Moodle Activities and Resources

Last updated: July 18, 2023, 8:57 a.m.

This page has been updated to reflect the Moodle 3.9 upgrade

When you click +Add a Activity or Resource in Moodle, there are many options to choose from. The activities are the more interactive features of Moodle. The resources are typically functions that push content to students, like text, links, pages, files, etc. Below is a summary of most of these with brief descriptions and they might be used in designing your course.

Moodle Activity/ Resource	Description	Delivery Method*	Formal Assessment	Informal Assessment	Communication / interaction	Collaboration / Peer Learning	Method of Content Delivery
Activities
chat	The chat is a very basic text-based communication tool that can be used to hold office hours, Q & A Sessions or impromptu discussions with a student or group of students via Moodle.	S		+	+	+	+
choice	This a poll-like activity where instructors set one questions for students with some possible options for students. This kind of activity is a great way of starting off a new topic, checking for familiarity or for getting feedback quickly. Settings allow for students to see results in real time if the instructor wants.	A			+
database	The database is a way for the instructor (and students) to build and organize a set of records (can be images, files, links, numbers, text). A great way to build a library of student-curated content.					+	+
Feedback	The feedback tool is similar to the quiz tool in that it is a way of asking different types of questions without assigning a grade to it. It is typically used to collect feedback from students. It may be helpful in collecting feedback on teaching or getting feedback on learning (for example with an online "minute paper"). Instructors can choose to let students submit feedback anonymously in the settings.	A		+	+
Forum	Text-based discussions where students can upload files, share links and work in groups. Lots of tips and examples on our Using Discussion Forum page.	A	+	+	+	+
Glossary	With the glossary tool, students collaborate on a creating a database of glossary entries throughout the course. Students contribute definitions to coure terms and concepts and can comment on each other’s definitions. In this type of activity they are participating in developing meaning making as a group and deep learning and student engagement can increase.	A		+		+	+
H5P Interactive Content	A variety of interactive activities for practice – no grading options possible as it is not connected to the Gradebook. View examples of all activity types on the H5P web site	A		+	+		+
Journal	Students respond to a prompt and are able to change their answers after feedback from the Instructor. Ideal for sharing and giving feedback on thesis of a paper or other small pieces of text that instructors might want to provide feedback on or facilitate an iterative process.	A		+	+
Lesson	This is a branching activity, which is built on a series of pages where students are asked to make a choice at the bottom of each page.	A					+
Quiz	Quiz can be used formally or with informally as practice without counting the grade. There are many question types available and options to customize the set up.	both	+	+
Student Folder	This activity enables students to upload a file to Moodle in the designated folder. It can be used in any ways. For example, it can be a way for students to share resources with each other, but it is particularly useful in facilitating peer review. There are several settings that can control whether files should be vetted by the instructor and who can see the files.	A		+		+	+
Wiki	The wiki tool is designed to be a collaborative set of pages created by students. Unfortunately, this tool is not as intuitive or user-friendly as other similar tools. The main advantage to using wiki for collaboration, is that students' privacy is protected.	A	+	+		+	+
Workshop	The Moodle Workshop Tool automates the peer review process. You can have student randomly peer review one another. Students receive a grade based on the feedback of their peers. They also receive a grade on how well they peer review others. The system will also randomly assign people work to peer review. There are lots of configuration settings that the teacher can use to control how the peer review process will work.	A	+	+		+
YuJa Video	Publishing platform to produce and share videos with students. Includes auto-captioning and transcript creating. Use YuJa to share recorded lectures or instructional videos you create on your computer or mobile device.	A					+
Zoom Meeting	This virtual meeting software plugs into Moodle. You can schedule and link to your live sessions within Moodle. Zoom offers lots of interactive functionality for making your live sessions more engaging and getting feedback on student learning.	S		+	+		+
Resources
URL	Add a link to an external web page.	A					+
File	Upload a file (any format) to share with students. They will be able to download this to their devices. (Note: make these as accessible as possible.)	A					+
Folder	Upload a zipped/compressed folder containing multiple files to share with students. This is an efficient way of uploading a set of files for a given week or topic to make available to students.	A					+
Label	The label is used to add text to your Moodle home page. It is used to create headings for content for content, add notes and other important information.	A			+		+
book	A series of pages (text an media) that are navigated through a TOC and arrows	A					+
Page	A web page that can include text or media. It's important not to clutter your homepage with too much text. You can use the Pages to add in your own content, or embed content from other sites.	A					+

*Delivery Method: S= Synchronous (in real-time), A=Asynchronous

Other practical activities

Scheduler

You can set up a scheduler for various activities in your course that would require sign up. For example, students can sign up for office hours or for a presentation slot.

Group Self-selection

This makes putting students in groups easier if you allow students to form their own groups. They can assign themselves to a group through this activity, which saves the instructor a lot of time!

Further resources

Concordia Moodle Help for Instructors (log in required)

Assistance

If you think you’ll need assistance with this workflow, please contact us at teaching@concordia.ca.

We are here with you to help you through this process.

Centre for Teaching and Learning (CTL)