Author: Charles Fulton

Hack/Doc at Brandeis: The Sprint Day

It’s a cool and crisp morning at the foot of Brandeis University. Photo credit: Charles Fulton

PDF accessibility, the Course Overview block, preferred names, and Moodle 3.6 are among the topics discussed during the sprint (half) day at Brandeis.

The biannual Hack/Doc is being held at Brandeis University in Waltham, Massachusetts. The event kicked off on Monday, January 7, 2019 with the sprint day, and runs through Thursday, January 10. The following tasks are queued up for Hack/Doc:

  • Evaluating Moodle 3.6, including changes to the Course Overview block
  • Improvements to how Moodle handles preferred names
  • Evaluating Swarthmore’s PDF accessibility tool
  • Evaluating Brandeis’ Support Staff tool
  • Exploring NameCoach integration possibilities
  • Improving the default behavior of course end dates and the number of sections in weekly course formats
  • Allowing users to view individual files from the folder resource
  • Packaging and testing the Moodle 3.6 Liberal Arts Edition release

We had a long discussion about the best ways to support preferred names, pronouns, and mononymous students. We’re hoping to develop some guidance and patches over the next few days for the first two issues. Mononymity remains a significant challenge.

Hack/Doc Fest Winter 2019 at Brandeis University: Event page | Sprint | Day 1 | Day 2 | Day 3 

New Moodle LAE Releases for November 2018

There are four new Moodle: Liberal Arts Edition releases. There are no new LAE features; these are maintenance releases only. You can download the updates from the CLAMP code release archive.

The next stable releases are scheduled for mid-January. We expect Moodle HQ to release Moodle 3.6 this month; CLAMP will prepare an LAE beta and release during the forthcoming Hack/Doc Fest at Brandeis University. We do not expect future updates for Moodle 3.3; schools using that version are encouraged to upgrade. Moodle 3.5 was evaluated by the attendees at the Hack/Doc Fest at Lafayette College.

These releases were developed, packaged, and tested by Kevin Wiliarty (Hampshire College) and Andrew Zito (Lafayette College).

Announcing Moodle Hack/Doc Fest, Winter 2019

Moodle Hack/Doc Fest, Winter 2019 will be held Tuesday, January 8 through Thursday, January 10, 2019 at Brandeis University in Waltham, Massachusetts. A pre-Hack/Doc documentation and coding sprint will be held the afternoon of Monday, January 7, 2019.

The lodging and registration deadlines are Friday, December 21, 2018. An additional lodging option is forthcoming.

New Moodle LAE Releases for September 2018

There are four new Moodle: Liberal Arts Edition releases. The 3.1 release is maintenance-only. The 3.3, 3.4, and 3.5 releases include updates to the Ad-hoc database queries report and Filtered Course List block. You can download the updates from the CLAMP code release archive.

The next stable releases are scheduled for mid-November. We do not expect future updates for Moodle 3.2; schools using that version are encouraged to upgrade. Moodle 3.5 was evaluated by the attendees at the Hack/Doc Fest at Lafayette College.

These releases were developed, packaged, and tested by Charles Fulton (Lafayette College), Kevin Wiliarty (Hampshire College), and Andrew Zito (Lafayette College).

New Moodle LAE Releases for July 2018

There are four new Moodle: Liberal Arts Edition releases. The 3.1 release is maintenance-only. The 3.3, 3.4, and 3.5 releases include an update to the Filtered Course List block. The 3.3 and 3.4 releases contain a new core patch for handling empty course sections on upgrade. You can download the updates from the CLAMP code release archive.

The next stable releases are scheduled for mid-September. We do not expect future updates for Moodle 3.2; schools using that version are encouraged to upgrade. Moodle 3.5 was evaluated by the attendees at the recently-concluded Hack/Doc Fest at Lafayette College.

These releases were developed, packaged, and tested by Charles Fulton (Lafayette College) and Kevin Wiliarty (Hampshire College).