Category Archives: Blackboard/Moodle

Scheduled: Turnitin Maintenance

Blackboard/Moodle, LMS,

The Turnitin service, which EMU uses through Moodle, will be unavailable because of scheduled maintenance on March 17, 2018 between the hours of 11 AM and 6 PM. Turnitin is a third-party service–EMU has no control over when they perform scheduled maintenance.

Their notification about this maintenance window states:

Users will be unable to submit and grade during this maintenance window, so please ensure that any submission deadlines are adjusted to fall outside of the window.

Turnitin provides a system status page which may contain updates about this outage.

Scheduled: Upgrade Moodle to v3.3

Blackboard/Moodle, LMS,

We will be upgrading Moodle to version 3.3 on Saturday, July 15th from 9am-12pm. This release will bring new features and fixes. Here is a preview of the main features:

  • We will be rolling out the new, updated and simplified theme called “Boost”. This theme also improves how notifications and messages appear. The intent of the theme is for Moodle to look the same across all devices (computer, tablet, and mobile) and while using the Moodle app. See this video for further info.
  • An improved dashboard that allows you to keep track of what is happening in your course activities.
  • The Moodle assignment module will now convert submissions to .pdf allowing you to view the document from your screen without having to download it. You will also be able to grade and annotate from this screen similar to Turnitin. You will still be able to download the submission if that is preferred.

For more details about Moodle 3.3 please refer to the new features tour or the version release notes. There are also a series of videos that describe new version 3.3 features.

Please contact the Helpdesk with questions or comments: helpdesk@emu.edu or 540 432 4357 (x4357 on the Harrisonburg campus).

Scheduled: Upgrade Moodle to v3.1

Blackboard/Moodle, LMS,

On Saturday, 16 July 2016 between 9:00am and 1:00pm, Information Systems will be upgrading our Moodle system to version 3.1.

Moodle will be unavailable during the upgrade. No other systems will be affected.

Highlights of the new features in v3.1 include:

  • Improvements to assignment grading
  • Turnitin updates/improvements
  • A couple of small updates to forums
  • A recycle bin for retrieving items that were mistakenly deleted

Please contact the Helpdesk with questions or comments: helpdesk@emu.edu or 540.432.4357 (x4357 on the Harrisonburg campus).

Update 11:30am: Moodle is back up and functioning. If you are accessing Moodle from on the EMU campus and you continue to see the down for maintenance notice, please reboot your computer before contacting the Helpdesk.