by Sander Bangma.  

Hi All,

As announced a little while ago on the roadmap we are planning to focus on some bigger pieces of UX improvements for Moodle 4.0. To enable us to do so we are going to take a bit longer and the scheduled release date for Moodle 4.0 is November 2021.

This idea to focus on UX was met with general enthusiasm and I look forward to seeing what we can do together to deliver some significant steps forward in terms of Moodle’s usability! Please have a look at our UX Community to see what research we are currently doing.

At the same time it also raised the question of how the community can provide contributions back to Moodle in the meantime. With the release of Moodle 3.9 behind us we’ve been able to consider this in some more detail and have decided to still go ahead with major releases at the usual November 2020 and May 2021 timeframes. 

What does this look like?

Moodle 3.10 and 3.11

Over the next 12 -18 months the majority of HQ developers will be focused on the UX improvements that are scheduled for Moodle 4.0. This means that the Moodle 3.10 and 3.11 releases are anticipated to contain mostly community contributed improvements and a couple smaller HQ developments. 

Note that while we will endeavour to include all community contributions in the 3.10 and 3.11 releases, we may defer some improvements to a later release depending on the complexity, size, and impact on other scheduled work.

Release support timeframes

Moodle 3.9 is a Long Term Support (LTS) release, which means that it will have full support for 12 months and support for any security issues for an additional 24 months. The normal support timeframes will apply for the 3.10 and 3.11 releases; full support for 12 months and security support for an additional 6 months.

Moodle 4.0 will adhere to the same normal support timeframes, with Moodle 4.1 scheduled to be the next LTS version.

Developer information

From a development perspective this means that we will be maintaining the regular main development branch for Moodle 4.0 for the larger UX improvements, as well as a separate branch for Moodle 3.10 (and later 3.11) for the community contributions.

If you are interested in knowing more details about the changes to our branches, repositories and tools, you will be able to follow this in tracker (link to the epic will follow shortly). We are also reviewing our code deprecation policy and would welcome your feedback there too.

by diego Fabra.  

Hello all,

As you know, MoodleMoot Global Online 2020 is kicking off in 5 days - and over 820 people have already signed up!

We’d love as many of you as possible to be part of this event and to have the opportunity of connecting with each other in a new way.

To make the Moot accessible to more people, we’re giving away 50 free tickets. If you’d like one, email us at mootglobal@moodle.com and tell us why you’d like to come to the Moot. We’ll get in touch with the winners on Friday, July 3 in the morning (CEST time)

I’m really looking forward to seeing you online!

Diego

by Candice Diemer.  

Are you a teacher, student or community developer? 

The UX team is running fun, collaborative workshops over the course of July and we are inviting you to join us in these sessions!  

We are currently in the planning phase of our Moodle 4.0 roadmap and part of this phase is discovering what our Moodle users and community needs for a better user experience. These workshops ensure that you are part of the discussion. 

How will the workshop be run? 

The workshop will be facilitated by the Moodle UX team over a Zoom webinar. This means you can join us from anywhere because the workshops are fully remote. Each session is only one hour long and will have between 6-8 other people working alongside you in a team. So you will be collaborating with others, it's more fun that way! 

What do you need to join? 

All you have to do is turn up to the Zoom call and participate in the activities we have planned for you - it's that easy! To access Zoom, you need a laptop or desktop computer with a web cam and microphone as well as a suitable internet connection. We will send you detailed instructions on how to join the workshop closer to the time.

Are you ready to sign up for a Moodle 4.0 UX Workshop? 

We only have a limited amount of seats for each workshop so sign up fast - first come, first serve! 

All times are shown in CEST (UCT+2). Check these times in your location.

TEACHERSAvailable workshop dates: 

• 6th July // 8am - 9am 
• 7th July // 9am - 10am 
• 8th July // 8am - 9am 
• 9th July // 9am - 10am  

Please sign up here

STUDENTSAvailable workshop dates: 

• 13th July // 8am - 9am 
• 14th July // 9am - 10am 
• 15th July // 8am - 9am 
• 16th July // 9am - 10am  

Please sign up here

COMMUNITY DEVELOPERAvailable workshop dates: 

• 20th July // 8am - 9am 
• 21st July // 9am - 10am 
• 22nd July // 8am - 9am 
• 23rd July // 9am - 10am

Please sign up here

Thanks and looking forward to workshopping with you! 
The UX Team 

by Juan Leyva.  

