Moodle Assignments - Get Started

The Assignment activity in Moodle is a place for your students to submit their work for instructor review. Students can submit documents, videos, Internet links, images, and presentation slides. The instructor then reviews the submission, gives a grade, and leaves feedback directly in Moodle, which is then automatically shared with students. Jump straight to creating an assignment in Moodle. 

Example uses 

• Written assignments: Students submit a Word document or Presentation file. 
  • TIP: Grade assignments in Moodle to quickly distribute grades and feedback to students. Learn more about the streamlined grader. 
• Journals or brief writing tasks: Students type their submission directly into Moodle.
  • TIP: Turn on Online Text under Submission types when setting up the Moodle Assignment. View a quick video explaining Online Text. 
• Multimedia assignments: Students submit a video recording
  • TIP: Kaltura allows students to record videos of themselves and upload it Moodle. Learn more about Kaltura.
  • ANOTHER TIP: Turn on Online Text under Submission types to give students a place to submit a video through Kaltura. View a quick video explaining online text. 

Good practices 

• Include the instructions and expectations. When setting up the assignment, use the description text box to explain the directions and expectations of their submission. 
  • If you already have the assignment directions written in a Word document, upload the document directly onto the Moodle Assignment when creating the assignment.  
     
• Due dates on Moodle assignment. This will make it clear to the students when the assignment is due without having to dig through a syllabus. 
   
• Consider skipping file attachments for short writing assignments. If the writing assignment is brief, informal, and formatting is not important, have students type their assignment directly into a Moodle textbox. This makes grading quicker and doesn’t require downloading files.  
   
• Consider grading assignments directly in Moodle. The Moodle grading feature allows you to write overall feedback and to annotate the student's submission to leave feedback within the context of their paper. Students see the feedback by clicking on the assignment link and scrolling down. Here are instructions for grading assignments in Moodle. 
  • If you prefer to give feedback by tracking changes in a Word document, you’ll need to turn on Feedback files in your assignment settings. Learn how to enable feedback files. 
     
• Consider leaving audio or video feedback on some Moodle assignments. Students seeing and/or hearing you talk about their assignment can create a personal connection between you and the student. Learn how to leave audio or video feedback. 
   
• The Moodle Gradebook. Assignments created in Moodle are automatically added to the Moodle Gradebook and helps make grading more transparent. Both the grade and the overall feedback appear in the gradebook. Learn more about the Moodle Gradebook. 
   
• Extended deadlines for students with accommodations. Moodle allows you to give unique deadlines to specific students who need extra time. Learn how to extend a submission deadline. 

Additional resources

• Create an Assignment on Moodle
• Grade Assignments Using the Streamlined Grader
• Extending Deadlines for a Single Student
• Series of short videos about Moodle Assignments