Moodle 2.7 – the version you’ve been waiting for?

With Moodle 2.7 being released yesterday, Moodle users and site administrators will once again be looking forward to the new features, improvements and bug fixes that are available in the latest release.  Early feedback from the community appears to be enthusiastic about this release.

Moodle 2.7 brings a few headline feature improvements, including the replacement of the TinyMCE editor with ‘Atto’ and the continued emphasis on responsive design with ‘Clean’ the default theme and the new ‘More’ theme being released. Compared to a number of earlier Moodle releases though, some might question whether there is a compelling reason to upgrade to Moodle 2.7 (especially if you have only recently upgraded to Moodle 2.6).

But is this the Moodle 2 version you have been waiting for?  Perhaps you still run a 1.9 site, or upgraded to 2.2 and haven’t wanted to consider another upgrade just yet.  If that’s the case, consider one of the main reasons to upgrade to Moodle 2.7 is the commitment of Long Term Support for 2.7 from Moodle HQ.  What is Long Term Support  and why is this different to other Moodle releases?

Click to view our article “What is Long Term Support?”

This is what Moodle HQ have to say in the release notes:

Long-term support (LTS) until June 2017

Most of our releases receive 1 year of backported general bug fixes and 1.5 years of security and dataloss fixes from Moodle HQ. Due to popular demand, we are committing to giving Moodle 2.7 extended support for security and dataloss fixes for 3 years (that’s an extra 1.5 years support for this version).

This is the first official Long Term Support (LTS) release for Moodle. As a bit of background, development of the 1.9 branch was, to be kind, slightly unpredictable, with releases taking place at intervals that matched key development milestones rather than at timely intervals.

Structured release cycle

With the release of Moodle 2.0, a commitment was made to structure releases in a much more predictable manner, with the 6 month major release cycle introduced (major releases, 2.1, 2.2, 2.3 etc, taking place twice a year, with minor releases in between).

The introduction of the structured release cycle was meant to alleviate concern that planning for upgrades in the past was difficult, that companies supporting their Moodle customers (and of course users running their own installations) couldn’t anticipate when releases would take place. However, in an unforeseen twist, the now very regular releases are a burden for some users who simply struggle to keep up with the latest versions, or see it as a reason to stick with what they know.

[su_button url=”https://www.tituslearning.com/5-reasons-running-moodle-19″ target=”blank” style=”flat” background=”#cfcfca” color=”#552354″ wide=”yes” center=”yes” icon=”icon: external-link” icon_color=”#552354″]Check out our blog post on Why so many Moodle sites still run Moodle 1.9[/su_button]

Whilst there will always be those of us that want to upgrade to the newest version at the earliest opportunity to play with the shiny goodies Moodle have released (and to be honest, we’re in the camp that will grab the latest beta version for testing ourselves as soon as it’s available) the continuous upgrade cycle is obviously off putting for some.

Moodle LTS in practice

So, what will Long Term Support for Moodle 2.7 mean in practice, and why could this be the version you’ve been waiting for before biting the bullet and getting that upgrade planned?

Firstly, for those users that are still using Moodle 1.9, LTS provides a true opportunity to upgrade to Moodle 2 safe in the knowledge that if they don’t wish to carry out another major upgrade for the next 3 years, they will be covered by bug fixes and security releases in that time. Also, for those users that have been choosing carefully which releases to upgrade to (and perhaps skipping some releases to keep the number of upgrades to a minimum) LTS also provides them with an opportunity to standardise and plan the features and version they will have available for a significant amount of time.

Consider this: during the time that Moodle 2.7 will be officially supported there will be a further five major releases, assuming Moodle continue with the current 6-monthly release schedule.  Will we see Moodle 3.0 in this time (there is currently no official roadmap for Moodle 3.0) or will this period see us whetting our appetite at the upcoming niceties Moodle 2.8, 2.9, (2.10?) and beyond will provide?

Rejoice!

We can therefore celebrate the commitment from Moodle HQ to support Moodle 2.7 until June 2017 as a great option for the significant portion of the user base that are less inclined to enter the cyclical nature of major upgrades. For those that want, or need, more stability, less interruption, minimal staff retraining and updating of training resources, a LTS version provides exactly what they are looking for in order to plan their usage for a number of years.