I'm pleased to announce the release of version 3.9 of the Moodle App. The app is available on Google Play and the App Store.

New features

• H5P activity - including offline tracking support (requires Moodle 3.9)
• iPad multitasking - having the Moodle app sharing the screen at the same time as other apps (similar to Android split view)
• On-boarding slides for new Moodle app users (Android only)
• Site finder - enabling a user to easily find their Moodle site by entering the name (no need to enter the site URL)
• QR reader - enabling a user to scan QR codes and open external URLs or courses and activities in the app
• Feedback from the app (active app users only)

Exclusive features for Pro and Premium subscriptions

• QR code auto-login - enabling a user to scan a QR code in their Moodle site profile and be automatically logged in in the app without having to enter their credentials (requires Moodle 3.9)
• Site finder customised info - site admins can customise the information about their site which is displayed in site finder search results

Interested in having your site listed in the Moodle app site finder? Please check our Moodle app guide for admins.

Juan

by Sander Bangma.  

It’s here...Moodle 3.9! And how the world has changed since we released Moodle 3.8 back in November 2019. As the world is facing significant uncertainty with the spread of COVID-19, I hope that all of you are doing well, and staying as safe and healthy as you can. I am writing this release post from the comfort of my own home, rather than from the Moodle HQ office where I would normally be. Just like many of you, the Moodle HQ team has had to resort to working from home. With nearly half of the company already working remotely, this was a fairly easy change to make and I’m acutely aware that the impact on some of you has been far more significant. We at Moodle are very fortunate indeed.

Dedicated to educators worldwide

Moodle’s mission is to empower educators to improve our world and one of the professions most impacted by the pandemic is that of the educator. Certainly, at Moodle we are noticing the impact and a shift towards online education over the past few months. Our registered sites as well as our MoodleCloud sites have grown significantly with 50,000 new sites since March 2020. We are also seeing an increased number of participants taking part in our free online courses Learn Moodle Basics and Moodle Admin Basics. It has taken an enormous effort worldwide to shift from face-to-face classes to teaching online. We, at Moodle, try to help where we can, but it is clear that none of this would be possible without the relentless input of our teachers. It has been nothing short of remarkable to witness the passion and commitment that is being delivered by educators every single day to continue the education of our kids, students, team members and colleagues. This is why we dedicate Moodle 3.9 to all the educators out there, you are truly doing a marvellous job!

It’s a team effort!

And by team I don’t just mean the Moodle HQ team - I mean the amazing group of moodlers formed by the wider Moodle community who contribute and participate in the development of each Moodle release. 

Moodle 3.9 has seen over 1500 commits from more than 125 contributors in over 20 countries! That is an incredible achievement which shows that the Moodle community is a vibrant place with people who care about Moodle and support our mission. The community contributions range from participating in workshops, user research and moots, to providing patches with improvements and bug-fixes, and donating time and effort by helping us with translations, documentation and QA testing! 

A warm and heartfelt thank you to our community who have continued to contribute to the Moodle project even during a time of change and uncertainty. Each and every one of you is making a difference!

So what’s new in Moodle 3.9?

The latest release of Moodle comes with a range of improvements across the board. For the full list please read our release notes. Here are some highlights of the key improvements: 

