All posts by Elizabeth Walkden

About Elizabeth Walkden

Learning Technologist for the Faculty of Health and Medicine at Lancaster University. Former History Teacher of ages 11-18 with 5 years experience. View all posts by Elizabeth Walkden →

What’s changed with Moodle’s text editor? An introduction to Tiny MCE

August 6, 2024Moodleimproved UX, MoodleElizabeth Walkden

Written by Ellen Wildman, Digital Learning Facilitator (ISS)

The text editor we use to create and add content (not just text!) into Moodle has undergone a change. The new editor is called TinyMCE and is now the default editor in Moodle. Additionally, we’ve added in some useful new plugins (or additional tools) to the editor to enhance your experience when using it.

This is what the new editor, or TinyMCE, looks like:

View of the TinyMCE text editor in Moodle with some sample text typed out and a sample picture.

Why the change?

TinyMCE has been designed with accessibility in mind, to help ensure we keep our online material available to the largest number of learners as we can.

The old editor, Atto, is shortly due to be retired by Moodle so we’re getting a head start on the future change.

How will it affect me?

The layout and menu options now more closely match the editing options that you’re probably familiar with – such as in applications like Microsoft Word – with options such as Edit, View and Insert running across the top of the editor.

There are some additional features added to this new editor:

Components for Learning (C4L)

This option allows you to quickly drop in useful blocks into the content, such as reminder banners for assessment or quotations. This can be a great way to add visual interest to our pages and highlight key information for the learners.

This is an example of what an inserted ‘component’ can look like on a page:

Example of some text in the "hint" style supported by Components for Learning

You can also make the ‘component’ wider on the page using the double headed arrow icon when you are choosing which style to add.

Sketch

As the name might tell you, this is a tool that can allow either yourself, or your students in a quiz environment for example, to draw annotations in an online sketchbook. This can be useful for content that might be hard to produce via a keyboard.

This is an example of what an inserted ‘sketch’ can look like on a page:

An example sketch of a triangle and some mathematical equations

Through the View option in the editor, there are some useful new features, including:

Show block: this will add a grey block around the text and display what style you are using. This is not displayed when you save, but rather acts as a useful guide when ‘clumping’ the content you’re creating.

This is an example of the dotted grey line you will see when you have the view option enabled:

An example of what a 'block' looks like when revealed in the Moodle text editor. A red box has been drawn around the 'Heading' block to highlight the example.

Who can I ask for help?

If you need help with using the new editor, or anything else Moodle-related, contact the IT Help Centre or post a message in the Digital Education Network (DEN) on Microsoft Teams.

Written by Ellen Wildman, Digital Learning Facilitator (ISS)

Moodle 4.3 – What’s changed?

August 1, 2024Moodleimproved UX, Moodle, upgradeElizabeth Walkden

As many of you will already know, we updated Moodle to version 4.3 on Tuesday 23rd July 2024. We used to be on version 4.1. so there has been a variety of changes that have occurred with this new update.

Now we have all had a bit of time to get used to it, I thought I would run through just five of the changes that will make our lives as staff easier!

You can now add activities anywhere in a section.

Before, we needed to go to the bottom of a section or topic and click the “add an activity or resource” button. Once the activity had been created, we then moved it where we wanted it to go. No more! Hover between two cards and the plus icon as shown below will appear. You can use this to add an activity or resources anywhere you want to.

A plus sign now appears between two activity cards. The plus sign is in a red circle in between the cards. — The new ‘add an activity or resource’ button

Bulk actions are now available

In edit mode, there is now a “Bulk actions” button at the top on the right as shown below. This enables you to select as many activities as required and move, edit, duplicate or delete at once.

A screenshot of the top of a Moodle page with the bulk actions button highlighted with a red ring around it. — The ‘bulk actions’ option at the top of a Moodle page

The text editor in Moodle has changed to TinyMCE

A future post will go into the details of the changes around this text editor but for now, click the three dots to get more options as shown below. Some of the key changes include being able to open the editor in full screen mode and add components for learning (C4L), which are text boxes of a variety of colours and styles.

TinyMCE text editor in Moodle. The three dots option is highlighted in blue. — The TinyMCE text editor in Moodle.

You can duplicate more easily

It is now possible to duplicate a whole course section and not just the individual activities within it. You can also bulk duplicate activities as mentioned above. This makes it much easier to keep to a similar look and feel for each topic/section.

