Introduction
Moodle can support the learning and teaching experience through by facilitating the delivery of content, however it also has a wide range of interactive tools available that can engage the students in learning.
As a general rule, it is not necessary to know what each individual setting does, however most settings for activities and resources in Moodle will be accompanied by a help icon. Clicking on the help icon will open context sensitive assistance which may be useful for those wishing to explore additional settings.
The activity / resource chooser
Activities and resources are added to Moodle spaces thriough the activity chooser.
- In your Moodle space, turn Edit mode on.
- Navigate to the topic where you want to add an activity or resource.
- Click the Add an activity of resource link.
- Select the activity or resource and click Add.
- The settings page for your chosen activity/resource will apear for you to configure. Once done, click Save and return to course.
Adding content
Resources
Anyone with Teacher permissions to a Moodle space will be able to upload content to it. Content commonly ranges from documents and web links, through to audio or visual materials.
- File – uploading files. You can upload or drag and drop files (Word, PDF, PPT, EXcel etc.).
- Folders – working with folders. You can organise several files into a folder, which can be downloaded by students (if required).
- URL – linking to external websites. You can create and display links to internal and external websites.
- Text and media or Pages – embedding content from non-secure web sites. If you have some html embed code, you can paste it into the html <> view of the text editor to have it display on the Moodle page.
- Book – create a multi-page online resource. This includes a contents page and built in navigation.
Adding interactivity
Anyone with Teacher permissions to a Moodle space will be able to add activities to it, allowing students to participate in a range of learning tasks. There are a variety of activities, with commonly used ones noted below. For all other activities, visit the Moodle Documentation web pages.
Activities
| Activity | Common Uses |
|---|---|
| Assignment | Used to submit files for marking, for example for coursework. Integrated with the Ouriginal plagiarism detection service. |
| Quiz | An online quiz tool that can automatically provide marks and feedback to the student. |
| Forum | An asynchronous discussion activity. |
| Group Peer Review | Allows group members to anonymously rate each other’s contribution to a group project. Alternatively, you can also try FeedbackFruits Group Member Evaluation. |
| Group Choice | Allows students to enrol themselves in a group within a course. |
| Choice | Similar to a poll. Often used to enable students to select seminar groups etc. Alternatively, you can also try Mentimeter. Or, if you want students to book an appointment time with you, you can use the ‘book with me‘ feature in MS Outlook. |
| H5P | Enables H5P content to be added to a Moodle space, such as Interactive books or Branching scenarios. Alternatively, you can also try Xerte for additional activity creation. |
| Board | This activity enables a teacher to create a new “post-it” board (similar to, but not as fully featured as, Padlet). |
| Blog | This allows for the creation of blogs within a module (which are separate to the core Moodle blog system). Students can blog independently or in class goups. Alternatively, you can try Mahara for reflective e-portfolios. |
| Fair Allocation | Allows you to define choices your students can then rate. Students can then be distributed automatically to the available choices according to their ratings. |
| Workshop | Facilitates peer and self-assessment. Alternatively, you can also try FeedbackFruits Peer Review. |
| Feedback | Enables a teacher to create a custom survey for collecting feedback from participants. Alternatively, you can also try Mentimeter or MS Forms. |