The right tool for the task

Regularly, the eLearning Centre receives support requests from teachers who wish to modify the tasks they have given their students in Moodle, but this is not always possible after the fact. Ideally, teachers plan their course(s) and the course tasks in advance, so that all course materials and activities are present in Moodle at the start of the course timetable. The advantage of this approach is that teachers can reflect on the nature of the activities and what they wish to achieve with them. Moodle has shared activities, in which students always see the work of others in their group (like the forum or the chat), and individual activities, in which the student’s work is visible only to the teachers (like the assignment and the quiz), and activities that can do both (like the database, the glossary and the wiki). It is important to choose the right Moodle activity for the kind of task(s) you have in mind.

Here is a shortlist of task descriptions and the most suitable Moodle activity for that task. See if you have chosen the best activities for your tasks:

• Student hands in a single file, the teacher gives short feedback and a grade: Single file upload assignment.
• Student hands in multiple files, teacher gives short feedback and a grade: Advanced file upload assignment.
• Student hands in a single file, the file is visible to all: Database activity of Returnfolder type with Approval set to “No”. (If the teacher wants to give a grade, Ratings must be turned on.)
• Student hands in a single file, the teacher checks the file and opens it to all if it is OK: Database activity of Returnfolder type with Approval set to “Yes”. (If the teacher wants to give a grade, Ratings must be turned on.)
• Student hands in a file, teacher downloads the file, corrects it and uploads the file for the student to see: Advanced file upload assignment.
• The teacher uploads a file for each individual student to work with and hand in for grading: Advanced file upload assignment.
• Student works individually on an online text, the teacher gives comment and a grade: Online-text assignment.
• Student works individually on an online text, the teacher gives a model answer, feedback and a grade: Quiz with essay question(s) and model answer(s) provided. (Quizzes can also have a timer unlike other activities)
• Student works individually on an online text, the teacher makes inline corrections (i.e. in the text) and gives a grade: Online-text assignment (with Comment inline set to “Yes”)
• Student works individually on an online text, the teacher gives inline comment: Online-text assignment, or Student type wiki with group mode set to “No groups”.
• Student works individually on an online text, the teacher gives inline comment and eventually makes the text visible to all:  Student type wiki with group mode set first to “No groups” and later to “visible groups”.
• Student works individually on an online text, the teacher gives (inline) comment and a grade and eventually makes the text visible to all: Database activity with a text area field and with Approval set to “Yes”. (If the teacher wants to give a grade, Ratings must be turned on.)
• Students work together in groups to write a text-based document, the teacher can give inline comments: Group type wiki with group mode set to “Separate groups”.
• Students work together in groups to write a text-based document, the teacher gives inline comments, feedback and a grade: Group type wiki with group mode set to “Separate groups” in combination with an Offline assignment (for the overall feedback and the grade).
• Students work together in groups to write a text-based document, the teacher can give inline comments and eventually make the group documents visible to all: Group type wiki with group mode set first to “Separate groups” and later to “Visible groups”.
• Students work together to create another type of file or document, e.g. a powerpoint slideshow, the teacher can give comments: Database activity with file upload box, Commenting turned to “Yes”. (If the teacher wants to give a grade, Ratings must be turned on.)
• A task which provides each individual student with a different task description from a pool: Quiz with random questions.
• Student records own voice and hands in the recording: Quiz with essay question, or Database with text area field (allows the use of NanoGong)
• Student records own voice and hands in the recording in combination with a file or image: Database with text area field (allows the use of NanoGong) and a file or image upload box.
• A task in which the teacher gives spoken feedback via NanoGong: All assignment types and all databases which have Commenting turned on.

This list is far from exhaustive. If you have a task that does not meet any of the above, or that requires a combination of the above, please, contact the eLearning Centre in time and we will be happy to help you construct this task in Moodle in the best feasible way.