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Moodle Admins – Allow teachers to add colors to the text by using TinyMCE Font Color plugin

By
Jaswinder Singh
-
Moodle Admins - Allow teachers to add colors to the text by using TinyMCE Font Color plugin
Moodle Admins - Allow teachers to add colors to the text by using TinyMCE Font Color plugin

Moodle LMS is one of the most flexible open source learning management system in the world. The vast collection of Moodle plugins allows it to be used for all types of online learning environments. Recently, Moodle LMS has changed the default text editor from Atto to TinyMCE. In this post we will see how you can add the font color option in the TinyMCE editor toolbar.

The TinyMCE is most popular rich text editor so it has replaced the Moodle’s inbuilt Atto text editor. But the new TinyMCE editor comes with its own set of tools in the toolbar. It lacks one minor feature to add background text color and font color. The Tiny Font Color plugin completes that feature.

The Tiny Font Color plugin provides two toolbar buttons and menu entries to set different text and background colors. Colors can be defined by the site admin, so that the user may be limited to the predefined colors. In addition, the color picker can be enabled or disabled. Settings are separate for text color and background color.

The plugin can be downloaded from the Moodle plugins repository here. It does the job pretty well and allows the teachers to format their text with more colors.

What are the other issues you are facing with Moodle’s text editor? 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.

Hiring Startup Inploi Raises $1.7M in Seed Round funding

By
Jaswinder Singh
-
Hiring Startup Inploi Raises $1.7M in Seed Round funding
Hiring Startup Inploi Raises $1.7M in Seed Round funding

inploi, a UK-based fast-growing talent attraction technology provider, has announced that it has raised $1.7 million (£1.35 million) in a seed round led by Chris Nelson, with participation from Julia Ross, Joshua Nott of Schmidt Futures, Ziyaad Aboobaker, and others. With this funding round, the company plans to develop its growth team and accelerate the go-to-market (GTM) strategy for its Software-as-a-Service (SaaS) offering ahead of a planned expansion into the US.

Co-founded by Matt de la Hey and Alex Hanson-Smith in 2016, inploi aims to rebuild the infrastructure of online talent attraction. Its suite of SaaS products delivers candidate journey modernisation as a service, seamlessly integrating with existing HR systems to help companies attract, engage, and convert the future of their workforce, with extensive data and reporting underpinning their solutions. The platform can be used to design new recruitment campaign assets and advertising.

The startup counts several high-profile enterprises amongst its customers, including Wagamama, Haven, Butlin’s, and FTSE-listed Compass Group UK & Ireland. Hong Kong HQ recently joined the A.S. Watson Group, the world’s largest international health & beauty retailer.

Commenting on the fundraising, Chief Executive Officer of inploi, Matt de le Hey, said:

We’re grateful to new and existing investors who have backed us as we switch gears from finding product-market fit to scaling. Our unique approach of augmenting and modernising existing systems rather than replacing them – in addition to the close relationships we develop with customers as an innovation partner – has yielded extraordinary results, leading to 100% of our customers renewing across multi-year agreements. Over a million candidates have already engaged with our platform this year alone, submitting 500,000 applications to 34,000 jobs, filled more quickly with significantly less client spend.

Ziyaad Aboobaker, Partner of 10x Value Partners, commented:

The inploi team exhibited incredible agility in pivoting their model to providing software as a service. It is now partnered with a growing number of major blue-chip brands. inploi’s solution is perfectly positioned to address one of the biggest challenges facing companies today – attracting the people they need to operate effectively in a historically tight labour market – bringing the latest technology to an outdated market ripe for innovation. I am excited to have invested again to support their scaling journey.

The company also emphasises its ability to cater to neuro-divergent audiences with various educational and professional backgrounds and skill sets.

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.

Import Microsoft Word document into Moodle course using this plugin

By
Jaswinder Singh
-
Import Microsoft Word document into Moodle course using this plugin
Import Microsoft Word document into Moodle course using this plugin

Microsoft Word has been the defacto text editor for many users who are using Windows operating system. It has been one of the most popular rich text editors. In this post we will see how you can import the Microsoft Word document into your Moodle course Book resource.

The plugin Microsoft Word File Import/Export can be used to import your text from MS Word into the Book resource in your Moodle course. The plugin can automatically split the document into chapters & subchapters depending on the heading style used in the document.

This seamless integration from MS Word to Moodle expedites the course creation process, eliminating the need to manually copy and paste content, saving valuable time and effort for teachers. Moreover, it can also import the images from the document into the book (only if they are in compatible format e.g. jpeg, png or gif).

You can download the Microsoft Word Import/Export plugin can be downloaded from the official Plugins repository here. There are other companion plugins which can extend similar functionality for Lesson, Glossary and Question Format.

