by Mary Cooch.  

Please join us for the Moodle Academy webinar “Introduction to Moodle for Educators” on 8th September 12:00 - 13:00 UTC.

In this webinar you will learn the basics of setting up a Moodle course and adding teaching materials and activities for your learners.

The webinar is part of the course Introduction to Moodle and is suitable for anyone wishing to teach or train with Moodle, particularly those with a new MoodleCloud site.

Register at Moodle Academy

by Sander Bangma.  

Dear all,

We’re rapidly approaching MoodleMoot Global 2022! Moodle 4.1 is scheduled for release in November, not long after the Moot.

As part of our roadmap we have a number of exciting things in the pipeline for this release. Please find a summary of the main improvements below, together with key dates for our release timeline.

UX enhancements

• Database activity - this is an MUA supported project which brings improvements to the database activity for both learners and educators. New presets and enhanced management of presets will make the database activity easier to use.
• Gradebook improvements - commencing with UX improvements to gradebook navigation, the user report and single view reports will be enhanced to make them easier to use. Further work on gradebook is planned for following releases.

Integrations

• Ability to share Moodle LMS course content directly to MoodleNet - you could already push MoodleNet content to your Moodle site and with these improvements it will be possible to share your Moodle course content directly with MoodleNet.
• Various improvements to the BBB integration - following the initial integration of the BBB plugin in Moodle 4.0 the BBB team is working on a number of improvements including the ability to invite external guests to BBB sessions.
• Introduction of Tiny MCE 6 as HTML editor next to Atto - in Moodle 4.1 we are adding TinyMCE 6 as an additional editor next to the existing Atto editor. TinyMCE is well supported and will transition to become the Atto replacement in following releases.

And more!

• Numerous accessibility improvements - Moodle is committed to delivering an inclusive and accessible LMS to all. We are currently working on a number of accessibility improvements which will also be backported to Moodle 4.0. Upon completion Moodle 4.0 will be WCAG 2.1 AA accredited and we will ensure Moodle 4.1 receives the same accreditation.
• Question and Questionbank improvements - this community initiative is continuing with the question bank improvements that commenced in Moodle 4.0. Making the question bank more powerful and ultimately into a course activity.
• Additional reports for Report Builder - in Moodle 4.0 we introduced the WP report builder into LMS and added several system and custom reports. This work is being continued for Moodle 4.1 with additional report sources being added.

We will be commencing our release process and enter code freeze on October 17th. After this date no new code will be accepted as we move to beta stage by October 24th to commence our QA cycle. The Moodle 4.1 release is scheduled for November 28th.

by Mary Cooch.  

Please join us for the Moodle Academy webinar “Introduction to Moodle for Administrators” on 1st September 12:00 - 13:00 UTC.
In this webinar you will learn the basics of setting up a Moodle site from within the admin interface.

The webinar is part of the course Introduction to Moodle and is suitable for any new, non technical Moodle administrators, particularly those with a new MoodleCloud site.

Register at Moodle Academy.

by Sandra Matz.  

We are delighted to announce that the program for MoodleMoot Global 2022 is now available online. Please note this is still subject to change. 

If you are presenting, please check the program to see your allocated time and session. 

This year’s MoodleMoot Global program includes over 120 presentations, covering the three conference streams for Educators, Administrators and Developers, allocated into themed sessions that combine different talks, workshops and poster presentations from the Moodle community, Moodle Partners, Moodle HQ and sponsors, with presenters from 35 different countries.

The program also includes a variety of social and networking events (including the MoodleMoot Global Party!) and much more.

We would like to thank the whole community for their great contribution to the program with their abstracts. We were really impressed with the high level of submissions we received and were disappointed we couldn’t include more in the program.

Don’t miss the opportunity to join us at the biggest Moodle event of the year. Register now to secure your spot!

We look forward to seeing you in Barcelona next month!

by Sander Bangma.  

Dear all,

We recently became aware of a security risk, which we have now resolved and the fix is available in Moodle 4.0.3, 3.11.9 and 3.9.16. These minor versions were released today in order to allow sites to be protected as soon as possible.

In line with our responsible disclosure policy, further details of any security fixes will be provided a week from now in the Security fixes section of the release notes and at https://moodle.org/security.

The upcoming 12 September minor release will continue to go ahead as scheduled.

As usual, you can find the releases via our download channels (https://download.moodle.org or Git).

We strongly recommend you upgrade your Moodle sites as soon as possible, to benefit from the security fixes, as well as other general bug fixes.

