January 13, 2026
Happy New Year and welcome to Spring 2026! We would like to share a few details about what we have been working on in LSU Academic Technology.
Action Needed: Replacing Turnitin Assignment 2
If you have imported or copied the deprecated Turnitin Assignment 2 from a previous Moodle course, please note that this tool is no longer supported and that on December 31, 2027, it will no longer function. In addition, these assignments are currently experiencing intermittent connection failures in live courses. If you are importing course content that contains this assignment type, please create new Turnitin assignment activities using the Turnitin Feedback Studio LTI (GROK 20684) (opens in new tab) .
If you have already updated your activities to the Turnitin Plagiarism Plugin tool (GROK 20591) (opens in new tab) , you can continue to use it. For an explanation of the differences between the plagiarism plugin and the version 1.3 LTI, see Turnitin’s Feedback Studio with Moodle comparison chart (opens in new tab) (disregard columns 2 and 3).
Academic Engagement Activity (AEA) Automation in Moodle
As a reminder, federal financial aid regulations require the confirmation of course attendance to disburse financial aid. To meet these regulations, LSU Financial Aid & Scholarships must be able to verify participation in all college courses by the census date, which is the last day for students to add courses or change sections. As an instructor, you are responsible for recording this participation. We have simplified this by creating an automated process that uses a tagged Moodle activity (see GROK article 20694 for more information (opens in new tab) ). You can also still manually record participation for each student in Workday Student. For information on both processes, please see the Office of Academic Affairs (OAA) instructions page for Student Attendance Verification (opens in new tab) . Please note that if you are teaching an LSU Online course in Moodle, OAA recommends the automated option.
Reminder: Updates to Proctoring Fees
As of the fall 2025 semester, proctoring fees are included in LSU Online tuition for LSU Online (Baton Rouge) program courses. Students in LSU A&M (on-campus) courses remain responsible for paying any applicable proctoring costs out of pocket. Special accommodation is made for LSU students in cross-enrolled courses. For more details on proctoring costs, visit our OCE Faculty Resources & Support Updates page: Institutional Pay for Online Proctoring Coming Fall 2025 (opens in new tab) .
Reminder: Honorlock Proctoring is Now Available
The Honorlock online proctoring service is now available as an alternative to ProctorU for managing and monitoring remote exams. This service uses a combination of AI and live proctors to maintain exam integrity. Honorlock is the recommended option for any course with more than three proctored assessments. For more information on using Honorlock, see GROK article 20634 (opens in new tab) .
Support and Training from the FTC
The Faculty Technology Center (FTC) provides Moodle support, consultations, and innovative solutions to faculty and graduate teaching assistants tailored to their individual teaching. Services include workshops and webinars, customized workshops by request, one-on-one consultations, and virtual assistance. Contact the FTC by:
- Calling 225-578-3375 (select option 2)
- Emailing ftc@lsu.edu to create a ticket
- Attending FTC virtual walk-in hours (opens in new tab) between 2:00 and 4:00 p.m., Monday through Friday
The following training opportunities will be hosted by the FTC for the spring 2026 semester.
- Moodle Basics, offered by Yipin Johnson
What to Expect: Join this workshop for an overview of Moodle, during which presenters will guide you through the frequently used features to help you get started for the upcoming semester.
🗓 Monday, February 9, 2026
🕐 10:00 AM–11:00 AM CST
🔗Join Zoom Meeting (opens in new tab) - Moodle Gradebook Overview, offered by Greg Brignac
What to Expect: This course provides an approximately 30-minute overview of a simplified gradebook setup using the (default) Custom Weights aggregation method.
🗓 Wednesday, February 11, 2026
🕐 1:30 PM–2:30 PM CST
🔗Join Zoom Meeting (opens in new tab) - Turnitin Overview, offered by Phoenix MacAiodh
What to Expect: This course covers using the Turnitin LTI and the Turnitin Plagiarism Plugin for various Moodle activities.
🗓 Thursday, February 12, 2026
🕐 9:00 AM–10:00 AM CST
🔗Join Zoom Meeting (opens in new tab) - Panopto Overview, offered by Roland Baker
What to Expect:
🗓 Friday, February 13, 2026
🕐 10:00 AM–11:00 AM CST
🔗Join Zoom Meeting (opens in new tab)
Thank you all so much for what you do, and for the opportunity to continue serving LSU. Have a great semester!