The three dots menu on a section has been selected to show a menu with various options including 'duplicate'. — Duplicating a section from the three dots menu

Quizzes & the Question Bank

There have been quite a few changes to the quiz activity and to the question bank. Staff are now given more flexibility to customise the columns shown to them in the question bank and filtering/searching for questions is easier. The quiz editing page is wider to improve usability and students can now hide the timer in a timed quiz.

Our developers in ISS, have also reintroduced the ‘back to top’ button which I know many of us are very grateful for! They have also created the brand new ‘My Feedback Plugin’ which you can find more information on in another post.

A full list of the changes and developments in Moodle version 4.2. and 4.3 are available from the links below:

Moodle 4.2 changes

Moodle 4.3 changes

Moodle My Feedback – New to Moodle for 24/25

June 19, 2024Moodleassessment, feedback, improved UX, MoodleElizabeth Walkden

Written by Phil Tubman – eLearning Development Officer, Digital Learning Team (ISS)

Each year in the Digital Learning Team, we try to improve the Moodle experience for students and staff. During this academic year we have held focus groups with students and listened to their concerns, which overwhelmingly speak of their difficulties finding thingson the Moodle course page:

“Chaotic sometimes, not always grouped together similar documents. Hard to find.”

“Every Moodle page has a different structure, making it difficult to learn how to navigate.”

Feedback given through Moodle is arguably the most important aspect of teaching and learning, so we have developed a new feature which collects all the students’ feedback (single course or all courses) onto one page, accessible from the Moodle course page – we are unsurprisingly calling this feature, “My Feedback”.

A module space in Moodle with the 'Feedback' tab on the secondary navigation menu highlighted with a pink box. — Figure 1: My Feedback link as viewed by a student on Moodle

When a student clicks this link, they are taken to their My Feedback page which displays all their feedback from that course on one page, which has the following features:

All feedback, grades in Moodle, submission dates and due dates on one page

An area to make self-reflective notes (these are only visible to the student themselves)

A button to download all their combined feedback files for the course (the annotated file, feedback comments, feedback criteria, rubric)

note this does not include files that have been uploaded for feedback

A Moodle space with the self-reflective notes feature and export assignment feedback files feature highlighted with a pink box. — Figure 2 My Feedback page with download all, and self-reflective notes feature

To view all the feedback from all the courses, the student just clicks on their profile link at the top right of Moodle, and choose ‘Feedback’ from there:

Figure 3 Use the profile button to access all feedback across Moodle

Now all their feedback across Moodle is listed on one page:

My Feedback page showing all modules across all years. — Figure 4 My Feedback page for all Moodle courses

We feel that this feature will be greatly beneficial to students during their academic tutor meetings, 1-1’s, or meetings with Learning Developers.

If you have teaching staff, course convenor, or administrative staff role on a Moodle course, you can also view as student’s My Feedback page (minus their self-reflective notes, of course), by choosing ‘My Feedback’ (under the ‘more’ option on the course front page), and selecting the student you wish to view:

The staff page for My Feedback with a drop-down menu in the centre. — Figure 5 Select a student to view their ‘My Feedback’ page as staff

For a preview of My Feedback, you can watch the video below:

Please comment below if you have any suggestions or thought about this new feature or pass your comments on to Phil via email.

Upcoming Training: Exams Moodle

March 1, 2024Eventsassessment, event, MoodleElizabeth Walkden

Here at Lancaster, we use Moodle as our virtual learning environment (VLE) and have several customised instances of Moodle where we can host different types of material. One of those is ‘Exams Moodle’ and…it does “exactly what it says on the tin”… hosts exams.

Soon, exam season will be upon us and the exam timetable has gone live today!

For those of you looking at setting up exams for the upcoming season we have some hybrid training available to help you get started.

The training covers:

How exams spaces are created
How staff and students are enrolled
How ILSP adjustments are added
How exam access is restricted to appropriate times and individuals
How grading and feedback works

The sessions are suitable for professional services staff members and anyone else responsible for configuring online exams at Lancaster.

There are two sessions available (both exactly the same!) and you can sign up via the Libcal links below:

Tuesday 5th March, Management School LT10, 2-3pm (hybrid)
Thursday 14th March, Engineering Building Entrance, 10-11am (hybrid)

We hope to see you there but if you have any questions in the meantime, please get in touch with one of the Digital Learning Team. There’s also written guidance available on Embrace Digital – Guidance for setting up open book exams in Moodle.

