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Moodle 2.0 release notes: Difference between revisions

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==Moodle 2.0==
Moodle 2.0 contains a lot of large new features, some completely rewritten features, and hundreds of bug fixes.  For full details (more than you probably want!), see [http://tracker.moodle.org/browse/MDL/fixforversion/10122 the full list of fixed issues in 2.0].


Here is [http://tracker.moodle.org/browse/MDL/fixforversion/10122 the full list of fixed issues in 2.0].
This page is a summary of the major things to look for (links and screenshots will be added over time).


The notes below are under construction right now.


===Core Highlights===
==Major new features==


====New Community features====
===Community Hubs===


* [[Community hub]] - Enables teachers to find other courses to download as templates for their own courses and also find enrollable courses on other sites (either to join as a student or to participate in a community of practice)
* Anybody can set up a Community Hub, which is a directory of courses for public use or for private communities.  The code is implemented as separate GPL plugin for Moodle.
* Sites can register to any Community Hub (instead of just moodle.org)
* Teachers on registered sites can publish their full courses to Community Hubs, for download
* Teachers on registered sites can also advertise their courses on Community Hubs, for people to join
* Teachers on any site can search all public Community Hubs and download courses as templates for their own courses
* Users on any Moodle site can also search Community Hubs for courses (and communities of practice) to participate in.  Initially we are encouraging ''''communities of teaching practice'''' but any sort of course can be listed.


====Appearance====
===Repository Support===


* [[Development:Very_flexible_block_system_proposal|New blocks implementation]] - Blocks and page layouts are now implemented consistently and predictably on every page in Moodle, and can even be docked like menus
* Moodle now supports integration with external repositories of content, making it really simple to bring documents and media into Moodle via an AJAX interface that looks like a standard '''Open''' dialogue in desktop applications.
* [[Development:Output_renderers|Output renderers]]  - The engines that produce HTML and JS code have been completely re-written, so that Moodle's output is more consistent and efficient
* Initial plugins in 2.0 include: Alfresco, Amazon S3, Box.net, File system on Server, Flickr, Google Docs, Mahara, MERLOT, Picasa, Recent Files, Remote Moodle sites, WebDAV servers, Wikimedia, Youtube.  These are simple to develop, so many more are expected.
* [[Development:Theme_changes|Themes rewrite]]  - The structure and design of themes has been rewritten for efficiency and flexibility. Moodle 2.0 will ship with 20 brand-new standard themes designed to make Moodle look much nicer than ever before.
* You can also import files from your desktop or by specifying a URL.
* [[Development:Navigation 2.0|Navigation improvements]] Navigation is now implemented consistently in the navbar and in a Navigation block on every page.  All settings are now always available in a settings block on every page.  Themes can completely rewrite navigation if they require.
* [[Development:HTML editor 2.0|HTML editor 2.0]] - Replaces our ageing HTML tool with a new one that works on more browsers, enforces XHTML strict and better integrates with the new [[Development:File API|File API]]


====File handling improvements====
===Portfolio Support===


* [[Development:File API|File API]] - maintains an internal repository of files and governs access to them
* Modules can now export their data to external systems, particularly useful for portfolios where snapshots of forums, assignments and other things in Moodle are useful to record in a journal or a portfolio of evidence
* [[Development:Repository API|Repository API]] - allows users to browse external repositories using a filepicker and select files to bring into Moodle (copy or link)
* Different formats are supported (currently LEAP2A, HTML, Images and Text, but others like PDF can be added)
* [[Development:Portfolio API|Portfolio API]] - allows Moodle content to be captured and pushed out to external repositories
* Initial plugins in 2.0 include: Box.net, Flickr, Google Docs, '''Mahara''' and Picasa.


