What’s New in Moodle 5.0

    Moodle 5.0 is the platform’s most ambitious release in years, bringing AI-powered tools, a centralised view of all course activities, more accessible content creation, flexible grading policies and numerous performance and admin tweaks. Below is a concise, role-oriented tour of the highlights. (docs.moodle.org)

    1. Next-Generation AI Features

    • Ollama AI provider – host open-source LLMs entirely on-premise for full data-sovereignty.

    • Multiple provider instances – create separate configurations of the same model (e.g. “GPT-4 Creative” vs “GPT-4 Strict”) and set the order in which Moodle tries them.

    • Per-model settings – temperature, top-p, maximum tokens and other parameters are now configurable individually.

    • “Explain” placement – learners can click Explain under any text to receive an AI-generated plain-language summary.

    • AI policy & usage reports – admins see who accepted the AI policy and how often each model is invoked. (docs.moodle.org, docs.moodle.org)

    2. Activities Overview – a Single Dashboard for Every Task

    Teachers and students each get a new Activities tab in the course navigation:

    • Teachers see submissions, deadlines and “needs grading” counts across Assignments, Workshops and Feedback activities.

    • Students see their own completion status and upcoming deadlines.
      The page updates in real time, eliminating the need to open multiple activity indexes. (docs.moodle.org)

    3. Shared Course Question Banks & Six New Filters

    A new Course question bank type lets teachers share items across all quizzes in a course (and, with role assignments, across multiple courses) without import/export gymnastics. Powerful filters—by type, status, modified date, keywords and more—turn even a thousand-item bank into a searchable catalogue. (docs.moodle.org)

    4. Accessibility & Media Upgrades in TinyMCE 6

    • Alt text up to 750 characters supports detailed descriptions for complex diagrams.

    • MP3 as the default RecordRTC audio format improves compatibility and file size.

    • Drag-and-drop media plus a unified Insert /Edit media dialog with titles, captions and subtitle (VTT) upload.
      All toolbars, menus and dialogs now expose proper ARIA roles and full keyboard navigation. (docs.moodle.org)

    5. Flexible Grading Policies – Late-Submission Penalties

    Admins can enable Grade penalties and define rules such as “-10 % for every 24 h late”. Penalties appear with a red triangle in the gradebook so both teachers and learners see the adjusted mark and the original score. (docs.moodle.org)

    6. Smarter Notifications & Grading

    • SMS reminders (first implementation) can be sent for Assignment deadlines.

    • An “Graded” filter helps assessors focus only on submissions that still need feedback.

    • BigBlueButton sessions can now receive manual grades directly in the gradebook. (docs.moodle.org)

    7. Performance & Administration Tweaks

    Notable under-the-hood changes include pre-created quiz attempts for large exams, one-click duplication of custom reports, category-level opt-out for User Tours, and autoplay of H5P content in the mobile app. (docs.moodle.org)

    8. Safe-Upgrade Checklist

    1. Check requirements – Moodle 4.2.3 + with PHP 8.2 + (PHP 8.3 supported) and updated database versions (PostgreSQL 14, MySQL 8.4, MariaDB 10.11, SQL Server 2017). Oracle DB is no longer supported.

    2. Back up code, moodledata and the database.

    3. Update all plugins to 5.0-compatible releases.

    4. Run the Environment check (Site admin → Server → Environment) and resolve any red items.

    5. Test on a clone before upgrading production. (moodledev.io)


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