Project Milestones
The key project milestones for the Moodle move to the cloud.
Start Project Communication
As part of our commitment to ensuring clear and consistent communication throughout the project, we have implemented a monthly communication update. This email serves as a central channel for disseminating key information, including updates on the new visual design and the anticipated impacts of Moodle changes on users’ daily activities. Additionally, it highlights our ongoing efforts to collect feedback from stakeholders, which plays a crucial role in refining and enhancing the user experience as we progress through the project.
Feature Assessment and Integration
As part of the transition to the new Moodle platform, we are undertaking a comprehensive assessment of our existing feature set, including third-party plugins. This process involves evaluating the current tools in use, determining where it is appropriate to retain existing plugins on the new cloud infrastructure, and identifying opportunities to retire plugins that are no longer required or whose functionality is now included within Moodle core.
In parallel, we are updating our custom plugins, including the WiseFlow integration, to ensure they are fully compatible with the new platform and future-proofed for ongoing development. Our newly developed Moodle Module Designer plugin is also undergoing rigorous security and compatibility testing to ensure it meets the requirements of the new environment and continues to support academic teams effectively.
Course Migration Begins
To support the transition to the new Moodle platform, the course migration will be delivered in carefully managed batches. Each batch represents a group of sites or modules, scheduled with specific backup and restore windows. This phased approach minimises risk and ensures academic continuity.
Important - Continuing Summer Modules Modules that need to continue throughout the summer (TB3, LDN, MRes, Prof Doc) will remain on our on-campus Moodle environment until “Cut-over Week” between August 18th - 22nd. These modules will then be moved en masse. Cut-over Week has been scheduled to coincide with our regular Moodle upgrade outage window.
Otherwise, this process closely resembles our current end-of-year rollover procedure.
Key Principles for migration
- All TB1 and year-long modules for the 2025/26 academic year will be rolled over by July 10th, providing ample time for faculty to prepare before September.
- If faculty members need their Moodle modules to be migrated earlier than the timeline listed below, please reach out to cadi-digital@port.ac.uk, and we will prioritise your module migration.
- New modules will start to be created on our cloud Moodle platform beginning June 10th.
- During the exam period, we will minimise active backup processing in Moodle during the day and increase this processing overnight. With summative exams being moved to Wiseflow for Technology, the user load on Moodle will be significantly reduced during exam times.
- Ref/Def, trailing assessments and external examiner access will continue to take place in our existing on-campus Moodle environment to minimise disruption for students.
Module Migration Batch Allocation
Please contact cadi-digital@port.ac.uk if you feel your module has not been captured in the definition of TB3, LDN, MRes, Prof Doc or if you have wider questions.
Go-Live for students
Official transition to the new Moodle system, students will gain access from August 22nd onwards.