====Course organisation====
===Completion===


* [[Conditional activities]] - Enables teachers to restrict the availability of any activity according to certain conditions such as dates, grade obtained, or activity completion
* Teachers can now specify conditions that define when any '''activity''' is seen as completed by a student.  For example, when a certain number of posts have been made, or a grade has been reached, or a choice has been made. 
* [[Activity completion]] - Enables teachers to specify conditions that define when a student has completed an activity
* Teachers now now specify conditions that define with any '''course''' is seen as completed by a student.  Conditions include activity completion, but could also be by grade, date or a number of other criteria.
* [[Course completion]] - Enables teachers to specify conditions that define when a student has completed a course
* Teachers and students can see reports that show the progress of any user within a course, or through a series of courses.


====Administrative improvements====
===Conditional activities===


* [[Development:Enrolment plugins 2.0|Enrolments improvements]] including groups synchronisation - Several major improvements related to guest access, course enrolments, metacourses and groups (aka global groups, site-wide groups etc)
* Access to activities can be restricted based on certain criteria, such as dates, grade obtained, or the completion of another activity.
* [[Development:Roles administration improvements for Moodle 2.0|Roles administration interface improvements]]
* These can be chained together to enable progressive disclosure of the course content, if that is desired.
* [[Development:Web_services|Standard Web Services Layer]] - Standard set of core API functions made available via SOAP and XML-RPC
* [[Development:Site-wide groups]]


====Other major components====
===Cohorts===
* Also known as "Site-wide groups", these are site-wide collections of users that can be enrolled into courses in one action, either manually or synchronised automatically


* [[Development:Backup_2.0|Backup 2.0]]
===Web Services Support===
* [[Development:Gradebook_improvements|Gradebook improvements]]
* Support for standards-based web services across the entire Moodle code base, allowing the admin to expose particular functions of Moodle for use by:
* [[Student projects/Blog improvements|Blog 2.0]] - Commenting to blogs (MDL-8776), as well as support for external blogs
** Administrative systems such as HR or SIS applications
* [[Development:Messaging_2.0|Messaging 2.0]] - Refactor messaging to use plugins for input and output, controlled by users
** Mobile clients
* [[Development:Comments_2.0|Commenting API]] - Commenting all over Moodle has now been refactored into one central system 
* Framework contains a very high-level of security with a detailed token system and complete control over the range of functions exposed
* [[Student projects/Secure RSS feeds|Secure RSS feeds]] - Obscure RSS feed URLs using private keys, controlled by users.
* All defined functions are automatically available via:
* [[IMS Common Cartridge import]]
** SOAP
** XML-RPC
** REST
** AMF (Flash)


====Database control====
===IMS Common Cartridge===
* Moodle can now import courses in IMS Common Cartridge format (commonly used by publishers)


* [[Development:DB layer 2.0|DB layer 2.0]]


===Module Highlights===
==Major improvements to existing core features==


* [[Development:Wiki 2.0|Wiki 2.0]]
===Backup and Restore===
* [[Development:Resource module file API migration|Resources]] - Refactored all the submodules into real modules (file, folder, url, page, ims)


====Quiz module and question bank====
* Completely rewritten Backup/Restore framework, no longer bound by memory (can work with '''any size course''').
* Completely new backup format.
* Improved interface.
* Backup can be made of whole courses, but also specific sections or activities.
 
===Blocks===
* Blocks are now consistently implemented on every page in Moodle
* No longer any limit to the block regions (in addition to left and right, put them at the top, center or bottom of pages)
* Any block can be made sticky (appears in all the contexts below, eg throughout a course).
* Blocks can be "docked" on the side of the screen (if the theme supports it)
 
===Themes===
* Many new themes in the core distribution
* All HTML and JS ouput is now far more efficient (server-side caching) and consistent (tableless layout, new CSS, YUI Framework)
* Themes can change the HTML of the page if they wish
* Core support for custom menus in all themes (for example at the top of the page)
 
===Navigation===
* Standard "Navigation" block on every page showing contexual links, while allowing you to jump elsewhere quickly
* Standard "Settings" blocks on every page shows contextual settings as well as settings for anything else you have permissions for
 
===My Moodle page===
* More customisable My Moodle page with new blocks for showing relevant information
* Admin can design (and optionally force) site-wide layouts for My Moodle
* My Moodle page given more prominence as the main "home page" for users
 
