We are excited to announce that Cambrian’s Moodle site has been upgraded to version 4.1. This update brings critical security enhancements, improved accessibility, and better performance.
Moodle 4.1 Overview
This video provides an overview of Moodle version 4.1. It demonstrates how to navigate the site, view your course content, and enable accessibility features.
What’s New in Moodle 4.1?
The information below highlights the main changes in the newer version of Moodle.
Updated Navigation
Menus and resources are now located in tabs at the top of the Moodle site.
- Dashboard includes an improved timeline and calendar, and is customizable.
- My courses allows easy navigation between courses.
- Resources are displayed within the respective tabs (Student, Faculty, Moodle, and Academic Resources).
Course menu items (Participants, Reports, Question bank, etc.) are also located at the top of the site for quick access.
Block Drawer (Right side)
Blocks remain in a collapsible block drawer located to the right of the main content area. Clicking the burgundy arrow in the upper-right corner opens the blocks and clicking the ‘X’ in the upper-right closes them. Blocks can be added by clicking the ‘add a block’ button when the edit mode is on.
New Course Index (Left side)
The course index is a new collapsible drawer on the left side of the course. It displays all sections in a course and lists the activities and resources within them.
As you move up and down the central course area, your location is highlighted in the course index. Clicking on an item in the course index opens it up directly in the central content area. You can return to the main course page by clicking the course name in the page header.
Clicking the ‘X’ above the course index closes it. Clicking the burgundy button opens it.
Accessibility Toolbar
The accessibility toolbar includes options to adjust the font size and site colours used across Moodle.
To enable the accessibility toolbar, click your Moodle profile icon in the top navigation menu of any page. Then select the box to enable the toolbar and save. The accessibility toolbar appears at the very top of the screen, above the main menu.
Please note: the Accessibility Block, used in previous versions of Moodle, is no longer supported in Moodle 4+. Users can enable the current toolbar to adjust font size/colour, and should use built-in browser or system tools for screen reading.
Improved Text Editor
The TinyMCE text editor in Moodle is a tool that allows faculty to format content within Moodle. It is shown everywhere in Moodle you can add or edit text including when creating content, writing forum posts or announcements, building quiz questions, and providing feedback to students.
- Visit Moodle Docs for more information on all the features of the TinyMCE Text editor.
- The current default text editor (Atto editor) is still the default in Moodle and may continue to be used.
- You can switch your text editor to TinyMCE or TinyMCE (Legacy). The Legacy version continues to include font family and other settings that are no longer available in the other text editors. Click here for a video demonstrating how to change your text editor in your Moodle preferences.
Edit Mode
To edit the content of your Moodle course, click the [Edit mode] toggle button in the upper right corner of the screen. Click the button again to turn editing off. This toggle is always visible on your course page and replaces the button to ‘turn editing on/off’.
New Activity Icons
The icons for Activities or Resources in courses have new labels and colours that are displayed in the activity chooser and on course pages.
On course pages, activities and resources appear as shown below. Activity and resource names (Forum, URL, Quiz, etc.) are also displayed when the edit mode is on.
Updated Text and Media Area (formerly “Label”)
“Labels” in Moodle are now called “Text and media areas”. These can be used to add text, images, video, etc. and are useful to add banners or headings to differentiate between different resources or sections in a course.
Text and media areas are also displayed in the course index, but only when edit mode is on.
Learn More
Review our Moodle page for updated information and videos about Moodle 4.1.
Visit Moodle Docs for an overview of key features and improvements in the upgraded versions of Moodle.