Moodle 3.4 - Summer 2018 Upgrade

A new Moodle platform was rolled out in the summer of 2018. This was due to changes made by the Academic Model Project that meant that all modules now have new codes, making the module code data held on Legacy Moodle out of date.  To ensure a smooth set up of Moodle courses for 2018-2019, it was pertinent that a new instance of Moodle was rolled out to host the new module codes and new courses.

The roll out of a New Moodle also gave us the opportunity to make some improvements to the system including updating the version of Moodle and making changes to the theme to make Moodle more accessible.

Although Moodle still works the same as before, and you should not find a significant learning curve with the changes, there are some improvements - some may of which may not be visible to end users e.g. changes to help make Moodle GDPR compliant.

Overview

An overview of the key new features can be found on the Moodle.org website new features page.

For a detailed look at the changes to Moodle, please see the Moodle 3.4 Release notes on the Moodle.org official website.

Highlights from Moodle 3.4:

• Better Calendar management: See Moodle docs for an overview and demonstration video -  https://docs.moodle.org/34/en/Calendar
• Smoother participant management: See who is enrolled on your course, and enrol them, all within the same screen. 

We've also made some improvements based on feedback from our community and UCL's priorities.

Highlights from UCL improvements:

• Viewing options: The option to switch between 'Standard’ and ‘Full screen’ view: this allows a user to personalise the way they navigate within Moodle.
• Quicker adding of Lecturecast recordings: You can now add Lecturecast recordings via 'Add and activity or resource' link in your Moodle course, without using the Lecturecast Connector block. 

Changes

As with any new system, you will notice a few changes/ improvements within New Moodle. These include:

• New landing page: allowing access to Legacy Moodle and New Moodle 2018/19
• New Course Overview: upon login, you’ll see courses you’re enrolled on listed under either In progress, Future and Past tabs. Courses appear under each of these tabs based on the start and end dates within settings for each course in Moodle, so do check under each of these.
• Colour scheme, layout and view options have been updated to improve navigation and accessibility.
• ‘My courses’ and ‘This Course’ tabs have been added to  the top of each Moodle course page to improve navigation.
• The ability to ‘Dock’ and ‘Undock’ blocks . The "docked" blocks appear as vertical tabs along the left margin attached to the page.
• Functionality:
  
  • Moodle Rubric: This should now display large and complex rubrics without users having to make changes to the coding of the Moodle page.
  • Category enrolments: Category enrolments now align with the data structure prescribed by the Academic Model Project. If you had access to all courses in a category in Legacy Moodle, you should have similar access in New Moodle, though the listing of categories may be slightly different due to changes in SITS. Note that you may need to search for a course and enrol yourself on it for it to show in your Course Overview when you log in
  • Lecturecast: The process of adding and mapping to a Lecturecast recordings has slightly changed. Please refer to our guidance on Create a Link on a Moodle Course to a Lecturecast Section

*This page will be updated through the summer.

As always, if you have any questions please contact the ISD Service Desk.