MoodleWorld March Roundup report – How Moodle has progressed in last one month #moodle

Another month has ended and our beloved LMS has turned one more month old. Today, I came up with an idea to cover a monthly roundup of the Moodle Project progress, new features, Moodle plugins, teaching tips, Moodle community and other interesting articles. 
In the last one month, Moodle has progressed through critical security bug through which remote code execution was possible on Moodle server and the same bug was fixed in the new minor point version releases for each supported Moodle versions. About the progress of analytics project of Moodle i.e. – Project Inspire, the first prototype was released for testing. Similarly, to enhance Mobile learning, the official Moodle Mobile app was updated to a new version Moodle Mobile 3.2.1. The new version of mobile app is focused on improving the user experience and accessibility.
Here, I had listed down the interesting articles from the month of March to sum up the Moodle progress in the past one month. Check them out below:

Moodle Project:

• 6 new features coming in Moodle 3.3 upcoming version of Moodle i.e. Moodle 3.3 will be equipped with many interesting new features and improvements. In this post we covered the top 6 new features which will make Moodle more awesome than ever before.
• Moodle security bug Remote code execution – Critical security bug found by Netanel Rubin which allows to execute code on Moodle server through web interface.
• Moodle 3.2.2 and other point version release – The point releases of all supported branches of Moodle are released with fix for the remote code execution bug. Now Moodle 2.7 & 3.0 branches are supported for security fixes only.
• MoodleCloud Starter Plan – For those teachers who would like to keep their MoodleCloud site for a year without any hassles and with more features like custom certificate and no adverts, MoodleCloud starter plan is released.
• Project Inspire First Prototype ready – Moodle own analytics project is now coming into a shape with the first prototype released for testing. This is only the Phase-1 of the project and it should be available for Moodle 3.3
• Moodle participating in GSoC for the 11th time – Moodle confirmed its participation in the Google Summer of Code (GSoC) – 2017, interested students can contact the Moodle HQ team for participation.
• Moodle Mobile 3.2.1 released – The new version of the official Moodle mobile app released to improve the user experience and accessibility. Download your app from the Google Play store for android devices and iTunes store for iOS devices.
• Free Moodle Mobile MOOC registrations – The free MOOC course run by HRDNZ – Moodle partner in New Zealand. MOOC Course is targeted for the teachers who would like to make their Moodle course mobile friendly and easily accessible from Mobile devices.

Moodle Community:

• Improved Tagging functionality in Moodle? – Are you using the Moodle tags? Tags can be used to connect different types of content on your moodle site. Moodle community member Jon Bolton worked to improve the tagging functionality and extend it to other areas of Moodle. Join the discussion to get involved.
• Does Moodle HQ team took a correct decision by adopting to BS4 framework? – Top Moodle theme designers expressed their concerns with adapting to the Bootstrap 4 framework which is still in Alpha version.
• MoodleMoot UK & Ireland 2017 – One of the best EdTech conference coming soon from 10th-12th April 2017 at Park Plaza Riverbank, London. The registrations for the conference have been extended till Monday 3rd April 2017.
• MoodleMoot Germany in June 2017 – The MoodleMoot Germany is all set to encourage mobile learning with Moodle from 21-23rd June 2017. The tag line for this years Moot is “Moodle Meets In Mahara Mobile Mannheim“.
• MoodleMajlis – First Moot in Dubai – First ever MoodleMoot in Middle East – Dubai, organized by the Moodle Partner – Smart Way. The MoodleMoot termed as MoodleMajlis will be held on the 16th and 17th April, 2017  in Roda Al Murooj, United Arab Emirates – Dubai.
• IMoot 2017 in May 2017 – The biggest online LMS conference with nonstop 52 hours of presentation will start from 18 May 2017 to 20th May 2017 (GMT+8). Your best chance to increase Moodle networking without getting out of your room.
• What happens before Moodle version release – Moodle follows a 6 monthly release schedule but what happens to prepare the next version behind the scenes. Detailed introduction to the dates and deadlines before a new Moodle version is released.
• Adapta learning added as Moodle partner in Brazil – Moodle Partners are among the biggest source of funding for the Moodle project and Moodle HQ grows its presence in Brazil by adding Adapta Learning Solutions as Moodle Partner.

Teaching tips:

• Allow external content easily in Moodle course using Multi Embed filter – Often teachers face problems while embedding content from external websites like Google Docs, Youtube, Slideshare etc but as a Moodle administrator you can make it very easy for them through the Multi-Embed filter plugin.
• Restrict access to course activities based on the number of days using this plugin – Professional courses often need to release the course content after a certain period. It’s mainly useful for  asynchronous courses where students are not interacting with each other and all they need is to go through the course contents progressively.
• Top 10 H5P content types to use in Moodle course – H5P – the new standard for creating interactive content can be used within your Moodle course. Here, I had listed down the top 10 H5P content types which can be used in your Moodle course.
• Free Moodle training courses– RTR learning is creating awesome bite sized courses for learning Moodle easily. Check out the newly added courses to the increasing list of courses.
• Create an adaptive quiz in Moodle – Test out the ability of the student to answer the questions by changing the difficulty level.
• Moodle and WordPress with EdWiser bridge plugin – Want to sell your Moodle courses through the WordPress frontend. Edwiser Bridge plugin allows you to sell your Moodle courses by bridging the gap between Moodle and WordPress platforms.
• Dynamic drop down on sign up pages – Customize the sign up pages of your Moodle site by adding dynamic drop down which will change automatically based on the selected values during registration process.
• MCCC certification by elearning experts LLC – Elearning Experts LLC – Moodle partner in USA is offering 8 week course to prove your Moodle teaching skills by earning MCCC certification. Enroll now to grab your Moodle Course Creator Certification.

Other interesting Articles:

• Rope team course format – Currently the work under progress but the new course format is having huge potential as it can enhance the social learning in Moodle to the next level.
• IOMAD 3.2 released – For those serious Moodlers, who want the Multi-tenancy in Moodle, IOMAD is the perfect solution and the new version is based on the Moodle 3.2 updates.
• Essential theme for Moodle 3.2 – Most popular and engaging Moodle theme has been updated to a stable version for Moodle 3.2.
• Google Jamboard ready for shipment from May – Google Jamboard – the digital whiteboard by the tech giant is ready for shipment in May 2017 with a price tag of $4999.

This concludes our recap of the March month. What do you except from Moodle project in the upcoming versions? Share your thoughts with us in the comments section below.
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