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eClass Upgrade 4.5 – Coming December 17, 2025
We’re excited to announce that eClass will be upgraded from Moodle 4.1 to 4.5! Regular system upgrades are essential to maintaining a secure, reliable, and modern learning environment that supports teaching and learning at the College. This latest update brings enhancements that will improve the overall user experience and ensure our learning management system remains current and effective.
FAQs
Please expand the options below to read some frequently asked questions.
When will eClass be unavailable?
The upgrade will take place on Wednesday, December 17, 2025.
We estimate that eClass will be unavailable beginning at 4:00AM EST and proceed through the morning, with access being reinstated by midday.
This date was carefully chosen in collaboration with our LMS hosting provider and the Office of Academic Affairs to minimize disruption to active courses with respect to all academic populations and calendars.
Please plan ahead accordingly.
What will be changing?
Moodle 4.5 introduces a more streamlined user experience with improvements to the activity chooser, grading interface, and navigation. The grading panel is now resizable, and course management tools have been refined for better efficiency. Enhanced accessibility, stronger security measures, and improved mobile responsiveness round out the upgrade, making it a more polished and user-friendly platform.
To see what specific feature updates and changes you can look forward to, please view more on the page below!
How will this upgrade affect my courses?
All courses and pages will be upgraded on December 17 to include the latest features. At most, instructors may need to address minor changes in the styling of course elements (such as text color and font size choices). Students do not need to take any additional action.
What features will no longer be available in the upgrades version of eClass?
The Journal activity has been discontinued by Moodle and will no longer be available starting in our newest version. Alternatives are available, such as a text-based writing assignment using the “Assignment” activity type. If you previously used the Journal activity and would like to explore alternatives, please feel free to contact us.
Additionally, the Poodll recording tools will be phased out for audio and video recording. With the introduction of the Tiny MCE editor—featuring its own robust and user-friendly recording capabilities—this plugin is no longer necessary. Users will continue to have access to audio and video recording, now enhanced with the added functionality of screen recording.
Will I need training?
The general look and feel of the site will remain the same. Because of this, and also because this upgrade is not going to change the core functionality that you are used to in eClass, we don’t anticipate that users will need any formal training to acclimate to this upgraded version of eClass. However, we are glad to meet with you to discuss particulars if you feel you’d like some extra support!
Will you be sending out reminders of the upgrade?
Yes, we will be sending additional reminders about the upgrade via MSMC email and eClass-based notifications 1 month before, 1 week before, and 1 day before.
More questions about the upgrade? Please email us at digitallearning@msmc.edu.
New Features and Changes
Sneak Peek Video
Watch the video below to see the new features and improvements that you can expect in the upcoming version of eClass.
If you would prefer a more in-depth overview of changes, feel free to explore to the sections below!
Look and Feel
eClass will feature a cleaner, more modern interface with a focus on improved navigation and user experience.
Course Page
The course page has a cleaner, more streamlined appearance.
- Icons are smaller and more accessible.
- Activities and resources take up less space.
Course Index
You can also collapse and expand all sections in the course index.
Topics Format Improvements
Sections and their expand/collapse toggles are more clearly presented.
Course editing
This upgrade introduces a more streamlined content editing experience, making course creation faster and less complex for instructors.
Activities and resources
The default course format has a different name (custom sections). The word ‘section’ is reflected in the terminology used on the course page.
Activities and resources can be added anywhere in a section.
You can duplicate sections and grab a permalink for a section.
Subsections
Subsections can be added to courses, allowing you to better organise your content.
Bulk editing
There is a new selection at the top of the course page called ‘Bulk actions’. When you select this, a sticky footer appears containing the mass actions you can apply to selected sections, activities and resources.
Improved text editor
As part of this upgrade, a new text editor—TinyMCE—will be introduced. This editor supports full-screen mode for a more immersive writing experience and includes its own powerful, user-friendly tools for audio, video, and newly added screen recording. These built-in features will replace the previously used Poodll recording tools.
Content settings
With this upgrade comes content settings that give instructors greater control and flexibility when managing course materials.
Availability modes
Activity and resource menus contain an ‘Availability’ option. This allows you to toggle between availability modes (show, hide, or make available).
Activity completion
The display and handling of activity completion settings is clearer.
Extra activity completion conditions only display when you select certain options.
On the course page, you can access activity completion conditions from a dropdown menu. It is also quicker to access preset activity completion settings – select ‘Edit conditions’ to do so.
Access restrictions
When adding an activity completion restriction, you can now choose ‘Previous activity with completion’.
On the course page, access restrictions remain hidden until you select ‘Show more’. It is also quicker to access preset access restriction settings – select ‘Edit restrictions’ to do so.
Group modes
You can more easily see and toggle between group modes (no groups, separate groups, or visible groups) on activities.
Group visibility
You can specify who can see which groups in a course. In the groups’ settings, use the ‘Group membership visibility’ dropdown menu to do so.
