Version 2.5 of Moodle Online Learning Platform Arrives

In the growing world of online learning, Moodle has carved out a niche for itself. Moodle is a free, open source course management and webinar-production platform that we've written about many times on the OStatic blog. It provides a reat way to reach large online audiences for interactive events on topics ranging from marketing to tutorials, and there is a mobile app for it. Now, the Moodle community has announced version 2.5, adding hundreds of improvements that may be of special interest to teachers, students and administrators.

Moodle 2.5 is available now for free download from the community site at http://moodle.org. Upgrades are supported from any previous version of Moodle, and if you don't have any experience with this e-learning platform, a certified Moodle Partner (http://moodle.com/partners) can help with upgrades, installation or customiing online coursework.

Among many universities that use Moodle to deliver online courses, U.C. Berkeley offers Moodle-based, free online courses and lectures.  You can use Moodle to produce podcasts, include videos in online events, or deliver online presentations.

According to the announcement, new features include:

Use it on mobile: Moodle themes can now utilise the popular Bootstrap framework from Twitter. This means the appearance of Moodle can be attractive, flexible and responsive, allowing the site to perform equally well on desktops and mobile touch screens without additional work. In addition Moodle 2.5 supports the latest Moodle Mobile app for iOS and Android, which provides additional features for offline access to Moodle content and easy uploading of photos and videos from mobile devices.

Improved usability: Moodle 2.5 has a host of smaller improvements for usability. Forms now look a lot simpler, with advanced settings being collapsed by default. Drag and drop images and text straight into a course page from the desktop or another browser window. Display course folders directly on the course page. Jump quickly between course sections, and more. This continues Moodle’s focus on usability improvements in every release.

In this post, we also covered free online resources for getting started with Moodle. HowtoMoodle.com, in particular, is an excellent resource for people who would like to delve into this platform or perhaps build a quick online course.