Moodle 2.6 - Summer 2014 upgrade

To keep in line with the current supported version of Moodle, E-Learning Environments will occasionally upgrade the Moodle software. In July of summer 2014 Moodle moved to version 2.6

Theme Changes

Moodle 2.6 allows the use of a responsive design which means it is possible to use one theme that will adapt to whichever device it is viewed on.

ELE will take this opportunity to streamline and thin down the amount of styling information that is downloaded with UCL Moodle pages. The idea is to get to a 'clean' lightweight starting point which can then be refined.

The theme changes will allow us to deliver a faster and more consistent Moodle experience, particulary with regards to viewing on mobile devices.

The theme will be based on the Moodle Clean theme and, in general, will take its styling cues from the main UCL web page.

Dropdown navigation

There is a new navigation bar across the top of the screen*,* this contains the help links (previously on the left) and a list of 'my courses'

Narrow banner

The black banner at the top of the page is now much thinner.

Docked blocks

Docked blocks are now no longer horizontally arranged on the left of the screen. Settings and Navigation blocks now have their default position on the right as actual blocks. The help menu is now contained in the dropdown navigation.

Edit Icons

With editing turned on, the edit icons relating to a particular resource or activity are now grouped under an 'Edit' dropdown

Icon Set

There is a new icon set which uses cleaner, scalable images.

Grey shading around hidden elements

The grey boxes mean the item is hidden. Similar to the greyed out text in the current Moodle. Previously it was easy for people to miss which items were hidden. Also - the hidden/visible icon is located under a dropdown in 2.6, so this is a way to emphasise that items are hidden. The final styling is still up for discussion.

Couses Page

The 'all courses page'  (https://moodle.ucl.ac.uk/course/index.php) now has categories listed under expanding headings.

New Functionality  in 2.6

Release notes

Because the upgrade jumps two point releases, the release notes for 2.5 and 2.6 are relevant

http://docs.moodle.org/dev/Moodle_2.5_release_notes

http://docs.moodle.org/dev/Moodle_2.6_release_notes

Settings Pages

All of the settings pages in Moodle 2.6 have been rationalised and grouped under expandable headings.

Annotate PDFs in Moodle Assignments

If a student has submitted to a Moodle assignment using a PDF then you will now have the option to mark this submission by adding annotations to the PDF directly in Moodle. 

To utilise this new feature follow these steps:

1. In the Grading screen click to grade an individual's assignment. 

2. Under the Feedback comments box is a button labelled Launch PDF editor... click this to launch the annotate interface

3. Utilise the tools in the editor to annotate work. 

4. Leave the editor and click Save changes, this will allow students to see the annotations as part of their feedback. 

Marking workflow

This new feature will allow you to decide when assignments are released to students, and will let you stagger the release of feedback or grades. It also allows you to more easily communicate with colleagues the stage at which marking is at. 

http://docs.moodle.org/26/en/Assignment_settings#Use_marking_workflow

Mark allocation

If this is enabled it will allow you to easily and clearly allocate assignment to individual tutors or assessor to mark. 

http://docs.moodle.org/26/en/Assignment_settings#Use_marking_allocation

Gradebook Scrolling

The column of user names on the left is now fixed, so that if you scroll off to the right, you dont lose which which student the row belongs to.

User Filter

On Settings > Users > Enrolled users, there is now a filter available to narrow down large lists of users.

Other 'highlights'

http://tracker.moodle.org/browse/MDL-43733MDL-38538 - Option to auto-save during quiz attempts

MDL-38708 - Course settings option to add images and other files to course summaries, displayed in course listings

Known Issues/Losses in functionality

Slideshow are no longer supported

Alternatives to the Moodle slideshow are third party tools like;
Photo hosting sites like Flickr    http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_photo-sharing_websites
Google Docs
One of the many free online slideshow maker tools - try searching the web for keywords slideshow maker eg https://www.google.com/search?q=slidesow+maker#q=slideshow+maker

Scorm course format no longer available

There is no longer a scorm course format. If you want to use scorm packages, create a topics format course and upload your scorm package as normal.

Force theme

A lot of work has gone into developing the new theme for Moodle 2.6. This has meant that for the time being we have had to disable the 'Force theme' option in the course settings. This means that it is no longer possible to customise the colour scheme of your page, and all UCL Moodle pages will use the same theme. The ELE team will be looking at re-instating this feature as soon as possible. Please keep an eye out for updates on this feature.

Supported browsers

The upgrade will mean that Moodle drops support for some older versions of browsers.

• Recommended minimum browser: recent Google Chrome, recent Mozilla Firefox, Safari 6, Internet Explorer 9 (IE 10 required for drag and drop of files from outside the browser into Moodle)
• IE8 and Safari 5 are no longer fully supported. They should still work but they are not tested regularly and there might be some problems. Like most of the world's Web sites and browser producers, we encourage you to keep your browsers current to improve security and functionality while saving us valuable time. (For example see what Google is doing.)
• IE6 and IE7 are not recommended for Moodle 2.6 at all. You will encounter difficulties trying to use those old browsers in today's Internet.