It remains to be seen just how popular 2.7 LTS will be and whether this is what the trench of 1.9, 2.1 and 2.2 users have been waiting for to savour the delights latter versions of Moodle 2 offers. What is clear though is that, with Moodle 2.7 aiming to be the best release yet (according to Moodle HQ it is), now is a great time for those yet to make the jump to commit to the Moodle 2 branch and we expect to see a swing in the number of registered Moodle 2 sites overtake the 1.9 sites during 2.7’s tenure.

[button link=”https://www.tituslearning.com/contact-us/”]Contact us for information about our services, including how we can help upgrade your site to Moodle 2.7 or manage your Moodle server (never worry about an upgrade again!)[/button]

Long Term Support for Moodle

A Long Term Support (LTS) release is common practice in the open-source world.  LTS refers to a version release of software that will be maintained for a longer period of time than the usual version release and support cycle for that product, for example, Long Term Support for Moodle.

Whilst new releases continue to take place during the time the LTS version is supported (including feature releases, security and bug fixes), there is commitment from the developer that new features or regressive code will not be added to the LTS version.

Firefox, Ubuntu and Joomla are all examples of well-known open-source software that have LTS versions. There is a useful article and timeline on the LTS policy for Ubuntu here which, although the time-scales for Moodle are slightly different, the graph demonstrates quite nicely the overlap we will see in version support.

In Moodle’s case, the usual support cycle for a major release is 12-18 months, whereas for Moodle 2.7 this will be 36 months (see the Moodle 2.7 release notes):

Long-term support (LTS) until June 2017
[su_quote]Most of our releases receive 1 year of backported general bug fixes and 1.5 years of security and dataloss fixes from Moodle HQ. Due to popular demand, we are committing to giving Moodle 2.7 extended support for security and dataloss fixes for 3 years (that’s an extra 1.5 years support for this version).[/su_quote]

Moodle users now have a choice – whether or not to standardise on one version of Moodle (2.7) for a number of years at the expense of major developments and added features (in Moodle 2.8, 2.9 etc).

[button link=”https://www.tituslearning.com/5-reasons-running-moodle-19″]Check out our blog post on Why so many Moodle sites still run Moodle 1.9[/button]
Are the the reasons you are still running Moodle 1.9?

The Reasons behind LTS

So what does Long Term Support for Moodle actually mean?  The practice of issuing a LTS version has at it’s roots a couple of main objectives.  Historically, with any software release comes the potential to introduce new bugs, despite the likelihood that the developer is probably trying to fix at least some previous bugs in the software with the new release. Such bugs can and do cause problems and are regularly fixed with minor incremental upgrades (Moodle 2.6.1, 2.6.2 for example).

The introduction of bugs in Moodle is kept to a minimum however with a strict QA process and the help of community testers, running different set-ups, to catch anything that might have slipped past the core developers. Moodle 2.7 had a 100% successful QA pass rate.

Another driver for a LTS release, and certainly the main reason behind Moodle 2.7 being given LTS status, is stability. Not software stability, but the ability to plan and be prepared for implementing upgrades.

Upgrading core or critical software (which Moodle definitely is for Institutions throughout the world) is time consuming, fraught with concern and if too regular becomes a burden.  In each case of carrying out an upgrade, the administrator needs to be confident that functionality that existed before is still in place (and it works), that third-party plug-ins have been updated to be compatible, that the changes are not so drastic that users will be confused and that any training needed can be accommodated.  Very simply, Moodle cannot be upgraded if the administrator doesn’t have confidence that after the upgrade the system will be as usable as it was before.

[button link=”https://www.tituslearning.com/moodle-27/”]Click to read if Moodle 2.7 is the version you have been waiting for[/button]

The Benefits of LTS

A LTS release overcomes many of these concerns in one fell swoop. The upgrade to LTS can be planned and there can be confidence that with extended support in place only required updates and security patches will take place during the prolonged support period. There will be no more confusing (albeit useful) new features for users to get to grips with and compatible blocks will remain compatible during that version’s use.

