One of the most difficult things for me in the past has been preventing changes to the archived Moodle site which is deposited on a separate server each year. I have been using chatGPT to create a safe MySql query which removes editing rights from Lecturers and students while still allowing logins to the site. I should note that there’s no running cron either, since this would do pointless work on an otherwise “frozen” site. The first part of the…
1 Tb has been added to the Virtual disk the linux backup server sits on. In order to take advantage of the new space, we have to make sure that there is room above the /var partition for it to be extended. The current layout There is a swap partition which can be removed to make room for the xfs partition (4) to grow, then be added back on if necessary. Using swapon I found there were 2 swap areas,…
While working on the minimum expectations and online course design rubric, I have created a template welcome area which can be copied and pasted into the “Welcome” area on your Moodle course to create a ready made, tabbed, welcome area. To get started, first download the template from the Learning and Teaching area on AdminNet. Here is a direct link to the file. Once downloaded, open the file in notepad (Windows) or TextEdit (Mac). Don’t use Word Processors like Word…
In advance of my Certificate in Virtual Training presentation I am placing this cheat sheet / handout in an alternative location in case the OneDrive link does not work for all attendees.
Since we no longer update our LM repository we have switched to using it as a read-only pool of files. The moodle module holds an external URL which would redirect to the stored file repository/file.php?f=4000. I needed to change this to e.g. /repository/a4000/4000.xlsx The file extension is thankfully held in the repository module table so I thought it would be quite easy to manipulate the URL to point straight to the file. The only difficulty I encountered was extracting the…
We have various digital signage screens around the college. These have run all manner of solutions such as Display Monkey, OneLan and others in the past. To allow these to be managed in the same way (if not in the same screen!) we have switched them all over to Raspberry Pi 3B+ units running the community edition of Screenly (OSE). As the screens are often in areas where no hard wiring is available we rely on Wifi to connect to…
Glossary: Team/s = Microsoft Teamsteam/s = curriculum area or group of staff In the session 21/22 the decision was taken to create a Microsoft Team for every taught course. An example would be DACC (HND Accounting). Although courses can have many cohorts (A, B groups etc.), it was felt that having a central point of contact for all students on a particular course would be useful. This is especially true early in the academic year when new students may need…
We use Raspberry Pi units all round the college to do digital signage. These are very useful because they are cheap to buy and can be left to run for months without nagging us about updates or new features. However, it is not always simple to get the Raspberry Pi HDMI output to fill the screen. Here is a quick fix to force your Pi to output a 1920×1080 (1080p) video signal which fills the screen in many of our…
Map your own PLN, in whatever format you find easiest to work with. For further guidance or to see some examples of other people’s PLNs, take a look at this ‘Mapping Your PLN’ guide. This is a small beginning mapping my PLN. I have entered work colleagues as well as a few external connections including the broader H880 Community and my tutor. I have included the SMUG group and CDN who influence my work. This could be developed to be…
Visit your study group and work together to create a master list of possible ways in which the listed data types could be useful for a tutor, module author or the OU as an institution. Working on this task in a small group will allow you to discuss your ideas and explore group members’ different perspectives before sharing your thoughts with the wider H880 community. Age – If students are particularly young, perhaps immediately post undergraduate study, they are less…