Moodle 5.1 explained: improvements and technical migration

As the MoodleMoot Global in Edinburgh draws to a close, the announcements and discussions surrounding Moodle 5.1 continue. clarify. Scheduled for release on October 6, 2025, this new intermediate version brings concrete developments in user experience and opens up new technical perspectives.

Moodle 5.1 confirms its position as an intermediate version with 18 months’ support – no surprises here. Whether you’re a system administrator, a developer or a member of an educational team, here’s what’s going to change in your daily life.

One of the most visible changes in Moodle 5.1 is the redesign of the activity selector. If you’ve ever seen a teacher try to choose an activity in Moodle, you know that there was room for improvement. Moodle 5.1 solves this problem by organizing activities by pedagogical approach:

• Evaluation
• Collaboration
• Communication
• Resources
• Interactive content

By clicking on the “i” (information) icon, each activity displays :

• A clear description of its use
• If it can be evaluated
• The different pedagogical approaches it can support

This evolution makes it easier to get an overview of the range of pedagogical functions offered by Moodle, and will save time for teachers.

Establishments that practice assessment correction with grid correction assignments. will appreciate. Moodle 5.1 introduces new possibilities in the assignment grading interface, facilitating the academic rigor required by higher education institutions or training organizations.

Moodle 5.1 integrates :

• The homework evaluation interface can be modified by dragging the border to choose the view that suits you best and adapt more easily to your needs.

• Teaching teams can find out which learners have downloaded feedback files after correction.

The improvements are targeted but useful:

• Possibility of noting participation in sessions (at last!)
• More reliable backup/restore
• Fewer display bugs in recordings
• Extension via sub-plugins for greater developer flexibility

It may not be spectacular, but this kind of evolution positions BigBlueButton as an even more mature virtual classroom solution, integrated into the Moodle ecosystem.

Here’s a biggie: all Moodle code migrates to a public folder.

Why? Security and compliance with modern web best practices. The problem? It will break your deployment scripts if you have any!

What you’ll need to do:

• Review your Apache/Nginx configurations
• Adapt your backup scripts
• Update your CI/CD tools
• Notify your technical teams

It’s the kind of change you make once every 10 years. You might as well prepare it well.

Moodle 5.1 modernizes the internal management of language strings with the creation of a new class core\strings injectable (see ticket https://moodle.atlassian.net/browse/MDL-86042). This technical evolution replaces the old methods. For the moment, this mainly concerns plugin developers who use the internal language management APIs. The idea is to prepare a cleaner, testable architecture.

This modernization is part of a larger project to improve Moodle’s PHP architecture, even if it remains invisible to end users.

Moodle 5.1 updates its prerequisites:

• PHP 8.2 minimum (8.1 is no longer supported)
• PostgreSQL 15+ or MySQL 8.4+.

Please note: “Oracle Database” is no longer supported. If you’re still using it as a database… it’s time to migrate.

As usual, Moodle updates its dependencies. Updates on :

• Chart.js (prettier graphics)
• TCPDF (enhanced PDF generation)
• TinyMCE with new editing functions
• Various safety corrections

Nothing extraordinary, but these are important developments for a robust and serious LMS.

For system administrators:

• Test first: install 5.1 on a test environment
• Audit your plugins: check their compatibility
• Prepare for the new tree structure: adapt your server configurations
• Document the changes: your teams are likely to ask questions

For developers:

• Migrate your plugins to the new file structure
• Test your integrations with the new APIs
• Update your build and deployment tools

For teaching teams

It’s not much, and it won’t take long. The new activity selector is intuitive, and double correction is only for those who need it.

This new Moodle 5.1 update is a bit like renovating a house: a lot of work on the foundations, and a few visible improvements in the living room.
The new activity selector will make life easier for teachers. Double correction meets a specific need of the establishments that use it. As for BigBlueButton, nothing spectacular but some useful fixes.

But most of the work is done under the hood. Code restructuring, new server requirements, metadata migration… all this prepares the future more than it improves the present.

In concrete terms :

• If you’re a teacher: you’ll love the new activity selector
• If you’re an administrator: prepare yourself for a migration that may not be glamorous, but is necessary for the future.
• If you’re managing a long-term LMS strategy: Moodle continues to modernize its foundations. This is reassuring for the coming years.

This Moodle update gets the job done: it keeps the platform technically up to date, continues to prepare for the future while bringing user improvements.

A normal step in the evolution of the benchmark LMS platform.