Changes in Classrooms
Over the summer, the software on instructor computers in classrooms has been refreshed.
We’ve updated a number of applications, such as Zoom, Chrome, and Firefox, to their current versions. The Macs are running MacOS 12, and the Windows computers are running Windows 11. Microsoft Office has been updated to Office 2021.
The instructor station computers will remain as dual boot — the instructor can still choose either MacOS or Windows. Moving forward with the M1/M2 chip, new Macs can no longer support the dual boot option. Stay tuned for more information over the course of this academic year.
If you are teaching in Laird or the brand new Hasenstab classrooms, you will need to bring your laptop to connect to the classroom technology – the “Bring Your Own Device (BYOD)” model. We are happy to provide training. Find instructions for these and all other classroom technology at Classroom Support.
In particular, Hasenstab Hall has two new classrooms, each of which has technology to allow students and faculty to project wirelessly.
Please reach out to Wiebke Kuhn to set up a brief (15 min) appointment between September 6th through 9th during business hours for classroom technology refreshers.
Moodle Changes
On August 2nd, ITS updated Moodle to version 3.11. This version brings a few new features, including:
- Updated new theme (although each instructor can change the course theme)
- Easier-to-find buttons (including for changing course visibility)
- New quiz settings
- Personal pronouns within Moodle Profiles
These new features are described in more detail.
The Moodle team also deleted Moodle courses from the 2016-17 academic year, as happens every year for courses that are five years old. For courses from the 2017-18 academic year, faculty should plan to review them this year. Let us know by the end of the academic year if you need help creating a backup copy for any key courses.
Throughout the past two years, many faculty have created and linked to Panopto videos from their Moodle courses. This summer, the Academic Technology team started a process of automatically archiving Panopto videos that have not been viewed for two years, which will help free up server storage space and reduce cost to the College. Archived videos will continue to be retrievable by the video owner without requiring help from ITS staff. For more information, contact Dann Hurlbert.