Last month I attend Moodle boot camp hosted by Remote Learner.  The focus of the 3 days of training was on Moodle 2.0. It was one of the first training sessions they have run on Moodle 2.0.  Just as it can be a challenge to first adopt it new release, attending the first training sessions can run some risks as well as not everything is always ready.

I currently manage a 1.9 Moodle server and am looking forward to upgrading.  With change there are always some ups and down as I need to be ready for the roller coaster of moving to the new version. Presently I feel sort of stuck in ‘hurry up and wait’ mode.  We received a letter announcing the ability to upgrade back in November. We had anticipated moving to Moodle 2.0 over the summer as this is when we have fewer active courses, now it is suggested we wait till version 2.1 coming later this summer, but I get the feeling they would really like us to wait till next summer. In the mean time we have a second instance of Moodle to allow us to play with Moodle 2.0.  As web enhanced classrooms become the norm it is essential to have a stable, reliable and effective LMS that can support students and teachers.  There are many features in Moodle 2.0 that would be a terrific asset to teachers.  Already they are asking to move to the newer version.

What are they looking forward to:

• Quiz has had a much needed make over making it more robust and flexible.
• The new file structures. Though I am still learning to navigate the new file system, the ability to up load a file once and use it in different courses is such a welcome addition.
• Conditional settings, this is a terrific addition.  Teachers can now set a condition such as a passing score, or viewing an activity to allow students to move on the the next task.
• Completion checks can be allowed to help a student keep track of tasks. For some students keeping track of what they have competed or not is a challenge, this feature will be helpful to those students.
• Navigation is now located on the side bars, and the side bars can be un-docked to become tabs on the side. This gives more screen real-estate to main body of the course.

Many user transitioning from Moodle 1.9 to 2.0 will experience a little disorientation, ‘who moved my cheese’ moments, but this will not take long to over come. As an admin I am getting our Moodle 2.0 configured just the way we like it, having our theme upgraded to work with 2.0 and soon will be exploring additional plugins we may wish to install.

Happy Moodle-ing.