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Moodle Users Association – Project Voting Cycle extended by 2 weeks

By
Jaswinder Singh
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MUA, Moodle, Moodle LMS, Moodle Users, Moodle Community, Moodle Users Association, MUA Voting
MUA, Moodle, Moodle LMS, Moodle Users, Moodle Community, Moodle Users Association, MUA Voting

Moodle Users Association is the community arm of the Moodle LMS which allows the members to propose and vote for their favorite projects to include in the LMS. The MUA has contributed many useful projects in Moodle LMS over past few years e.g. Bulk Activity Editing, Ordering Type questions in Moodle core etc.

The Moodle Users Association’s July-December 2023 project development cycle is currently ongoing. The Preliminary Voting is currently going on for the projects. Now MUA committee has extended the deadline by 2 more weeks. He mentioned”

“Unfortuntely, we didn’t send out an email when the voting opened for the current project cycle. As a result, I’ve extended the voting for another two weeks. Voting will end on September 29th, 2023.”

In a recent announcement, Steven Miley posted about the extension of the Preliminary Voting deadline. So, you can now cast your votes until September 29, 2023. There are only 6 projects proposed in this current Project Development Cycle which are:

  • MUA: Moodle Report Builder – Add Customizable SQL Functionality
  • Improve availability of activities and resources overview pages in Boost theme
  • Show information for teachers about submissions on the course main page in the Boost theme
  • Moodle Wiki export and import
  • Allow session stores to fully manage the session ==> never touch mdl_sessions table!
  • Allow Activity Completion Settings for Topics/Weeks

If you are also a Moodle users Association member, you are requested to cast your votes for the current Project Development Cycle.

For regular updates about Moodle, eLearning and edtech industry, please visit us regularly at https://lmsdaily.com. You can also like us on Facebook or follow us on Twitter, or Subscribe our YouTube Channel.

Moodle Administrators – Control Quiz start time to limit your server load

By
Jaswinder Singh
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Moodle Administrators - Control Quiz start time to limit your server load
Moodle Administrators - Control Quiz start time to limit your server load

Moodle LMS is one of the most powerful & flexible open source Learning Management System (LMS) in the world. The vast collection of more than 2150 plugins allows you to customize the learning experience as per your requirements. In this post, we will discuss about one of the most common problems Moodle administrators face – huge server load when students are starting their quiz attempts.

The Moodle Quiz is being used as the perfect assessment tool as it allows you to create quizzes with flexibility. However, when you have setup the quiz to start at the given time then the server load can shoot up to highest level because of the resource demands. In a quiz with strict time constraints students tend to refresh the page too often, just to make sure if the attempt is available yet. This unnecessarily increases the server load, and is a problem with large number of students.

The Moodle plugin – ‘Delayed attempts in quizzes’ addressed this problem which is faced by many Moodle administrators. The plugin controls the initial access to Moodle Quiz with a randomized delay to reduce the load at the start and end times. By lightly spreading the access of the students the server load decreases dramatically and the overall capacity of your system increases by orders of magnitude.

The plugin can be downloaded from the official repository here. The plugin adds a countdown timer for all students with a random delay of up to 10 minutes. The students need not to manually refresh the page to see the Attempt Quiz Now button.

Have you also faced server load issues when students start their quiz attempt? How did you overcome that? Please share with us in the comments section below.

For regular updates about Moodle, eLearning and edtech industry, please visit us regularly at https://lmsdaily.com. You can also like us on Facebook or follow us on Twitter, or Subscribe our YouTube Channel.

AI-Powered English Learning App ELSA Raises $20M in New Funding

By
Jaswinder Singh
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AI-Powered English Learning App ELSA Raises $20M in New Funding
AI-Powered English Learning App ELSA Raises $20M in New Funding

ELSA, a leading online language learning app that helps students and professionals speak English quickly and pronounce words correctly, has raised $20 million in a new funding round led by UOB Venture Management, the private equity arm of Singapore-based bank UOB.