• Activity chooser improvements; a new grid layout with multiple tabs, ability to search, the ability to star your most used activities and resources as well as the ability for the admin to set a list of recommended activities and resources.
• Further H5P integration; the ability to use H5P content types as a Moodle activity, with gradebook integration and activity completion, the ability to create H5P content in Moodle from the new content bank, which also allows searching and editing of H5P content types.
• More powerful filtering of course participants; the filter on the participants’ page has been updated to allow combining of multiple filter conditions with logical queries. This project is the result of collaboration; proposed and funded by the Moodle User Association (MUA), and developed by Moodle HQ.
• Course copy interface; courses can now more easily be copied from a single user interface (rather than separate backup and restore steps) for both teachers and admins. This project is the result of collaboration; proposed and funded by the Moodle User Association (MUA), and developed by Moodle Partner Catalyst and Moodle HQ.
• MoodleNet integration; a new plugin has been developed to allow educators to navigate to the forthcoming MoodleNet social network from the activity chooser. When the administrator enables the integration, educators can push content from MoodleNet to their Moodle course. The initial version of MoodleNet is expected soon and I look forward to seeing the platform grow and evolve with your support!
• Improved integration of Safe Exam Browser; Safe Exam Browser, previously an experimental setting, can now be enabled and configured from the Quiz settings. This allows a quiz to be taken in a restricted and secure environment controlled by the teacher. This is a project in collaboration with the Safe Exam Browser consortium, Moodle Partner Catalyst and supported by 8 universities in Switzerland, Austria and Germany.
• Accessibility improvements; a large number of accessibility improvements have been made for the Moodle 3.9 release. These reflect the findings from an external audit of key pages of the Moodle LMS. Where possible these changes were applied across all of Moodle and back-ported. This is part of our ongoing commitment to provide an accessible platform and continuously improve our compliance with WCAG 2.1 Level AA.

Make sure to also check out our overview video below and our new features page, which reveal some of the other wonderful new features.

O_1u0NRiZRA

Download Moodle 3.9 or reach out to one of our Moodle Partners who can help by providing Moodle services that complement the platform such as hosting or any further custom development. Updated versions of the Moodle App and MoodleCloud platform will be released over the coming weeks.

Thank you all and stay safe,

Sander.

by Mary Cooch.  

Staying connected to people is more important than ever in these special times, so we're pleased to invite you to our MoodleMootGlobal Online from 6 to 10 July 2020. It's going to be a truly international, multilingual conference with presentations and workshops from Moodle HQ and our global community.

If you want to share your Moodle experiences, you can still submit a presentation until 14 June, and Early Bird tickets are available until 15 June.

Follow #MootGlobal20 on twitter to stay up to date with the plans, find out more about the speakers, and discover what you can expect each day at this week-long online event.

Wherever you are now, we look forward to seeing you at MoodleMootGlobal Online!

by Helen Foster.  

A big thank you to all our Quality Assurance (QA) testers, as listed in the Testing credits, who helped us achieve a Moodle 3.9 test pass rate of 100% in 4 weeks and 4 days. Congratulations to everyone who received a Moodle tester 2020 badge for running three or more tests.

Thanks also to all our core developers, who helped with fixing bugs identified through testing, so that tests could be reset and run again. We are now ready for Moodle 3.9 to be released on Monday 15 June 2020!

by Doug Belshaw.  

We’re delighted to inform you that MoodleNet v1.0 beta is almost ready! As you may know, we’ve been working on integration with Moodle LMS 3.9.

In preparation, we need to ensure that there is high-quality content available to anyone searching MoodleNet from Moodle LMS.

Therefore, we invite you to apply for a Content Sprint starting NEXT WEEK to add your best openly-licensed resources and links to outstanding content to MoodleNet collections.

Of course, this will mean that you will be one of the first people to have a MoodleNet account on the official Moodle HQ instance! The best content will make its way into featured collections viewable by millions of Moodle users.

Interested? Great! Please fill in this form: https://forms.gle/qgpfUbrcZ6eaUdM28

by Helen Foster.  

Moodle 3.9 is scheduled for release on Monday 8 June 2020, and so once again we’re running a Quality Assurance (QA) testing cycle. The list of almost 600 tests includes tests covering new features and improvements in Moodle 3.9.

If you can spare any time and would like to volunteer to help, please see the discussion Help needed with Moodle 3.9 QA testing for details of how you can be involved.

As a thank you, we will once again be sending a T-shirt to the top 10 community QA testers!

by Sander Bangma.  

Hi Everyone!

Moodle 3.8.3, 3.7.6, 3.6.10 and 3.5.12 have been released. As always, the new minor releases are now available for download via https://download.moodle.org or Git.

