On Tuesday, January 21, 2025, the UCSF Collaborative Learning Environment (CLE) will be updated from Moodle 4.3 to Moodle 4.4. The CLE will be unavailable from 5 a.m. to 1 p.m. PST on that day (please note that this timeframe will likely be shorter but could extend longer in the unlikely event of unforeseen circumstances).

The update will include course page and accessibility improvements and streamline some of the user experience. This update will not change the Moodle structure you are already used to but rather enhance it for a more seamless experience. Many of the updates in Moodle 4.4 come from feedback/requests we’ve heard from our own UCSF campus.

We do these regular minor version updates to maintain optimal security, stability, and performance and get access to new and improved features.  

The Education IT team will hold its regular CLE check-ins with UCSF programs/schools in late October/early November 2024 to discuss the update and provide resources to ensure a smooth transition.

In the meantime, we encourage you to check out the following breakdown of the most important new and updated features coming to the CLE in Moodle 4.4: 

Course section enhancement   

Activities and sections are now better defined: Sections on your course page will now have borders around them, and lines will separate activities/resources. This improvement makes the sections stand out more and creates a more streamlined course structure. 

Want more details? Explore Moodle's course section enhancement video. 

Updated icons with better accessibility 

Activity/resource icons are now smaller and less dominant, with colors chosen that are more easily distinguishable.    

Want more details? Explore Moodle's updated icons video. 

Single section page 

Focus on one section only on its own page: When you click on a section in your course, you will be taken to a page that displays just that section and its assigned activities and resources. You can also set your entire course to show each section on a separate page. This new option is ideal if you want to design your course with a more focused experience. 

 With edit mode enabled faculty/course editors get a new "view" option for their sections; click "view" to display just that section. 

Want more details? Explore Moodle's course section enhancement video (timestamped to single section page content).  

Custom sections 

The "Topics format" course format is now called "Custom sections." It functions and looks the same as the "Topics format" course format.  

When picking a course format—under "Appearance" in your course's settings, you now get a description for each format option (note that the below visual does not include the "Collapsed Topics" format, but it will continue to be listed as an option for you in our CLE instance). 

Want more details? Explore Moodle's course section enhancement video (timestamped for custom sections content).       

TinyMCE is now the default text editor 

TinyMCE will be the new default text editor in Moodle 4.4. This means the CLE's current default editor—the atto text editor—will not be available once it is updated to Moodle 4.4. Note: The TinyMCE text editor is already available in the CLE, and you can use it by updating your text editor preference. 

The TinyMCE text editor provides richer features, including more extensive formatting options, advanced tables and better support for complex HTML content. There is no steep learning curve when/if adjusting from the atto text editor to the TinyMCE text editor.  

Want more details? Explore Moodle's TinyMCE 6 showcase video.   

Quiz Improvements 

You can now add grade items to quizzes, meaning that a quiz can have grades for specific sections or groups of questions along with the overall grade. 

Additionally, learners now get a "last saved" time display during their quiz attempt in the quiz navigation block.   

Want more details? Explore Moodle's Quiz improvements video.   

Ordering question type

And the popular, former third-party plugin “Ordering question type” is now fully part of Moodle’s core features. The ordering question type allows faculty/editing user-roles to create questions with single words or sentences. It displays several items (words, phrases, images or other media) in a random order that then must be dragged into the correct sequential order. 

Want more details? Explore Moodle's ordering question type video. 

Additional Information 

For a complete list of new and updated features, visit Moodle’s 4.4 release notes. Please note that some of these new and updated features do not apply to our CLE's implementation. 

Photo credit for all images used in this article: Moodle HQ - Mary Cooch