About QMplus – the current environment

The QMplus Online Learning Environment consists of two components:

• Moodle, where teaching and learning takes place.
• Mahara, for collaboration and capturing learning.

We are currently on Moodle version 2.2.1, and will be upgrading to version 2.6.2 in summer 2014.

Why are we upgrading?

Our current version of Moodle, 2.2.1, has been unsupported by Moodle Pty Ltd since June 2013 and Moodle has gone through four versions since. Moodle is built with PHP and it is vital to ensure the code is kept up-to-date with security patches. Teaching staff have reported problems with assignment submission and plagiarism detection that have been fixed in more recent versions of Moodle.

This update will ensure that:

• Most recent security fixes and enhancements are deployed.
• Serious faults with assignment submission and plagiarism detection are addressed.
• Usability on mobile devices is radically improved by using more recent technology.
• Richer features with greater usability are made available.

When will the upgrade take place?

The upgraded version of QMplus will be available at the end of 17th July 2014. At this time teaching staff are advised to reset their course areas before they begin to prepare it for the 2014/15 academic year.

How will the upgrade affect me?

Given the complex nature of both the environment and its use, the E-Learning Unit and IT Services have been working hard to determine a practical solution which accommodates the various requirements.

During the upgrade some users will be affected more than others, but generally as the upgrade will be taking place over the summer this is considered to be in between the standard academic year. The biggest impact to all users is that the QMplus environment will be in read-only mode from the 14th July for 3 days.

The documents below highlight the proposed solution.

Rollover, Archive and Upgrade documents

1. Key points about QMplus upgrade – Key points about QMplus upgrade
2. Rollover, Archive and Upgrade – Proposal v2.1 Diagram (May 2014)

UPDATES (May 2014):

For more information, please review our Upgrade Go-Live plans as well as our blogpost which highlights some of the new features which will become available in QMplus after the upgrade.