Moodle 2.8 release notes

Releases > Moodle 2.8 release notes

Release date: Expected in Mid-November 2014

Here is the full list of fixed issues in 2.8.

Major Features

Gradebook

Our main focus has been on the Gradebook, with improved UI based on community workshops, surveys and bug reports.

New Grader report (the main interface showing all grades):

• Uses the whole window
• Smooth, stable scrolling in all directions
• Works on all platforms, including phones and tablets
• Contains a new ‘Single view’ mode that allows editing of any row or column on its own.
• Allows quick editing of any cell without reloading.

New Natural weighting aggregation method

• Combines grades simply
• Clearer interface for using weights
• Supports extra credit, excluded grades, hidden grades
• Can remove the need to use any other aggregations

New Grade history report

• Full details of all grade changes MDL-46191
• Provides audit trail showing what changed and why

Improved Grader setup page (for defining items and categories)

• New design
• Easier terminology and clearer layout
• Bugs fixed relating to how grades are added in some scenarios
• Prevents loss of data when you leave the window

Improved User report

• New design
• Clearer calculations
• Contributions column explains grade calculations

Improved Grade import/export

• Improved interface
• MDL-46547 - Copy/paste import direct from spreadsheet programs
• Robust handling of null data or bad data
• Locked grade items are now protected from imports
• Export to multiple display types (Letter, Percentage…)

Forum

Discussion subscription MDL-1626

can subscribe to get email copies of individual discussions

Reply by email MDL-3714

You can now reply to forum posts received by email, and even include attachments

Discussion navigation MDL-8501

you can jump to the next and previous discussions easily

Assignment

• MDL-39929 - Option of adding additional files for use in the assignment, such as answer templates

Choice

• MDL-3034 -More than one choice can now be made

External tool

• MDL-45843 - LTI 2.0 support
• MDL-44902 - Various additions and bug fixes for the external tool

Quiz

• MDL-43089 Edit quiz page: rewritten for improved usability.
• MDL-37993 New completion options: Can apply when a passing grade achieved or all attempts are used

Lesson

• MDL-38106 - Now includes Introduction like other modules
• MDL-38560 - Better handling of images in questions

Workshop

• MDL-31936 - Workshop submissions and/or assessments can be removed during the course reset

Analytics

Event monitor

can look for patterns of events and send you notifications

New events

More detailed logging and events have been added, especially around grades

Usability

New User menu in Clean theme

shows your profile onscreen in the header and allows quick access to personal pages. Can be customised by the admin.

MDL-18014 Editor autosave

The Atto editor can now automatically save drafts of your texts so you don’t lose anything if any unexpected disasters occur

MDL-45897 Improved My Home page

better default blocks

Cohorts

Teacher access to enrol_cohort MDL-36014

Teachers are now able to use enrol_cohort without having additional capabilities to view cohorts outside of the course. At the same time managers can define individual cohorts as not visible to prevent using them by teachers in enrolment.

Manually enrol cohort members MDL-35618

Teachers can manually enrol all cohort members without having capability to use cohort synchronisation enrolment method

Auto-create MDL-41639

Cohort that do not yet exist will be created if specified in “Upload users” tool

Upload MDL-35468

Admin or manager can bulk upload cohorts definitions from CSV file

MDL-34189 View all cohorts

Admin or system-wide manager can view all cohorts in the system on the same page even if they are defined in different contexts

Other things

• MDL-16474 - Single-item scales: now you can implement “Like” buttons with no downside!
• Private files: you can now add files here by emailing them as attachments
• User preferences: Admin can set defaults for user preferences such as Email display, Forum tracking, etc. They are also displayed now in a separate fieldset on edit user profile page
• MDL-44725 - Group restrictions in conditional availability across all mods
• MDL-46210 - Option to update installed language packs as a scheduled task
• MDL-46921 - Sorting by additional name fields
• MDL-40356 - An alternative full name format

For Developers

• Inbound email: (such as already implemented for forums and files) can now easily be implemented by any plugin
• Strings can now be deprecated to help translators https://docs.moodle.org/dev/String_deprecation#How_to_deprecate_a_string

API changes

• There are new convenience functions to obtain $cm objects that belong to the cm_info class. get_course_and_cm_from_cmid($cmorid, $modulename) and get_course_and_cm_from_instance($instanceorid, $modulename) will efficiently obtain $course and $cm at the start of a module script in one line. Also, the new function cm_info::create($cm) can be used when you need a cm_info object, but only have a standard database record.
• Choice event definitions have changed in MDL-3034 [placeholder for this to be expanded]
• MDL-47194 - A new inbound message API was created.
• MDL-47496 - The unused lib/pear/XML/ library was removed.
• ...