Release Notes

2nd January 2025

Upgrade to Moodle to 4.5.1

12th December 2024

Update Moodle to 4.4.5

  • fixes bugs and security issues

Feedback tracker - redesigned staff configuration page

STACK update to 4.8.1 from 4.5.0

Improvements

  • Course Lifecycle block now provides a mechanism to unfreeze a course

Bug fixes

  • Fixes an issue with Feedback Tracker student view displaying grades from gradebook items set to be hidden

4th December 2024

CodeRunner Question Type

12th November 2024

Bug fix

  • Fix an issue with embedded Lecturecast recordings following the launch of TinyMCE

7th November 2024

Switch to new TinyMCE editor

8th October 2024

Update Moodle to 4.4.4

  • fixes bugs and security issues

Feedback tracker - improved interaction with Assessment Categorisation

  • Implement the ability to select any assessment type from a dropdown menu

  • Implement the ability to select categorisation for Gradebook items

Bug fixes

  • Fix an issue with Grid Format orphaning/resetting number of sections to 1

  • Fix an issue with the performance of Workshop activities at scale

  • Fix an issue with Moodle Assignment preventing partial release of marks when anonymity is enabled

  • Update H5P addressing concerns with externally created content

26th September 2024

Bug fix

  • Feedback tracker date calculation off by 1 day

  • Grid Format completion progress colour scheme improvements

19th September 2024

New - Feedback Tracker and Assessment Categorisation

Marks Transfer - improvement

  • Support for transfer re-assessment marks (e.g. for LSA)

Performance fixes

  • Grader report should now load reliably in large courses

5th September 2024

Update Moodle to 4.4.3

  • fixes bugs and security issues

29th August 2024

Bug fix

  • resolves an issue with Custom Certificates issued incorrectly

  • infrastructure maintenance

22nd August 2024

Update Moodle to 4.4.2

  • fixes bugs and security issues

  • resolves an issue with Tab Topics

  • resolves an issue with single section view editing

25th July 2024

Upgrade to Moodle to 4.4.1

13th June 2024

Update Moodle to 4.3.5 

  • fixes bugs and security issues

6th June 2024

Marks Transfer - improvements

25th April 2024

Update Moodle to 4.3.4 

  • fixes bugs and security issues

25th April 2024

Update Moodle to 4.3.4 

  • fixes bugs and security issues

18th April 2024

New Feature: Exam Guard

Bug fixes

  • Resolves an issue preventing Hidden Groups being used to restrict availability of activities

  • Resolves a couple of issues with the theme

  • Addresses a performance issue when creating activities in courses with large number of students & activities.

9th April 2024

STACK update to 4.5.0

18th March 2024

New: Marks Transfer integration

14th March 2024

Theme update 

Course Rollover - improvements

Bug Fixes

  • resolves an issue with MyFeedback premature grade visibility

15th February 2024

Update Moodle to 4.3.3 

  • fixes bugs and security issues

25th January 2024

Post-upgrade fixes

  • Pick up where you left off now displays the 4 most recently accessed course

  • External Tool activity returns to the Activity picker

  • resolves an issue with the Turnitin activity settings form showing unused parts

12th January 2024

Update Moodle to version 4.3.2 and post-upgrade fixes

4th January 2024

Upgrade to Moodle 4.3.1

15th December 2023

Update Moodle to version 4.2.4

  • fixes bugs and security issues

7th December 2023

Feature release

  • Resolved an issue with hotquestion in read-only courses

  • Resolved errors in course rollovers 

  • The Marks Transfer Wizard is ready for the second pilot ( wider rollout to be announced in 2024 )

9th November 2023

Performance improvement release

  • Resolved an issue with embedding quiz questions

  • Resolved an issue with Group submissions

  • Resolved an issue with Updating grades in the gradebook

  • A collection of performance improvements which should reduce waiting while multi-tasking  (MDL-79615, MDL-79617, MDL-79618, MDL-79619)

26th October 2023

Bug fix release

  • Resolved an issue with the board activity

  • Quiz Statistics now re-enabled

19th October 2023

Update Moodle to version 4.2.3

14th September 2023

Scaling, caching, infrastructure and performance optimisations

  • No visible impact but a big release to ensure Moodle 4 runs well at the start of the Academic Year. Years of effort in one line.

