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Moodle 4.1 – More enhancements in Quiz & Database activity with other UX improvements

By
Jaswinder Singh
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Moodle 4.1 - More enhancements in Quiz & Database activity with other UX improvements
Moodle 4.1

Moodle 4.1 will be the next major version of Moodle releasing in November 2022. Like the recently released Moodle 4.0 the next major version will also continue to improvise on the User Experience with other significant improvements.

Moodle 4.1 will continue to focus towards improving the overall User Experience. Additionally it will be an LTS (Long Term Support) version release. The Moodle HQ team is working on various features to make Moodle – a better LMS for the next decade.

Moodle 4.1 Exciting new features

Here are some exciting new features which will be coming in Moodle 4.1 version:

  • User Experience Improvements – After a major overhaul of User Experience in Moodle 4.0, the next version will focus on improvising course activities like Quiz, Assignment, gradebook & other areas like filters.
  • Moodle App Store – The plugins developers will can build financial sustainability for their work, while teachers will have easier access to use hundreds of new plugins in their courses via the web interface, without needing to convince their admins to install code. This will help the entire plugins ecosystem.
  • Question Bank Improvements – In Moodle 4.1, the question bank will be enhanced significantly with a new question bank activity. There will not be a question bank by default for all courses, you can choose if you want one. Manage categories screen in the question bank will also be improved. There are hell lot of changes in the Quiz activity and Question bank coming in Moodle 4.1, please check out this forum thread for all changes..
  • Database Activity Improvements – The MUA supported project which aims to modernise Moodle’s database interface, improve the existing workflows and make its usage a more intuitive and user-friendly experience. The goals of this project are:
    • To makes it easy for teachers to create new database activities, providing a new set of presets and preview mode
    • To improve the student experience by providing a better experience with the existing views in his journey.
  • Better integrations between Moodle products
  • Better integration with Open EdTech products and major stakeholders to design and build an open architecture for a long-term future

Moodle Stats Alert – Now there are more than 2000 official Moodle Plugins

By
Jaswinder Singh
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Moodle Stats Alert - Now there are more than 2000 official Moodle Plugins
Moodle Plugins

Moodle as the name suggests is Modular in nature with provision for feature extension through Moodle Plugins. With the use of plugins you can extend any feature in Moodle as it support a wide variety of plugins. Recently, Moodle community has achieved a major landmark milestone with reaching 2,000 community contributed plugins in official Plugins directory.

There are now 2,000 official plugins in the Plugins directory which are contributed by 1105 developers. The plugins have been downloaded 427k times overall.

Here are the top 10 most downloaded plugins in last 12 months:

Plugin Downloads
Moove 42995
Adaptable 39467
Interactive Content – H5P 31006
Attendance 29345
Custom certificate 28654
Fordson 21474
BigBlueButtonBN 21075
Tiles format 18098
Questionnaire 18069
Collapsed Topics 16093

Over the last 20 years since the release of first version of Moodle, many developers have spent enormous amount of efforts & time to make it world’s most popular LMS. There have been many popular plugins contributed from Moodle community which have made their way into Moodle core. A recent example is the Admin Presets Plugin which has been added into Moodle 4.0 version.

A big salute from the LMS Daily team to each and every individual developer who has contributed in achieving such a huge landmark of 2,000 plugins.

Which plugins are you using on your Moodle site? What makes them your favorite? Do share with us in the comments section below.

MoodleMoot Global 2022 – Get massive discount as Early bird registration deadline July 31

By
Jaswinder Singh
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MoodleMoot Global 2022 - Get massive discount as Early bird registration deadline July 31
MoodleMoot Global 2022

Early bird registration deadline for the third MoodleMoot Global 2022 is July 31. The third MoodleMoot Global will be an in-person event in Barcelona, Spain. The theme for this yea’s event is the future of education with more than 600 Moodlers expected to join from around the world.

The MoodleMoot Global will be organized from September 27-29 and a lot of the Moodle HQ team will be participating. The venue for this year’s event is Hotel Barceló Sants. The event was organized virtually over the last two years due to COVID Pandemic.

MoodleMoot Global provides a range of professional learning and networking opportunities through workshops, presentations, panels and fun social events, in an inclusive and open environment.

The streams for MoodleMoot Global 2022 are following:

  1. Educator: Learner-centred education (for schools, workplaces, universities and more)
  2. Administrator: Moodle site management
  3. Developer: Moodle code development

Early bird registration deadline – 31 July 2022

Here are the ticket pricing details for the Global MoodleMoot 2022:

Full conference prices
27-29 September 2022		 Early bird price
(by 31 July 2022)		 Standard price
(from 1 August 2022)
Local Attendee price*  375€ + VAT  550€ + VAT
General Attendee price  550€ + VAT  800€ + VAT

You can register for the event through this link.