The plugin can also import the document from Google Docs or Libre Office Writer but you need to make sure that the files are saved with .docx extension. The plugin can also be used to export books, or chapters from books, back into Word .doc format. In general heading elements in HTML are converted back into corresponding heading styles in Word, and so on with other styles.

What are the other ways you are using to import content from Microsoft Word into Moodle course? 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.

UK-Based AI Coaching Platform Quench.ai Raises $5M in Pre-Seed Round

By
Jaswinder Singh
-
UK-Based AI Coaching Platform Quench.ai Raises $5M in Pre-Seed Round
UK-Based AI Coaching Platform Quench.ai Raises $5M in Pre-Seed Round

Quench.ai, a London-based personal AI learning coach, has recently raised $5 million in a pre-seed round led by firstminute capital and Tuesday VC (formerly CrunchFund). With this new fundraising, the startup plans to launch its learning coach to revolutionize the learning and development industry worth $1 trillion. It also intends to expand its current team of 16 people to support product and tech development, as well as customer sales and support.

Founded in 2021 by Husayn Kassai, Quench.ai leverages conversational AI to help busy professionals discover the most relevant content from the world’s most extensive indexed educational video content library. The platform offers educational videos, AI-enhanced learning experiences, and one-on-one sessions with these experts, enabling students to learn faster, improve skills, and significantly impact the field.

Speaking about the company, Founder & CEO of Quench.ai, Husayn Kassai, said:

Building my first startup straight out of university and scaling it to a team of over 500, I knew we had to become an effective learning organization. Yet I needed help finding a simple way to equip our teams with the learning opportunities they needed to continuously grow their skills, learn more, and move faster.

The firm has already garnered positive feedback from users, including Maryam Torshizi, founder and CEO at DeepSearch Labs, who described Quench as an AI librarian that guides users to the correct information with precision and ease. Torshizi emphasized the value of Quench in helping her anticipate and solve problems to have a more significant impact on her work.

Brent Hoberman, Executive Chairman of firstminute Capital, added:

We’re proud to back Quench.ai and see the launch of its AI learning coach, which has the potential to revolutionize personalized learning and development. By leveraging AI’s power and scalability, Quench.ai offers targeted content at people’s fingertips, transforming how we learn. With such an experienced team and impressive early product-market fit, Quench.ai is poised to address companies’ evolving talent development and up-skilling needs today.

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.

What’s coming in Moodle 4.3 – Check out the upcoming features!

By
Jaswinder Singh
-
What's coming in Moodle 4.3 - Check out the upcoming features!
What's coming in Moodle 4.3 - Check out the upcoming features!

Moodle 4.3 will be the next major version for Moodle LMS which is scheduled to be released by October 2023. The new Moodle LMS version will be packed of exciting new features to make the learning experience better for everyone. Let’s see what are the new features coming in Moodle 4.3 version.

Moodle 4.3 Exciting New features

The Moodle HQ team is working behind the scenes to deliver an improved and exciting Moodle 4.3 version. Here is a glimpse over the exciting new features:

  • Implement external messaging in Moodle – Moodle 4.3 will contain a new communications “subsystem” along with a new “provider” plugin type. There will be support to add Matrix as well as Microsoft Teams as the providers.
  • Gradebook UX improvements – This project aims to modernize Moodle’s gradebook interface and make its usage more intuitive.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 2FA/MFA in core – Also known as 2 factor authentication is a safety feature which will be included with integrating with existing authentication methods.
  • Improve ability to define a hierarchy in a Course – This will allow to manage the course section much better than earlier.
  • Question bank improvements – This community driven project is working towards a number of exciting improvements for the question bank.
  • Course level defaults for Activity Completion – The Moodle Users Association’s contributed project will be included in Moodle 4.3. The project provide the ability for an instructor to set course level defaults for activity completion. This will include improving the existing site admin UI.

Which of these features you are most excited about? Please share your views 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.

K-12 Online Tutoring Platform ‘Braintrust Tutors’ Raises $2.5M in Seed Round

By
Jaswinder Singh
-
Braintrust Tutors
Braintrust Tutors

Braintrust Tutors, the most comprehensive high-dosage, evidence-based tutoring platform for K-12 students, has recently announced that it has raised $2.5 million in a seed round led by prominent investors Scott Sandell, John Chambers, and LAUNCH and The Syndicate led by Jason Calacanis. The new fundraising will fuel the company’s rapid growth further, enabling it to enhance its state-of-the-art platform, expand its nationwide network of certified teachers and learning specialists, and reach more students.