1st September 2023

Rollover configuration changes

  • Bulk rollover is available again

  • Advanced Forums (hsuforum) are now retained during rollovers

18th August 2023

Update Moodle to version 4.2.2

  • fixes bugs and security issues

  • Resolves an issue with the rollover of images in the Grid course format

  • Finally resolves all permissions issues with the "Pick up where you left off" block

  • Hidden courses are now shown in the "Pick up where you left off" section of the Dashboard

  • Increased validation of the auto-suggest of module deliveries during rollover 

10th August 2023

Bug fix release

  • Improved the display of PDF icon for URL activities

  • Fixed bugs in the Course Category navigation and associated dropdowns

  • Fix a bug with the Sharing Cart settings being displayed horizontally

27th July 2023

Upgrade to Moodle 4.2.1

  • Blog post - https://blogs.ucl.ac.uk/digital-education/2023/07/27/ucl-moodle-has-been-upgraded-to-moodle-version-4-2/

  • The Accessibility tool will no longer be supported on UCL Moodle after the Moodle upgrade on the 27th July 2023. The Digital Learning Environment team investigated installing and updating the tool, but it was simply not compatible with the new UCL theme. There are a range of freely available tools to customise the look and feel of webpages, including Moodle. For example, it is possible to customise font size easily in Safari and Chrome browsers under their respective browser settings. Third party extensions can also provide a range of colour customisations, for example the Chrome Dark mode reader extension. There are also various ways to customise colour settings in your operating system. The Digital Learning Environment team will be working closely with the digital accessibility team to promote these and other alternatives to the accessibility tool.

25th July 2023

Update STACK to version 4.4.4

7th July 2023

Update STACK to version 4.3.11 from 4.3.7

5th June 2023

Update STACK backend engine to new infrastructure

27th April 2023

Update Moodle to version 3.11.14

  • fixes bugs and security issues

  • reduced exposure to search engine indexing 

28th March 2023

Update Moodle to version 3.11.13

  • fixes bugs and security issues

  • fixes an issue with Lecturecast accounts

7th February 2023

Course Lifecycle

  • addressed permissions of the lifecycle block to ensure it is available to staff but not available to students

23rd January 2023

Update Moodle to version 3.11.12

Course Lifecycle

  • adjusted freeze delay to 12 weeks

5th January 2023

Moodle fixes

  • resolves an issue preventing account merging

  • early fix for LTI credentials being populated silently with user password - (MDL-76478)

  • addresses an accessibility issue with the shading of hidden resources

Course Lifecycle - Read-Only (made available 9th January 2023)

24th November 2022

Update Moodle to version 3.11.11

  • fixes bugs and security issues

19th September 2022

Update Moodle to version 3.11.10

  • fixes bugs and security issues

Course Rollover - improvements

  • when rolling over from 2020 and previous years, the suggested alignment will now be for a 2022 delivery by default

12th September 2022

Cloud based Authentication to Moodle go-live

25th August 2022

Update Moodle to version 3.11.9

  • fixes bugs and security issues

  • Fixes a bug with Atto auto-saving & corrupting data - MDL-74766

  • fix for Report menu click hijack - revert MDL-70753 

Course Rollover - improvements

10th August 2022

Course Rollover - improvements

  • retired LTI tools can now be filtered out during rollover

  • Role assignments override are now kept in rollover

  • Custom grade ratings are now kept in rollover

  • SITS Module cache now refreshing weekly

  • empty course ID now allowed

  • automated test coverage

  • auto-suggest now considers queued rollover requests to avoid naming clashes

  • improved clash avoidance of backup files

19th July 2022

Update Moodle to version 3.11.8

  • fixes bugs and security issues

  • Fix for rubric scrolling (MDL-71967)

New LTI Activity - Labster LTI1.3

New LTI Activity - Lt (kuracloud) LTI1.3

Course Rollover - improvements

1st July 2022

Course Rollover - improvements

  • Fix for error writing mapping to database - the leading cause of failing rollovers

  • Improve rollover interface where there are no mappings for the current course

  • Failed rollover email notification

  • Updated guidance and successful email has an additional link to this

  • rollovers now retain groups & group based restrictions

  • department mappings can be used as sole mapping for Miscellaneous aligned courses

  • improved reporting for VLE team to resolve failed rollovers

  • ALL failed rollovers to date now reprocessed successfully or requestor contacted

16th June 2022

Course Rollover - improvements

  • Rolling over a "Miscellaneous/Supplementary resource" course now available

  • Improved reporting tools for failed rollovers - monitored by VLE team

  • Fix 'couldn't move old course to category' rollover failure type

  • Workaround identified for 'setting_already_added' error

1st June 2022

New: Course Rollover

12th May 2022

Update Moodle to version 3.11.7

  • fixes bugs and security issues

  • bug fix - grades can be released to students for anonymous assignment after reverting MDL-71945 

