Released in April 2025, Moodle 5 brings a host of powerful new features that make course management easier, enhance assessment capabilities, improve AI integration, and boost accessibility. Let’s explore what’s new and how these features can benefit your eLearning courses.
A unified view of course activities
One of the most practical improvements in Moodle 5.0 is the new Activities page. This feature gives both educators and learners a single place to view all course activities, deadlines, submissions and grading progress.
This comprehensive overview helps everyone stay organised and on track, saving valuable time by reducing unnecessary clicks and navigation. For instructors managing multiple courses, this streamlined approach to tracking student progress and upcoming deadlines is a welcome addition.
Enhanced AI capabilities with more control
Artificial intelligence features in Moodle receive significant upgrades in version 5.0, with a strong focus on transparency, control and compliance. Administrators now benefit from:
- Ability to track AI tool usage across their site with a dedicated AI usage report
- Visibility into which users have accepted the AI policy
- Options to manage multiple AI providers with custom settings for each model
For learners, a new ‘Explain’ feature joins the existing ‘Summarise’ tool, helping students better understand course content by providing AI-powered explanations within the LMS.
Smarter assessment tools
Assessment creation and management become more efficient with several key improvements:
- Shared question banks across courses that facilitate easier reuse and collaboration
- New question bank filters to quickly find questions by type, status, date and more
- Site-wide late submission penalty rules that apply automatically
- Faster performance with pre-created quiz attempts and background regrading
These updates reduce manual work for instructors and create smoother assessment workflows for both teachers and students.
Improved reporting capabilities
Data-driven decision making gets easier with Moodle 5.0’s reporting enhancements. Administrators can now duplicate custom reports while preserving all filters, fields and schedules, making report creation substantially more efficient.
The platform also introduces new filtering options that improve the accuracy and clarity of course tracking, giving institutions better insights into learner engagement and course effectiveness.
Accessibility enhancements
Moodle continues its commitment to creating inclusive learning environments with several accessibility improvements in version 5.0:
- Support for long image descriptions
- Enhanced glossary and navigation filtering
- Updated accessibility checker in the TinyMCE editor
These features help educators build more accessible courses with less manual effort, supporting compliance with accessibility standards and ensuring content reaches all learners.
Additional useful enhancements
Moodle 5.0 includes many other improvements that enhance the overall teaching and learning experience:
- Manual grading capabilities for BigBlueButton sessions
- New media playback options for better multimedia integration
- Transparent drag-and-drop question elements
- Greater control over enrolment messaging
- More intuitive date displays using relative terms like “Today” and “Tomorrow”
- SMS notifications through the Modica gateway
- Default name templates for backup files
- Course sorting by start date in the Course Overview block
Technical foundations for the future
While many of Moodle 5.0’s improvements are immediately visible to users, the release also includes significant technical modernisations that create a more robust foundation for future innovations. These updates prepare the platform to meet evolving pedagogical challenges while maintaining performance and accessibility.
Getting started with Moodle 5.0
As with any major update, proper planning is essential before migrating to Moodle 5. Administrators should review the important changes introduced in this release and test compatibility with existing themes and plugins before upgrading production environments.
For organisations interested in setting up Moodle for eLearning delivery talk to us about our learning technology solutions. Get a head start by rolling out our off-the-shelf eLearning catalogue on your new Moodle LMS.
