Top and Reliable Moodle 3.1 Hosting

Top and Reliable Moodle 3.1 Hosting

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Top and Reliable Moodle 3.1 Hosting

What is Moodle?

Moodle (Modular Object-Oriented Dynamic Learning Environment) is a free open-source learning management system or e-Learning platform, that serves educators and learners across the globe. It is the most widely used LMS in the world and currently has over 68 million users world-wide (and growing!). Moodle is a learning platform designed to provide educators, administrators and learners with a single robust, secure and integrated system to create personalised learning environments.

Moodle was developed in 2002 by Martin Dougiamas to help educators create online courses with a focus on interaction and collaborative construction of content. Since then, the main development of Moodle is led by Martin and the core team at Moodle Headquarters, as well as hundreds of other developers around the world who have helped fuel the growth of Moodle through contributing and testing code, and being active participants in community forums.

What is New in Moodle 3.1?

Highlights

  • MDL-53451 – Competencies support in Moodle
  • MDL-52954 – Improvements to the Assignment grading user interface
  • MDL-31989 – Global Search API allows to search forums, wikis and other content throughout the whole site. Installation and setup of SOLR server is required,
  • MDL-52002 – Significant performance improvements in gradebook calculations
  • MDL-48012 – Recycle bin plugin is now part of standard Moodle distribution: allow instructors to “undo” deletions of course modules and courses. Moodle Users Association project
  • MDL-49279 – Add support in moodle plugins for exporting “Mobile app addons”

Forum

  • MDL-372 – Allow to “pin” discussions to keep them always on the top of the list
  • MDL-34160 – Allow forum email subject to be customised
  • MDL-47365 – Add permalink option to forum posts
  • MDL-51214 – Rename the News forum to “Announcements”
  • MDL-44087 – Forum does not observe message notification settings for digest emails
  • MDL-53050 – Highlight the selected forum post when deep linking with a #anchor

Assignment

  • MDL-52397 – Feedback for Assignments is not sent if the assignment grade timemodified setting was set to two days ago
  • MDL-52596 – Add a ‘maxperpage’ site wide setting for grading table size (to mitigate broken grading pages in large courses)
  • MDL-52269 – Not obvious to tell if an assignment is in blind marking if user holds the “mod/assign:viewblinddetails” capabilty
  • MDL-52270 – Difficult to cross reference users with their blind identities
  • MDL-44598 – List student names on ‘grant extension’ screen
  • MDL-52490 – Download selected assign submissions as a zip file
  • MDL-52290 – EditPDF – Also show the total page number in the pagination
  • MDL-52489 – “Download all submissions as a zip” should maintain the folder structure in students submissions

External tool (LTI)

  • MDL-52154 – Rework LTI admin screens
  • MDL-45064 – Option to add preconfigured external tool to the activity chooser
  • MDL-52035 – Integrate LTI Provider support in Moodle as the Publish as LTI tool
  • MDL-52821 – Compliance: Send tool_consumer_instance_description in LTI launch request

Feedback

  • MDL-53738 – Feedback activity module will be enabled by default in new 3.1 installations. If you are upgrading to 3.1 we recommend you to enable it manually.
  • MDL-52094 – Various improvements to UI and bug fixes, including:
    • Performance improvement to download responses as raw data in multiple formats (CSV, Excel, etc.) – now available on “Show responses” page instead of “Analysis”
    • Allow any characters in labels, do not display empty labels
    • Do not display empty pages
    • Map frontpage feedback to multiple courses without leaving the form
    • Improved display of automatic question numbers
    • Disable “Response time” for anonymous feedbacks
    • Use moodleforms to display feedback

SCORM

  • MDL-45712 – Add Result field to the SCORM Interactions Report
  • MDL-48680 – Add score and status submission events to SCORM activity
  • MDL-42473 – Add group support to SCORM activity

Quiz

  • MDL-52738 – Quiz attempt/review page should have a previous button to match next
  • MDL-46092 – Add the OU styling of the Quiz navigation into Moodle core as the default
  • MDL-46091 – Rationalise confirmations when you start a quiz
  • MDL-52806 – Show right answers when manually grading automatically marked questions
  • MDL-53304 – Immediate feedback behaviours should not show a disabled check button when you can’t use it

