What's New in Moodle™?

Below is some general information about the major updates and new features that have been released within the Boost and Classic themes in recent versions of core Moodle™. If you would like to share this resource with colleagues who do not have an account in the Open LMS support portal, please use the PDF handout version attached.

Moodle™ 4.3

New for Admin

• Site-wide default completion page: Admins can define default completion settings which teachers can configure in an improved default completion page.
• Restrict tools to categories: LTI External tools may be restricted to courses in specific categories only.

New for Instructors

• Edit links with access directly to certain settings
• Group icons for instructors: A group icon displays on hover for activities allowing groups and allows for quicker access to group mode settings.
• New availability setting: From 'More', a new setting allows easy editing of availability options. Teachers can quickly edit availability settings from the relevant item.
• New messaging room: Must be enabled first! Teachers can add a messaging room for class messaging.
• Add new LTI External tools more easily: Teachers can specify which tools will display for selection in the Activity chooser. Learn more.
• Bulk edit course content Learn more.
• Improved Gradebook
• Search in Gradebook
• Improved grader report layout
• Question bank improvements: customize your question bank
• Only students appear in whole forum grader
• Save quiz attempts: If a quiz is not configured to auto-submit student attempts when time expires, those attempts could end up stuck "in progress". You can now reopen quiz attempts that were never submitted and are stuck in progress.
• Your course saves your place
• H5P saves student progress

New for Users

• Streamlined course content: Narrower activity cards with smaller icons.
• Drop-down menus: Completion conditions can now be selected through a drop-down menu.
• Course index collapse/expand all: Expand all/collapse all options for the course index on the course page.

Moodle™ 4.0 > 4.1

• Gradebook UX/UI
  • Single View Report is much clearer now
  • User Report has collapsible categories
  • NEW: Grade Summary Report (shows all course grades and their averages, along with filters)
  • Can add extra grade letters
    
    
• Question Bank
  • Can now edit question titles inline
  • Addition of Last Used and Modified By columns
  • Usage column shifted left
    
    
• Custom Reports
  • New report sources
  • New settings page
    
    
• Small Additions
  • Tiny MCE updated
  • External guests can access BigBlueButton meetings
  • Timezone appears in profile
  • Can force a language at the activity level
    
    
• Database Activity
  • New start page with wizard style interface
  • New presets available
  • Can preview presets before selecting them
  • Approval status is more clearly labeled

Moodle™ 3.11 > 4.0

• New for admins:

  • Users will experience a dramatically new look and feel, considering new navigation options and UX improvements.
  • Admins can now set a background image for the improved login page.
  • LTI 1.3 Advantage is now supported. These improvements also include the LTI 1.3 Advantage host capabilities as well.
  • A limited version of the web conferencing tool BigBlueButton is now an integrated feature that supports 60-minute sessions for up to 25 attendees. Additional users and/or recording retention can be purchased directly from BigBlueButton.

• New for students:

  • Access courses quickly from the My Courses tab at the top of the site.
  • Stay on target with deadlines with an improved Timeline on the Dashboard.
  • Move smoothly between course sections and view completion status for activities easily from the Course Index.

• New for teachers:

  • The new Course Index makes course navigation much smoother, and allows instructors to quickly rearrange course content (editing must be on to rearrange course content).
  • A dedicated edit mode toggle in the Navigation Bar follows instructors as they scroll up and down the page.
  • The new Blocks drawer allows users to collapse course blocks, leaving more screen space for course content.
  • A dedicated Settings Bar at the top of each course provides fast access to course settings, reports, grades, and participants. 
  • Improved question management in the Question Bank with new abilities to set a draft status for questions, review a comprehensive version history of changes to individual questions, and use custom Question Bank fields when working with colleagues.
  • Activity completion can now require a passing grade.
  • Assignments can now (optionally) have a time limit associated with submission. 
  • Instructors can now notify learners when they add or update content in the course.

Please see the New Features in v4.0 documentation for more information.

Moodle™ 3.10 > 3.11

• Visual changes to completion tracking
  • Completion tracking tick boxes now appear as "mark as done" buttons on the course page.
  • New settings allow teachers to hide or show activity dates and completion conditions on the course page
  • Please see our separate article about Completion tracking changes in Moodle™ 3.11 for more details and FAQs
• Learners can control the speed at which Audio and Video files will play
• An Accessibility toolkit (from Brickfield Education Labs) identifies course accessibility issues
• Teachers can hide content in the content bank by marking it as unlisted
• A new column in the content bank displays the number of times an item is linked
  Teachers can view overrides and students can view pass grades directly on the Quiz page.
  
• Custom profile fields may be selected in User policies > Show user identity so they display in participant lists

Please see the New Features in v3.11 documentation for more information.

Moodle™ 3.9 > 3.10

• Ability to download course content if instructor gives permission to do so
• Send your badges to your choice of backpack
• Easily see remaining time with a new scrolling quiz timer
• Viewed folder resource images and HTML files directly in the browser without having to download them
• Ability to download and/or replace H5P files in the content bank
• Set quizzes to be marked complete based on one or more attempts
• Import and export custom language strings for language customization

Please see the New Features in v3.10 documentation for more information.