ELSA, “English Language Speech Assistant,” helps users improve their pronunciation using speech recognition technology. The platform collaborates with language schools in Vietnam, including IMAP and Speak Up, as well as the online learning platform YOLA. The app has been powered by AI for the smart learning experience.

The demand for learning English has been around for a while. It’s always been here, but globalization has made it the need of the hour. Whether in school, college, or the workplace, speaking in English has become necessary. It is the most spoken and studied language in the world. As a result, people are increasingly relying on education mobile apps to learn English. Elsa is catering to millions of people today to help them learn English, create proper sentences, express their thoughts, and speak English like they speak their native language.

Headquartered in San Francisco and Ho Chi Minh, the startup uses speech recognition technology to identify users’ voices. So, while practicing, the app listens to the user’s voice and compares it with the speaker’s accent. If the users mispronounce words, it will quickly detect them and suggest the correct pronunciation. The learning experience includes many ways, such as exciting lessons, songs, regular conversations, etc. Additionally, an online dictionary is integrated into the app that assists users in finding the meaning of words immediately.

The latest investment comes two years after the firm raised $15 million in its Series B round, co-led by VI Group and international investor SIG. Existing investors Gradient Ventures, an AI-focused venture fund launched by Google, SOSV and Monk’s Hill Ventures, as well as new investors Endeavor Catalyst and Globant Ventures, also participated in this round.

For regular updates about Moodle, eLearning and edtech industry, please visit us regularly at https://lmsdaily.com. You can also like us on Facebook or follow us on Twitter, or Subscribe our YouTube Channel.

Korea’s Google-backed Mathpresso Raises Investment from Telecom Giant KT

By
Jaswinder Singh
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Korea's Google-backed Mathpresso Raises Investment from Telecom Giant KT
Korea's Google-backed Mathpresso Raises Investment from Telecom Giant KT

Mathpresso, an edtech startup supported by Google, has secured $8 million (10 billion KRW) from KT, the largest telecom business in Korea. The financing now totals around $130 million. Google, GGV Capital, Goodwater Capital, and SoftBank Ventures Asia have all been past investors.

By combining KT’s infrastructure expertise with Mathpresso’s unique AI technology and data, the alliance seeks to hasten the creation of an education-specific Large Language Model. Mathpresso, the company behind Asia’s most popular education software “QANDA,” shows a strong advantage in creating a Large Language Model explicitly tailored for education.

The corporation will add the LLM model to strengthen its AI tutor. Its goal is to integrate this improved AI Tutor with its current offerings, such as the QANDA App, 1:1 online tutoring, and 1:1 online school (QANDA Study), to provide students with a highly customised educational experience.

Mathpresso is now focusing its growth efforts outside of Asia, where its learning app has attracted the most incredible user traffic in the U.S., the biggest private education market among English-speaking nations. The plan calls for gathering user data and enhancing the precision of their model using data from people who speak native English. Jake Lee, CEO of Mathpresso, said,

This partnership represents a significant step towards building a world-class AI tutor beyond Asia. Across all educational spectrums, our AI tutor will deliver the unique benefits of one-on-one coaching, which has long been regarded as the pinnacle of successful learning. It will provide numerous youngsters access to chances for education that are unrivalled.

Their leading software, QANDA, is an AI-powered educational platform made specifically for K–12 learners. The software uses cutting-edge optical character recognition (OCR) technology to recognise text and mathematical equations from photographs. It provides in-depth answers and tailored learning materials. Over 80 million people have registered on QANDA since its launch, and they are spread across more than 50 countries.

For regular updates about Moodle, eLearning and edtech industry, please visit us regularly at https://lmsdaily.com. You can also like us on Facebook or follow us on Twitter, or Subscribe our YouTube Channel.

Check out the new features coming in BigBlueButton 2.7 version

By
Jaswinder Singh
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Check out the new features coming in BigBlueButton 2.7 version
Check out the new features coming in BigBlueButton 2.7 version

BigBlueButton is a powerful and versatile open-source web conferencing platform designed primarily for educational and online collaboration purposes. With its user-friendly interface and a wide range of interactive features, BigBlueButton offers a dynamic virtual environment that facilitates seamless communication and learning experiences.