The release notes for each version can be found on the following pages:

• Moodle 4.0.3 release notes 
• Moodle 3.11.9 release notes 
• Moodle 3.9.16 release notes 

Please see the releases page for more details.

Version Release status Initial release General support ends Security support ends 3.9 (LTS) Current security 15 June 2020 10 May 2021 13 November 2023 (ext 6M) 
3.11 Current stable 17 May 2021 14 Nov 2022 (ext 6M) 13 Nov 2023 (ext 12M) 4.0 Current stable 19 April 2022 May 2023 November 2023 4.1 (LTS) Future stable November 2022 November 2023 November 2025

by Mary Cooch.  

Please join us for the Moodle Academy webinar “ The accessibility of opportunity and the opportunity of accessibility” on 15th August 12:00 - 13:00 UTC.

 In this webinar, Ben Watson, Head of Digital Accessibility at University College London (UCL), will provide an introduction to digital accessibility.

The webinar will cover the basics that we all need to think about when designing digital content to ensure that everyone can have seamless access to it. We will consider some of the common accessibility barriers that can be presented in digital materials and we will also look at a number of free and open-source assistive technologies that everyone can use to improve their online experiences.

 This event is for educators and anyone interested in making their course content accessible.

Register at Moodle Academy.

by Mary Cooch.  

Please join us for the Moodle Academy webinar “ Assessment: Exploring Glossaries”  on 3rd August 12:00 - 13:00 UTC.

In this webinar you will learn how to use the  Moodle Glossary activity for formative and summative assessment.

This webinar is part of the course 'Assessment: Exploring Glossaries' and is for educators interested in exploring assessment opportunities with Moodle.

Register at Moodle Academy

by Mary Cooch.  

Moodle HQ has launched a photography competition where Moodlers can submit photos or videos showing how they use Moodle. The competition is open to all Moodle users worldwide and there will be up five thousand Australian dollars in cash prizes to be won.

Why not enter by uploading an image or video to Moodle Photography Competition sharing how you use Moodle to teach, train or learn? 

We look forward to seeing your entries!

by Mary Cooch.  

Please join us for the Moodle Academy webinar “ Deliver Effective Virtual Classrooms Using BigBlueButton” on 27th July 13:00 - 14:00 UTC.

In this webinar you will learn how to create a virtual classroom within Moodle 4.0, the basic theories of learning and how they apply to a virtual classroom, how to structure segments in a virtual classroom to maximise active learning for your students, how to deliver an effective virtual class across four key foundations: management, relationship, engagement, and assessment and how BigBlueButton supports delivery in each of the above foundations.

This event is for educators and anyone interested in using BigBlugButton as part of their teaching strategy.

Register at Moodle Academy.

by Jessica Gramp.  

One of the greatest strengths of Moodle is our global community of developers, system administrators, educators, and translators, who contribute to evolving Moodle in an ongoing cycle of improvement.

We are very proud that Moodle is available in over 100 languages and this would not be possible without the volunteers that suggest improvements to an existing language or start translating Moodle into a new language.

In the last few weeks, the translation of Moodle into the Ukrainian language has jumped from 77% to 100%.  This is the result of the Ucr@ ina Project of the University of Turin, coordinated by Prof. Marina Marchisio and Sergio Rabellino.  The project aims to help secondary Ukrainian school students who have left Ukraine to be tutored by University of Turin students on the Moodle platform.   The tutors have been recruited and trained through funding by the De Agostini Foundation.

Congratulations to the University of Turin and its tutors on this important project.  Not only does this directly benefit these Ukrainian secondary students, but all other Ukrainian speakers using the Moodle platform.

Anyone can help contribute to Moodle’s many language packs. If you’d like to get involved, please visit Moodle’s translation site.

In addition, you may be interested in helping to translate our Moodle Academy course content into other languages too. If so, we encourage you to watch Moodle Academy’s webinar on “Translating content in Moodle courses and sites", which is available below and also as a downloadable file on the Moodle Academy Translation course.

Moodle Academy’s webinar on “Translating content in Moodle courses and sites.

by Adrian Greeve.  

Hello everyone,

Moodle 4.0.2, 3.11.8, and 3.9.15 were released today.

As usual, you can find the releases via our download channels (https://download.moodle.org or Git).

We recommend you upgrade your Moodle sites where possible, to benefit from the bug-fixes and security improvements.

We have been migrating over to a new documentation system and so we will be linking to those from now on.
The release notes for each version can be found on the following pages:

• Moodle 4.0.2 release notes 
  
• Moodle 3.11.8 release notes 
  
• Moodle 3.9.15 release notes 
  

Please see the releases page for more details.

