We're thrilled to announce the latest update for XP and XP+, introducing in a transformative way to manage engagement through our dynamic leaderboard features. As we expand with Moodle 5 compatibility from day one, it's the perfect moment to explore how these fresh capabilities can enhance your educational offerings.

Opt-In and Opt-Out Leaderboards

One size doesn't fit all, and that's why we're introducing the feature of optional leaderboard participation. With the latest update, instructors can now offer learners the choice between opt-in—where they can actively decide to join—and opt-out options, providing a path to disengage from competitive play if they wish.

Why is this a significant advancement?

Imagine an environment where:

• Learners love the thrill: They dive into competitive scenarios, pushing each other to achieve more collaboratively. Opt-in is their preference, voluntarily electrifying the learning atmosphere with friendly competition.
• Flexibility triumphs: Some learners find gamified competition motivating, while others thrive better without. Offering an opt-out caters to diverse motivational needs and fosters an inclusive environment.

Leading the charge with this flexibility means instructors can align leaderboards with their educational philosophy, ensuring a supportive learning journey for all participants.

Enforcements: Consistency in Experience

A crucial enhancement accompanying this release is the ability for administrators to enforce opt-in or opt-out leaderboard settings. This ensures that all courses adhere to organisational policies, seamlessly blending competitive elements with educational consistency.

Whether striving for regulatory compliance or a uniform strategy across departments, now you have the choice to set controls that reflect your institutional ethos. This complements other enforceable policies such as making all leaderboards anonymous.

Automatic User Provisioning

Traditionally, XP required users to take initial actions before appearing on the leaderboard. This approach posed challenges for organisations desiring full participation visibility from all learners, regardless of activity. With this release, administrators can enable automatic user provisioning, ensuring that everyone is included from the start. This enhancement complements optional leaderboard participation, as users maintain the ability to opt-out.

The automatic user provisioning also benefits those implementing XP sitewide, allowing managers to access learner data in reports, even before any points have been earned.

Ready for Moodle 5

We're proud to publish this new release with Moodle 5. By aligning with the release of Moodle 5, we're ensuring that both seasoned and new users can take advantage of these enhancements without delay.

Celebrating 11 years since the inaugural release of Level Up XP, we're refreshing our version numbering system. We've dropped the version prefix, and these new releases are named XP 18 and XP+ 18. From now on, both XP and XP+ will share the same version number.

For a more detailed list of changes, check out our release notes.