These are the settings I think need to be changed by administrators to make Moodle 2 a working LMS for teachers.
ADVANCED
Enable outcomes, stats, RSS, completion…
Advanced settings –
“Enable Outcomes” – check for yes
“Enable RSS feeds” – check for yes
“Enable completion tracking” – check for yes
“Enable conditional access” – check for yes
“Enable plagiarism plugins” – check yes if MCC is using them
“Enable statistics” – decide whether server load is worth it
USERS
Remove emails from gradebook
Users–>Permissions–>User policies -> Show User Identity -> uncheck email
GRADES
Enable recovering of previous grades
Grades – General settings – “Recover grades default” – check box
Enable tab navigation in Grades
Grades – General settings – “Navigation method” – tabs
Enable static colum for student names in gradebook
Grade – Report settings – Grader report – enable “Static students column”
Enable quick feedback
Grade – Report settings – Grader report – Quick feedback – check for Yes
Enable quicker grading via AJAX
Grade – Report settings – Grader report – Enable AJAX – check for Yes
LOCATION
Set clock at Pacific Time (or your local time)
Location – Location settings – timezone UTC-7 (for spring-fall, would be UTC-8 for fall-spring)
PLUGINS
Remove requirement for activity description on pages
Plugins – Activity Modules – Page – uncheck “Require activity description”
Continue manual marking of posts as in 1.9
Plugins – Activity Modules – Forums – Manual message read marking – check the box
Timed posts for instructors
Plugins > Activity modules > Forum
Show emoticons
Plugins – Filters – Manage filters – Display emoticons as images (on)
Make available converting URLs into links and images
Plugins – Filters – Manage filters – Convert URLs into links and images (off but available)
Ensure multimedia works
Plugins – Filters – Manage filters – Multimedia plugins – On – apply to content and headings
Set module display to minimize navigation zone, display in all formats, and make popups bigger
Plugins – activity modules – URL
“Frame height” – change to 100
“Available display options” select all,
“Popup width (in pixels) – change to 800, Advanced
“Popup height (in pixels) – change to 600, Advanced
Customize forums
Plugins – Activity modules – Forum –
“Use email address in reply” – check for No
“Read after days” – change to 160
“Maximum attachment size” – change to 2 MB
“Manual message read marking” – check for yes
“Timed posts” – check for yes
SECURITY
Allow object and embed, post changes
Security – Site policies – Allow EMBED and OBJECT tags check box,
Max time to edit posts change to 60 minutes
Prevent text warnings on instructor forum posts
Security – Site policies – Enable Trusted Content
APPEARANCE
Enable html for labels
Appearance – HTML settings – uncheck box to allow html for labels
Add links to view user posts
Appearance – Navigation – check box to add links
Arialist theme for visible new posts
Appearance – Themes – Arialist – CSS box
.forumpost.unread .content {border:2px solid #D88A00;} /*unread post border*/ — change color to #1e00d8
Arialist theme for column size
Appearance – Themes – Arialist – Column width – 250px
Enable AJAX and Javascript
Appearance – AJAX and Javascript – Enable Ajax
Enable course themes
Appearance – Themes – Enable course themes
In addition, teacher roles need to be changed so that teachers may “login as” students, and see the grade link as part of their Activity Report.
