I received an email today from Florida Virtual, one of our many third-party course providers. My job is to give them access to a specific area on our Moodle platform so they can upload their course, which they take their time doing. Once that’s done, I review it.

Here’s a reminder for me and my client about using commercially produced courses in our Moodle system:

Vendors often use quizzes, assignments, and forums. While vendors provide the basic structure, teachers have significant control over the course content. For example, teachers can hide, delete, or even add their own content and activities.

Teachers also have the flexibility to rearrange content. Just because the vendor presents topics in a certain order doesn’t mean we have to follow it. Our teachers can move, rename, delete, or add their own topics. We bought the course, so we can adjust it as needed.

We handle formatting and setting up the gradebook. My client prefers all vendor-provided courses to have a standardized gradebook format. I’ve come to understand the value in this, even though managing the gradebook, especially with its complexities, still presents challenges.

We also make adjustments to assignment settings. For instance, we activate email notifications for teachers whenever a student submits an assignment. This helps teachers stay updated and grade assignments promptly. We disable the “send for marking” option because it can lead to confusion and delays in grading. We also configure file size limits (20MB) and the number of allowed attachments (3) for student submissions.

To streamline these assignment setting adjustments, I wrote a script that runs directly on the Moodle database. This eliminates the need for manual adjustments through the Moodle interface or asking teachers to make changes. While we provide these standardized settings, teachers are welcome to customize them further – something my client encourages.

As the saying goes, “Give a man a fish, and you feed him for a day. Teach a man to fish, and you feed him for a lifetime.”

We also establish default settings for quizzes. Quizzes are typically limited to one attempt with a one-hour time limit (two hours for exams). Because of our rolling enrollment system, quizzes are always available. We retain the flexibility to adjust time limits and the number of attempts as needed. Occasionally, I delete attempts or guide teachers on how to do it. We also manage the various feedback options within the quiz module.

Sometimes, forum settings require adjustments. We may need to assign point values and an aggregation type so forums can be integrated into the gradebook.

We provide guidance to teachers on modifying point values for various activities, such as quizzes, assignments, forums, exams, etc. For instance, if a teacher prefers a total of 100 points for the entire semester, we show them how to adjust individual activity point values accordingly.

We enable specific blocks, like “recent activity,” primarily for teachers to track student engagement. While my client initially preferred uniform block settings across all courses, he has become more flexible, allowing teachers to customize their blocks.

The way course content is displayed is also important. We usually opt for an embedded window display. While we’ve experimented with other options, we find ourselves returning to this format.

Completion tracking is another feature we utilize. Although my client’s stance on this has changed over time, it’s currently active. Since vendor courses often lack this feature, my script activates it, specifically for graded quizzes, assignments, and forums. Moodle marks these activities as completed once the student receives a grade.

Once a course is fully formatted, I create a backup. I use my designated backup account on Moodle for this purpose. These backups are then used to create the live courses accessed by teachers.

Lastly, we add a section with technical support information.