5 reasons why I dislike the revamped Moodle

Using Kwantlen Polytechnic University’s Moodle throughout the years has left me feeling like a noodle. 

I’ve seen the platform go through so many changes with plenty of technical and creative hits and misses. Don’t even get me started on how often Moodle has to go through maintenance, especially during the times when a certain somebody, who may or may not have written this article, has to hand in an assignment at the last minute. 

While I’m sure there’s some good things about the current version of Moodle — like how documents, slides, and forums can be organized into different dates or groups — part of what I hate about the new version is it leaves me wondering where the specific deadline dates are.

Something I remember about the first version of Moodle is how deadlines used to be on the front page. Now, they are in a separate section. Some may see this as a minor inconvenience, but I argue it doesn’t have to be this way. I shouldn’t have to be digging around the platform to find out when I have to submit an important project, only to learn it’s due in a couple of days. 

Requiring two-factor authentication to sign into Moodle is another thing I dislike. I know this requirement is because of phishing emails and to make our accounts more secure. However, if I wanted to add two-factor authentication, I should want to do it on my own accord, not because some users have fallen for obvious hacker emails. 

Another new feature is the extra confirmation buttons when submitting an assignment. Having an extra step when submitting assignments on Moodle feels so unnecessary, and I don’t understand why you need to double confirm whether the work you want to submit is what you are submitting. 

Imagine a student did all the work early on and was days ahead of the deadline, but received a zero because they didn’t realize there was an extra submission step. That totally didn’t happen to me for one class. I think we’d be better off if the extra submission step was removed just to save the confusion for all parties involved. 

With the new Moodle, I also can’t figure out how to save lectures for classes. Whether it’s through video or Microsoft PowerPoint, I can’t save the lecture into my student drive, which feels like unnecessary gatekeeping of information. Imagine paying who knows how much money for an education only to not be able to save course content for future reference. This was never a problem with past versions of Moodle. 

The new Moodle also doesn’t save content from previous courses. I’ve been at KPU for too many years, but I still wish there was a way to save previous notes on Moodle, if possible. I’d love to look back on the lessons I learned and instructor feedback for future reference. It may be only me who feels this way, but I’m still going to take issue with it, justifiable or not.