What’s New in Moodle?

Moodle Upgrade Changes 2.0 – 3.2

Moodle 2.0

Backup and restore

• No longer bound by memory (can work with any size course)
• New Backup format and improved interface
• Backup can be made of whole courses, but also specific sections or activities

Blocks

• Now consistently implemented on every page in Moodle
• Can be made to force to appear in all page contexts e.g. in every course or throughout a course
• Blocks can be placed in the Dock area on the side of the screen if the supported

Blogs

• Support for comments on each blog entry, and external blog feeds

Enrolment plugins

• Major improvements in the handling of guests and guest accounts
• Support for multiple forms of enrolment at the same time
• More detailed control over enrolment in courses

File Handling

• New file picker interface that manages files for resources
• Metadata about each file and what the file is used for are stored in the database
• Duplicate files are only stored once, saving disk space

HTML editor

• New editor based on TinyMCE, works on more browsers, resizeable editing area,
  cleaner XHTML output

Messaging

• A message overview panel allows users to control how messages are sent to them

My Moodle page

• More customisable, admin can design sitewide layout for My Moodle

Navigation

• Standard “Navigation” block on every page showing contextual links. Standard
  “settings” blocks on every page shows contextual settings

Roles and Permissions

• Simplified permission evaluation logic, improved interface

User profile pages

• Now can be customised by users with blocks, news feeds and so on

Moodle 2.1

New Question Engine

• Moodle question system has been rewritten to make it much more robust and to
  support lots of new functionality.

Backup recovery

• Ability to restore the course contents from Moodle 1.9 backup files.

Support for mobile devices

Moodle 2.2

Advanced grading methods

• Including Rubrics

External tool

• This allows Moodle to embed learning objects like from external website into courses in such a way that Moodle can pass user data to the tool and tool can send grades back to Moodle’s grade book.

IMS Common Cartridge import

• This is platform independent popular standard for packaging learning content. This is
  now available for Moodle 2.2 and later. Exporting to CC will come in later version of
  Moodle.

MyMobile theme

• With Moodle 2.2 a standard theme in core that is customer designed for smartphone browser screens. People using mobile browsers shall access completely different layout, but one that is suitable for small touchscreens.

Gravatars (globally recognised avatars)

• Can be integrated with your Moodle profiles.

Moodle 2.3

File Picker

• Looks nicer, images now display as true thumbnails, new icons for file types, easy
  toggle between how files are viewed.

Quiz Module

• Improved handling of quiz attempt, option for forcing students to answer quiz in
  sequence, resume quiz from last attempted one.

SCORM

• New graph report plugin

Workshop Module

• Option to switch workshop to assessment phase after deadline, workshop deadline
  shows in the calendar.

Update notifications

• Admins are sent notifications of any updates available for core code and for any
  contributed plugins installed on the site

Moodle 2.4

Course format plugins

• Course formats can now provide their own settings for courses and sections, and
  developers can also have a lot more control of all the pages in a course.

Themes

• Support for HTML5 themes
• Improved compatibility with Internet Explorer 8-10
• Default icons used for activities and editing actions have been updated for the first time since Moodle 1.0. This is a major look and feel improvement. (bigger and more colourful)

Moodle 2.5

Badges

• The Mozilla open badges project is a program by Mozilla that issues digital badges
  to recognise skills and achievements of individuals participating in various online
  learning programs.
• New Moodle supports issuing badges to a student based on the user’s meeting
  various predefined criteria compatible with Mozilla Open Badges.

Install addons from inside Moodle

• Now possible to install an addon from within Moodle administrative interface.
  This can be found in Administration>Site Administration>Plugins>Install Addons.

Word count in forum posts

Search for enrolled users

New themes suited to all screen sizes

Drag and drop media and text onto the course page

• You can now drag an image or some text onto your course page and choose
  whether to display it embedded in a label or as a clickable resource.

Templates for essay question types

• Templates can be set which appears in the student’s text editor for creating their
  response.

Settings pages nonessential settings collapsed by default

Folders can be placed inline on a course page

• The folder allows a teacher to display several course resources together.

Assignment enhancements

• Along with neater options for choosing submission and feedback types, resubmitting
  options are much improved.

Quickly “Jump to…” another section if using “one section per page” setting

Glossary block enhancements

• You can now use a global glossary block, and you can display the entries in
  alphabetical order.

Reports moved to the Administration block

Moodle 2.6

Performance

• Improvements to make Moodle faster and less resource hungry

Simpler password recovery

• Less clicks, less need to email admin!

Backup/Restore of Large Courses

Marker Allocation and Management in Assignments

• Marker Allocation and management allows you to corral grades and approve them
  before they are entered into the gradebook.

Better looking editing icons, TinyMCE editor

• Adding, edting and using resources and activities in Moodle has been enhanced with
  new icons and collapsed menus. Less tools displayed by default.

Moodle 2.7

Interface

• Themes cleanup – Moodle is focused on Bootstrap and improved responsive design.
• Clean is now the default theme and most other old themes have been removed from
  core (still available from Plugins directory). Many small improvements have been
  made all through the interface.
• More theme A completely new theme called More that provides easy configuration
  through the UI, while retaining the efficiency of LESS and the responsiveness of
  Bootstrap.
• New text editor, Atto Tightly integrated in Moodle and focussing on usability and
  accessibility (TinyMCE still available as an option).
• Improved conditional activities Complex boolean combinations are now supported,
  with a conditions plugin API and a better interface…and it’s faster!
• New mathematical equation editor for Atto, producing TeX using a GUI without
  needing Java. Works everywhere, even tablets and phones.
• New MathJax filter for displaying mathematical equations without needing binaries
  on the server.
• New report listing all events possible on a site

Platform

• Logging a new logging subsystem with plugins allowing Moodle logs to be very
  detailed and external. Log reports have been updated too. Many new events have
  been added which developers can take advantage of. These advancements will
  support better analytics in future as well as reporting standards like TinCan.
• Scheduled Tasks an improved scheduling system (like Unix cron) that allows
  precise scheduling of tasks even on complex clustered servers.
• Performance – With improvements to logging and scheduled tasks, as well as many
  other small improvements, overall performance will be improved, particularly on large sites.