The BigBlueButton 2.7 is the next major version to be released soon. BigBlueButton 2.7 offers users improved usability, increased engagement, and more performance. The new version will include a lot of exciting new features. Here is a brief glimpse on few of the new features coming in BigBlueButton 2.7:

  • Grid layout – The new grid layout provides a visual representation of each participant by focusing on the webcams.
  • Share camera as a content – Want to share something on physical whiteboard? Now you can share your webcam as the content to draw the attention of students to a specific physical area.
  • Disable viewing your own video stream – You can now disable the self viewing of your webcam to reduce fatigue of seeing your own webcam stream.
  • Restore downloading of original presentation – In the BigBlueButton 2.7 version, you can download the original presentation as well as the presentation with all the annotations embedded in it. You can also download the presentations in PDF format.
  • Timer & Stopwatch – Now you can display a count down (timer) or a count up (stopwatch) in the session. They are displayed to all participants and there is an audio notification when the timer elapses.
  • Reaction Bar – The Reactions Bar aims to make it much easier for students to respond with emojis to the teacher.

The new version is built around 20.04 64-bit and is going to be released soon. Stay tuned for more updates.

For regular updates about Moodle, eLearning and edtech industry, please visit us regularly at https://lmsdaily.com. You can also like us on Facebook or follow us on Twitter, or Subscribe our YouTube Channel.

Moodle 4.3 QA testing starts – Participate to earn QA tester badge

By
Jaswinder Singh
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Moodle 4.3 QA testing starts - Participate to earn QA tester badge
Moodle 4.3 QA testing starts - Participate to earn QA tester badge

Quality assurance testing for Moodle 4.3, the next major version of the Moodle LMS, started today. The new version is scheduled to be released in Early October 2023. It will include a lot of exciting new features which are covered here.

The Quality Assurance testing of Moodle LMS ensures that the new features are tested out by the real users before actually getting released. The Moodle community members contributes to test out different features to ensure that Moodle meets the highest standards of quality, reliability, and usability.

If you are also a Moodle enthusiast then you can contribute in the Moodle QA testing. You need to test out the new features on the Moodle QA site and share your feedback in the Moodle tracker.

For Moodle 4.3 QA testing, there are total 494 issues in the Moodle tracker here. You can go through the testing guidelines to contribute in the QA testing.

Here is a glimpse of new features coming in Moodle 4.3:

  • New ‘In Course’ Communication options – The new integration with the Matrix Messaging system will provide access to a modern messaging interface directly in the heart of Moodle along with possibilities of adding Slack or Microsoft Teams. These new in-course communication options will help educators and learners stay better connected, engage more regularly and work more closely together
  • New Activity Card Designs – New refreshed activity cards will be more streamlined and provide educators easier access to manage groups, access restrictions and activity completion conditions. These improvements will help reduce the time and effort it takes to manage activities in courses and help reduce the scroll length of courses, making them easier to navigate for students.
  • Site-level settings for Activity Completion – The project funded by Moodle users Association which will allow the educators to get their jobs done faster. This new functionality will enable the management of completion criteria for a whole site, reducing the time and effort required to manage these settings.
  • Improved LTI Tools at Course Level – New functionality will include the ability to add and manage pre-configured tools at a course level, providing educators the choice to show these tools in the activity chooser and making the creation of external tool activities easier with a simplified form.
  • Gradebook Improvements – The new improvements in Moodle gradebook are centered around improving the gradebook experience for teachers and students.There are two main goals:
    • make it easier and more intuitive for teachers to view and manage the existing course grades.
    • make it easier and more intuitive for students to view their grades.
  • Include Two Factor Authentication in Core
  • further enhancements to Report Builder

For regular updates about Moodle, eLearning and edtech industry, please visit us regularly at https://lmsdaily.com. You can also like us on Facebook or follow us on Twitter, or Subscribe our YouTube Channel.

