New features

Moodle 2.9 brings together features and enhancements developed by our core team and community contributors. These include: streamlined navigation, useful improvements to activities such as Lesson and Quiz, along with new admin settings which refine the course management process.

Read on for Moodle 2.9 highlights, or watch the screencasts on the official Moodle HQ YouTube page

Full details of the release, with technical information, can be found in the Moodle 2.9 release notes.

For all users

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  My home is now Dashboard

  My home has been renamed to Dashboard, while retaining its full functionality as before. Learn more about the Dashboard here. Where courses have assignments, these are only now displayed when they need attention from the teacher (grading) or the student (submitting/resubmitting). For more details, see Course overview block.

• 

  New Grades page

  The user menu now includes a new Grades page which display grades from all courses users are students in, with links to the relevant user reports. Courses users are teaching in are also displayed, with links to the relevant course gradebook. Find out more...

• 

  New Profile page

  Accessed from the user menu, the new Profile page provides quick links to blog entries, forum post, badges and, depending on the user’s privileges, a variety of reports including a new browser sessions page.The page replaces the settings formerly in the Administration block.

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  Browser sessions page

  A new page displays your current browser sessions allowing you to check if you forgot to log off on a different computer (and log off now) and reassure yourself nobody is using your account. Read more....

• 

  New Preferences page

  AlI your preferences can easily be reviewed and altered from one page, accessed from the user menu. Easily change your choice of editor, update your forum notifications, change your password and more. Read about the Preferences page...

• 

  Improved messaging

  A pop up box will appear when messaging users, meaning you can send messages without being sent away from the page you are currently viewing. Read more...

• 

  Drag and drop into Atto

  It's now possible to drag and drop images directly into the Atto editor, for example when editing a course summary or when posting in a forum. Find out about the Atto editor here.

• 

  Search Server files

  Users with permissions to access Server files can now use a search facility, allowing for easy location of files in other courses they have access to. Read more about Server files

Activity enhancements

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  Lesson

  Along with enhancements such as group support, user and group overrides better logging and improved essay grading interface, the Lesson activity now boasts a new completion condition “Require time spent”. Read about Activity completion here and learn more about the Lesson here.

• 

  Quiz

  Quizzes can now have section headings and questions can be shuffled on different pages. It is now possible to require that a particular question be answered before a subsequent one may be accessed, and quizzes along with responses and feedback will now display attractively when printed from the browser. Read more about building quizzes here.

• 

  Message all groups in a forum

  If your forum has groups, you only need post once to all of them and Moodle will ensure members of each group can see and reply to the post. Read more about using forums in your teaching here...

• 

  Extra options for Database and Glossary

  Along with displaying user pictures in the database, you can set certain fields as 'required', and when importing glossary entries now, embedded images and attached files will also be included. See Database and Glossary for more..

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  Activity results

  As well as displaying quiz results in competitive league table style, the scores from any graded or rated activity in your course can now be publicised. Find out more about the Activity results block.

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  Grade to pass

  If you are using graded activities it is now possible to set a passing grade during the activity set up process instead of having to edit the gradebook directly.

Course management

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  Delete course sections

  A new option in each course section allows you to completely remove that section and its content, regardless of where the section is located on your course page. Read more about the Course homepage...

• 

  Faster addition of cohorts and metalinked courses

  If you need to enrol a number of cohorts or multiple courses with the course metalink method, you can do this much more quickly now with a new "Add method and create another" button, meaning you can repeat the process without having to return to the enrolment screen and start again. Learn more about Cohort sync and Course meta link.

• 

  Keyholder

  A new capability enrol/self:holdkey will make it easy for certain members of your organisation -not necessarily teachers- to be the keyholder to self-enrolled courses. Read about the Keyholder role...

New options for administrators and developers

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  New template library for renderers

  A new element library will make it easier to create and style the user interface, give Moodle a more consisent look and feel and improve site performance. Learn more

• 

  Add custom file types

  A new admin tool lists all existing file types and allows you to add new ones specific to programs your organisation might be using. This will make the display of such file types clearer and downloading them less confusing. Read more.

See also

• Category:New features - list of pages documenting new features in Moodle 2.9