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'''Last Updated: 15 July 2020 Q3'''
= Introduction =
The Moodle Project is designed to have a positive effect on the world by supporting and empowering the educators who are teaching students in all sectors, in all countries.   
The Moodle Project is designed to have a positive effect on the world by supporting and empowering the educators who are teaching students in all sectors, in all countries.   


To do this, our team at Moodle HQ examines the problems around education and creates solutions in the forms of products that fit our values of education, openness, respect, integrity and innovation.  
To do this, our team at Moodle HQ looks to the world, talks with our community, and creates solutions in the forms of products that fit our values of '''education''', '''openness''', '''respect''', '''integrity''' and '''innovation'''.
 
This document summarises, for a broad audience, the best current plans on the future technical development of the Moodle’s open source learning platform, consisting of Moodle LMS, Moodle Workplace LMS, MoodleCloud, MoodleNet, Moodle Apps, and Moodle Educator Certificates.
 
We publish Roadmap updates such as this one every quarter.
 


This page is your starting point for learning about our plans for upcoming releases of Moodle.  Below you will find information on the features that are currently in progress and those being planned for future releases.
==Where this roadmap comes from==


Proposals for improvements and new features come from a variety of different places. 


==Inputs to the roadmap==
Feedback from the community is extremely important and you can reach us by
Proposals for improvements and new features are sourced from a variety of different inputs. Feedback from the community is very important and you can reach us by creating new issues on [http://tracker.moodle.org tracker], joining the [https://moodleassociation.org/ Moodle User Association] to vote on a new project for each release, discussing your ideas on the [https://moodle.org/forums forums], and meeting us in person at one of our [https://moodlemoot.org/ MoodleMoots]!
* creating new issues on [http://tracker.moodle.org tracker],  
* joining the [https://moodleassociation.org/ Moodle Users Association] to vote on a new project for each release,  
* discussing your ideas on the [https://moodle.org/forums forums],  
* creating new solutions as a plugin in the [https://moodle.org/plugins Moodle Plugins directory],
* or meeting us in person at one of our [https://moodle.com/events/ MoodleMoots]!


Moodle also has an extensive network of [https://moodle.com/partners Moodle Partners]. Moodle Partners are service providers that are certified by Moodle HQ to provide high quality Moodle services for schools, institutions and organisations. We work closely with our partners to determine the needs of Moodle Users and improve the platform.
Moodle also has an extensive network of [https://moodle.com/partners Moodle Partners]. Moodle Partners are service providers that are certified by Moodle HQ to provide high quality Moodle services for schools, institutions and organisations. We work closely with our partners to determine the needs of Moodle Users and improve the platform.