Making your lecture videos interactive with Panopto

February 8, 2024Pedagogyassessment, improved UX, interactive, teaching toolElizabeth Walkden

From the Digital Learning Team’s recent surveys and focus groups, we know that students really appreciate when lectures are recorded.

Lecture recordings are useful to support revision and to support students when reviewing difficult concepts. At Lancaster, there are a number of Panopto features that are used consistently such as captioning. It is also common for lecturers to review the viewing statistics which can help identify which parts of a lecture students are watching the most.

However, many people are unaware of the ability to add formative quizzes and also short video clips to recordings. This post, will walk you through how to do this to support student engagement and revision.

Adding a quiz

There are four types of question that can be added to a Panopto video:

True/False
Multiple Choice
Multiple Select
Fill in the Blank

To add a quiz to your chosen video, click the edit button (see below) on the banner across the top of the screen.

Choose the part on the video editing timeline that you would like to add a quiz to. The red verticle line is where the quiz will be added.

Video editing timeline with vertical red coloured bar.

Then you can either click the quizzes option on the left-hand menu as shown below:

You can click the plus button above the video editing timeline which gives you a pop -up list of options as shown below:

This will then give you the option to add a quiz at the point that you have chosen in the video and the quiz editing screen will appear (see below). You can add as many questions as you like and change the type of question from the drop-down menu on the right-hand side.

It is possible to have multiple short quizzes in one video and the video will pause to allow the students to complete the quiz. The screenshot below shows the quiz screen that students would see and the number of questions in the quiz appears in the right hand corner. Students get to review answers at the end of the quiz and can see their total score.

The interactive quiz that appears for students as they play through a Panopto video.

You can also view the quiz results of your students from the settings menu. This will give you an insight into which topics your group feel confident with and which topics they might need support with.

A great way to help your students review complex material!

Adding a YouTube video clip

This can be done by selecting plus button and then the option from the drop-down menu below the ‘Add a quiz’ option.

This editing screen will then appear:

YouTube video editing screen on Panopto

From here you can add the link (URL) to the YouTube video you would like to include, adjust the time when you want the video to start playing and you can also decide whether you want the whole clip to play or just part of it using the “start” and “end” options.

If you keep “Show YouTube controls” ticked by default, this will allow users to view the subtitles for the video if required due to preference or accessibility needs.

For more information on Panopto, you can visit the ASK page.

If you need further support on making Panopto videos interactive, get in touch with a member of the Digital Learning Team.

Getting started with Gen AI

February 2, 2024PedagogyAI, library, LinkedIn Learning, teaching toolElizabeth Walkden

Written by Andy Holgate, Library Digital Skills Developer

Generative AI really is a disruptive technology, and it’s already altering the way we produce content across society: entertainment, education, marketing, and even software engineering.
There are good and bad uses, especially in education, but it is a technology that we can embrace and use well, and more than anything else I want to stress WE DON’T HAVE TO BE SCARED OF GEN AI!

There is so much misinformation out there on the subject (and yes, ironically, most of it has probably been created by Generative AI). I don’t know about you but for me it was difficult knowing where to start. I had so many questions, I’d heard so many things, and I had no clue where to go for answers.

Well ok that’s not entirely true, unless you were living under a rock, you will have been aware that back in 2023 the University issued guidelines on the subject: Principles for the Educational Application of Generative AI in which the University states “Lancaster University promotes a culture of Generative AI (Gen AI) awareness, criticality and expertise. We encourage effective and responsible use of Gen AI technologies in learning and teaching, fostering student and staff digital and academic literacies.” This was further expanded on with guidance on various types of AI, how it could be used, the pitfalls of using it etc. That further guidance is available here: Using AI in your learning and assessment and it’s a really good starting point.

So, let me explain a little more about how I found myself stood at the foot of a sheer rock face called Gen AI. I work in professional services, the library to be exact, and part of my role is to help colleagues with increasing their digital skills. Back in 2023 I was presented with the phrase “We need to run a training session on Gen AI for the library staff. Introducing it, how it could used etc…” I’m not going to lie, I looked at my manager and behind my smile I was thinking “Where do I start?”.

