Moodle™ 4.0 Update: A Brief Overview of All The Changes it Brings
One of the biggest advantages of using Moodle™ as your LMS are the timely updates that are delivered to keep it on-par with other LMSes available in the market. The updates not only improve the security and stability of your website but also add a number of new features for making the user experience better.
Moodle™ HQ has finally released Moodle™ 4.0. And it brings a number of major as well as minor changes for improving the overall UI and functionality of your Moodle™ website.
Besides improved styling, course reuse feature for teachers to import or export their courses and optional background image for login page, there are a number of major changes too that come with this update. So without taking anymore time, let’s take a look at them!
Moodle™ 4.0 Update – Major Features
The major features included in Moodle™ 4.0 update come down to the following 5 changes. Here they’re:
#1. Enhanced Timeline and Calendar
Img src: https://moodle.com/moodle-4/
First visible change appears immediately when your students login to their dashboard. The dashboard now shows a much more streamlined and searchable timeline of courses and events that need the attention of your students. In addition to the search bar there are also filters to narrow down on the activity of a certain duration.
Img src: https://moodle.com/moodle-4/
Below the Timeline you see a redesigned calendar, that can be used to get a bird’s eye view of all that your students need to get done, and by which need they need to do it.
#2. Searchable ‘My Courses’
Img src: https://moodle.com/moodle-4/
The ‘My Courses’ tab, which lies right next to the Dashboard tab, has also got a new search bar and a makeover. Not only the students can now search for the courses that they are taking but also they can sort or filter them with help of new options added near the search bar.
#3. Collapsible Course Index
Img src: https://moodle.com/moodle-4/
The course index on the left side of courses, which is useful for navigating between sections and chapters, has been made collapsible with this update to provide you a distraction-free view of your reading. When you need to jump to a chapter or a chapter, you can expand it again.
It also has its own independent scroll bar, and comes with activity completion indicators to let your students quickly see how much they have done and how much remains on their plate!
#4. Expandable block drawer
Img src: https://moodle.com/moodle-4/
Just like the collapsible course index, there’s also an expandable block drawer in this update. If blocks have been added to a course, the student can expand the block drawer on the right side of the course content to access them.
#5. Collapsible course sections with redesigned cards
Img src: https://moodle.com/moodle-4/
The activities and courses are neatly defined using different cards in the course content area. These cards are organized in various sections, and those sections can be collapsed to focus on the content that you want to see. The cards have also been redesigned, as they show the completion conditions for activities on the right-hand side.
In addition to that, the sections of the course index on the left side are also collapsible. All of this allows you to keep just the section that you’re working with open on screen for better focus and readability.
Conclusion
All said this update makes finding course content and focusing on it much, much better. New navigation panes, search bars, filters, and collapsible/expandable drawers and sections.
However, before you update, make sure that all the plugins you’re using on your site are compatible with the update. As far as our plugins are concerned, we can assure you that all of them have been checked and tested with the latest update, and they work flawlessly.
Also, if you’re not using any of our plugins yet, we’d suggest that you check out Edwiser RemUI (Moodle™ theme) and Edwiser Reports (Moodle™ reporting) to get started. While RemUI transforms your user experience by creating a professionally top-notch Moodle™ interface, Reports can collate, present and schedule all the data and statistics about your LMS to make effective elearning decisions. Do give them a try!