Our Roadmap is built via our [[Roadmap process]]. This process is continuously evolving but it always seeks to involve all our key stakeholders - students, teachers, admins, institutions, and of course our partners and supporters.
= The big picture =
Working on the Moodle learning platform involves millions of moving parts, and every release generally includes hundreds of improvements.  However, there are '''four main goals''' that we are focussing on for the next two years:
=== User experience and flow ===
The entire user experience from onboarding, into daily teaching/learning and expert customisation of Moodle is the core value of what makes Moodle useful or not in the real world, in fully online and blended modes.
While we’re working on hundreds of smaller, annoying issues, we are also doing some major re-thinking around what an LMS should be in the next decade and beyond as a tool to empower educators and learners.
=== Enabling all our developers ===
Our significant community of engaged developers are an amazing group of over 1000 people - many of them make a living being part of the Moodle community.
We are of course working on ways to make Moodle programming easier and better, with better training and support as well as improved APIs, plugins, integrations and support for modern technologies.
However, a particularly exciting initiative is the new Moodle Plugins Service, due in 2021, which will provide an “app store” experience on which all developers 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.
===Better integrations between Moodle products===
The current Moodle products already integrate with each other, of course, but there is much more to be done to make them work together more seamlessly, as part of one platform, so that our users have a better experience and also so that they become more aware of solutions to their problems.
=== Better integration with the world ===
Moodle is never used alone, and it is a part of many ecosystems at many levels. We must connect to all kinds of other systems, we must of course comply with new legislation such as the GDPR, Accessibility and much more.
In particular though, we are committed to helping to promote [https://openedtech.global/ <span class="underline">Open EdTech</span>] and to work closely with qualified Open EdTech products and major stakeholders to design and build an open architecture for a long-term future.
= Roadmap timeline =
{| class="wikitable" border="1"
|-
! '''2020'''
! '''Moodle LMS'''
! '''Moodle Workplace'''
! '''Moodle Apps'''
! '''MoodleCloud'''
! '''MoodleNet'''
! '''Moodle Certificates'''
|-
| '''Q1'''
|
|
| '''Launch of new Moodle app plans'''
| '''Launch of Workplace hosting<br />
<br />
'''Free trials
|
|
|-
| '''Q2'''
|
'''Release 3.9'''
LLTS (Long Long Term Support)
'''New:'''<br />
<br />
Create H5P content<br />
<br />
MoodleNet
'''Improved:'''<br />
<br />
Activity chooser
Participants filters (MUA)
Accessibility
Safe Exam Browser
|
'''Release 3.9<br />
<br />
New:'''<br />
<br />
Appointments
Data Importers and exporters
|
'''Release 3.9<br />
<br />
New:'''<br />
<br />
Text editor draft autosave
'''Updates:'''<br />
<br />
Moodle LMS 3.9 compatibility
'''<br />
'''Moodle Workplace 3.9 compatibility
|
Improved connections with other Moodle products
'''<br />
'''Self-service for renames and restores
|
'''Release 1.0'''
'''New:'''<br />
<br />
Integrates to Moodle 3.9 and later
Moderation<br />
<br />
Federation<br />
<br />
HQ-run home instance
GDPR compliance<br />
<br />
Themeable
|
'''MEC 2020 launch<br />
<br />
'''6 courses covering all 22 competencies
Translated into multiple languages
|-
| '''Q3'''
| '''Minor release(s)'''
| '''Tenant-shared learning
| '''Notifications of new grades
Improved connections with other products
| New:'''<br />
<br />
New plans<br />
<br />
'''Updates:'''<br />
<br />
Simplified signup and upgrades
|
|
|-
| '''Q4'''
| '''Moodle 3.10
'''Minor release(s)
| Report Builder improvements
| '''Functionality gaps for students
UX improvements
| Improvements based on customer needs
|
| '''MEC Direct Release<br />
<br />
'''MEC licensing for large institutions
|-
| '''2021'''
| '''Moodle LMS'''
| '''Moodle Workplace'''
| '''Moodle Apps'''
| '''MoodleCloud'''
| '''MoodleNet'''
| '''Moodle Certificates'''
|-
| '''Q1'''
| '''Minor release(s)
| '''Dashboards
|
|
|
|
|-
| '''Q2'''
| '''Moodle 3.11
* Student activity completion (MUA)
* Open Badges v2.1 (Badge Connect API)
* Accessibility toolkit integration
'''Minor release(s)
|
|
|
|
| Other certifications
|-
| '''Q3'''
| '''Minor release(s)
|
|
|
|
|
|-
| '''Q4'''
| '''Release 4.0'''<br />
'''UX improvements:'''<br />
* Navigation
* Course editing
* Onboarding
* Other small wins
* UI consistency via component library
* Information flow and task management
'''New:'''<br />
* LTI 1.3 Advantage Tool / Provider implementation
* BigBlueButton integration
Workplace features:<br />
* Report Builder<br />
<br />
[Moodle Plugins Service Soft Launch]
| '''Release 4.0'''
| '''Release 4.0'''
'''Improved:'''<br />
<br />
Moodle LMS 4.0 compatibility
'''<br />
'''Moodle Workplace 4.0 compatibility
Classroom tools with friendly UX
| '''Release 4.0<br />
<br />
'''
|
|
|-
| '''2022'''
| '''Moodle LMS'''
| '''Moodle Workplace'''
| '''Moodle Apps'''
| '''MoodleCloud'''
| '''MoodleNet'''
| '''Moodle Certificates'''
|-
| '''Q1'''
|
|
|
|
|
|
|-
| '''Q2'''
| '''Release 4.1'''
| '''Release 4.1'''
| '''Release 4.1'''
| '''Release 4.1'''
|
|
|-
| '''Q3'''
|
|
|
|
|
|
|-
| '''Q4'''
| '''Release 4.2'''
| '''Release 4.2'''
| '''Release 4.2'''
| '''Release 4.2'''
|
|
|}
== Notes on the Moodle LMS releases ==
===Moodle 4.0 in November 2021 ===
For our very large new releases such as 1.0, 2.0, 3.0 and now 4.0, we often take longer so that we can tackle more significant chunks of important core work, giving us the opportunity sometimes to make more serious changes to UX or architecture. Moodle 4.0 will focus on UX improvements.