5th April 2022

Annual Upgrade of Moodle to version 3.11.6

New : Turnitin for essay type questions

20th January 2022

Update Moodle to version 3.9.12

  • fixes bugs and security issues

New Plugin - Free Hand Drawing Question Type

Bug fixes

  • Search Courses reverted to basic search to allow searching for courses a user isn't enrolled in (MDL-71115)

  • "My Courses" menu now showing all relevant courses

  • Submission status stays "Submitted for grading" after a submission is removed by or for the student - fixed. (MDL-66203)

  • Workshop skips scheduled allocation - fixed. (MDL-68944)

  • Tabbed Topics Course Format - Font Tab Issue fixed

  • Performance fixes to Adaptable theme and "Forum (Advanced)" (hsuforum)

18th November 2021

New Feature - Global Search

11th November 2021

Update Moodle to version 3.9.11

  • fixes bugs and security issues

  • improvements to Moodle Boards

16th September 2021

Update Moodle to version 3.9.10

  • fixes bugs and security issues

New Plugin - Moodle Boards 

Turnitin plugin Update 

12th August 2021

New Plugin - Date manager

21st May 2021

Update Moodle to version 3.9.7

  • fixes bugs and security issues

  • fix an issue with Quickmail when applying an alternate email

  • various fixes with Zoom activity

New Moodle assignment report - Export component grades

IPAC - LTI integration

11th March 2021

Update Moodle to version 3.9.5

  • fixes bugs and security issues

New Course Format - Flexible Format

New Plugin - Structured label

New Plugin - kuraCloud

Feature Highlight - Sketchfab 3D Model Embedding

9th February 2021

Update Moodle to version 3.9.4

  • fixes bugs and security issues

  • fixed theme issues with Safari - Adding Activities and Course Formatting

New Plugin: Multiple True/False Question Type (MTF)

New H5P Feature: Use LaTex Mathematical formulae within H5P

18th November 2020

Update Moodle to version 3.9.3

  • fixes bugs and security issues

  • fixes multiple issues with drop-downs where editing options were not visible

  • STACK update to version 4.3.7

10th November 2020

Moodle 3.9 / Annual Upgrade 2020

28th October 2020

New feature - Embed Lecturecast videos anywhere in Moodle

16th October 2020

New activity - Embed Quiz Question Anywhere

New approved LTI  - http://Hypothes.is

Updated language pack - Promote Lecturecast for videos:

  • Updated help text promoting Lecturecast over Mediacentral for Teaching videos

17th September 2020

Update Moodle to version 3.7.8

  • fixes bugs and security issues

  • heading colour switched from pink to green in line with accessibility recommendations

New activity - Zoom Meeting

New Activity -  Labster

Availability limited to specific departments/courses under current licensing terms.

2nd September 2020

New LTI Activity - Matlab Grader

New H5P Activity type - Interactive Book

New Activity - Checklist

New Block - Mass Actions

13th July 2020

Update Moodle to version 3.7.7

  • fixes bugs and security issues

  • Test Accounts now have Site Policies automatically accepted

  • Theme bug fix update including colours with better contrast

  • STACK update to version 4.3.1

Moodle Snapshot & LSA 19/20

1st July 2020

File upload limit increased from 160MB to 500MB. Note. 

It is now possible to change the file size limit up to a maximum of 500mb in a Moodle course. However, tutors and course administrators should consider the impact larger files might have on the load time of a course and materials, especially for students with slow internet connections or limited data plans. To proceed, you must do the following:

  1. In your Moodle course, under Course Admin Block, click Edit settings.

  2. Under Files and uploads, change Maximum upload size.

  3. Click Save.

11th June 2020

STACK Mathematical quiz question type - go live

The longest standing feature request for UCL Moodle is finally available

9th May 2020

Update Moodle to version 3.7.6

27th April 2020

Echo360 Text Editor Integration for Video Assignments - go-live

Forum News Slider

9th March 2020

Update Moodle to version 3.7.5

  • fixes bugs and security issues

Accessibility Tool

  • Adds support for Open Dyslexic font and a few other improvements

  • Know bug: colour for Open Dyslexic font is being set incorrectly (fix expected by 11th May release)

22nd January 2020

CMIS Groups Integration - go-live

  • Groups are now created reliably and individual sync failures do not hold up the entire queue

