Everything you need to know about Moodle Upgrades
With over 400 million registered users, Moodle is the world’s most popular and leading Learning Management System (LMS). Like most technology products, Moodle regularly releases updates to maintain security, improve functionality, and add new features. However, Moodle upgrades aren’t automatic, and unless you work with a Moodle Partner (such as us), you must do some work to ensure it all goes smoothly, which sometimes makes them a little tricky to understand.
This post explains everything you need to know about Moodle upgrades, from how they work to whether upgrading to the latest version is right for you.
What do new upgrades bring?
With Moodle upgrades, there are typically four elements that they can introduce:
- New Features: With each new Moodle upgrade, Moodle introduces new features to improve the user experience and add fresh capabilities to your site. Each upgrade brings a unique feature set, often based on feedback Moodle receives from Partners like ourselves, the Moodle Users Association, or general user feedback.
- Performance Improvements: Each new Moodle upgrade will improve the performance of your Moodle site. Whether it’s loading times on different browsers or how Moodle handles large user databases, upgrading your platform will often improve its performance.
- Security Enhancements: The upgrades introduce security enhancements to keep your platform, data, and experience secure and to stay ahead of potential dangers or vulnerabilities within Moodle.
- Bug Fixes: Like all technology, Moodle can sometimes experience bugs or slight issues within the platform. Upgrades will fix these bugs, ensuring the best possible user experience for Moodle users.
Moodle upgrades are available in two types: minor and major. Major upgrades are also classified as ‘Long-Term Support’ (LTS) versions. Minor versions typically address small performance issues and bug fixes, whereas Major upgrades will generally provide the full suite of new features and functionality.
What is a long-term support upgrade?
With every new version of Moodle, Moodle has a set time to support it. A long-term support version means exactly as you’d imagine: from a security perspective, Moodle will support it for a much longer time. Although Moodle is always maintained to be as secure as possible, your platform opens up to potential security vulnerabilities once this support ends.
The latest version of Moodle was released in Moodle 4.5 (see our article here on everything in 4.5). This is a long-term support version, meaning it will be supported longer than a standard version.
Should I upgrade?
Whether you choose to upgrade is entirely up to you; you must look at the new features available and decide whether you think it’s right to upgrade. At Titus, we aim to update all our platforms with the latest version. As each new version brings new features, it’s best practice to stay on the latest version or take advantage of these.
Depending on a few factors (such as the set-up of your platform and the size of your user base), upgrades can sometimes be a trick endeavour, so if our customers choose not to upgrade to the latest version, in these cases, we aim to upgrade to each Long Term Support version, minimising the amount of downtime of the platform.
At the very least, you should always maintain your site on a security supported version.
Conclusion
Moodle upgrades are an integral part of maintaining a secure, efficient, and feature-rich LMS that supports the needs of your learners. If you’re unsure how to approach your next Moodle upgrade, Titus can help you navigate the process smoothly and ensure your platform stays ahead of the curve.