Gradebook improvements
eClass will now provide a more intuitive and powerful gradebook experience, making it easier for instructors to manage grades, navigate large reports, and provide clear feedback to students.
Gradebook
• Redesigned Grader Report Interface
Cleaner layout with sticky column headers and hover-highlighting for student rows improves readability and navigation.
• Bulk Grade Overrides
Instructors can now override multiple grades at once directly in the grader report, saving time on repetitive edits.
• Student-Specific Grade Summaries
A new printable summary page shows each student’s grades across the course in a clear, consolidated format.
• Improved Sorting and Filtering
More accessible controls make it easier to organize and locate specific grade data.
Grader report
A search box has been added to the grader report. It is also possible to view feedback in the grader report.
Quiz and question bank
The quiz-building experience and question bank functionality will be enhanced, simplifying the process of organizing, reusing, and deploying questions across courses—saving time and improving consistency.
New question type (ordering)
There is a new question type called ‘Ordering’. This question type displays several items in a random order which must then be dragged into the correct sequential order. The items can be words, phrases, images or other media.
Quiz questions and results
In quizzes, you can now do the following.
- Customize question numbers in a quiz.
- Allocate grades to groups of questions in a quiz.
- Reopen attempts never submitted.
There are also more choices available when regrading.
Question bank management
In the question bank, you can now do the following.
- Customize the question bank table.
- Drag and drop and edit categories.
Navigation and notifications
Students now see a ‘Last saved’ message in the quiz navigation when making an attempt.
Students may receive a web and/or email notification when a quiz is about to open.
Assignment activity
The assignment activity will have smarter workflows, clearer feedback tools, and improved grading flexibility.
Submission management
In the assignment activity, there is:
- quicker access to more key actions, and
- improved filtering options, with the addition of a search box.
There is also easy access to bulk actions via a sticky footer in the grading screen.
Submission settings
You can offer resubmissions automatically where more than one attempt is allowed and no pass mark is set.
Student notifications
Students may receive a web and/or email notification for upcoming and overdue assignments.
Past News
eClass (Moodle) 4.5: Coming December 17, 2025
We’re excited to announce that eClass will be upgraded from Moodle 4.1 to Moodle 4.5! The changes that are coming to eClass will provide a modern, up-to-date teaching and learning experience for users of our learning management system. There will also be new features that will benefit both students and instructors.
When will the upgrade take place and how long will eClass be unavailable?
The upgrade will take place on Wednesday, December 17, 2025. We estimate that eClass will be unavailable beginning at 4:00AM EST and proceed through the morning, with access being reinstated by midday.
This date was carefully chosen in collaboration with our LMS hosting provider and the Office of Academic Affairs to minimize disruption to active courses with respect to all academic populations and calendars. Please plan ahead accordingly.
What changes can I look forward to?
The following enhancements will be introduced with this upgrade:
- Gradebook UX Improvements: Instructors can now bulk insert and edit grades and in the grader report, use a search bar, collapse columns for a more focused view, and view feedback entered for assignments.
- Course Management: Improved drag-and-drop functionality for activities and sections and bulk editing options, simplifying course management.
- Subsections: Allows instructors to segment related content into expandable sections within a single tab/topic, helping students to focus on the relevant material without getting visually overwhelmed.
- Activity Completion: Allows instructors to set completion rules based on conditions like grades, which wasn’t as flexible before.
- Assignment: Simplified assignment management helps instructors by making grading faster and more efficient, with better filtering, fewer clicks and more intuitive navigation. A new option to automatically allow additional attempts makes it easy to create a supportive learning environment by providing continual feedback to learners.
- Quiz Management: Selected questions in a quiz can be regraded. Drag and drop and edit categories in the question bank are now enabled.
- Badge Improvements: Instructors can now easily create, assign, and distribute badges to reward student progress. This is especially useful for gamified learning and competency-based courses.
- Screen Recording Feature in Text Editor: A new option in the text editor allows users to create a short screen recording. Screen recordings can be added to forum posts or other areas in the course directly from the text editor.
There are numerous other smaller features to come, including accessibility improvements, notification refinements, performance enhancements, and important security updates. A sneak peak video is forthcoming!
eClass (Moodle) 4.1: Coming December 21, 2023
We’re excited to announce that eClass will be upgraded from Moodle 3.11 to Moodle 4.1! The changes that are coming to eClass will provide a modern, up-to-date teaching and learning experience for users of our learning management system. There will also be new features that will benefit both students and instructors.
When will the upgrade take place and how long will eClass be unavailable?
The upgrade will take place on Thursday, December 21, 2023. This date was carefully chosen to minimize disruption to active courses with respect to all academic populations and calendars.
We estimate that eClass will be unavailable beginning at 4:00AM EST and proceed through the morning, with access being reinstated by midday.
We will be sending additional reminders about the upgrade via MSMC email and eClass-based notifications 1 week before and 1 day before.