Other activity modules

  • MDL-42190 – Workshop: Possibility to delete a submission
  • MDL-51306 – Folder: Bulk download all files within a folder activity as ZIP file
  • MDL-52414 – Lesson: Allow Default Settings for Lesson Module Settings
  • MDL-51267 – URL/File: Make setting up a URL/File resource more obvious
  • MDL-50794 – Workshop: Restricting file types as attachments to a workshop

Gradebook

  • MDL-48634 – Option to rescale existing grades when changing max points
  • MDL-52522 – grade_minmaxtouse should be respected for overridden categories
  • MDL-51900 – Tab Down Grade Column in Single View of Gradebook
  • MDL-52309 – Make Grade History report require user to submit parameters before the report starts running

Performance

  • MDL-51374 – Do not purge entire databasemeta cache when there are structure changes (esp temp tables).
  • MDL-51603 – Refactor downloading of csv, ods, excel etc files in reports and exports across moodle to stream progressively
  • MDL-34925 – Improve bulk user export performance
  • MDL-50385 – Performance improvement to the grade history report

Tagging

  • MDL-50851 – Introduce tag collections – ability to separate independent tag areas
  • MDL-52252 – Add tags to modules (Resources and Activities)
  • MDL-25742 – Allow to search wiki pages by tags
  • MDL-51283 – Rename “official” tags to “standard”, allow admin to set for each tag area how to use standard tags
  • MDL-16855 – Add tag filtering to “Manage tags” page
  • MDL-52707 – Allow tags to be combined

Usability

  • MDL-27628 – Enrol meta: Possible to add multiple courses without leaving the form
  • MDL-51818 – Move the profile ‘Message’ button to be next to the user picture
  • MDL-52258 – Calendar now shows duration in calendar block
  • MDL-53043 – Move user search box above the students list in the manual enrolments popup
  • MDL-35590 – Navigation block redesign to meet ARIA specification
  • MDL-49963 – Allow to message all participants when there are more than one page in participants list
  • MDL-51354 – Help popup and improved name for events dropdown menu on the course and site logs pages
  • MDL-53026 – Use inplace editable for editing cohort names
  • MDL-51706 – Move plagiarism links to the top of the summary and full text outputs
  • MDL-53382 – “Show all” link on participants page should be moved beneath the page switcher

Other improvements

  • MDL-53057 – Add search feature to the File system repository
  • MDL-48506 – Improve memcached cache store so that it is multi-site safe
  • MDL-50661 – Restyle “Clean” theme to use Logo and Header in Frontpage with smaller logo option in other pages.
  • MDL-36652 – When downloading an Excel spreadsheet of student logs, have the course short name included in the file name.
  • MDL-53207 – Display stock avatar instead of own user picture from messages from fake users
  • MDL-51698 – Markup the crumb trail so search engines understand it and leverage it
  • MDL-53072 – Option to choose whether we include suspended users when auto-creating groups
  • MDL-52869 – Convert inline activity name edit to use the inplace editable element

For administrators

  • MDL-26935 – New capability to control role renaming
  • MDL-28030 – Add config.php settings to allow plugins to rewrite output moodle_urls (eg clean / semantic urls)
  • MDL-52752 – Administrators can specify an alternate URL to use for MathJax
  • MDL-52219 – Completion tracking & availability should default to on for new installs
  • MDL-52990 – Enable all emails to be themed, ie add 4 wrapper mustache templates
  • MDL-53260 – Option to display CLI upgrade messages in English
  • MDL-52386 – Allow to control field for flagging enabled/disabled users in LDAP authentication (useful for Active Directory)
  • MDL-52383 – Calendar “Days to look ahead” should allow intervals up to 1 year
  • MDL-49934 – Admins or managers should be able to retrieve assignments info via get_assignments web service

Security issues

There are no security issues included in this release, please refer to Moodle 3.0.4 release notes

For developers

Significant new areas

  • MDL-31989 – Global Search API allows to index and search forums, wikis and other content throughout the whole site.
  • MDL-49279, MDL-50032 – Add support in moodle plugins for exporting “Mobile app addons”
  • MDL-53451 – Competencies support in Moodle (documentation)
  • MDL-50887 – Implement plugins infrastructure for antivirus and create ClamAV plugin (documentation).
  • MDL-51603 – New Dataformat plugin type for downloading data as csv, ods, excel etc (eg from table_sql export)
  • MDL-50851 – Significant changes to Tags API, tag areas can now implement callbacks to display tagged items (documentation)
  • MDL-46891 – Upgrade to behat 3.x (documentation)

