If you’re investigating Moodle as your learning management system, you’ll be pleased to know that 2025 has been a busy year for updates. With the release of Moodle 5.0 in April and Moodle 5.1 in October, there’s plenty to get excited about. Let’s take a look at the key changes and what they mean for you and your learners.
A smarter way to find activities
One of the most noticeable improvements in Moodle 5.1 is the redesigned activity selector. If you’ve ever watched someone scroll through the full list of activities trying to find what they need, you’ll appreciate this change. Activities are now grouped by their pedagogical purpose, including categories like assessment, collaboration, communication, resources and interactive content.
This makes it much easier to find the right tool for the job. You can also see at a glance whether an activity is gradable, which is handy when you’re planning your assessments.
Dates that make sense
Moodle 5.0 introduced a more intuitive approach to displaying dates. Instead of showing a date like “15/03/2025”, the system now uses relative terms such as “Today”, “Yesterday” or “Tomorrow” for nearby dates. It might seem like a small thing, but it makes a real difference when learners are checking deadlines or planning their week.
The system also adapts to user preferences for 12 or 24 hour formats and highlights dates that are close to deadlines, making important information easier to spot.
Better organisation with subsections
Moodle 4.5 and later versions now support subsections within your course sections. This is great news if you’ve ever struggled to keep longer courses tidy. You can create nested content structures that expand and collapse, helping learners navigate complex courses without feeling overwhelmed.
There’s also a new option to collapse or expand all sections from the course index in one click, which is a nice time saver when you’re reviewing course content.
Improved grading tools
If you use rubrics or marking guides, you’ll appreciate the changes to the assignment grading interface. You can now resize the grading panel by dragging the border, giving you more space to work with detailed assessment criteria. It’s a practical improvement that makes marking more comfortable, especially on smaller screens. Moodle also now logs when students download feedback files.
AI integration on the horizon
Moodle 5.0 introduced support for AI integration through Ollama, allowing organisations to process AI features on their own servers rather than relying on external cloud services. While many are still working out their approach to AI in learning, this gives administrators more control over how these tools are implemented.
What about long term support?
If you prefer stability over new features, Moodle 4.5 is the current long term support (LTS) version. It offers extended security support until October 2027, making it a sensible choice for organisations that want a reliable platform without frequent updates. The next LTS version will be Moodle 5.3.
What does this mean for your organisation?
These updates show that Moodle continues to evolve with a focus on usability and practical improvements. The changes to activity organisation and date displays add up to a smoother experience for both course creators and learners.
If you’re planning your learning technoology for 2026 or thinking about how to make the most of these new features in your training programmes, it’s worth taking the time to explore what’s changed. Your learners will thank you for it.
Need help planning your learning technology for 2026, creating engaging eLearning content or an off-the-shelf catalogue? Get in touch with The Learning Rooms to find out how we can support your training goals.
