The VPL server in the YorkU EECS department was recently updated (2022/23). This had a small impact on existing VPL scripts. With Java, any script that uses JUnit needs to have its vpl_run.sh and vpl_evaluate.sh scripts updated. Here, I have the run script do the JUnit test directly. The evaluate script does JUnit through the […]
Virtual Programming Lab can be a little intimidating to use, but once you get the swing of things, it's pretty good. So, let's get you started with the simplest possible working example. We assume that: you have Moodle working at your institution someone has installed VPL on Moodle and you don't need or have access […]
The Teaching in Focus (TiF) conference at York was held online in 2021 due to the pandemic. Here's a list of the abstracts. My "Welcome to my Classroom" talk was based on the work I did in EECS 1011, 1021 and 2021: Giving students rapid and accurate feedback is vital. We can do so with […]
I enabled "completion tracking" on my eClass (Moodle) class pages. It's a great way for students to see how much work they have completed and how much work still needs to be done. Instructors can also use it to see how students are doing and to send messages as appropriate. I describe the "how-to" for […]
Introduction I've been looking for ways to tie in course learning outcomes to a course on eClass (Moodle). While the Outcomes framework on eClass is an appealing candidate for this, it seems to require manual grading and interventions to work. After suggestions from Profs Mojgan Jadidi and Melanie Baljko who had previously used it, I've […]
Most profs have overflowing email inboxes, making it hard to keep track of student emails. Two ways that I've heard of dealing with this effectively is to (a) create a class specific email address and (b) have students use the messaging system within the LMS. While messaging will work by default, you may wish to […]
H5P modules are fantastic ways to add interactive content to your Moodle (*ahem* I mean "eClass") page. The LTS folks at York have a page on H5P. Here's my take on it. To create H5P content on eClass is a little different than on the older version of Moodle. Here's how you do it. Start […]
When designing your content on Moodle (eClass) it's important to test out how it looks and feels from a student perspective. In the Summer of 2020, YorkU's "DemoStudent" was introduced to provide that. With few exceptions, it shows what the student sees, all without having profs ask a student to log in or to beg […]
UIT has rebadged Moodle as "eClass" and now made the "Playground" feature front and centre for teaching faculty to create areas for us to test ideas without immediately changing an existing course. Access it via the "Create Playground" link on the left of your welcome page: We can now more easily name the playground. This […]
With the move to online I think that it's important to have students track their completion of tasks. I'm turning on completion tracking on eClass. Some of the material I want students to receive grades for (like answering questions in an interactive video) while other material I want them to simply report that they did […]