By Brandon Fields
Staff writer
St. Bonaventure updated its academic online platform, Moodle, upgrading from Moodle 2.6 to an improved Moodle 2.9.
According to instructional support specialist Karla Bright, Moodle 2.9 operates almost the same as 2.6, but it now has a fresh and updated appearance.
“I feel that it is important for us to update Moodle regularly for security reasons and so that when improvements are made to the platform they are readily available to faculty and students,” Bright said.
According to Bright, professors can customize what is available to students based on the conditions they can set up, allowing for students to receive course materials more easily. Moodle has completely overhauled the grade book to make it more accurate and easier for professors to manage, Bright said.
On Jan. 14, a workshop informed faculty about the new features of the update.
Bright said that course homepage management, adding and removing resources, the new text editor and new course formats were just a few of the topics she covered.
“These improvements to Moodle are meant to make course management less time consuming for the professor and to provide a better learning experience for students,” Bright said.
Enhancements to the assignment tool give the opportunity for students to be notified via email if their assignments were submitted successfully, and make grading and giving feedback easier for professors.
Bright said she has not gotten much feedback yet about the new site, but would like to receive some at her email kbright@sbu.edu. She encourages students and faculty to get in contact with her with any questions, comments or concerns about the new site concerning any questions, comments or concerns about Moodle 2.9.
fieldsbj14@bonaventure.edu