21st January 2020

Update Moodle to version 3.7.4

  • fixes bugs and security issues

Theme updated with numerous bug and accessibility fixes

  • Fixes an issue displaying blocks in Safari on iOS

  • Fixes a readability issue of folder resources due to a blue background

New feature - Accessibility Tool - blog post coming soon

  • Allows low vision users to adjust text size, font, colour scheme, readability settings and for this to persist

11th November 2019

Update Moodle to version 3.7.3:

  • fixes bugs and security issues

Other changes:

24th October 2019

Re-implemented Tutor-Tutee data integration go-live:

  • MyFeedback now displays your tutees reliably

18th October 2019

Librelambda fileconverter go-live:

14th October 2019

Update Moodle to version 3.7.2:

  • fixes bugs and security issues

Other changes:

  • Database performance improvements

18th September 2019

Blackboard Ally go-live

13th August 2019

Post-Upgrade bug fix release

  • Upgrade to Quickmail Version 2

  • Fixes the Drag and Drop Quiz question type

  • Fixes the Molecule Editor question types

  • Theme bug fixes

  • other minor bug fixes

26th July 2019

Moodle 3.7 / Summer Upgrade 2019

  • Improvements to theme accessibility

  • Improvements to the theme on mobile devices

  • Improvements to the following features:

    • Dashboard and course overview block

    • Quiz activities and the question bank

    • Assignments

    • Forums

    • Messaging

  • The following features will be deprecated:

    • Certificate activity, use the Custom certificate activity instead

    • Vmatch question type, use the match question type instead

    • Essential theme, unused on Moodle

  • For more information regarding the summer upgrade, please read this Wiki page: Moodle 3.7 - Summer 2019 Upgrade

6th July 2019

Legacy Moodle becomes 17-18 Snapshot

  • Updated to Moodle 3.5

  • Plugins updated alongside this

  • Landing page removed and all users now go straight through to New Moodle

26th June 2019

Moodle Snapshot service rebuild & upgrade

  • All sites upgraded to Moodle 3.5

  • New Moodle Theme applied

  • plugins updated

  • number of snapshots retained dropped from 7 to 5

21 May 2019

Update Moodle to version 3.4.9:

  • fixes bugs and security issues

Other changes:

  • Fixed an issue with backup & restore

  • Retire the course migration tool 

4 April 2019

New activity -  Custom certificate Plugin

Superseeds the Certificate plugin. 

2 April 2019

New plugin - Turnitin Plagiarism Plugin

Allows the use of Turnitin in conjunction with Moodle Assignments and Moodle Workshop activities

21 March 2019

New Activity plugin - H5P

 H5P Mini-Guide

Long awaited by many, this allows for the creation of sleek interactive content

19 March 2019

Update Moodle to version 3.4.8:

  • fixes bugs and security issues

New plugin - Outage Manager:

For any future outages, in addition to the usual comms on ISD News, Moodle Homepage, etc, there will be a banner warning that the site will be going into maintenance 30 minutes ahead of time.

New plugin - Flash Apocalypse report:

Flash will be removed from all major browsers in summer 2019. This report will allow us to find any such content. We will be in touch. 

19 February 2019

Unoconv file converter - suspended temporarily

Following the go live of the Onedrive converter, a major issue with unoconv converting image files has come to light.

We will re-configure Unoconv to resolve this issue and re-enable it once we are confident this is working reliably. In the meantime, Onedrive will keep converting most of the documents.

14 February 2019

OneDrive for Business file converter - go live

All office documents are now converted via Onedrive rather than unoconv

22nd January 2019

Update Moodle to version 3.4.7:

  • fixes bugs and security issues

OneDrive for Business file converter (coming soon):

  • significant improvement to file conversion success rate & rendering of Microsoft Office documents for the Moodle Assignment

  • reduces load & service availability risks

11th December 2018

Improved documentation of UCL customisations

Update Moodle to version 3.4.6:

  • resolves an issue with the Moodle Assignment on devices running iOS 11.3 or higher

  • resolves error when adding add an event to the calendar

  • resolves an error when managing calendar subscriptions

  • resolves an error with URL and iCal calendar export

Update all plugins to the latest versions:

  • resolves an anonymity issue with "Forum (Advanced)"

Theme updated to latest version:

  • resolves an issue with the breadcrumb trail not being displayed on certain pages

Test Account automation plugin updated to run as a Scheduled task

  • resolves an issue with test accounts not being removed after expiry date

  • resolves an issue with the Moodle legacy cron not completing

4th December 2018

Update Turnitin Assignment V2 to version v2018102601

  • Resolves issues with Turnitin Assignment deadlines incorrectly displayed on the Dashboard Timeline