==Moodle 3.8 (November 2019 release)==
As part of a significant UX and design change, the current focus is on three main UX projects:
The following main features and improvements will form part of Moodle 3.8.
* [[Moodle_4.0_navigation_improvements|Improved navigation]], search and menus - MDL-69588
* Making it easier to create and manage courses
* Making it easier for students to know what they need to do to complete a course, and know what’s next


# Forum enhancements. This is a project run in collaboration with the [https://moodleassociation.org/ MUA].
Other projects include:
## Ability to grade forum activity (MDL-66074 and )
* LTI 1.3 Advantage Tool / Provider implementation - MDL-69542
## Student activity reports (MDL-66076)
* BigBlueButton integration - MDL-70658
## Exporting of forum content (MDL-66075)
* a community proposal for the question bank being discussed and shaped by a consortium of universities - [[Question bank improvements for Moodle 4.0]].
## A new nested forum discussion look and feel will be available to test as a forum user preference setting (MDL-64821)
# [[H5P|H5P integration]] (MDL-66382).
## Integration of the H5P player lib (MDL-66609)
## H5P filter (MDL-66397)
## H5P button for Atto editor (MDL-66388)
# Improvements and new features for Learning Analytics.
## Bulk actions for insights (MDL-62191)
## New insight: students who have not logged in recently (MDL-65588)
## Insights results report (MDL-65562)
## Allow the python ML backend to run from a separate server (MDL-66004)
# Messaging improvements:
## Add emojis to messaging (MDL-65896)


During the Moodle 3.8 development cycle the HQ team have also commenced work on the following projects:
=== Moodle 3.11===
* Activity dates relative to student enrolment dates.  
In 2021 the majority of HQ developers will be focused on the UX improvements that are scheduled for Moodle 4.0. This means that the Moodle 3.11 release is anticipated to contain mostly community contributed improvements and a couple smaller HQ developments.  
** We have commenced with implementation of relative activity dates for the assignment activity (MDL-66044 and MDL-61209). This is an experimental feature at this point in time until implementation is completed for assignment and the other activities.  
* Activity Chooser improvements.
** We have commenced user research, tested some initial prototypes and more information will be shared soon.
** Adding search, starring of activities and better organisation of the activities and resources.
* Accessibility review
** We are working towards an audit of Moodle's accessibility compliance.


==Moodle 3.9 (May 2020 release)==
Note that while we will endeavour to include all community contributions in the 3.11 release, we may defer some improvements to a later release depending on the complexity, size, and impact on other scheduled work.
The following main features and improvements are being worked on and planned for the Moodle 3.9 release.
Note that this list is still subject to change depending on prioritisation of our activities and some of these may go into subsequent releases.


# Further development of the H5P integration.
Scheduled projects for Moodle 3.11 are:
## Integration of H5P content types with Moodle gradebook and activity completion.
* [[Student activity completion]] (MUA) - MDL-70469
## Improvement integration of H5P content type selection in Moodle's activity chooser.
* Open Badges v2.1 (Badge Connect API) - MDL-71117
# Activity chooser improvements.
* Brickfield accessibility toolkit integration - MDL-71041
## Adding search, starring of activities and better organisation of the activities and resources
# MUA project. We are working with the MUA and reviewing their top two voted projects:
## Course Copy interface (MDL-64843)
## Participants page filters (MDL-64963)
# Accessibility improvements.
# MoodleNet integration.
# Assignment grading UX improvements.
# Improved '''Safe Exam Browser''' integration.
# Further work on relative activity dates.


Other projects that are under consideration are:
===Moodle 3.10 ===
* Simplifying course creation


Moodle 3.10 was released in November 2020. Please see the [https://docs.moodle.org/dev/Moodle_3.10_release_notes release notes] for an overview of all the improvements and new features.


