What to expect from Moodle 4.0
The next evolution of Moodle is here, bringing an improved user experience to millions of users worldwide
Moodle 4.0 is one of the biggest updates we’ve seen, but what does the new version of the world’s most popular LMS involve and how will it benefit the 300 million users of the platform?
The team at Moodle HQ recently released Moodle 4.0 and as well as a an improved look and feel, there are a range of new features – designed to streamline how Moodle is used and ultimately improve the user experience to deliver better learning outcomes.
In today’s post, we’re dissecting the key changes and what they could mean for organisations and learners worldwide.
User Experience
in Moodle 4.0
“An improved user experience for our hundreds of thousands of educators and hundreds of millions of users worldwide.”
One of the most frequent challenges around previous versions of Moodle is that developers have focused on functionality over design.
With a library of thousands of plugins and almost a thousand developers having contributed to the project, the functionality within Moodle is unrivalled.
When considering the evolution of Moodle, UX was a clear priority. It was time to match Moodle’s extensive functionality with a design that does it justice.
With such an extensive and varied user base, user feedback and insights were key. So, the Moodle 4.0 team based much of their work around what the community and user base were calling for.
The result is a refined UI, with more space, improved navigation, iconography, redefined course experience and widespread streamlining.
Out of the box, Moodle 4.0 does a great job, providing a more intuitive experience for not just learners, but administrators, too.
From our perspective as Moodle Certified Premium Partners, it gives us a solid base to develop new themes and custom platforms for our customers. We’re now working on a Moodle 4 Titus theme, which will enable us to create branded platforms that our customers love.
Moodle 4.0 brings an
improved course page
& dashboard
“These enhancements allow learners to anticipate deadlines and manage their time more efficiently.”
As well as far reaching UX improvements, reworking how courses are accessed and presented was a big focus for Moodle HQ.
Firstly, an update to the dashboard page sees usability taking centre stage. Call to action buttons have become more prominent, the introduction of a single view calendar has increased visibility and a fresh page layout aims to make managing deadlines, learning and time easier.
A new “My Courses” area introduces a central point where learners can access all their available courses. This addition signals an improved user experience and gives users greater visibility of their courses.
Lastly, the course page itself has been overhauled with a cleaner look and feel. New iconography and better navigation make for easier interaction. Introducing expandable elements means that large courses that would otherwise overwhelm are easier to interact with.
All in all, the developments have touched some of the fundamental aspects of Moodle and have addressed some of the challenges users of previous versions may have faced.
Moodle 4.0 introduces an
in-built virtual classroom
“We are proud to announce that BigBlueButton has been incorporated into Moodle 4.0 as a standard feature.”
The world is becoming a more virtual place, with Zoom and Facetime now being part of everyday life. Tuning into that, Moodle 4.0 introduces an in-built virtual classroom which makes video conferencing around learning effortless.
Previously relying on 3rd party integrations, BigBlueButton as a standard feature means Moodle users will be able to host online classes without having to configure their platform at all.
With a suite of handy features, BBB is a comprehensive solution – the open source web conferencing tool excels with real-time sharing of audio, video, chat, and features including slides, screen sharing, brainstorming, breakout rooms, polling and emojis.
Video is a proven way of increasing learner engagement and with an entirely free tier of BBB now native within Moodle, you’ll be able to host up to 25 users for up to 60 minutes at a time and benefit from 7 day non-downloadable recordings.
At Titus, we’ve been advocates of BigBlueButton for years and its introduction as an in-built feature of Moodle 4.0 is a great development that will make a big impact to countless users.
A continued focus on accessibility
“Empowering educators to improve our world”
Central to Moodle’s mission is to create an accessible learning platform that works for everyone, wether that’s a corporate L&D manager or a teacher in a remote location.
With that said, accessibility flows seamlessly through Moodle 4.0. Focus has been placed on making sure that development practices are aligned with the Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG).
In the coming months, Moodle will undergo an accessibility audit to achieve format WCAG 2.1 AA standard accreditation. In practical terms, this means that Moodle will be accessible by users who might typically have find navigating the internet challenging.
What other improvements
has Moodle 4.0 made?
Moodle 4.0 brings a host of highly useful new features and improvements
We’ve only scratched the surface when it comes to Moodle 4.0. There are a host of other improvements that we’re excited about, including
Improved security – For government, healthcare, universities, retailers and countless other sectors where Moodle is widely used, the need for a secure system is essential. We’ll be taking a more detailed look into the security advances that Moodle 4.0 has brought with it, so make sure to sign up to our mailing list below.
Report Builder – Moodle Workplace brought with it comprehensive reporting functionality that was easy to use, and it was so well received that Moodle has now integrated it into their core offering. The report builder gives administrators access to useful data which they can use to make data-driven decisions when it comes to managing their learners and improving engagement across the board.
Notifications – Administrators and content creators have the ability to automatically send notifications to their learners via the Moodle Mobile App and email – increasing visibility and making it easier for people to engage with learning.
Ahead of launching our Moodle 4.0 services, over the next few weeks and months, we’ll be exploring the new improvements and features of Moodle 4.0 in detail. Stay up to date with what we establish by signing up to our mailing list below.
As a Moodle Certified Premium Partner we’re gearing up and working hard to launch our suite of Moodle 4.0 services.
In the first release in our Discover Moodle 4.0 series we sat down with Sander, Head of LMS at Moodle HQ, register below to be notified when the video goes live.
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