So, I ran some internet searches, read a few blogs and articles and started to get an idea of what it was all about. Turns out it wasn’t as alien as I thought, I’d been using forms of it for years in google translate, MS office products, library databases, that app on my phone that let me edit photos in lots of weird and wonderful ways. Seeing that familiarity suddenly made it less scary.

The tool for me that really brought my knowledge up to speed was LinkedIn Learning. The University had bought a subscription in 2023 giving all students and staff access to over 22,000 training videos and courses. Now cards on the table, I have to admit that part of my role is the promotion of the platform at the University, so maybe I am slightly biased BUT hey I’m not on commission! I looked at LinkedIn Learning and discovered that there was a lot of material available on the subject. I started watching videos to learn more. I was pressed for time and working to a deadline so I deliberately chose videos rather than full courses, meaning I could watch a three minute video from an expert explaining just what Chat GPT was. I watched quite a few on various subjects such as Google Bard, Canva, ethics of AI, brainstorming with Gen AI, searching with Gen AI and a whole lot more. I had massively increased my awareness in a short amount of time, and all the while using a professional, reliable source. Now, you have the opportunity to do the same.

Working with others across the University, we have created a LinkedIn Learning pathway called A beginner’s guide to generative ai.
This is split into sections and the first few are comprised of the short videos I mentioned above, you don’t have to watch them all, you can dip in and out as you please. At the start there is a general introduction which formed part of the training session I ran for library staff – it’s the basics in very plain English, written how I would want to be taught. Next, you get the videos which really will introduce you to most aspects of Gen AI and where it stands as of now in early 2024.
Now don’t be put off when you see the pathway says it contains 22 hours of learning, the first 24 videos ( the short introduction ones ) come in at under 90 minutes total. The final section of the pathway is courses, so if you want to climb further up that AI rock face you can do, but understandably not everyone needs to.

I hope that all makes sense, and if you’ve made it this far, thanks for reading. So go have a look at the pathway, quell any fears you may have and embrace the technology (no harm in questioning it either). I’m old enough to remember the dawn of the modern internet (not the original military one) and people feared it, today it’s woven into every fabric of modern life. Gen AI is the next thread in that rich tapestry.

If you have any questions or comments about this blog post or the LinkedIn Learning pathway, please get in touch with me.

Disclaimer: the opinions expressed in this blog are my own and do not necessarily reflect those of the university.

Digital Training Courses Available!

January 10, 2024Eventsevent, interactive, Moodle, sharing practiceElizabeth Walkden

The Digital Learning Team have a whole host of training courses available this term. These are mainly aimed at academic and professional services staff to help you make the most of our suite of digital learning tools and services.

Below you can find the dates and sign up links to the training sessions we are offering in January.

Tuesday 16th January 2024

[Hybrid] Moodle Part 1 – Introduction for Staff – Events – Lancaster University (libcal.com)

A 30-minute introductory session looking at Moodle, which is Lancaster University’s Virtual Learning Environment (VLE). This session covers what Moodle is, what it does, and how staff can access and interact with it. This session is a hybrid one and staff are welcome to join online or in-person in Library Training Room 1

Friday 19th January 2024

[Hybrid] Moodle Part 2 – Features for Course Administrators – Events – Lancaster University (libcal.com)

This 60-minute session looks at the management of Moodle spaces and will detail Moodle’s links with LUSI, the student records system, as well as how to manage materials and participants (staff and students). This session is a hybrid one and staff are welcome to join online or in-person in Library Training Room 1

Monday 22nd January 2024

[In Person] Panopto Part 1 – Introduction to Lecture Capture – Events – Lancaster University (libcal.com)

Panopto is our Lecture Capture system and is primarily used to record in-person lectures in rooms on campus, but can also be used for recording lecture materials from your home or office. Lancaster operates an “opt-in” lecture capture system – nobody is recorded by default but you have the opportunity to opt-in to recordings should you wish to. Nowadays, the majority of modules are recorded and published to Moodle to aid students in their learning, revision and access to learning.

This session will give an overview of the Panopto system, and explain how it’s set up in rooms on campus and how you can be recorded automatically, make basic edits to your recordings and publish them to students.

This is an in-person session and will take place in LUMS Lecture Theatre 19

Wednesday 31st January 2024

[In Person] Moodle Part 3 – Moodle Feature Showcase – Events – Lancaster University (libcal.com)

This 60 minute session will cover some of the activities and features in Moodle that lecturers can use to increase student engagement and the learning experience as a whole. Activities that we will cover include Moodle Board, Collaboration Map, Student Quiz and more!