==Moodle 3.8 Dates==
=== Moodle 3.9 ===
* Code freeze (no new features accepted): '''7th October 2019'''
* QA cycle (start of QA testing): '''14th October 2019'''
* Release date (once QA passed): '''11th November 2019'''


==Moodle 3.9 (LTS) Dates==
Moodle 3.9 was released in June 2020. Please see the [[Moodle_3.9_release_notes|release notes]] for an overview of all the improvements and new features.
* Code freeze (no new features accepted): '''6th April 2020'''
 
* QA cycle (start of QA testing): '''13th April 2020'''
''Note that Moodle 3.9.x (LTS) is the last version actively supporting Internet Explorer 11. Moodle 3.10 (released in November 2020) does NOT support Internet Explorer 11.''
* Release date (once QA passed): '''11th May 2020'''
 
=== Release support timeframes ===
{| class="wikitable" border="1"
|-
! Version
! (Scheduled) Release date
! Full support period ends
! Security support period ends
|-
| Moodle 3.9 (LTS)
| 15 June 2020
| 10 May 2021
| 8 May 2023
|-
| Moodle 3.10
| November 2020
| November 2021
| May 2022
|-
| Moodle 3.11
| May 2021
| May 2022
| November 2022
|-
| Moodle 4.0
| November 2021
| November 2022
| May 2023
|-
| Moodle 4.1 (LTS)
| May 2022
| May 2023
| May 2025
|}
 
=Past releases=


==Moodle releases==
See our [[Releases]] page for information about past releases.
See our [[Releases]] page for information about past releases.
After Moodle 2.0 we switched to time-based releases rather than feature-based releases (see our [https://docs.moodle.org/dev/Process development process]). Because of this, the details above on future releases are an indication of current priorities only, and are targeted to be released in the upcoming releases. Anything not ready by the next release date will generally be pushed to the following major release.
After Moodle 2.0 we switched to time-based releases rather than feature-based releases (see our [https://docs.moodle.org/dev/Process development process]). Because of this, the details above on future releases are an indication of current priorities only, and are targeted to be released in the upcoming releases. Anything not ready by the next release date will generally be pushed to the following major release.



Revision as of 01:25, 29 April 2021

Last Updated: 15 July 2020 Q3



Introduction

The Moodle Project is designed to have a positive effect on the world by supporting and empowering the educators who are teaching students in all sectors, in all countries.

To do this, our team at Moodle HQ looks to the world, talks with our community, and creates solutions in the forms of products that fit our values of education, openness, respect, integrity and innovation.

This document summarises, for a broad audience, the best current plans on the future technical development of the Moodle’s open source learning platform, consisting of Moodle LMS, Moodle Workplace LMS, MoodleCloud, MoodleNet, Moodle Apps, and Moodle Educator Certificates.

We publish Roadmap updates such as this one every quarter.


Where this roadmap comes from

Proposals for improvements and new features come from a variety of different places.

Feedback from the community is extremely important and you can reach us by

Moodle also has an extensive network of Moodle Partners. Moodle Partners are service providers that are certified by Moodle HQ to provide high quality Moodle services for schools, institutions and organisations. We work closely with our partners to determine the needs of Moodle Users and improve the platform.

Our Roadmap is built via our Roadmap process. This process is continuously evolving but it always seeks to involve all our key stakeholders - students, teachers, admins, institutions, and of course our partners and supporters.

The big picture

Working on the Moodle learning platform involves millions of moving parts, and every release generally includes hundreds of improvements. However, there are four main goals that we are focussing on for the next two years:

User experience and flow

The entire user experience from onboarding, into daily teaching/learning and expert customisation of Moodle is the core value of what makes Moodle useful or not in the real world, in fully online and blended modes.

While we’re working on hundreds of smaller, annoying issues, we are also doing some major re-thinking around what an LMS should be in the next decade and beyond as a tool to empower educators and learners.

Enabling all our developers

Our significant community of engaged developers are an amazing group of over 1000 people - many of them make a living being part of the Moodle community.

We are of course working on ways to make Moodle programming easier and better, with better training and support as well as improved APIs, plugins, integrations and support for modern technologies.

However, a particularly exciting initiative is the new Moodle Plugins Service, due in 2021, which will provide an “app store” experience on which all developers 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.

Better integrations between Moodle products

The current Moodle products already integrate with each other, of course, but there is much more to be done to make them work together more seamlessly, as part of one platform, so that our users have a better experience and also so that they become more aware of solutions to their problems.

Better integration with the world

Moodle is never used alone, and it is a part of many ecosystems at many levels. We must connect to all kinds of other systems, we must of course comply with new legislation such as the GDPR, Accessibility and much more.

In particular though, we are committed to helping to promote Open EdTech and to work closely with qualified Open EdTech products and major stakeholders to design and build an open architecture for a long-term future.