AI-Driven Reading Coach Platform Ello Raises $15M to Revolutionize Child Literacy

By
Jaswinder Singh
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AI-Driven Reading Coach Platform Ello Raises $15M to Revolutionize Child Literacy
AI-Driven Reading Coach Platform Ello Raises $15M to Revolutionize Child Literacy

Ello, a pioneering AI reading coach startup, has announced that it has raised $15 million as part of its Series A financing round led by Goodwater Capital, with significant participation from Homebrew (returning investors), Reed Hastings, Common Sense Growth, and Ravensburger. Ello has plans to partner with schools in the future and expand its offerings to different languages.

Co-founded in 2019 by Dr. Elizabeth Adams, Tom Sayer and Catalin Voss, Ello offers a subscription-based service that delivers personalized 1:1 tutoring to children, combining AI technology with expert reading specialists. Its proprietary speech recognition technology analyzes a child’s reading and provides personalized feedback. The company is focused on engagement and the child’s love for reading, aiming to make learning a delightful experience rather than a test.

The startup’s proprietary technology enables the app to listen to children as they read aloud and analyze their speech patterns to correct mispronunciations and missed words. Like a natural teacher, Ello’s AI reading coach patiently waits for the child to finish reading each page before employing phonics-based strategies to teach critical reading skills. Children can also access extra help by tapping on the question mark icon.

Speaking about the investment, Co-founder & CEO of Ello, Tom Sayer, said:

Elizabeth, Catalin and I have all come to Ello through our journeys, but we share a belief that reading is the key to education in the information age and are driven by the mission to provide high-quality literacy education to all children, regardless of their resources. We appreciate our investors’ support as we build new versions of our product this fall that will reach more families looking for tools to help their children tackle reading challenges and get more excited about reading. With the latest technological advances, including GenAI, we can finally meet the challenge of 1:1 teaching and democratize education through our AI-based reading coach.

Ello has a user base of 10,000 families, with youngsters reading over 300,000 books on the app. The firm’s goals for the future include collaborating with schools and developing a product specifically intended for classroom settings. It is already conducting pilot programs with approximately 30 schools in San Francisco and New York.

Coddy Johnson, Partner of Goodwater Capital, commented:

Ello is tackling the issue of child literacy head on, leveraging AI to solve the reading challenges kids face, through a fun, engaging 1:1 reading coach. Coming out of the pandemic, as parents and teachers struggle to help children get caught up on basic reading skills, Ello is making a significant difference to thousands of families. We are excited to support them as they further develop their product and take their next step to empower every child’s reading journey.

For regular updates about Moodle, eLearning and edtech industry, please visit us regularly at https://lmsdaily.com. You can also like us on Facebook or follow us on Twitter, or Subscribe our YouTube Channel.

Vextur becomes Moodle Premium Certified Partner in Estonia

By
Jaswinder Singh
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Vextur becomes Moodle Premium Certified Partner in Estonia
Vextur becomes Moodle Premium Certified Partner in Estonia

Vextur – a prominent leader in providing innovative eLearning solutions in Estonia, has been added as the Moodle Premium Certified Partner. The new Moodle partner status enables Vextur to deliver enhanced eLearning solutions to clients in both the education and business sectors, building on the synergy between Moodle LMS and Moodle Workplace as online learning tools.

In a recent announcement, the Moodle HQ posted about the addition of Vextur as the Moodle Premium Certified Partner. Vextur’s CEO and Founder, Paulius Nomgaudas, mentioned:

Being a Moodle Premium Certified Partner allows us to offer our clients both Moodle LMS and Moodle Workplace. This gives us more opportunities to deploy Moodle in a wide range of sectors, both business and education

With a passionate team focused on continuous improvement, Vextur offers a comprehensive suite of services, from initial client consultation to full Moodle implementation and training. The company takes pride in its holistic approach, offering advice, installation, hosting, customisation, integration, theme development, and training. Collaborations with partners further enrich the offerings with solutions such as proctoring and analytics tools.

With the addition of Vextur as the Moodle Premium certified Partner, the Moodle partner network has grown to 104 partners across the globe.

For regular updates about Moodle, eLearning and edtech industry, please visit us regularly at https://lmsdaily.com. You can also like us on Facebook or follow us on Twitter, or Subscribe our YouTube Channel.

