Moodle 4.1 Coming this Fall

Before the start of the fall 2023 term, LITS needs to upgrade Moodle from its current version (3.11.11) to version 4.1.

This upgrade will require significant downtime for Moodle, but we are developing an upgrade process that we hope will be minimally disruptive as possible:

  • Moodle will be completely unavailable on August 14, 2023 while we perform the final part of this upgrade.
    • We have worked with departments hosting summer programs and orientations to identify this as the least disruptive date.
    • Departments should plan for full-day outage, but we will try to shorten that if possible.
  • Unlike in past major upgrades, we will not need to have two sites running simultaneously. This means:
    • The Moodle URL (moodle.brynmawr.edu) will not change.
    • We will not need to copy content from one site to another. Everything that is on Moodle on Aug 13 (including fall 2023 academic courses) will still be there on August 15.
  • Access to Moodle Archive (https://moodlearchive.brynmawr.edu/) will end on August 14.

Most changes to Moodle 4.1 are interface changes designed to make the site easier to use or incorporate add-on features (such as the collapsible topics course format) into the core software. We will post additional details in the coming months and provide advance demos and faculty and staff support options in August-September to make the transition as smooth as possible.

If you have any questions or concerns, please contact us via the Help Desk (help@brynmawr.edu, 610-526-7440) or schedule a meeting with a member of the Moodle support team.

 

New Zoom Join Meeting Experience

Zoom has streamlined the process for joining a meeting, so that participants wait for the host to start, preview their video, and enter the waiting room (if relevant) in a single window.

Currently, hosts can opt in to this feature for their meetings by:

  1. Signing in to the Zoom web portal.
  2. Clicking Settings in the left side menu.
  3. Clicking the Meetings tab.
  4. Under Security, sliding the New waiting room and join before host experience switch to the on (right) position.

During the opt-in period, participants who join using a Zoom desktop or mobile app version 5.12 or higher will see the new join meeting experience if the host has enabled it OR the old experience if the host has not. Participants using older apps will always see the old experience.

On April 22, this feature will become standard for all Zoom accounts. Participants using Zoom apps older than version 5.12 will be forced to update before joining meetings.

Please contact the Help Desk with any questions: help@brynmawr.edu or 610-526-7440.

Resolved: Panopto Recordings Erroneously Archived

On January 11, we reported that we had discovered and fixed a configuration error that caused recent Panopto recordings to be erroneously archived — that is, to be placed in a kind of “cold storage” state that requires viewers and creators to manually “restore” or unarchive the recordings to use them.

We are pleased to report that Panopto has finished globally restoring the recordings that were archived by this error.

Moving forward, recordings will be archived once three years have passed since they were last viewed, as per our Panopto Service Policy. Unfortunately, Panopto does not yet have a mechanism for notifying creators before recordings are archived (this is a feature that we and other sysadmins have requested), but you can manually restore archived videos if needed after the fact.

If you have questions or concerns, please contact the Help Desk (610-526-7440, help@brynmawr.edu).

Panopto Recordings Erroneously Archived

We recently discovered a configuration error that caused Panopto to archive recordings too early. Normally recordings are only archived if they haven’t been viewed in three years. Recently this error caused Panopto to archive recordings created and viewed as recently as a few months ago.

NO CONTENT HAS BEEN LOST. Panopto’s archiving process only puts recordings into a kind of “cold storage” state: you can still see them, but you must “restore” or unarchive them in order to view or edit them, and the restoration can take up to two days.

We have fixed the error that caused the problem and are working with Panopto to find a way to globally restore all recordings that should be available (i.e., everything but recordings that have not been viewed in the past three years). In the meantime, we thank you for your patience and ask that you please manually “restore” or unarchive recordings you need.

If you have any questions or concerns, please contact the Help Desk (610-526-7440, help@brynmawr.edu).

Zoom: Meeting/Webinar Registration Changes Coming Oct 17

Currently when a person registers for a Zoom meeting or webinar, they see the link need join the meeting on both a registration confirmation page displayed immediately in the browser and a confirmation email sent to the address they used to register.

In order to help prevent Zoom-bombing, Zoom will stop displaying the join link on registration confirmation pages by default on October 17. Meeting and webinar participants will only be able to find this information in the confirmation email they receive at the email address they used when registering.  (Hosts can resend these emails at any point.) Note that this change will apply to all upcoming meetings, even if registration started before the change took place.

Hosts will be able to optionally reveal join links to participants who register immediately before an event begins if desired. Since this allows participants to enter without verifying their email address, hosts who do this should familiarize themselves with the in-meeting security features for controlling and removing unwanted or disruptive participants.

Please contact the Help Desk with questions: help@brynmawr.edu or 610-526-7440

New: Enhanced Zoom Whiteboards

Zoom has significantly overhauled the Whiteboards to enhance functionality. Anyone with a BMC Zoom account can now create, share, and post to whiteboards before, during and after meetings, and participants can add text, images, shapes, and virtual sticky notes in addition to handwriting/drawing on screen. Want to learn more? Zoom is hosting on-demand and live training opportunities throughout the summer.