===User profile pages===
* Site-wide user profile page can be customised by users with blocks, news, feeds and so on
* Course-specific user profile pages show course blocks and standard profile information, plus information for teachers of that course
 
===HTML editor===
* New editor based on TinyMCE
* Works on more browsers
* Resizable editing area
* Cleaner XHTML output
* Full integration with configured external repositories to import and embed media into text
 
===File handling===
 
* Full support for Unicode names on all operating systems
* All files are stored in an internal encrypted database, with full meta data (author, date, license, etc)
* Duplicate data (for example, a large video file) is stored only once, saving disk space.
* Files are no longer seen as just "uploaded to the course".  All files are connected to a "filearea" in Moodle where access is governed by the module in use. For example, an image in a forum post is controlled by the same access as the forum post itself.
 
===Enrolment plugins===
* Major improvements in the handling of guests and guest accounts
* Support for multiple forms of enrolment at the same time
* More detailed control over enrolment in courses
 
===Roles and permissions===
* Improved and simplified AJAX interfaces for defining and assigning roles
* Improved and simplified interfaces for tweaking permissions in any given context
* New "Archetypes" concept replacing the "Legacy roles" concept.
* New archetype "manager" to define the role of most people with system-wide editing rights, separate from "admin" role.
 
===Gradebook===
* Coming soon
 
===Blog===
* Support for comments on each blog entry
* Removal of group-level and course-level blogs (these are converted into forums on upgrade)
* Support for external blog feeds (synchronised to Moodle blog)
 
===Messaging===
* All email sent by Moodle is now treated as a message
* A message overview panel allows users to control how messages are sent to them
* Initial message output plugins in Moodle 2.0 include: Email, Jabber and Popups
 
===RSS Feeds===
* All RSS feeds are now secured using a random per-user token in the URL
* Tokens can be updated by the user at any time (if they suspect a feed URL has been compromised)
* RSS feeds are now more accurate (eg they support forums with separate groups), and are generated efficiently whenever required
 
==Improvements to activity modules==
 
===Resource===
* All the resource types have been refactored into real modules, and cleaned up
** File - for displaying a file, possibly with supporting files (like a HTML mini-site)
** Folder - for displaying a collection of documents
** URL - for displaying a page with a given URL
** Page - for a single page, edited online using the HTML editor
** IMS - for showing a regular IMS content package
* Better XHTML-compliant support for frames, iframes and embedding in all these modules
 
 
===Wiki===
* Completely re-written from scratch, based on NWIki from UPC
* Support for Mediawiki-style syntax, as well as Creole
* Interface improvements
 
 
===Quiz module and question bank===


* [[Development:Quiz_report_enhancements|Quiz report enhancements]] - Major improvements to the quiz reports, especially regrading and item analysis
* [[Development:Quiz_report_enhancements|Quiz report enhancements]] - Major improvements to the quiz reports, especially regrading and item analysis
Line 82: Line 176:
* [[Question_types#Regular_Expression_Short_Answer|Regular Expression question type]]
* [[Question_types#Regular_Expression_Short_Answer|Regular Expression question type]]


====SCORM====
===SCORM===
 
* MDL-11501 New [[SCORM module]] settings - display attempt status, display course structure, force completed, force new attempt, lock after final attempt - allowing the behaviour dictated to the SCORM object by the authoring package to be changed
* MDL-21555 New reporting interface including sortable/collapsible table with group select box and ability to download in Excel, ODS and text format


====Workshop====
* New [[SCORM module]] settings - display attempt status, display course structure, force completed, force new attempt, lock after final attempt - allowing the behaviour dictated to the SCORM object by the authoring package to be changed MDL-11501
* New reporting interface including sortable/collapsible table with group select box and ability to download in Excel, ODS and text format MDL-21555


* MDL-17827 [[Workshop module]] has been rewritten from scratch. As a very fresh code, it is a subject of massive testing, bug-fixing and improving. However we hope that the 2.0 version, even in this premature state, is significantly better than the legacy one.
===Workshop===


===Security issues===
* Completely rewritten from scratch
* Vastly improved interface for managing stages and users


===Known problems and regressions===


===For Developers: API Changes===
===For Developers: API Changes===

Revision as of 14:25, 9 May 2010

Note: This article is a work in progress. Please use the page comments or an appropriate moodle.org forum for any recommendations/suggestions for improvement.