Moodle Teachers – Create programming assignments in Moodle using Virtual Programming Lab plugin

By
Jaswinder Singh
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Moodle Teachers - Create programming assignments in Moodle using Virtual Programming Lab plugin
Moodle Teachers - Create programming assignments in Moodle using Virtual Programming Lab plugin

In today’s digital age, online education has become increasingly popular. One of the key challenges in online learning, especially in technical fields, is providing students with hands-on programming experience. Moodle educators also use Moodle course to teach programming courses. In this post we will see how you can the Virtual Programming Lab Moodle plugin to create programming assignments.

The Moodle Virtual Programming Lab (VPL) plugin is an innovative tool designed to facilitate programming instruction within the Moodle environment. It provides a virtual workspace where students can write, compile, and run code, enabling them to practice programming concepts without the need for complex software installations or dedicated hardware.

Salient features of Virtual Programming Lab Moodle plugin are:

  • Enable to edit the programs source code in the browser
  • Students can run interactively programs in the browser
  • You can run tests to review the programs.
  • Allows searching for similarity between files.
  • Allows setting editing restrictions and avoiding external text pasting.

Over past many years, VPL is one of the most actively maintained Moodle plugins which has gained a lot of popularity. You can download the latest version of the Virtual Programming Lab Moodle plugin from this link.

Few Use Cases for Moodle VPL Plugin

  • Computer Science Courses: The VPL plugin is an excellent choice for computer science courses, allowing students to practice coding in different programming languages while instructors can assess their progress effectively.
  • Coding Bootcamps: Institutions offering coding bootcamps and short-term coding courses can leverage the plugin to create a dynamic and interactive coding environment.
  • STEM Education: The plugin can be used in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) courses to teach programming and computational thinking skills.
  • Coding Competitions: Moodle’s VPL plugin can be used to host coding competitions, encouraging healthy competition among students and fostering their coding skills.

What are the other tools you are using to manage programming assignments in Moodle? Please share with us in the comments section below.

For regular updates about Moodle, eLearning and edtech industry, please visit us regularly at https://lmsdaily.com. You can also like us on Facebook or follow us on Twitter, or Subscribe our YouTube Channel.

Moodle Admins – Capture Students Pictures to avoid cheating during Moodle Quiz

By
Jaswinder Singh
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Moodle Admins - Capture Students Pictures to avoid cheating during Moodle Quiz
Moodle Admins - Capture Students Pictures to avoid cheating during Moodle Quiz

Moodle LMS is one of the most widely used open source learning management system in the world. With more than 390 million users around the world it has been used for more than 8 billion quiz questions. But with so many online assessments going on, there is the need of proctoring the Moodle exams. In this post we will see the Moodle Proctoring plugin which can be used to proctor your Moodle exams.

The Moodle Quiz is one of the most robust quizzing platform with various question types and grading options. You can also use Safe Exam Browser to make your Moodle exams more secure. But that will not capture the picture of the student who is participating in the quiz.

The Moodle Proctoring quiz allows you to capture the students photographs through their webcams while attempting the quiz. It will capture the image after every 30 seconds and stores in your Moodle database as PNG images. The captured images can be then analyzed for verification using AWS Face Rekognition / BS Face Matching API. You can also set the quiz to not start if the user doesn’t allow the access to the camera.

Here are the other major features of the Moodle Proctoring plugin:

  • Capture user/student images via web camera
  • Can’t access quiz if the user does not allow the camera
  • Admin report and check any suspicious activity
  • Will work with existing Question Bank and Quiz
  • Images are stored in Moodledata as a small png image
  • Image can be deleted individually or in bulks
  • Proctoring log report with search facilities
  • Configurable image size and capture interval
  • Face Recognition service(AWS/BS)

You can download the Moodle Proctoring plugin from the official plugins repository here.

What are the other ways you are securing your Moodle quizzes? Please share with us in the comments section below.

For regular updates about Moodle, eLearning and edtech industry, please visit us regularly at https://lmsdaily.com. You can also like us on Facebook or follow us on Twitter, or Subscribe our YouTube Channel.

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