Version Release status Initial release General support ends Security support ends 3.9 (LTS) Current security 15 June 2020 10 May 2021 13 November 2023 (ext 6M) 
3.11 Current stable 17 May 2021 14 Nov 2022 (ext 6M) 13 Nov 2023 (ext 12M) 4.0 Current stable 19 April 2022 8 May 2023 13 November 2023 4.1 (LTS) Future stable 14 November 2022 13 November 2023 10 November 2025

by Mary Cooch.  

Please join us (in Spanish/ en español) for the Moodle Academy 'Reflections on MEC' webinar on 6 July 12:00 - 13:00 UTC.

During this event you will learn what MEC is and you will hear from candidates and facilitators about their experience and how MEC affected their teaching.

This event is for Educators. Please note: This webinar will be in Spanish.

Register at Moodle Academy

Apúntate al webinar de Moodle Academy "Reflexiones sobre el MEC" el 6 de julio, de 12:00 a 13:00h UTC.

En este webinar aprenderás qué es el MEC y escucharás experiencias de primera mano de candidatos y facilitadores: cómo fue para ellos el MEC y cómo ha influenciado su manera de enseñar.

Este evento es para educadores.

Inscríbete ahora

by Marie Achour.  

Hello to all our Community members, 

Firstly, let me introduce myself, my name is Marie Achour and I am the newly appointed Global Head of Products at Moodle. I have been here for just over 5 months and have the honour of leading the group of people in Moodle HQ who design, build and maintain our range of Moodle Products as well as manage our Community engagement activities. 

I’m reaching out to let you know about a few changes in our team and introduce some of our newest team members. 

Many of you will already know Jessica Gramp who has been leading the Moodle Academy team for the last year or so. As of next month,  Jess will be taking on a new challenge as our new Moodle Community Product Manager - her team will be accountable for managing the moodle.org ecosystem and fostering our Community culture, as well as continuing to provide you with rich support, training and engagement opportunities through Moodle Academy and our MoodleMoots. 

Helen Foster, who spearheaded our Community engagement opportunities for the last few years is not going very far. She will be expanding her skill set by moving into the world of UX Analysis and Writing, where she will help shape improved experiences by contributing her in-depth Moodle expertise as part of the UX process. Helen is excited by the change and will continue to be involved with our Community activities, particularly with her passion in supporting translations. 

As a result of these changes, Jess is recruiting for a Community Engagement Lead and we have a number of other exciting opportunities available across Moodle right now, if you or anyone you know is interested, please apply at moodle.com/careers. 

Helen will be joining a new team here at Moodle HQ, our Moodle Product Experience Team. This team is led by Zoe Rippon who joined our family a few months ago. You will be hearing a lot from Zoe in the future as she is going to reach out to all of you to ask for your help, advice and ideas through research initiatives that we will be conducting to help us continue to build an even better Moodle. 

Talking of new teams, I also wanted to introduce you to Barry van Oudtshoorn who will be leading the Moodle Platform Team. Our new Platform team is all about ensuring that the Moodle LMS you all know and love performs at its best, supports an increasing number of integrations with other software solutions and is the best LMS in the market at meeting the needs of the system administrators who run and operate Moodle all over the world. 

Barry takes on a small part of the role Sander Bangma has played in the past, freeing Sander to focus his and his team’s attention on continuing to shape our Moodle LMS to be best-in-class at supporting educators in creating rich learning experiences for their students as our new Head of Educational Solutions. 

Both Sander and Barry (and their teams of course!) are now focused on building Moodle LMS 4.1 and would love your support in delivering it, so if you are interested in getting involved, please reach out. 

I’m sure you will join me in welcoming Barry and Zoe to the Moodle Community family and congratulating Helen, Jess and Sander on their new appointments. 

Marie

by Mary Cooch.  

Please join us for the “Translating Moodle Academy” webinar on 23 June 2022 from 09:00 to 10:00 UTC.

In this webinar you'll learn how to translate Moodle Academy courses and site content using a new Content Translation Plugin.

The webinar is for anyone interested in translating course content and in multilingual Moodle sites in general.

Register at Moodle Academy.

by Mary Cooch.  

Please join us for the Moodle Academy 'Using MoodleNet' webinar on 8 June 12:00 - 13:00 UTC.

In this webinar you will explore the latest updates to MoodleNet, our site for finding, sharing and curating educational resources. You will also learn how to incorporate MoodleNet content into the courses you teach.

 This event is for Educators and anyone interested in contributing to MoodleNet.

Register at moodle.academy.