The releases include bug-fixes, as well as security improvements, and we recommend that you upgrade your sites as soon as possible. Upgrading should be straightforward. 

Administrators of all registered Moodle sites will receive an email with details of the security fixes and we'll publish these more widely shortly.

We've continued our focus on improving Moodle's accessibility for the 3.9 release so you will also see a number of accessibility improvements that we've back-ported to Moodle 3.7.x and 3.8.x.

Note that security support for Moodle 3.6.x ends today with the release of 3.6.10 and Moodle 3.7.x is entering security support only. Upgrading to more recent and supported versions is highly recommended.

The release notes for each version can be found here:

• Moodle 3.8.3 release notes
• Moodle 3.7.6 release notes
• Moodle 3.6.10 release notes
• Moodle 3.5.12 release notes

Please see the releases page for more details.

by Martin Dougiamas.  

Hi all!
I'd like to let you know about the major initiative we are planning for Moodle LMS 4.0, which is due late next year (see the Moodle Roadmap).
This release will focus primarily on UX (user experience). 

Of course, UX has always been important in a project like Moodle, and every one of our 6-monthly major releases has included UX-focussed improvements, but because we've given ourselves a longer time-frame for our 4.0 (18 months), we'll be able to make some really major strides forward in the overall experience of Moodle, areas like navigation, task management, course creation and more, bringing our thousands of community plugins along for the journey.    As well as the big things, we'll be fixing lots of "low hanging fruit" and long-standing smaller problems.

To help guide this process, we've been expanding our UX team, including an experienced new UX Lead.  Her name is Candice Deimer and you'll be seeing a lot more from her here soon!

To kick things off and help us prioritise what to work on, we've prepared this very short survey (it should take you just a few minutes) to collect initial thoughts from everyone who uses Moodle (educators, students, admins, designers and more).  

Please fill this out and share it widely among your networks:

          Moodle UX Survey:    https://www.surveymonkey.com/r/88T3YTL
There will be a lot more user research happening afterwards, and if you'd like to help, please make sure to say so in this survey so we can talk to you.
I hope you're all keeping safe around COVID-19. 

Cheers and thanks!Martin

by Juan Leyva.  

Hello Moodlers!

As we previously announced, we are introducing a new range of Moodle App Plans that will be available in our newly launched Moodle Apps portal on the 2nd of April.

We encourage you to register your site for free on the portal as soon as possible to enjoy the Moodle App to the fullest for free during the month of April (no restrictions applied).

If you are using MoodleCloud or your site is hosted by a Certified Moodle Partner, the Premium plan will be automatically enabled for your site. We still encourage you to register your site on the Moodle Apps portal so you can see Push Notifications statistics and enjoy the many exclusive features we will be adding in the upcoming months.

And finally, please remember that our standard app itself is ALWAYS free: students and teachers who use the Moodle app will never pay any fees. The site owner is the one who subscribes.

REGISTER YOUR SITE ON THE APPS PORTAL

Kind regards, Juan

by Helen Foster.  

Due to the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic, we are sorry that we have insufficient mentors to participate in Google Summer of Code 2020 and so are withdrawing as a mentoring organisation.

Apologies to all students who were considering applying to work with Moodle for GSoC. Thanks for the time and energy you put in to preparing your application.

As always, new developers to the Moodle project are very welcome. Please see the developer documentation and feel free to join our discussions in the General developer forum and Telegram Moodle Dev Chat room.

by Mary Cooch.  

With many teachers and other educators struggling at the moment to switch to online teaching, we've decided to run a special edition of our twice-yearly Learn Moodle Basics MOOC. This is a free, four week course for anyone who wants - or needs! - to teach with Moodle. The course uses the latest version of Moodle, currently Moodle 3.8, and will begin on Monday March 23rd. Sign up is open now.

We hope to create a global, multilingual community atmosphere in the course where new Moodlers and experienced Moodlers can help each other through these interesting times.

If you have friends or colleagues who need quickly to adapt to online teaching, please let them know about our Learn Moodle Basics MOOC. If you are an experienced Moodler, feel free to help Helen Foster and myself get teachers teaching with Moodle.