from training.lsu.edu. NOTE: Kaltura is no longer available to LSU faculty, staff, and students. If you see the message "Unauthorized IP address" in a media player, please contact the FTC for assistance. 

Course Card Icons

On your Moodle My Courses page, you will now see icons in the top left corner of your course cards that will bring you to your course Moodle Mail, the gradebook, roster, Course Tools, and course settings. The icons you see will depend on your Moodle permissions.

Dates

The Dates tool allows instructors to change important dates for all course activities and resources on one page. Start dates, end dates, due dates, and submit-by dates can now all be updated in one place. To find the Dates tool, log into your course and go to Course Administration > Reports > Dates. For more information, see GROK article 20522.

Gradescope

Gradescope is a Turnitin tool that facilitates grading multiple formats, including handwritten annotation, paper-based, digital, or coding assignments. Using a dynamic rubric that can be created and edited while grading, instructors can review rubric level statistics to target their teaching on weaker areas. For more information on using Gradescope, please see this Getting Started page and this introductory video.

Perusall

Perusall is a social learning platform that allows students to engage with each other and the course material through collaborative annotation tools for text and videos. Students can make comments in a single document to help instructors identify difficult topics to guide lessons. For more information on Perusall, please see this introductory video.

Board

Board is a new activity in which students can anonymously collaborate using
post-it boards. Instructors can create a post-it table with columns where students can add new posts with text, links, images, and embedded YouTube videos. Posts can also be rated and moved around. For more information on Board, see GROK article 20520 and the Board Moodle plugin information page.

Phonetic

Phonetic is a new text editor button that allows users to insert additional phonetic and linguistic symbols. Clicking this button allows users to select alphabetic symbols and delimiters from the International Phonetic Alphabet and insert them into running text. To use this tool, select the following symbol on the Atto text editor menu bar. 

Course Grade Breakdown and Projected Final Grade

Two gradebook plugins are returning! Course Grade Breakdown allows users to see a statistical breakdown of any grade in a course, including the course total. The Projected Final Grade allows a student or instructor to calculate what they will need to earn for remaining ungraded activities in order to achieve a range of final grades. For more information on these two tools, see GROK articles 19971 (Course Grade Breakdown) and 19196 (Projected Final Grade).

We will continue to provide updates as we make improvements to your learning environment.