The eLearning Services of Lapland University of Applied Sciences do not only administer Lapinkampus Moodle, the main Moodle site for the UAS and associated schools in Lapland, like Ammattiopisto Lappia. There is a second Moodle site that is geared specifically towards international project work: Lapinkampus Open Moodle. The name refers to the site being open to email-based self-registration by users in the international projects that utilise the environment, whereas Lapinkampus Moodle only allows authentication via the user registration systems of Lapland UAS and Lappia AO, or via manual account creation by the eLearning Services. The latter is an obstacle to the smooth running of projects with outside users, who would depend on help to gain access to their project environments. The separate status of Open Moodle allows easy access.
Another advantage offered by Open Moodle is that as a smaller site, it can be used as a testing ground for upgrades and new functionality. Presently, Open Moodle is already running version 2.7.8+ to which Lapinkampus Moodle will be upgraded first by the end of the month. New features in this version of Moodle have been tested out already before they will be adopted in the main Lapinkampus Moodle site. These elements comprise the functionality of the new Atto text editor that was already announced in a previous post, but also a new mathematics filter and a new STACK question type that should allow the creation of very advanced mathematical quizzes. The upgrade to 2.7.8 will also entail improvements in existing functionality. For example, URKUND anti-plagiarism checking can now also be activated for a discussion forum, meaning that both the text of forum messages as well as attached files will be sent to URKUND for checking. Other improvements will concern greater ease of use for mobile users and improvements in marking and feedback in assignments, such as the option to annotate submitted PDF files in the browser.
The upgrade of Lapinkampus Moodle is scheduled for July 1st 2015.

