Moodle 2.5 has been officially released. It is the most-tested version in history. There are also updates for the stable branches: 2.4.4, 2.3.7 and 2.2.10. As usual, there are various new features, enhancements, fixes and patches. At least three features deserve special recognition, namely, Badges, Bootstrap and Usability.
Badges
Moodle trainers and admins can now design and award their own badges for any users on their sites, using their own criteria. These badges are compatible with the Open Badges standard from Mozilla, and can be used outside Moodle as well. This standard that will allow educators to experiment with a various strategies for certification and motivation.
Bootstrap
Moodle now includes a new Bootstrap base theme. Bootstrap is rapidly becoming the defacto framework for responsive web design. The aim is to make Moodle look and perform equally well on every device (including desktop, mobile and tablet), for every theme.
Usability
Moodle 2.5 contains a lot of other smaller usability and accessibility improvements, from simplified forms to more navigable course pages. This continues the incremental usability improvement made in every version, and is difficult but important work that will continue to focus on in every release.
For a more information, check out the New Features page. Full technical details and credits are on the Moodle 2.5 release notes.