Roadmap timeline

2020 Moodle LMS Moodle Workplace Moodle Apps MoodleCloud MoodleNet Moodle Certificates
Q1 Launch of new Moodle app plans Launch of Workplace hosting


Free trials

Q2

Release 3.9

LLTS (Long Long Term Support)

New:

Create H5P content

MoodleNet

Improved:

Activity chooser

Participants filters (MUA)

Accessibility

Safe Exam Browser

Release 3.9

New:

Appointments

Data Importers and exporters

Release 3.9

New:

Text editor draft autosave

Updates:

Moodle LMS 3.9 compatibility


Moodle Workplace 3.9 compatibility

Improved connections with other Moodle products


Self-service for renames and restores

Release 1.0

New:

Integrates to Moodle 3.9 and later

Moderation

Federation

HQ-run home instance

GDPR compliance

Themeable

MEC 2020 launch

6 courses covering all 22 competencies

Translated into multiple languages

Q3 Minor release(s) Tenant-shared learning Notifications of new grades

Improved connections with other products

New:


New plans

Updates:

Simplified signup and upgrades

Q4 Moodle 3.10

Minor release(s)

Report Builder improvements Functionality gaps for students

UX improvements

Improvements based on customer needs MEC Direct Release


MEC licensing for large institutions

2021 Moodle LMS Moodle Workplace Moodle Apps MoodleCloud MoodleNet Moodle Certificates
Q1 Minor release(s) Dashboards
Q2 Moodle 3.11
  • Student activity completion (MUA)
  • Open Badges v2.1 (Badge Connect API)
  • Accessibility toolkit integration

Minor release(s)

Other certifications
Q3 Minor release(s)
Q4 Release 4.0

UX improvements:

  • Navigation
  • Course editing
  • Onboarding
  • Other small wins
  • UI consistency via component library
  • Information flow and task management

New:

  • LTI 1.3 Advantage Tool / Provider implementation
  • BigBlueButton integration

Workplace features:

  • Report Builder


[Moodle Plugins Service Soft Launch]

Release 4.0 Release 4.0

Improved:

Moodle LMS 4.0 compatibility


Moodle Workplace 4.0 compatibility

Classroom tools with friendly UX

Release 4.0


2022 Moodle LMS Moodle Workplace Moodle Apps MoodleCloud MoodleNet Moodle Certificates
Q1
Q2 Release 4.1 Release 4.1 Release 4.1 Release 4.1
Q3
Q4 Release 4.2 Release 4.2 Release 4.2 Release 4.2

Notes on the Moodle LMS releases

Moodle 4.0 in November 2021

For our very large new releases such as 1.0, 2.0, 3.0 and now 4.0, we often take longer so that we can tackle more significant chunks of important core work, giving us the opportunity sometimes to make more serious changes to UX or architecture. Moodle 4.0 will focus on UX improvements.

As part of a significant UX and design change, the current focus is on three main UX projects:

  • Improved navigation, search and menus - MDL-69588
  • Making it easier to create and manage courses
  • Making it easier for students to know what they need to do to complete a course, and know what’s next

Other projects include:

Moodle 3.11

In 2021 the majority of HQ developers will be focused on the UX improvements that are scheduled for Moodle 4.0. This means that the Moodle 3.11 release is anticipated to contain mostly community contributed improvements and a couple smaller HQ developments.

Note that while we will endeavour to include all community contributions in the 3.11 release, we may defer some improvements to a later release depending on the complexity, size, and impact on other scheduled work.

Scheduled projects for Moodle 3.11 are:

Moodle 3.10

Moodle 3.10 was released in November 2020. Please see the release notes for an overview of all the improvements and new features.

Moodle 3.9

Moodle 3.9 was released in June 2020. Please see the release notes for an overview of all the improvements and new features.

Note that Moodle 3.9.x (LTS) is the last version actively supporting Internet Explorer 11. Moodle 3.10 (released in November 2020) does NOT support Internet Explorer 11.

Release support timeframes

Version (Scheduled) Release date Full support period ends Security support period ends
Moodle 3.9 (LTS) 15 June 2020 10 May 2021 8 May 2023
Moodle 3.10 November 2020 November 2021 May 2022
Moodle 3.11 May 2021 May 2022 November 2022
Moodle 4.0 November 2021 November 2022 May 2023
Moodle 4.1 (LTS) May 2022 May 2023 May 2025

Past releases

See our Releases page for information about past releases.

After Moodle 2.0 we switched to time-based releases rather than feature-based releases (see our development process). Because of this, the details above on future releases are an indication of current priorities only, and are targeted to be released in the upcoming releases. Anything not ready by the next release date will generally be pushed to the following major release.

See also