Navitas Core Moodle 2018: What you need to know
Moodle is the most common learning management system (LMS) in use at Navitas colleges all over the world. It provides a platform for learning activities, curriculum, assessment and communication between student and teachers.
Until recently, many different versions of Moodle were being used across Navitas, making it difficult for our colleges and teaching staff to share resources, make sustainable improvements and coordinate regular upgrades. Navitas Core Moodle (NCM) was developed to provide a central platform for this, driven by a ‘core, common and customised’ approach which recognises the differences across our businesses but also the similarities.
Over the past eighteen months, Navitas colleges across the world have been upgrading their core learning platform to Navitas Core Moodle. So far nearly 30 colleges have been upgraded across Australasia, North America and the UK, with 17 more scheduled to take place during 2018. Browse more quick stats about the use of Moodle in Navitas colleges in the infographic below:
When’s the next upgrade?
Regular upgrades to NCM are important for many reasons including security, access to new features and tools to better engage students and teachers. The next version of Navitas Core Moodle, NCM 2018, is being released very shortly. NCM 2018 is based on the latest version of Moodle (3.4) and incorporates some important new features and improvements.
Colleges that are upgrading to NCM for the first time as well colleges that are approaching the two-year anniversary of their first upgrade to NCM will both be upgraded to NCM 2018.
Top 3 new features of NCM 2018
As more and more colleges move to NCM 2018, we will continue to curate and share examples of some of the features and tools teachers can use to enhance the online experience. For now, here are just three of the features we think will make a difference for Moodle users:
- H5P: Create videos and a wide range of interactive activities, including dialogue cards, find the hotspot, interactive video, memory games and more.
- Annotate assignment submissions online: Marking assignments just became easier, with the ability to annotate directly onto any pdf or word submission. In addition, you can save comments so that they can be reused in the future. Any assignments submitted in .pdf, .docx or .odt can now be annotated online, allowing you to write feedback directly onto the assignment without having to download, re-save and upload it again.
- Usability improvements: NCM 2018 also has elements to improve general usability, including a recycle bin, meaning no more worrying about accidently deleting any of your course content. User tours can be set up, helping newcomers to the site find their way around, and a search function helps you locate all content that has been added by students and teachers.
Behind the scenes
There is more to NCM 2018 than new features and tools to support learning. The way in which we manage and support our NCM sites is also changing. Navitas are introducing a fantastic new cloud-based platform to host and house NCM 2018 for our colleges. The new Global Moodle Hosting platform will allow for improved agility and an increased capacity to upgrade and improve all of our Moodle sites.
It is essential that Navitas Core Moodle can be customised to meet the differing educational contexts of our colleges around the world. NCM 2018 and the new Global Moodle Hosting platform mean that we can introduce new processes that allow each college to identify and implement plugins and extensions to suit the needs of their teachers and students.
As always, professional development is available for teaching staff to make the most of their online spaces and connect with others who are learning and sharing along the way. Check out when the next courses (including Building In Navitas Core Moodle) are available here.
Keep an eye out for more features and tools to explore as upgrades continue. If you have any questions or would like to share your own suggestions for features and improvements, get in touch: ncm@navitas.com