Co-founded by Mara Koffmann and Jen Mendelsohn in 2019, Braintrust Tutors is a progressive and inclusive platform designed to address the vast majority of students neglected by the one-size-fits-all tutoring model, including the 1-in-5 who have learning differences, the 2-in-3 who lack proficiency with reading and math, and others who are grappling with pandemic-related learning loss.

Speaking about the capital raised, Co-founder & CBO of Braintrust Tutors, Jen Mendelsohn, said:

We are thrilled to have access to such a formidable list of high-profile investors, each with a wealth of experience and a deep understanding of scaling disruptive technology businesses. Their guidance and support will be invaluable in propelling us to new heights.

Braintrust Tutors personalized learning programs are strategically designed in close collaboration with each partner to accelerate learning for every student, delivered by expertly trained, certified teachers and learning specialists. Its mission is to close the achievement gap that has plagued schools for decades and only worsened due to interruptions.

The startup has partnered with schools and districts nationwide to create high-impact tutoring interventions that greatly accelerate academic outcomes for vulnerable students. The firm has garnered significant nationwide demand for its Braintrust Reading Program©, an innovative approach to teaching the most vulnerable students how to read. Combining a meticulously crafted curriculum based on decades of research and the science of reading with intensely creative, gamified lesson plans and a robust technology platform, the Braintrust Reading Program© makes it dramatically more accessible and more engaging for teachers to teach and students to learn.

President of LAUNCH, Mike Savino, added:

Braintrust’s unique solutions are the gold standard for schools and districts seeking effective, high-dosage academic interventions. We see a generational opportunity for Braintrust to substantially close equity gaps for the millions of at-risk students who struggle to achieve proficiency with foundational reading and math skills.

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.

Add 360 degree feedback in your Moodle Course using this plugin

By
Jaswinder Singh
-
Add 360 degree feedback in your Moodle Course using this plugin
Add 360 degree feedback in your Moodle Course using this plugin

Moodle is the world’s most popular open source learning management system (LMS) with more than 370 million users across the globe. The vast collection of Moodle plugins allows the LMS administrators to extend Moodle’s functionality easily. You can find out different plugins from over 2150 plugins in the official repository. In this post, we will see how you can add a 360° feedback for your students.

The 360° feedback (also known as multi-rater feedback, multi source feedback, or multi source assessment) is a process through which feedback from an employee’s subordinates, colleagues, and supervisor(s), as well as a self-evaluation by the employee themselves is gathered. In the classroom you can also it to proactively assess how to improve student learning outcomes throughout the school year.

The 360° feedback Moodle plugin can be used to add the feedback in your Moodle course. You can download the plugin from the official Moodle plugins repository here.

Setting Up 360° feedback in Your Course

For example, you want the students to assess each other on their recent group projects. You can add a 360 degree feedback to your course.

To add a 360° feedback in your course, please follow these steps:

  • Select “360° feedback” from the activity chooser.
  • Tick “Anonymous” if you would like to anonymise user responses after users have finalised their feedback to their peer.
  • Choose which type of course participants will be participating in the activity.
  • Save and display

Add/Edit Questions

  • Click on “Edit 360° feedback items” to add/select questions for the questionnaire. There are 2 main question types: Rated questions and Comments. Rated questions get averaged.
  • After you’re done setting up the questionnaire, make the 360° feedback activity available.

The information received from 360 degree feedback can serve as the basis for a discussion for the upcoming classroom sessions. The plugin also generated compatible reports to help you understand the feedback in detail.

What are the other ways you are collecting the feedback from your students? 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.

Online Language Learning App Preply Raises $70M To Grow Its Platform With AI

By
Jaswinder Singh
-
Online Language Learning App Preply Raises $70M To Grow Its Platform With AI
Online Language Learning App Preply Raises $70M To Grow Its Platform With AI

Preply, an online language learning marketplace connecting tutors to hundreds of thousands of learners in 180 countries worldwide, has recently announced that it has raised $70 million (approximately €62.4M) in equity and debt, bringing its Series C round to $120 million.

Co-founded by Dmytro Voloshyn, Kirill Bigai, and Serge Lukianov in 2012, Preply aims to shape the future of effective learning. The platform uses a machine learning algorithm to efficiently pair tutors with learners worldwide, making more innovative connections and ‘cracking the code of effective language learning’. The company has grown from a team of 3 to almost 500 employees of 60 nationalities. With offices in Barcelona, New York, and Kyiv, its employees work across 30 countries in Europe, USA, Africa, Asia and Latin America. It claims more than 35,000 tutors teach over 50 languages.

Commenting on the investment, Co-founder & CEO of Preply, Kirill Bigai, said:

It’s a great achievement to have secured this capital injection while we still have plenty of runways and the majority of the previous raise in the bank; a result of rigorous capital efficiency and a laser focus on performance. The additional funds will enable us to extend our leadership in the category through AI-powered human tutors, providing a learning experience quickly becoming a game changer.