Those institutions that develop their own plug-ins, or those that have wanted to develop a feature but have been put off by the requirement to keep it constantly updated, could also benefit from a policy decision to standardise on a version they know will be suitable for up to three years.

At it’s core, the Long Term Support release gives Moodlers another option that has been sorely missing in the past.  If users wish to keep up-to-date with the latest features, they can continue to download new releases and upgrade their site every six months. Even those that wish to keep their site secure with official releases, but don’t feel the need to upgrade for every new feature, can continue to benefit from the usual security releases and upgrade every 12-18 months. However, for those that may need to plan further ahead, or where performing an upgrade is more of a burden than a pleasure, being able to have version stability for 3 years is an option that could well appeal.

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5 reasons many sites are still running Moodle 1.9

It’s a curious fact but more than three and a half years after Moodle 2.0 was released, the majority of registered Moodle sites are still using Moodle 1.9.  Whilst the veracity of the statistics Moodle HQ have been provided with may not be completely accurate (the registration of sites is voluntary, and it is questionable how many ‘older’ 1.9 sites are still actively used) it is clear that a significant number of Moodle admins have opted to remain with what they consider the safety of Moodle 1.9.

It is encouraging to see that in the past 2 months almost three-quarters of Moodle downloads have been for 2.6 (these download figures are much more accurate as they count actual downloads from Moodle HQ). As you would expect, new users have no real reason to opt for an older version of Moodle and will typically grab the latest stable release. Whereas new users are opting for the great features of the newer Moodle releases, the reluctance of some site admins to move away from 1.9 is disconcerting.

So what are the top 5 reasons Moodle 1.9 is so popular?

1) Apathy

If it ain’t broke….yes, unfortunately it has to be said that there are a number of Moodle sites that are still running 1.9 because they don’t necessarily need to upgrade. With continued support for Moodle 1.9, albeit unofficially, those that are happy that 1.9 caters for their needs have no need to upgrade

2) Upgrade process

One of the most disappointing aspects of the early Moodle 2 releases was the lack of a simple upgrade process. The negative publicity around this, caused by issues that even well known Moodlers struggled with at first, has somewhat stuck. The fact is that upgrading from 1.9 wasn’t as easy as it could be and that has put users off that might not know about the improved scripts released since

3) Incompatibility

This one is a bit more tangible. Minimum browser requirements for Moodle 2 included IE7 at a time when quite frankly many institutions, and their users, had yet to see sense and were still using IE6. Perhaps more importantly, widely-used 3rd party plug-ins were not all updated, and those that were took time to be re-written for 2.0. Users were reluctant to lose features when they were meant to be ‘upgrading’ and even though most users will have now upgraded their browsers, once again any initial impetus to upgrade was lost

4) Retraining

You know the drill. There are a cohort of users that love Moodle, want the latest features as soon as they can get hold of them and will avidly put aside any slight issues for the greater good of being able to use their new toy. Then there are the rest. Those that need dragging to training sessions and need spoon-feeding the smallest of updates so as not to confuse them for the rest of the week. Perhaps that’s slightly exaggerated, but you get the point. Training requirements for a system of Moodle’s complexity can’t be underestimated, and it remains one of the reasons why some sites won’t upgrade…it would be too time consuming, and carry with it some risk, to upset the applecart and retrain all staff members on the new Moodle 2 features

5) Awareness

For those of us that are active with Moodle and keep up to date with current developments, it might seem strange to think some Moodlers are not aware of Moodle 2 or why they should consider upgrading.  But there are many users that installed Moodle some time ago and, because “it does it’s job”, they use it for what they always have (perhaps only as a glorified file repository).  It’s also the case that many 1.9 users simply aren’t aware of how good Moodle 2+ is. They might complain their 1.9 isn’t easy to use, or moan about the look and feel, but don’t know that they should be looking out for enhanced features like drag-and-drop and the interface improvements in Moodle 2.  Unfortunately, with some of the pizzazz of Moodle 2’s release now lost, and the community focus moved on to the latest releases, those yet to upgrade don’t know what they are missing and don’t know where to look for guidance.