Update on Moodle and migration from UEL Plus

Monday 14 January 2013

Update on Moodle and migration from UEL Plus

E-Learning are approaching the final stages of preparation for their move to Moodle, the new Virtual Learning Environment at UEL. Moodle will be available in a read-only mode for the period, from 2pm Friday 18 January- Monday 21 January (afternoon). Please see below for more details.

UEL Plus to Moodle Migration Plan

All the Level 0 and Level 1 undergraduate modules that are delivered on-campus are scheduled to use the new Moodle Virtual Learning Environment in Semester B 2012/3.

Postgraduate courses, and all other undergraduate levels (including where we cater for collaborative partners and distance learning modules) must be migrated in readiness for the next academic year 2013/14, and student access to UEL Plus will cease at that time.

Accessing Moodle
After the transfer, all staff and students will access Moodle through UEL Direct - the current "UEL Plus" menu tab in UEL Direct will be replaced with a new learning systems widget that will allow users to access UEL Plus and/or Moodle. The Learning Systems team –based in APSE – will arrange both the student and staff access to the appropriate courses in the new system – just as they do with UEL Plus.

Moving Moodle to the new central server
We have been running on an interim server throughout semester A 2012/3 but are now at the final stages of setting up the full production system with IT Services providing the hardware and integration expertise.

At 2pm on Friday 18 January 2013, the process of transferring the Moodle courses from the interim system to the new centrally provided system will commence. This will involve a period where the current Moodle modules will only be available to view - not to edit or participate. The precise duration is not yet known, but it is likely that Moodle will remain in a read-only state date until the afternoon of Monday 21 January 2013. Please bear with us while we make the transfer. All relevant modules that do not yet exist in the interim system will also be set up at that point - ready for module leaders to handle migration as needed.

Moodle Staff Development
Targeted staff are module leaders of Level 0 and 1 modules and those who teach on these modules for the first programme of Moodle introduction sessions. Also E-Learning are pleased to announce that they are confident that in most cases, the appropriate staff will have been on the training in time. Additional migration-specific training and coaching sessions will be offered in January and February 2013, and more sessions will be made available to cater for staff involved in the main migration phase.

For more information / user guidance please see www.uel.ac.uk/elearning/moodle/ or, if you have a specific query, contact the E-Learning Mailbox elearning@uel.ac.uk.