After a slight delay, Moodle 2.3 is available! Martin Dougiamas previewed this release as part of his iMoot keynote, and he focused on some of the new features of Moodle 2.3. Here are some of the highlights of what looks to be a major functionality jump for the June 2012 Moodle release:
- Assignments have been rewritten. Your old assignments will work, but you can now create assignments from one assignment resource type. Instead of choosing from one of four types, your assignments can now blend features from all four. For example, you can have online text assignments that also allow for the uploading of a document, all in one learning activity.
- Drag-and-drop files into your moodle course. That’s right: no file picker, no adding a repository. Just drag a file from your computer right onto your course page, and it’s there for your students. You can even rename it from the front page without loading the resource.
- Marking guides. If you have common feedback you give on most assignments, this just made your life a lot easier. You can create marking guides, building off the advanced rubrics introduced in Moodle 2.2. Of course, you can still add your individual thoughts. But you can cut down on a lot of your time giving feedback. By clicking your canned response while grading quizzes, stored directly in Moodle, you can greatly reduce your time marking.
- Conditional Topics. Completion tracking and conditional activities continue to evolve. You can now create conditional topics, making a whole section of your course available only upon completion of a certain activity.
The Moodle Community is quickly embrassing this release, and are promoting the value of Moodle 2.3.
Mark Drechsler provides a blog and 10 minute video about the five major features that have him excitied.
Gavin Hendrick also spends some time in his two videos giving the new assignments module a detailed overview, from both the settings, and the teacher / student user perspective.