Release Date

December 27, 2024

Production Data Center Upgrade Schedule

North America, Central America, South America (Virginia, USA datacenter): Clients will be upgraded according to their timezone:

Eastern, Amazon, and Newfoundland-Labrador Timezones: December 27, 2024, at 12:30 AM - 6:30 AM EST

• Central Timezone: December 27, 2024,  at 12:30 AM - 6:30 AM CST
• Mountain and Pacific Timezones: December 27, 2024, at 12:30 AM - 6:30 AM PST
• South America (Sao Paulo, Brazil datacenter): December 27, 2024, at 12:30 AM - 6:30 AM BRT

EMEA (Frankfurt data center): December 27, 2024, at 12:30 AM - 6:30 AM CET

APAC excluding Australia and New Zealand (Singapore datacenter): December 27, 2024, at 12:30 AM - 6:30 AM SGT

Australia and New Zealand (Sydney, AU datacenter): December 27, 2024, at 12:30 AM - 6:30 AM AEDT

Non-Production Sites Upgrade Schedule

We will upgrade non-production (sandbox) sites on Thursday, November 21, 2024, between 9:00 AM - 5:00 PM EST.

Non-production upgrades occur during North American business hours to improve the quality of the upgrade process and shorten the production upgrade window. 

Downtime will be required for your production and non-production sites during this window.

Release video

Major Features

Upgrade to Core 4.4.4

As part of this release, the team reviewed the code of 4.4.4 and upgraded the underlying systems, adding the corresponding fixes, improvements, and security patches.

Release Notes

For the full releases notes from https://moodledev.io, please see:

4.4 Release notes

4.4.1 Release notes

4.4.2 Release notes

4.4.3 Release notes

4.4.4 Release notes

Server requirements​

These are just the minimum supported versions. We recommend keeping all of your software and operating systems up-to-date.

Moodle upgrade: Moodle 4.1.2 or later.

PHP version: minimum PHP 8.1.0 Note: minimum PHP version has increased since Moodle 4.3. PHP 8.3.x is supported too. See PHP for details.

PHP extension sodium is required. See Environment - PHP extension sodium.

PHP setting max_input_vars must be >= 5000. For further details, see Environment - max input vars. PHP variants: Only 64-bit versions of PHP are supported. Note: Changed since 4.1.

Moodle™ 4.4 highlights

Course page refined look
Activities and sections clearly defined, colors indicating whether a section is hidden or available.

Single section page
By clicking on section title students are taken to a page showing just that section content to help them focus on their learning.

Teachers also have the single section view available when editing the content and preview it.

Updated Activity Icons
Less dominant and updated and a color pallet adjusted to provide better accessibility tested against 4 more commons forms of vision deficiency to help optimize the experience.

Ordering questions type
Ordering question type is now part of Moodle core 4.4. It displays several items (words, phrases, images or other media) in a random order which must then be dragged into the correct sequential order.

Quiz improvements
Now it’s possible to add grade items to quizzes, meaning that along with the overall grade, a quiz can have grades for specific sections or groups of questions.

A useful Last saved time displays in the quiz navigation block to reassure them their attempt is being recorded.

Forum Improvements
Admins can now set defaults for Announcements forums in new courses

Teachers can easily post to all groups without the need to expand the Advanced settings, the Post a copy to all groups is now available directly on the screen when adding a forum post

Bulk actions
Administrators will find new filter options in the Users page, bulk actions like Delete, send a message add to a cohort, force password change.

User pictures are part of the user list and admins can download the list of users in different formats.

New notifications
Enabled by default in new sites, notifications now include welcome messages for manual enrolments and warnings of un-enrolment due to inactivity.

Site administrators are now notified when a scheduled or ad hoc task is repeatedly failing.  Initial notifications following the release are likely to highlight tasks which have been failing for weeks or months.  These task failures can be investigated by Open LMS Customer Success, but in most situations are likely to be having negligible impact on the site.

Tiny MCE
TinyMCE is now the default editor in new and upgraded sites.

Improved image handling

Image handling is more streamlined, giving a better user experience.

Authenticate via SMS
Multi-factor authentication now includes the option to authenticate via an SMS code.

Show/hide password

Admins can toggle log in password visibility from the Manage authentication screen.

Custom sections

Now you will find Topics format as Custom sections.

Open LMS highlights

New Toggle for Editing Mode in Snap
A new toggle is now available in the Snap theme to enable or disable editing mode across the site. This functionality improves accessibility by placing the toggle in the navigation bar, making it available on all pages.

Users can still add content to courses without enabling editing mode, as they have always done in Snap.

This toggle replaces the "Turn editing on" buttons previously found on certain pages, such as the Gradebook and Home page. Additionally, it introduces new options for users on the My Courses page.

Snap new icons

In line with Moodle standards, we have redesigned the icons in Snap. With a refreshed and less dominant color palette, we’ve introduced new icons for all activities. These new outline-style icons provide a lighter, more modern visual aesthetic, enhancing both clarity and usability.

CCM Enhanced Master Editing Workflow

We’ve updated the Centralized Content Management (CCM) tool to introduce a more intuitive and flexible workflow for editing Masters:

Default Editing Window:

• • Users now have a default 2-hour window to edit Masters.
  • Changes are auto-saved at the end of the editing session, ensuring no progress is lost.
  • Users can also click the "Save" button on the CCM main page to manually save changes at any time during the editing window.
    
    
    

Edition Mode Notification:

• • • While editing a Master, users will see a message indicating that the Master is in "Edition Mode".
    • This message includes a convenient link to the CCM main page, allowing users to manually save their changes if preferred.
      
      

Manual Save Option:

• • • • Auto-save functionality can be disabled. If disabled, users will need to manually save changes by clicking the "Save" button on the CCM main page.

These enhancements aim to provide greater control, transparency, and flexibility when managing Masters in CCM.

Improved Enrolled Course Cards with Enhanced Information and Features

We’ve enhanced the recently redesigned Enrolled Course Cards to include more relevant information and functionalities for a better user experience:

New Information Displayed:

• • Number of Enrolled Students: Quickly see how many students are enrolled in each course.
  • Course Category: The category of the course is now displayed directly on the card.

New Features:

• • Favorite Courses: Mark courses as favorites directly from the card for easy access.
  • More Info Option: A "Show course information" button is now available. Clicking this will open a modal displaying:
    • The course description.
    • A list of enrolled students.
    • Custom profile fields for the course.

These updates aim to make course management and navigation more efficient and user-friendly.

Programs

New Features and Improvements

• Import Custom Notifications Between Programs:
  A new option allows you to import custom notifications from one program to another, simplifying notification management across programs.

• Custom Fields on Certificates:
  Program and Certification custom fields can now be displayed on certificates, enhancing customization and personalization.

• Program Content Problem Indicators:
  New indicators have been added to highlight issues with program content, such as when a course has been deleted, enabling easier troubleshooting.

• Expanded Notification Options:
  Program and Certification notifications can now be sent to a user's related user, providing greater flexibility in communication.

• Course Progress Reset Per User:
  A new option lets you reset course progress on a per-user basis for all content in a program, similar to the existing recertification reset functionality.

• Program Export and Import:
  Programs, along with their contents and structure, can now be exported and imported, making it easier to replicate and manage program configurations.

Updated Plugins

Changes to BigBlueButton Default Credentials

Default credentials for the free BigBlueButton version will be removed. To continue using BigBlueButton, please register at Registration Portal .

The Registration Portal provides valid credentials for testing purposes. To create an account, ensure you enter a valid email address, as a verification email will be sent. Once your email is successfully verified, credentials will be generated for testing.

Other improvements