Smaller new things

  • MDL-51802 – Reusable element for inplace editing (documentation)
  • MDL-30811 – Introduce notification stack to moodle sessions (documentation)
  • MDL-52237 – Add a callback to inject nodes in the user profile navigation (documentation)
  • MDL-51324 – New course chooser element for moodleforms (documentation)
  • MDL-53311 – Reusable element for displaying tree similar to navigation tree (documentation)

Smaller changes in core APIs

  • MDL-52954 – file_storage class can now convert between office documents (documentation)
  • MDL-53274 – Throw exception (in developer mode) if page context is not set, otherwise it is easily missed in AJAX calls
  • MDL-52826, MDL-52715 – Allow to use moodleforms in AJAX requests (documentation)
  • MDL-51718 – Allow to specify scheme in moodle_url
  • MDL-51700 – Ajax service should clean the return values of the external functions
  • MDL-53962 – Changes to webservices XML-RPC API – it is now critical to specify parameters for XML-RPC calls in the correct order. Previously Zend may have been able to work out the order, our new implementation, at this stage, cannot.

Themeability improvements

  • MDL-50464 – New renderer for RSS Client Block allows themes to customise its look

Changes related to particular plugins

  • MDL-52013 – Allow mod_assign plugins to add calendar events
  • MDL-48362 – Improve the enrol API to prevent logic in the UI (documentation)
  • MDL-52996 – Allow Atto customisation for special-purpose plugins
  • MDL-52781 – Improved validation on user fields when creating users from external datasources
  • MDL-53304 – Changes to interactive question behaviour may cause the unit tests for your question type to break if you have followed the common patter. You will need to make changes likethis.

Deprecations

For full list of deprecations refer to lib/upgrade.txt and upgrade.txt files in the folder where the particular plugin is located. Here are the most major deprecations:

  • MDL-49414 – Remove deprecated web services
  • MDL-48621 – Deprecate the old events system
  • MDL-52207 – Delete Zend framework

Moodle Features

General Features

[su_spoiler title=”Modern, easy to use interface” icon=”arrow”]
Designed to be responsive and accessible, the Moodle interface is easy to navigate on both desktop and mobile devices.[/su_spoiler]

[su_spoiler title=”Personalised Dashboard” icon=”arrow”]
Organise and display courses the way you want, and view at a glance current tasks and messages.[/su_spoiler]

[su_spoiler title=”Collaborative tools and activities” icon=”arrow”]
Work and learn together in forums, wikis, glossaries, database activities, and much more.[/su_spoiler]

[su_spoiler title=”All-in-one calendar” icon=”arrow”]
Moodle’s calendar tool helps you keep track of your academic or company calendar, course deadlines, group meetings, and other personal events.[/su_spoiler]

[su_spoiler title=”Convenient file management” icon=”arrow”]
Drag and drop files from cloud storage services including MS Skydrive, Dropbox and Google Drive.[/su_spoiler]

[su_spoiler title=”Simple and intuitive text editor” icon=”arrow”]
Format text and conveniently add media and images with an editor that works across all web browsers and devices.[/su_spoiler]

[su_spoiler title=”Notifications” icon=”arrow”]
When enabled, users can receive automatic alerts on new assignments and deadlines, forum posts and also send private messages to one another.[/su_spoiler]

[su_spoiler title=”Track progress” icon=”arrow”]
Educators and learners can track progress and completion with an array of options for tracking individual activities or resources and at course level.[/su_spoiler]

Administrative Features

[su_spoiler title=”Customisable site design and layout” icon=”arrow”]
Easily customise a Moodle theme with your logo, colour schemes and much more – or simply design your own theme.[/su_spoiler]

[su_spoiler title=”Secure authentication and mass enrolment” icon=”arrow”]
Over 50 authentication and enrolment options to add and enrol users to your Moodle site and courses.[/su_spoiler]

[su_spoiler title=”Multilingual capability” icon=”arrow”]
Allow users to view course content and learn in their own language, or set it up for multilingual users and organisations. [/su_spoiler]

[su_spoiler title=”Bulk course creation and easy backup” icon=”arrow”]
Add courses in bulk, back up and restore large courses with ease.[/su_spoiler]