This is an in-person session and will take place in Library Training Room 1

More training sessions will be taking place during the Lent term. You can find a whole list of the events we are running via Libcal.

Ethics and AI: Some ‘takeaways’ from the ALT Winter Summit 2023

December 15, 2023Pedagogyaccessibility, AI, event, sharing practiceElizabeth Walkden

On Tuesday 12^th December, I attended the ALT (Association for Learning Technologists) Winter Summit. The theme of the Conference was Ethics and Artificial Intelligence (AI). We heard from the following speakers:

Helen Beetham, Researcher and Consultant
Mary Jacob, Aberystwyth University
Olatunde Durowoju, Liverpool Business School
Dr Tarsem Singh Cooner, The University of Birmingham

There was also a student panel at the end which looked at the student experience of AI and their ideas for moving forward with using AI in a higher education context.

The speakers covered topics such as ethical problems and concerns with the use of AI, accessibility and AI and there was a case study showing how AI was used in a session with social work students at the University of Birmingham. It was a really enjoyable day and I learned a lot!

I’d like to share three ‘takeaways’ that I had from the ALT Summit.

Firstly, many of us are aware of some of the issues surrounding the use of AI. For example, the use AI tools takes a huge amount of energy; there are issues around equity and student access to paid for services and tools; there is an impact on student learning; we have also heard in the news that a number of larger companies have sacked ethical advisors and much more! However, one thing I have had experience of in my own work and that was raised at the Summit, was the sheer amount of secrecy behind the training of artificial intelligence models. How are these models trained exactly? Who is training them? What impact does this have? We know about the issues around encoded bias the models and we know that some of the people involved in this training process are underpaid but I definitely want to find out more!

Dr. Olatunde Durowoju spoke on ‘Achieving Inclusive Education in AI’ and has written an article on this in 2023. His talk was really interesting and spoke about some of the positive aspects of using AI and how this can benefit students such as those with neurodiversity, who are learning English as a second language or who have a disability. Examples were given of the use of AI in higher education and how this can help students improve their English language proficiency, how it can help address a cultural gap, how it can help reduce student anxiety around the quality of the work they produce and it can assist those students who may have diminished capacity due to other responsibilities (e.g. caregivers). Some of the examples given included using AI to summarise text to help gain a better understanding of it, improving the quality of writing through prompt engineering, using Chatbots to help with out-of-hours engagement and using AI to pluralise perspectives on a specific topic.

Finally, the student panel gave a real insight into how students are using AI currently, how they perceive its future use and what they would like to see moving forward from their institutions. Students on the panel were from universities such as Sheffield Hallam University, Edinburgh Napier University and the University of Kent. The students were also at different places in their University studies so there was a good range of perspectives across the students. Two of the things that students said they wanted were:

More consistent guidance on the acceptable use of AI in their studies across the departments in their institutions but also across UK institutions in general. They believed this would help students be less confused about when and how they can use it.
More education on the use of AI from their institutions on the problems of using AI such as perpetuating bias and academic integrity concerns.

Thank you to ALT for another wonderful conference and to the speakers for sharing their knowledge and expertise. I will definitely be exploring some of the issues and opportunities that have been mentioned in more detail.

AI tools: A Christmassy Showcase

December 1, 2023EventsAI, event, interactive, shElizabeth Walkden

The 12 Days of AI is a self-directed online course run by the University of the Arts London. Participants can learn about a new AI tool each day. I’ve signed up via Eventbrite and places are still available if you want to join up. It is free!

Each day, participants receive an email that directs them to a ‘daily task’. You are then introduced to an AI tool and given a quick run down on how it works. You can then follow the instructions to familiarise yourself with the tool. There are other resources shared on the website too including articles, demos and more!

So far this course has introduced the following tools:

Hour One – a tool to create videos. An example of this tool is showcased on the ‘What is 12 Days of AI?’ webpage.
Chat GPT – the one we have probably all heard of! Participants are given some tasks to prompt this tool to generate information and there is some guidance on ‘Prompt Engineering’.
Claude.Ai – a tool that can summarise text. You can create an account and test out this tool on an article or some text that you have permission to upload.

I’ll be working my way through these tools and hopefully some of you will be able to join in too!

Digital Digest

Digital Learning and Teaching Updates from Lancaster University