Get ready for the Moodle Users Association’s town hall meetings on 5 & 12 July

By
Jaswinder Singh
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Moodle Users Association - Top voted projects for Project Development Cycle: January - June 2022
Moodle Users Association

Moodle Users Association (MUA) is the community of Moodle Users which gives direction and resources for new developments. In the January-June Project development cycle, MUA selected Bulk edit activities in course view page.  In July month, MUA will be hosting town hall meetings on July 5 & July 12 for Eastern hemisphere and Western hemisphere respectively.

For the Eastern Hemisphere Town Hall, Don Hinkelman from the Moodle Association of Japan will introduce a teaching scenario using video assessment. While for the Western Town Hall, Don McGuire, from sabier.org, will be talking about how OER and Moodle benefit each other.

The schedule for the town hall meetings is as below:

  • 5 July, 2022 8 am UTC
    • Title: Performance-based Assessment with Video in Moodle
    • Speaker: Don Hinkelman (Moodle Association of Japan)
    • Meeting link
  • 12 July, 2022 6 pm UTC
    • Title: OER and Moodle Are Good for Each Other
    • Speaker: Dan McGuire
    • Meeting link

In the upcoming months, the MUA Team will be working on several topics including – Different Moodle integration possibilities for collaborative document editing, the MoodleBox project, the European framework for the Digital Competence of Educators (DigCompEdu) and Matrix (improved messaging system) in Moodle.

You can check out the ongoing happenings by joining the Moodle Users Association here.

Create interactive content directly on your device using Lumi

By
Jaswinder Singh
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Create interactive content directly on your device using Lumi
Create interactive content directly on your device using Lumi

Interactive content is the requirement for a modern day learning environment. All Learning Management System have leveraged the Interactive content integration to improve the learning experience. There are many tools to create Interactive content but most of them are either paid or else need LMS integration.

Lumi Education is the solution to this problem as it is completely open source and free. As of now it allows you to create H5P based interactive content without using any LMS or CMS like Moodle or WordPress. Later on integration with other tools is also planned.

Lumi is an Open Source desktop app that allows you to create, edit, view and share interactive content with dozens of different content types. The goal behind the development of Lumi is to make learning accessible, individual and exciting.

Lumi is based on H5P to create Interactive content with over 40 content types. You can also save your content as all-in-one HTML files that work nearly everywhere and send it to your learners. Learners can download their progress with Lumi’s reporter tool and send it to you for analysis. You can also export your content as SCORM 1.2 packages which can be used in any compliant LMS.

You can download Lumi from the official website here: https://lumi.education/#download

As of now it seems an interesting tool for educators. I will be reviewing the same and posting a detailed review in coming weeks, stay tuned. What are the other interesting tools you are using for teaching? Please share with us in the comments section below.

Canvas LMS collaborated with TimelyMD for integrated virtual care of learners

By
Jaswinder Singh
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Canvas LMS collaborated with TimelyMD for integrated virtual care of learners
Canvas LMS - TimelyMD

In a recent collaboration Instructure’s Canvas LMS has collaborated with TimelyMD to extend the virtual care to the learners. The partnership between Instructure based Canvas LMS & TimelyMD integrates virtual medical and mental health care into learning management system.

TimelyMD is the leading virtual health and well-being solution in higher education. With the integration between two platforms, learners will have access to much-needed medical and mental health services right within Canvas, for care at moments that are likely to increase stress.

“About 40% of all mental health visits through TimelyCare occur after hours, and we know academics are a significant source of stress. It’s important to meet students where they are and offer as many on-ramps to care as possible,” said Luke Hejl, CEO and co-founder of TimelyMD.

“Focusing on academics and taking care of oneself are not mutually exclusive. We are grateful to Instructure for embracing TimelyMD’s mission to improve health and well-being of students by making virtual care available to students through Canvas.”

Mental health remains a concern area for educators and learners with the issues affecting mental health are increasing day by day. The integration will be supplementing the on campus medical offering by providing a virtual option for students to seek care within an academic setting.

“Instructure is pleased to partner with TimelyMD to extend access to medical and mental health care to learners everywhere,” said Tara Gunther, VP of Partnerships at Instructure. “This valuable addition to Canvas will benefit learning institutions as they seek to break down any barriers to providing students equitable access to health care.”

Check out the most voted project in Moodle Users Association Jan-Jun 22 cycle

By
Jaswinder Singh
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Check out the most voted project in Moodle Users Association Jan-Jun 22 cycle
Check out the most voted project in Moodle Users Association Jan-Jun 22 cycle

The deadline to vote for your favorite projects has come to an end for Moodle Users Association January-June 2022 cycle. Out of the top 5 projects which were left for voting for the final voting cycle, “Bulk edit activities in course view page” has been the most voted project.

