Internet/VPN Maintenance Wednesday 2/22/12 at 6 PM

ITS will be conducting brief maintenance on the Internet connection tomorrow, Wednesday, February 22nd. Between 6:00 and 6:30 PM, there will be a 15 minute Internet outage. VPN connections will also be interrupted at this time. Note: The ITS maintenance window for short, non-critical interruptions in network services is Wednesday from 6-7 PM. These will be announced when required. Continue reading Internet/VPN Maintenance Wednesday 2/22/12 at 6 PM

Open-Source Textbooks Aim to Curb Education Costs

A recent article appearing in The New York Times highlights progress in the open-source textbook movement by Connexions, “a dynamic digital educational ecosystem” based at Rice University in Houston. Over the next few months, Connexions, via OpenStax College, will provide an initial offering of freely available textbooks covering physics, sociology, introductory biology, anatomy, and physiology. Connexions’ director, Richard Baraniuk, said, “if we capture just 10 percent of the market with these first five textbooks” students in the United States could save $90 million over the next five years. The content, provided using an open license, will allow faculty to freely customize … Continue reading Open-Source Textbooks Aim to Curb Education Costs

Copying Course Material in Moodle

It is easy to copy course material from one semester to another in Moodle.  To start the process, go to your new course and make sure that you have at least as many topics/weeks in your new course as your old course (otherwise all the extra material will end up at the top of your course).  If not, adjust the number under the “Settings” area. Now click on the “Import” link in the Administration area.  From here, select the course you want to come material from and click on the “Use this course” button.  All your previous courses should be … Continue reading Copying Course Material in Moodle