Preply is used by companies such as Datadog, GroupM and Bain to drive improvements in their teams’ communication skills, increasing employee confidence levels and productivity. The firm has recently partnered with language authority ETS (Education Testing Service) to deliver a personalized preparation experience for the TOEFL iBT®, a measure of English proficiency used by over 11,500 institutions worldwide.

Lenna Koszarny, Founding Partner & CEO of Horizon Capital, commented:

We are excited to partner with Preply’s exceptional founders and superb leadership team in delivering on their mission of unlocking human potential through learning. Preply fits perfectly into our investment thesis of backing Ukraine’s new generation of visionary entrepreneurs while paving the way for others inspired to create their global champion powered from Ukraine that the entire nation can take pride in. We believe the best is yet to come. We are delighted that our capital will fuel future R&D, driving growth and high impact by creating jobs, promoting entrepreneurship, supporting tech sector development, and contributing to Ukraine’s ongoing economic resilience.

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 – Edit Cloze Questions easily using the Cloze question editor Plugin

By
Jaswinder Singh
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Moodle Teachers - Edit Cloze Questions easily using the Cloze question editor Plugin
Cloze Question Editor plugin

Cloze questions can be a very effective way to assess learning, as they require learners to demonstrate their understanding of the material in a way that is both challenging and engaging. However, creating cloze questions can be a time-consuming and error-prone process. In this post we will see a new Moodle plugin which can help you with creating the Cloze questions easily.

By default, Moodle includes the Embedded Answers (Cloze) questions. But new questions can be added by entering text containing special codes that create embedded multiple-choice, short answers and numerical questions.

The Cloze question editor Moodle plugin is a powerful tool that can help you to create cloze questions quickly and easily. The plugin provides a user-friendly interface that allows you to create cloze questions with just a few clicks. You can also use the plugin to customize your cloze questions, such as by adding images, videos, and other multimedia content.

The plugin is available as a TinyMCE editor plugin which is the default text editor in Moodle. So, before proceeding further, please make sure that you are using Moodle 4.1 or above versions as TinyMCE 6 is included in that.

Here is a screencast explaining how the TinyMCE Cloze Editor plugin works:

Create a new question

To create a new Cloze question in the text, position the cursor at the desired place and click on the edit cloze question icon button inside the editor toolbar or use the “Insert” -> “Cloze question editor” menu item. A popup window will let you choose any of the available question types.

The plugin supports various different types of questions as seen below:

Screenshot with dialogue to choose question type

Selecting any question type, you will see a plain language description of what that question type does. Select one question type and then click the “Select question type” button to actually define the answers and grading information for that question type.

Screenshot with selected question

You can download the Cloze Question Editor from the official plugins repository here. The plugin was created during the recently held MoodleMoot DACH 2023 in Zurich.

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.

Spanish Online Academy Ucademy Raises $1.67M for Global Expansion in Education

By
Jaswinder Singh
-
Spanish Online Academy Ucademy Raises $1.67M for Global Expansion in Education
Spanish Online Academy Ucademy Raises $1.67M for Global Expansion in Education

Ucademy, the Spanish educational technology company specializing in overcoming academic tests such as selectivity, has raised $1.67 million (€1.5 million) in a financing round led by the venture capital firm Brighteye, with participation from Eoniq. With the fresh capital, the startup plans to strengthen efforts to validate and expand in international markets. It has recently established itself in Chile and Mexico with its University Access exams.

Ucademy also plans to open new markets in Spain with training related to Healthcare (EIR, MIR) and pre-Selectivity (1st and 2nd baccalaureate), as well as dedicating resources to improve further the technological product and the inclusion of AI in the personalized study process.

Founded in 2021, Ucademy focuses on helping users pass official entrance exams, or qualifying exams for public university education or governmental jobs, with its personalized study plans. The platform works through small informative pills in the form of videos that are complemented with access to teachers 24 hours a day and continuously updated notes. It has established itself as a benchmark for its entrepreneurial culture and ability to attract and retain talent. Headquartered in Madrid, the startup claims a turnover of €2 million in its first year and a presence in eight countries.

Speaking on the fundraising, Co-founder & CEO of Ucademy, Ramiro Zandrino, said:

We are very happy that investors continue to trust us because it validates our work and vision. We have experienced important growth since the end of 2022, but always with the intention and care of maintaining our culture and way of being.

In the near future, Ucademy aims to maintain the growth of previous years, leading them to close the year with a turnover of close to 4 million euros and a workforce of more than 60 employees.

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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