Release date: July 20, 2010

Before the final release we will have a series of rapidly improving Preview releases, roughly weekly. These are to allow a wider range of developers and contributors to test the code on copies of their production servers, help us tweak the interface and performance, and work on translations, modules and other third-party code (most of which will have to be rewritten significantly).


Moodle 2.0 contains a lot of large new features, some completely rewritten features, and hundreds of bug fixes. For full details (more than you probably want!), see the full list of fixed issues in 2.0.

This page is a summary of the major things to look for (links and screenshots will be added over time).


Major new features

Community Hubs

  • Anybody can set up a Community Hub, which is a directory of courses for public use or for private communities. The code is implemented as separate GPL plugin for Moodle.
  • Sites can register to any Community Hub (instead of just moodle.org)
  • Teachers on registered sites can publish their full courses to Community Hubs, for download
  • Teachers on registered sites can also advertise their courses on Community Hubs, for people to join
  • Teachers on any site can search all public Community Hubs and download courses as templates for their own courses
  • Users on any Moodle site can also search Community Hubs for courses (and communities of practice) to participate in. Initially we are encouraging 'communities of teaching practice' but any sort of course can be listed.

Repository Support

  • Moodle now supports integration with external repositories of content, making it really simple to bring documents and media into Moodle via an AJAX interface that looks like a standard Open dialogue in desktop applications.
  • Initial plugins in 2.0 include: Alfresco, Amazon S3, Box.net, File system on Server, Flickr, Google Docs, Mahara, MERLOT, Picasa, Recent Files, Remote Moodle sites, WebDAV servers, Wikimedia, Youtube. These are simple to develop, so many more are expected.
  • You can also import files from your desktop or by specifying a URL.

Portfolio Support

  • Modules can now export their data to external systems, particularly useful for portfolios where snapshots of forums, assignments and other things in Moodle are useful to record in a journal or a portfolio of evidence
  • Different formats are supported (currently LEAP2A, HTML, Images and Text, but others like PDF can be added)
  • Initial plugins in 2.0 include: Box.net, Flickr, Google Docs, Mahara and Picasa.

Completion

  • Teachers can now specify conditions that define when any activity is seen as completed by a student. For example, when a certain number of posts have been made, or a grade has been reached, or a choice has been made.
  • Teachers now now specify conditions that define with any course is seen as completed by a student. Conditions include activity completion, but could also be by grade, date or a number of other criteria.
  • Teachers and students can see reports that show the progress of any user within a course, or through a series of courses.

Conditional activities

  • Access to activities can be restricted based on certain criteria, such as dates, grade obtained, or the completion of another activity.
  • These can be chained together to enable progressive disclosure of the course content, if that is desired.

Cohorts

  • Also known as "Site-wide groups", these are site-wide collections of users that can be enrolled into courses in one action, either manually or synchronised automatically

Web Services Support

  • Support for standards-based web services across the entire Moodle code base, allowing the admin to expose particular functions of Moodle for use by:
    • Administrative systems such as HR or SIS applications
    • Mobile clients
  • Framework contains a very high-level of security with a detailed token system and complete control over the range of functions exposed
  • All defined functions are automatically available via:
    • SOAP
    • XML-RPC
    • REST
    • AMF (Flash)

IMS Common Cartridge

  • Moodle can now import courses in IMS Common Cartridge format (commonly used by publishers)


Major improvements to existing core features

Backup and Restore

  • Completely rewritten Backup/Restore framework, no longer bound by memory (can work with any size course).
  • Completely new backup format.
  • Improved interface.
  • Backup can be made of whole courses, but also specific sections or activities.

