Well, I just upgraded to Moodle 3.3. I’ve played around with it a bit (we have it installed at work, so I get to experience it there). There is always just a bit of trepidation when doing the upgrade. However, I’ve got the process down pretty much now:

  • Download the latest version of Moodle.
  • Log into CPanel on the web site.
  • Change the name of the current installation to something else.
  • Upload the .zip file that was downloaded in step 1.
  • Extract the .zip file.
  • Move the config.php file to the new folder.
  • upgrade PHP (it really is supposed to be at the latest version, but I always end up updating PHP).
  • Log into the moodle course and complete the upgrade.
  • Change all the settings. I’ve also installed the Fordson Theme developed by the wonderful Chris Kenniburg.

Chris has done some great work with developing a them that is user friendly and makes commonly used selections much more “discoverable”. Here is a quick video on the previous version of Fordson. The newer version is even better for users.

This has been one of the smoothest upgrades yet. I’m not sure if that is because I’m becoming more experienced, or if the process is getting better.

However, I’m excited about what the newest version brings. This version brings some user centered features that can help students and teachers. (I think that the Fordson Theme really helps that tremendously. Without the Fordson Theme, some of the settings seemed a bit hidden for me. I’m guessing that that is a because I previously knew where to find everything, but some things seem like there was still a click or two too many. With the Fordson Theme, everything is “right there” for both the student and the teacher.

Anyway, now I need to spend some time adding some pizzazz to the courses – things like Header images (or maybe animated GIF’s), course images and more.