Moodle 2.5 features a number of improvements that will benefit both the learners and the administrators. From the students’ point of view a few of the highlights are the new versatile Bootstrap theme and being able to award badges to learners who excel. There are also new features for administrators and course creators such as collapsible forms and the pop-up HTML editor. New versatile Bootstrap theme This theme is widely used in web design, and is a new standard that is being incorporated in Moodle. The theme works on a responsive principle that allows it to automatically adjust according to which device it is displayed on – mobile, tablet or PC. This allows users to access their content from any device while keeping the same look and feel.

Awarding badges to excelling learners
Teachers are able to award badges based on performance in a course as well as accomplishments. Badges are images with embedded meta data that can also be shared on other social media sites. If anyone clicks on the badge, the user will be directed to the issuing site that will verify that the badge is authentic.

Collapsible forms and pop-up HTML editor
The first improvement for administrators, collapsible forms, will allow them to collapse parts of forms in order to prevent ‘the scroll of death’. The second improvement, the pop-up HTML editor, allows the administrators to see just the basic editor tools, and when they need the advanced options they will pop up, which minimises screen clutter.

Although the new features of Moodle 2.5 are very exciting, we encourage our clients to wait for three months from the date of release before upgrading. By this time most of the bugs would have been identified and resolved.