Please plan ahead accordingly.
What changes can I look forward to?
In addition to an enhanced look and feel across the site, the following features or improvements will be introduced with this upgrade:
- Redesigned Home Page The eClass home page is completely redesigned with a cleaner, simpler layout, allowing you to navigate to your courses with ease.
- “My Courses” Search Bar The “My Courses” menu on the eClass homepage now has a search function, allowing you to quickly locate courses by keyword or course code.
- New Course Index Menu The new eClass will include a more functional course index menu, located on the left side of each course. The course index displays course tabs and their contents in a listed fashion. Clicking on an item from the course index will bring you to that location in the course. In addition:
- Users with editing abilities in eClass courses or sites can easily drag/drop items across course tabs within the course index menu.
- If activity completion settings are enabled in a course, students will be able to easily identify which items have been viewed or completed in a course right within the course index.
- Communication Enhancements Faculty can select an option to notify students when something has been changed or updated in the course.
- Improved Student Grade Report Students are now able to collapse categories in their grade reports to allow for a more focused view.
- Additional gradebook improvements will be coming to Moodle 4.2, which will be introduced to eClass in May 2024.
Want to see a sneak peek? Please view this brief video:
FAQs:
Is this upgrade necessary?
Yes! The changes that are coming are vital to maintaining a healthy and vibrant learning management system for teaching and learning at the College. Our current theme is out of date in 3 primary ways:
- Security and Stability: The current version of Moodle (eClass) we are using (3.11) will no longer be supported by our hosting provider after December 2023. Our new version (4.1) will come with a host of security updates, and will be more compatible with future versions of Moodle.
- Compatibility: Aspects of the current eClass theme were designed for previous versions of Moodle (eClass) and are no longer being maintained.
- Changes in the field: The ways in which we teach and learn are constantly changing, and this update will help us leverage new capabilities and functionality in virtual learning environments.
What features will no longer be available after this upgrade?
- The “Ratings” method of grading forums has been discontinued. Faculty who previously relied on this method of grading forums should use “Whole Forum Grading.”
- The Pearson MyLab and Mastering integration, which some faculty may use in conjunction with Pearson publisher materials, is not currently compatible with our new version of Moodle (eClass). Pearson plans to introduce a compatible integration with Moodle 4.1 sometime in winter 2024. Please plan accordingly.
What do I need to do to prepare my courses/students?
- All existing courses and content will be updated on December 21. After the update, instructors may need to address minor changes in the styling of course elements (such as text color and font size choices), due to the new look of the site. Students do not need to take any additional action.
Will I need training?
- Because this update is not going to change the core functionality and workflow that you are used to in eClass, we don’t anticipate that students and instructors will need any formal training to acclimate to the new eClass environment. An announcement will be made in January with more details about training/workshop events for Faculty. Faculty are also welcome to make an appointment with a staff member at any time. Lastly, we will be updating all of our video resources and eClass documentation to reflect the new theme. These will be available on our website and YouTube channel following the update.
Welcome back Faculty and Students! Here are some quick reminders as you prepare for the Fall 2023 semester:
| Faculty | Students |
| Faculty should maintain an eClass presence for their course(s), even if you’ll be teaching in-person. Minimally, you should post your syllabus, contact information and/or methods, and construct a gradebook in the course to regularly keep students up to date with their progress. Remember to make your eClass course and gradebook visible for students by the course start date. | If you do not see your eClass by the course start date, please contact your instructor to find when they may be planning to open the course. |
| Faculty teaching at MSMC for the first time this Fall are required to complete eClass Basics for Faculty, as self-paced training located in the Getting Started area of the eClass homepage. This training can be followed up with the eClass Advanced training for faculty, or a one-on-one consultation appointment with our team. | Want to become more familiar with the eClass? Participate in eClass Basics for Students, a self-paced training located in the Getting Started area of the eClass homepage. |
| For faculty who have been in the The Training To Teach Online (TTOL) (required workshop to become certified to teach hybrid or online courses at MSMC): be sure to complete the workshop before your course begins. | If you are taking a fully online course for the first time, please complete the required Online Student Orientation Tutorial (OLSOT). A hold alert will be placed on your Portal homepage if you are required to participate. This alert will include a link to the tutorial. You must complete this in order for the hold to be removed. |
Any questions? Please contact us at DigitalLearning@msmc.edu!
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The focus of this brief survey is to collect feedback on the recent improvements to eClass, which were implemented on May 19, 2022. Your feedback will also assist us in understanding what the community would like to see in our learning management system (LMS) in the future.
Please click here to begin the survey. It should take you no more than 2-3 minutes to complete.
Your feedback is highly valued and we appreciate your time and participation in advance.
The video playlist below contains a catalog of the past upgrades to eClass (Moodle). The playlist will begin with the most recent upgrade video. Click here to see the playlist on YouTube.