The deadline for casting the votes was June 19 and after the voting has ended the votes received by each project are as below:

  1. Bulk edit activities in course view page – 41,206 Votes
  2. Add the ordering Question type in Moodle core – 19,302 Votes
  3. Improve Moodle reporting – 18,754 Votes
  4. Default settings for Activities and resource completion criteria – 8,995 Votes
  5. Moodle Wiki Export & import – 4,768 Votes

Bulk edit activities in course view page

The project introduce the possibility for a multiple selection of course activities at the course view page for trainers/course creators. When the user selects the activities & resource on course page, then he may be able to:

  • hide/show
  • duplicate
  • delete
  • move (to somewhere else in the course)

Moodle Tracker – https://tracker.moodle.org/browse/MDL-74018

The selected project will now go into Moodle development cycle afterwards it will be included in Moodle core in upcoming versions. You can also join the Moodle Users Association to propose & include the functionality in Moodle Core based on the votes by Association members.

Moodle US partnered with PoodLL to leverage audio and video in online courses

By
Jaswinder Singh
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Moodle US partnered with PoodLL to leverage audio and video in online courses
Moodle US Partners Poodll

Moodle US have signed a partnership with popular Moodle plugin – Poodll to offer enhanced language learning services. Poodll is a popular Moodle plugin since last many years which offers audio and video recording and language learning solution for Moodle.

Poodll is a Moodle certified integration plugin and being used by training organizations, universities, language schools, companies and high schools worldwide. Poodll offers its services in two main packages – Poodll Media and Poodll Languages.

Poodll Media offers a suite of activities and tools that add advanced audio/video playback and recording features to online courses. While Poodll Languages provides teachers with a toolkit of powerful applications specially designed for language learning. These activities feature speaking, word learning, oral reading, pronunciation and more.

On the occasion of the partnership with Moodle US, Justin Hunt – Head of Poodll said: “We have worked closely with members of the Moodle US team for a long time and are excited to continue to work together to provide cost effective language solutions for US students.”

“Moodle US’s commitment to open source and our shared values are a cornerstone of our relationship. I think we can look forward to a series of great projects, big and small.”

While Jonathan Moore, Head of Moodle US said – “Poodll offers a fantastic suite of products for language organizations and any instructor who wants to leverage audio and video in their online courses. We’re excited to be able to offer this functionality to current and future customers.” 

Poodll offers a set of plugins in Moodle plugins which you can check out through this link.

Join Moodlemoot Mexico 2022 on June 30 – July 1 2022

By
Jaswinder Singh
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Join Moodlemoot Mexico 2022 on June 30 - July 1 2022
MoodleMoot Mexico 2022

Moodlemoot Mexico 2022 is being organized from June 30 – July 1 2022 in Mexico. The event is organized by the Latin American Moodle Partner – Emprove. The event is the educational technology conference dedicated to users, developers, and administrators of Moodle LMS.

The Moodlemoot Mexico 2022 is a great place to share and learn with professionals and experts from the education, research, and development sectors of the Moodle community, either virtually or in person. You can attend the conference in person or completely online also.

The conference will be a great conference to connect with professionals and experts from the education, research and development sectors of the Moodle community. The event will he organized at the Gran Hotel in Mexico City.

The event includes many interesting sessions like:

  • Innovating MOOC gamification.
  • Customization of the basic Moodle to an interactive Moodle.
  • Gamification with H5P and Moodle.
  • Creating new hybrid learning experiences through active methodologies with Moodle tools.
  • Empowering Moodle with the integration of learning tools in the study of physics, calculus and statistics.
  • Structure of competences in iconographic classrooms with Moodle.
  • Moodle data extraction, for decision making.
  • Adapting the Moodle interface for a rich media environment.
  • Impact of Moodle technology in Agricultural Sciences.

For more information about MoodleMoot Mexico 2022, please visit the official website here.

To book your tickets for Moodlemoot Mexico 2022 – please check this link.

Provide adaptive learning based on learning style using Personalised Study Guide (PSG) course format #MoodleTips

By
Jaswinder Singh
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Provide adaptive learning based on learning style using Personalised Study Guide (PSG) course format #MoodleTips
PSG Course format

Moodle is highly customizable in nature as you can add new features easily by adding plugins. There are more than 1988 plugins contributed by the Moodle community developers in the Moodle Plugins directory. Recently, a new plugin – Personalised Study Guide (PSG) has been added to the directory.

Personalised Study Guide (PSG) is a brand new plugin for Moodle which has been developed by Ted Krahn & Maiga Chang. The plugin is developed with the intent to offer an adaptive course format which can replace the Topics format in Moodle core.

Personalised Study Guide course format change the course learning resources based on learner’s learning style. It uses Behaviour Analytics (BA) block to determine learning style (Felder and Silverman) relevance score. Based on the score, each individual will see a different course layout.

You can download the latest version of the PSG course format from Moodle plugins directory here. It is available for Moodle 3.4, 3.9, 3.10 & 3.11 versions. You also need to install the Behavior Analytics Block plugin. You can see this guide to learn how to install a Moodle plugin.

What are the other course format plugins which you are using on your Moodle site? Do share with us in the comment section below.

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