Blocks

  • Blocks are now consistently implemented on every page in Moodle
  • No longer any limit to the block regions (in addition to left and right, put them at the top, center or bottom of pages)
  • Any block can be made sticky (appears in all the contexts below, eg throughout a course).
  • Blocks can be "docked" on the side of the screen (if the theme supports it)

Themes

  • Many new themes in the core distribution
  • All HTML and JS ouput is now far more efficient (server-side caching) and consistent (tableless layout, new CSS, YUI Framework)
  • Themes can change the HTML of the page if they wish
  • Core support for custom menus in all themes (for example at the top of the page)

Navigation

  • Standard "Navigation" block on every page showing contexual links, while allowing you to jump elsewhere quickly
  • Standard "Settings" blocks on every page shows contextual settings as well as settings for anything else you have permissions for

My Moodle page

  • More customisable My Moodle page with new blocks for showing relevant information
  • Admin can design (and optionally force) site-wide layouts for My Moodle
  • My Moodle page given more prominence as the main "home page" for users

User profile pages

  • Site-wide user profile page can be customised by users with blocks, news, feeds and so on
  • Course-specific user profile pages show course blocks and standard profile information, plus information for teachers of that course

HTML editor

  • New editor based on TinyMCE
  • Works on more browsers
  • Resizable editing area
  • Cleaner XHTML output
  • Full integration with configured external repositories to import and embed media into text

File handling

  • Full support for Unicode names on all operating systems
  • All files are stored in an internal encrypted database, with full meta data (author, date, license, etc)
  • Duplicate data (for example, a large video file) is stored only once, saving disk space.
  • Files are no longer seen as just "uploaded to the course". All files are connected to a "filearea" in Moodle where access is governed by the module in use. For example, an image in a forum post is controlled by the same access as the forum post itself.

Enrolment plugins

  • Major improvements in the handling of guests and guest accounts
  • Support for multiple forms of enrolment at the same time
  • More detailed control over enrolment in courses

Roles and permissions

  • Improved and simplified AJAX interfaces for defining and assigning roles
  • Improved and simplified interfaces for tweaking permissions in any given context
  • New "Archetypes" concept replacing the "Legacy roles" concept.
  • New archetype "manager" to define the role of most people with system-wide editing rights, separate from "admin" role.

Gradebook

  • Coming soon

Blog

  • Support for comments on each blog entry
  • Removal of group-level and course-level blogs (these are converted into forums on upgrade)
  • Support for external blog feeds (synchronised to Moodle blog)

Messaging

  • All email sent by Moodle is now treated as a message
  • A message overview panel allows users to control how messages are sent to them
  • Initial message output plugins in Moodle 2.0 include: Email, Jabber and Popups

RSS Feeds

  • All RSS feeds are now secured using a random per-user token in the URL
  • Tokens can be updated by the user at any time (if they suspect a feed URL has been compromised)
  • RSS feeds are now more accurate (eg they support forums with separate groups), and are generated efficiently whenever required

Improvements to activity modules

Resource

  • All the resource types have been refactored into real modules, and cleaned up
    • File - for displaying a file, possibly with supporting files (like a HTML mini-site)
    • Folder - for displaying a collection of documents
    • URL - for displaying a page with a given URL
    • Page - for a single page, edited online using the HTML editor
    • IMS - for showing a regular IMS content package
  • Better XHTML-compliant support for frames, iframes and embedding in all these modules


Wiki

  • Completely re-written from scratch, based on NWIki from UPC
  • Support for Mediawiki-style syntax, as well as Creole
  • Interface improvements


Quiz module and question bank

SCORM

  • New SCORM module settings - display attempt status, display course structure, force completed, force new attempt, lock after final attempt - allowing the behaviour dictated to the SCORM object by the authoring package to be changed MDL-11501
  • New reporting interface including sortable/collapsible table with group select box and ability to download in Excel, ODS and text format MDL-21555

Workshop

  • Completely rewritten from scratch
  • Vastly improved interface for managing stages and users


For Developers: API Changes

See Development:Migrating_contrib_code_to_2.0

See also

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