Reminder: Panopto Scheduled Downtime starting Sat June 25 9pm-1am

On Saturday, June 25th 2022, the Panopto Cloud will be updated with the latest features and improvements. These updates will require downtime. We expect up to 4 hours of downtime, with a target start time of 9:00pm EDT.During the downtime, you will not be able to access or play videos stored in Panopto. If you are recording on a Mac or PC desktop client, you will see a “Server unable to connect” error message if you try to upload the recording to the cloud, but you will still be able to save it on your hard drive and upload it once the system is back up.For any questions, please contact Panopto Support online at support.panopto.com or email support@panopto.com.

For any questions about using Panopto, or to report any difficulties after the update is complete, please contact the Help Desk: help@brynmawr.edu or 610-526-7440.

Guest Access Turned Off in Spring 2022 Moodle Courses

Now that the registration period has ended, we have turned guest access off for spring 2022 academic courses. Teachers can check whether guest access is on in their courses and re-enable or disable it as needed.

This process has three known side effects that we cannot prevent, but which can be fixed relatively easily:

  1. Some course content may have become hidden if you are using the Collapsible Topics course format. To fix this
  2. Change the Course format to Topics (click the gear icon (Actions menu), choose Edit Settings, click Course format and choose Topics, then click Save and Display).
  3. Then reset it back to Collapsible topics (click the gear icon (Actions menu), choose Edit Settings, click Course format and choose Collapsible topics, then click Save and Display).
  • Course full names will be reset to names created by Bionic. Click the gear icon (Actions menu) and choose Edit Settings to change the course full name.
  • Moodle creates an additional Announcements forum in your course.
    • To delete the ones you aren’t using, click Turn editing on, then click the Edit menu for that activity and choose Delete.
    • If you want to delete ALL of the Announcement forums in a course, you will also need to edit your course settings: click the gear icon (Actions menu), choose Edit Settings, click Appearance to expand that section, and set Number of announcements to 0. As long as this setting is greater than zero, Moodle will simply regenerate the last Announcement forum every time you delete it.

If you have any questions about these changes or need help fixing them, please contact the Help Desk (610-526-7440 or help@brynmawr.edu).

What’s New in Panopto and Zoom

What’s New in Panopto

What’s New in Zoom

Note: Some features are require later versions of the Zoom app/desktop client. If you aren’t seeing a feature below, upgrade your Zoom app to the latest version. Some features may not be supported in iOS and Android apps.

For all participants

  • Hide Self View. Use this in-meeting feature to hide your own video from yourself after you turn it on to help prevent Zoom fatigue.
  • Stop Incoming Video. Use this in-meeting feature to block other people’s video if you’re having bandwidth issues or to reduce Zoom fatigue.
  • Set a custom gallery view. All participants can now reorganize video participants in the Gallery view and save the order for future instances of a recurring meeting. Hosts can create a customized view for participants.
  • Other tips for avoiding Zoom fatigue.

For hosts/co-hosts

  • Focus mode. Designed for online learning, hosts/co-hosts can turn focus mode on during a meeting to hide non-host/co-hosts participants videos and/or shared screens from other non-host/cohost participants. Hosts can make this the default by checking Enable focus mode when meeting starts under Advanced Options in the meeting settings when setting up the meeting.
  • Advanced Polling and Quizzing. Hosts can turn this on in meeting setting to add new question formats (e.g., short answer) and/or turn polls into quizzes by designating a correct answer for questions. (Note: Participants using older Zoom apps may need to exit the meeting, update their Zoom apps, and rejoin to answer advanced polls and quizzes.)
  • Broadcast message or screen to all breakout rooms. Hosts/cohosts in the main meeting room can now broadcast messages to and share their screen in all breakout rooms. See Managing Breakout Rooms for updated information.
  • Two-way chat with participants in waiting room. Hosts/co-hosts can now message participants in the waiting room individually and receive replies. See How to Use Waiting Room for updated information.

If you have any questions about or issues with these or other features in Panopto or Zoom, please contact the Help Desk (help@brynmawr.edu or 610-526-7440).

Panopto Scheduled Outage starting 9pm Saturday Jan 8

Panopto has announced a scheduled downtime from 9:00 pm ET Saturday, January 8, until 1 am ET Sunday, January 9, 2022.

  • While Panopto is offline, you will NOT be able to record/upload to Panopto or  manage and view recordings on Panopto.
  • If you need to record during the outage, use the Panopto Mac or PC desktop app and choose Continue Offline instead of logging in to record to your computer’s hard drive, then upload the recording to Panopto once service is restored. (See How to Record with Authenticating for details.)
  • If you need to view during the outage and the recording owner allows downloads, download a copy of the recording BEFORE the service outage begins so you can play recordings locally, rather than streaming them.

During this outage, Panopto will be releasing a major update that includes new features. For a demo of these features, register for Panopto’s New Features webinar on Wed, January 26 at 11:00 am-12:00 pm EST (free if you use your brynmawr.edu address). LITS will also providing info on new features of interest to our community. Full January 2022 release notes are here.

Please contact the Bryn Mawr College Help Desk (help@brynmawr.edu or 610-526-7440) if you have any questions or concerns.