Tag: Dashboard

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Moodle goes to version 4 with a new look

Moodle will be updated to Moodle 4.1 on June 28th, 2023, from 8 AM to 5 PM. During this time, it is not possible to log into Moodle or create new Moodle areas on the course pages. The update may not take the whole day, but the time is reserved as a precaution to prepare for potential update issues and fixes.

Dashboard and My courses

Demo video: Dashboard and My courses, English subtitles (video in Finnish)

The Dashboard and My courses replace the old Dashboard. Moodle’s start page is the Dashboard, but you can change it in your settings. On these tabs you can see what courses you have, the calendar, etc. You can also add blocks to the Dashboard.

Layout and editing of the course

Demo video: Layout and editing of the course (video and subtitles in Finnish)

Editing and managing the Moodle area has been made easier in the new user interface. In the future, the functions that were behind the function menu can be found in the tabs immediately below the course name. The Grades and Participants tabs, which were previously in the table of contents (formerly the navigation menu), have also been moved to tabs. In the future, the table of contents will show not only the names of the topics, but also the activities and resources found within the topics, thus making it easier to navigate the area. The table of contents can still be turned on and off from the “hamburger menu” in the upper left corner.

The biggest usability improvements can be found in the new location of the Edit Mode button. In the future, the editing mode, i.e. the editing button, can be found in the upper right corner, and it is constantly available to the teacher. This makes editing smoother and easier. In addition, in the future, activities and sections can also be moved to another place in the course within the table of contents.

Blocks in Moodle areas will not automatically be visible to students in the future. They can still be found on the right side, but they are behind a drawer.

Question bank and Grader report

Demo video: Question bank and Grade report (video in Finnish)

The tabs in the gradebook view will be replaced by a dropdown menu with the upcoming version update. Under the dropdown menu, you will find all the same contents that were previously displayed as tabs. Editing individual assessments for students will be streamlined as you can make individual edits directly in the grader report by enabling the editing mode.

In the question bank, learning analytics will be introduced in the form of new data columns. With this new information, teachers will be able to analyze the questions posed: assessing their effectiveness and difficulty. Additionally, question-specific editing will be made easier within the question bank view.

Other activities

Demo video: Rest of the new features, English subtitles (video in Finnish)

The database activity has several improvements: It has a new start page where you can choose a template for the database, or load the structure of an old database. The database now has four different templates: an image gallery, a research or reflection diary, a proposal or research project template, and a resource template that can be used to create, for example, a book review or link collection. In addition, it is now easier to track and manage the approval of database records.

In activity completion, there is a new option “require a passing grade”. Previously, the only option was “receive a grade”.

A time limit can now be set for assignments. During the assignment, a counter is displayed, showing how much time is left.

Language selection can now be enforced for individual activities, whereas previously this was only possible at the course level.

Training and support

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Change the course start and end dates in the course settings

Teacher! Trouble finding your course on the Dashboard? Have you noticed that the end date of your course area is a year after creating the course?

Please check that the course start and end dates are correct. Afterwards, your Moodle course will be correctly displayed on the Dashboard default view, on tabs “In progress”, “Future”, and “Past” – for students as well!

Instructions:

1) Go to your Moodle course area.

2) Go to Edit settings (gear menu in the upper right corner).

 

 

3) Set the correct dates:

 

Tip:

  • The start date can be e.g. the date of the first lecture or the day the preliminary assignments are published.
  • The end date should be a date after even the last assignment/exam on the course has been completed. If you use Moodle to grade submissions, the end date should not be before the date the grades are published.

4) Save and display.

Now the courses are displayed correctly in the list of courses on Dashboard:

Start date and end date do not close the course area from course participants. If you want to close the course completely, change the setting Course visibility in Edit course settings. Hidden courses are shown last on the lists on tabs “In progress”, “Future”, and “Past”, and the course links become grey.

When you use a few minutes of your time to edit the start and end dates

  • you make finding the course areas much easier.
  • the course area does not move to the “Past” tab on a wrong date (= one year after creating the course).
  • students do not unenrol themselves from courses because of their chaotic Dashboard. If the students unenrol from the course, all their submitted assignments and grades are no longer visible.

Tip: If the “In progress” tab on your Dashboard shows courses that have already ended, you can move them to the right tab with only a few clicks (see the previous instructions). In this situation, you do not have to find the correct course start and end dates; it is enough to set the current date as the end date and then save the changes.