Author: Charles Fulton

New Moodle LAE Release for 3.3

CLAMP is pleased to announce the first release on the 3.3 branch. This release is based on extensive testing at the Hampshire Hack/Doc. This is a beta release; several of the contributed plugins do not have official 3.3 releases as yet, although based on our testing they work.

You may download the release from its project page: Moodle 3.3.0+Liberal Arts Edition 13.0.0

The next stable releases, including Moodle 3.3.1, are scheduled for mid-July. This release was developed, packaged, and tested Charles Fulton (Lafayette College) and Kevin Wiliarty (Hampshire College).

CLAMP Recognition Award Winners for 2016-17

Joe Bacal and Dan Wheeler, CLAMP Recognition Award Winners for 2016-17
Joe Bacal and Dan Wheeler, CLAMP Recognition Award Winners for 2016-17. Photo credit: Sarah Ryder

The CLAMP Steering Committee is proud to announce the 2016-17 winners of the CLAMP Recognition Awards.

Joe Bacal, Applications Administrator at Smith College, has participated in CLAMP since the Winter 2016 Hack/Doc at Reed College. As a relative newcomer, Joe was open and helpful, assisting with the testing of Moodle. He also provided a SQL ad-hoc report for admins to help determine the extent of use for the PDF annotate function, which was invaluable as schools decided whether to enable it for Moodle 3.1 and higher.

Dan Wheeler, Senior Research and High Performance Computing Specialist at Colgate University, has distinguished himself as a member of the CLAMP community by being a long-time attendee at Hack/Doc events on both the hacker and doc’er side. He is always friendly, approachable, and willing to help out others and share his experience. Dan was a member of the CLAMP Steering Committee from 2013-2016, and he organized and hosted the CLAMP Summer Hack/Doc Fest at Colgate University in 2013.

About the Awards

The CLAMP Recognition Awards are awarded annually to one developer (e.g.; hacker) and one instructional technologist (e.g.; doc’er) to acknowledge outstanding achievement as members of the organization. These achievements include work on Moodle development, Moodle documentation, CLAMP organization and/or recruitment to CLAMP.

In 2016-17, the value of this award is $500. Learn more about the awards at CLAMP-IT.org.

New Moodle LAE Releases for 2.7.20, 3.0.10, 3.1.6, 3.2.3

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 their project pages:

The next stable releases on the 3.2 and 3.1 branches are scheduled for mid-July. Moodle HQ has ended support on the 3.0 and 2.7 branches. Moodle HQ released Moodle 3.3 today; CLAMP will evaluate it and prepare a beta at the forthcoming Hack/Doc Fest at Hampshire College.

These releases were developed, packaged, and tested by Joe Bacal (Smith College) and Kevin Wiliarty (Hampshire College).

Nominations Open

Nominations are now open for new members of the Steering Committee and this year’s Recognition Awards.

Steering Committee

CLAMP is accepting nominations of member colleges to serve on the Steering Committee; terms are for three years. You need not specify who will represent the college on the committee now, and you can nominate schools other than your own.

The nomination criteria are:

  • The institution must be a four-year liberal arts college or institution.
  • The institution must be a member of CLAMP

Our current steering committee members are: Beloit College, Centre College, Connecticut College, Kenyon College, Lafayette College, Occidental College, and Union College.

Connecticut College and Union College rotate off the committee this year. The current committee members will choose the two new members based on nominations submitted by the community, with an eye towards maintaining geographical diversity.

The deadline for nominations is June 1, 2017.

Nominate a CLAMP school for steering committee membership »

Recognition Awards

The CLAMP Recognition Awards are awarded annually to one programmer (e.g.; hacker) and one instructional technologist (e.g.; doc’er) to acknowledge outstanding achievement as members of the organization. These achievements include work on Moodle development, Moodle documentation, CLAMP organization and/or recruitment to CLAMP.

In 2016-17, the value of this award is $500. To receive the award, individuals:

  • must be a member of a current CLAMP school
  • can not be currently serving on the steering committee

This year, the the Steering Committee will accept nominations from member schools. Nominations must be submitted by June 1, 2017.

Nominate a CLAMP member for a recognition award »

Deadlines approaching for Moodle Hack/Doc Fest, Summer 2017

This summer’s Moodle Hack/Doc Fest at Hampshire College is coming up fast. The event will be held Wednesday, June 21 through Friday, June 23, 2017 at Hampshire College in Amherst, MA. A pre-Hack/Doc documentation and coding sprint will be held Tuesday, June 20, 2017. The registration deadline is Thursday, June 1, 2017.

For this first time, CLAMP is making travel grants available for attendees. CLAMP will reimburse an applicant’s institution for travel costs of up to $500. CLAMP will make three grants available for each Hack/Doc event. Any employee of a liberal arts institution with significant responsibility for supporting or maintaining Moodle is eligible to apply. Preference will be given to first-time participants in a CLAMP Hack/Doc, applicants from schools which have never participated in a Hack/Doc before, and to applicants affiliated with institutional CLAMP members. Please see the CLAMP website for more information. The deadline to apply for a travel grant is May 10, 2017.

CLAMP has arranged lodging at the University Lodge and Holiday Inn Express. The deadline for lodging is Saturday, May 20, 2017.

Please see https://www.clamp-it.org/clamp-events/moodle-hackdoc-fest-summer-2017/ for complete information about the event or register using the online form. If you have questions about the event, please contact Sarah Ryder (sryder@hampshire.edu) or Charles Fulton (fultonc@lafayette.edu).