Moodle 2.8

Gradebook

• New Grader report (the main interface showing all grades):
• Uses the whole window, Smooth, stable scrolling in all directions, Works on all
  platforms, including phones and tablets, A new Single view mode allows editing of
  any row or column on its own, Allows quick editing of any cell without reloading.
• New Natural weighting aggregation method
• Combines grades simply, Clearer interface for using weights, Supports extra credit,
  excluded grades, hidden grades, Can remove the need to use any other
  aggregations, New Grade history report, A grade history report lists full details of all
  grade changes
• Improved Grader setup page (for defining items and categories)
• New design, Easier terminology and clearer layout, Bugs fixed relating to how
  grades are added in some scenarios, Prevents loss of data when you leave the
  window
• Improved User report
• New design,Clearer calculations, Contributions column explains grade calculations
• Improved Grade import/export
• Improved interface, Copy/paste import direct from spreadsheet programs, Robust
  handling of null data or bad data, Locked grade items are now protected from
  imports, Export to multiple display types (Letter, Percentage…)

Forum

• You can subscribe to get email copies of individual discussions
• You can now reply to forum posts received by email, and even include attachments
• You can jump to the next and previous discussions easily
• New discussions are displayed in full recent activity report
• Attachments are displayed in the same order as they were uploaded

Assignment

• Option of adding additional files for use in the assignment, such as answer templates
• New capability that allows to control which grader receives notifications

External Tool

• Various additions and bug fixes for the external tool

Quiz

• The page where you assemble your questions to make a quiz has been completely
  rebuilt to make it much easier an more efficient to use. For example you can now
  drag and drop questions to reorder them or move them between pages

Moodle 2.9

Security and User Authenticity

• All users browser sessions available on a single page for viewing
• Logs user out at password change
• Limit concurrent sessions for users
• Limit password rotation/reuse

Usability

• Ability to delete (not just orphan) topic sections
• Allows teachers to set the number of discussions set in a social format course
• Show if a grade has been overridden (without having to edit it)
• Provides an html editor to editing essays in a lesson
• Add image drag and drop capability to the editing window
• Add “time spent” as a custom completion rule for Lesson module

Quiz

• Printer friendly layout for quiz
• Creates the ability to force the order in which questions are asked in a quiz

Moodle 3.0

Cron Major Update

• Now supports both scheduled and ad hoc tasks.
• Schedule for every task can be configured by admin
• Tasks can be run in parallel
• Cron processes use locking to prevent the same task running at the same time by
  different processes
• Clusters with multiple identical application nodes are supported, you can run cron on
  all of them
• As a result the cron can be run much more often (Recommend 1 minute)

Assignments

• The old assignment module (2.2) has been removed from core and has been
  replaced by a stub to support transparently remapping URLs and restoring course
  backups from the old modules to the new one.

Moodle 3.1

Highlights

• Competencies support in moodle
• Improvements to the assignment grading user interface
• Global Search API allows to search forums, wikis and other content throughout the whole site. Installation and setup of SOLR server is required
• Significant performance improvements in gradebook calculations
• Recycle bin plugin is now part of standard Moodle distribution: allow instructors to “undo” deletions of course modules and courses. Moodle Users Association project
• MDL-49279 – Add support in moodle plugins for exporting “Mobile app addons”

Forum

• Allow to “pin” discussions to keep them always on the top of the list
• Allow forum email subject to be customised
• Rename the News forum to “Announcements”

Feedback

• Feedback activity module will be enabled by default in new 3.1 installations. If you are upgrading to 3.1 we recommend you to enable it manually

Usability

• Enrol meta: Possible to add multiple courses without leaving the form
• Allow to message all participants when there are more than one page in participants list
• Add search feature to the File system repository

Moodle 3.2

Highlights

• New “Boost” Bootstrap 4 theme, usability improvements of the navigation
• Messaging UI improvements
• User tours – walkthoughs/instructional overlays for first time user on page
• Pluggable media players in Moodle; Video.JS player
• Easier embedding videos in audios in Atto editor with poster, subtitles and other attributes

Mobile App

• Support for offline quizzes in the Mobile app
• Messaging UI improvements
• Include support for login via the browser in the new Moodle Mobile admin tool
• Support Smart App Banners for iOS
• Move mobile settings to top-level admin

Assignment

• Assignment deadline overrides for an individual or group
• Sort blind marked assignment by blind ID instead of userid

Quiz

• Allow multiple answers in cloze MULTICHOICE question type
• Quiz reports now work on very large courses, rather than running out of memory

Global Search

• Add users to global search
• Add messages to global search
• Add database entries to global search
• Revise admin settings/report for global search for improved usability

Other Improvements

• Competency frameworks import
• Specify welcome email sender in enrol_self, or send emails from system noreply
• Store “End date” for each course to be used in reports and analytics

For developers

• New “Boost” Bootstrap 4 theme, block and navigation changes (see Boost_Navigation and Themes)
• The old base theme, theme_base, has been removed from Moodle core. If you have themes building on it, you can now install it as a third-party theme from https://moodle.org/plugins/theme_base or https//:github.com/lazydaisy/moodle-theme_base