Improvements to personalising module content in Moodle 2.8

Turnitin assignment with restrict access settings

This post is part of a series of blog posts introducing what’s new in Moodle 2.8. This post provides an overview of improvements to Restrict access which can help you to personalise module content in Moodle.

Restrict access also known as conditional release enables you to restrict the availability of any activity, resource or even a module section, according to conditions such as dates, grades, groups or activity completion. This means that you can set up restrict access conditions to:

1. Direct students to follow a particular pathway though a module
2. Create alternative pathways by releasing content based on different criteria.

The improvements to Restrict access with the update to Moodle 2.8 are the use of or conditions and nested restrictions to set up complex sets of conditions.

With our current version of Moodle you can only combine restrictions by adding them together – students had to do one thing and then another, e.g. Achieving a certain score in an assignment and adding a Forum post. In Moodle 2.8 or conditions can now be used and you can create more complex sets of conditions by nesting restrictions (having one condition within another).

The screencast below provides an overview of Restrict access settings.

Training and Guidance

To support staff in exploring the new features in Moodle 2.8, LEaD will be running a series of initial workshops on What’s new in Moodle 2.8 after the update on 30th June. These sessions will run for 90 minutes and are suitable for all staff who have responsibility for designing, managing and/or administering Moodle modules. Staff can book a session using this form: www.tinyurl.com/newinmoodle.