[su_spoiler title=”Manage user roles and permissions” icon=”arrow”]
Address security concerns by defining roles to specify and manage user access.[/su_spoiler]

[su_spoiler title=”Supports open standards” icon=”arrow”]
Readily import and export IMS-LTI, SCORM courses and more into Moodle. [/su_spoiler]

[su_spoiler title=”High interoperability” icon=”arrow”]
Freely integrate external applications and content or create your own plugin for custom integrations. [/su_spoiler]

[su_spoiler title=”Simple plugin management” icon=”arrow”]
Install and disable plugins within a single admin interface. [/su_spoiler]

[su_spoiler title=”Regular security updates” icon=”arrow”]
Moodle is regularly updated with the latest security patches to help ensure your Moodle site is secure. [/su_spoiler]

[su_spoiler title=”Detailed reporting and logs” icon=”arrow”]
View and generate reports on activity and participation at course and site level.[/su_spoiler]

Course Development and Management Features

[su_spoiler title=”Direct learning paths” icon=”arrow”]
Design and manage courses to meet various requirements. Classes can be instructor-led, self-paced, blended or entirely online. [/su_spoiler]

[su_spoiler title=”Encourage collaboration” icon=”arrow”]
Built-in collaborative publishing features foster engagement and encourage content-driven collaboration. [/su_spoiler]

[su_spoiler title=”Embed external resources” icon=”arrow”]
Teach materials and include assignments from other sites and connect to the gradebook in Moodle.[/su_spoiler]

[su_spoiler title=”Multimedia Integration” icon=”arrow”]
Moodle’s built-in media support enables you to easily search for and insert video and audio files in your courses. [/su_spoiler]

[su_spoiler title=”Group management” icon=”arrow”]
Group learners to share courses, differentiate activities and facilitate team work.[/su_spoiler]

[su_spoiler title=”Marking workflow” icon=”arrow”]
Conveniently assign different markers to assignments, manage grade moderation and control when marks are released to individual learners.[/su_spoiler]

[su_spoiler title=”In-line marking” icon=”arrow”]
Easily review and provide in-line feedback by annotating on PDF files directly within browser.[/su_spoiler]

[su_spoiler title=”Peer and self assessment” icon=”arrow”]
Built-in activities such as workshops and surveys encourages learners to view, grade and assess their own and other course members’ work as a group.[/su_spoiler]

[su_spoiler title=”Integrated Badges” icon=”arrow”]
Fully compatible with Mozilla Open Badges, motivate learners and reward participation and achievement with customised Badges. [/su_spoiler]

[su_spoiler title=”Outcomes and rubrics” icon=”arrow”]
Select from advanced grading methods to tailor the gradebook to your course and examination criteria.[/su_spoiler]

[su_spoiler title=”Security and privacy” icon=”arrow”]
Teach and share in a private space only you and your class can access.[/su_spoiler]

How to Choose Top and Reliable Moodle 3.1 Hosting

How to choose a top and reliable web host for Moodle 3.1? Choosing the top and reliable web host for Moodle 3.1 is not a simple task especially with low price offers. You need to take a large number of factors into consideration, including the Moodle 3.1 compatibility, usability, features, speed, reliability, price, company reputation, etc. Therefore, we have established this Moodle 3.1 review site, which is designed to help you find the reliable Moodle 3.1 host within minutes, based on our specialized editors’ Moodle 3.1 hosting experience and real customers’ feedback.

Top and Reliable Moodle 3.1 Hosting Provider

ASPHostPortal.com

ASPHostPortal.com offer rock solid Moodle 3.1 hosting. They can load and stress test your site against anticipated traffic and recommend the best option for you. They can build your Moodle 3.1 hosting platform so that it is highly available, fault tolerant and responds optimally to your end users.

ASPHostPortal.com has Moodle 3.1 experts on staffs that are available 24/7 to help, a one click install script to make installation a breeze, and they guarantee their service, money back. ASPHostPortal.com use World Class Plesk Control Panel that helps you with single-click Moodle 3.1 installation. The minimal specs of their servers includes Intel Xeon Dual Core Processor, RAID-10 protected hard disk space with minimum 8 GB RAM. You don’t need to worry about the speed of your site. For more detail about top and reliable Moodle 3.1 hosting offer, please visit their site at http://asphostportal.com/.

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