College of Social Sciences

The Harvard Business Publishing (HBP) Moodle plugin allows easier access to course materials for students, instructors, and course administrators. 

Steps: Turn Editing On > Add an activity or resource > Select External tool > Under Preconfigured tool, select Harvard Business Publishing - Catalog

Downloadable how-to guide.

With Moodle Assignment students can submit electronic documents as assignments via Moodle, and they can all be viewed and graded online. Moodle Assignment accepts many file types.

The Turnitin platform is integrated into the Moodle Assignment and turning it on is optional. Turnitin includes both the Similarity Checker (to assist plagiarism detection) and the Feedback Studio (to give grades and feedback).

Assignments can be given grades and feedback in three principal ways:

• Using the Moodle grading interface. This provides an online interface where annotations can be added onto the document, grades given, rubrics/marking guides used, etc. Scales can be used and the grades feed directly into the Gradebook.
• Using Turnitin Feedback Studio (TFS). TFS is turned on in the Moodle Assignment settings. The overall setting up of the Assignment is the same, except that care must be taken not to select a scale for grading in TFS – instead a 22-point numerical scale needs to be used and it is transformed to the alphanumerical scale afterwards. Grades are entered into TFS and these feed into Moodle Assignment.
• Batch downloading and uploading of assignments and grade sheets. All submitted assignments and a grade sheet can be batch downloaded from Moodle Assignment. Grading and feedback can be done on a computer using Word and Excel. The grades and feedback are uploaded back into the Moodle Assignment upon completion. NB: the options of ‘Feedback files’ and ‘Offline grading worksheet’ need to be enabled under ‘Feedback types’ in Assignment.

Click here for a downloadable guide to using Assignment. (Opens in new tab.)

Steps to create an Assignment: Turn on Edit Mode > Add an activity or resource > Select Assignment > Add

Moodle.org documentation > Assignment activity (Opens in new tab.)

You may have seen the following scenario: 

An assignment has been set up with the Turnitin plugin enabled. When it comes to grading the assignments, you discover several of them are still in draft status and have not been submitted. These students then receive a late penalty, "But wait!" they protest, "I submitted my assignment, I have the Turnitin receipt…" 

This usually occurs when the assignment has been set up with the requirement that students must use the Submit button to submit the assignment. 

It is not always the student's fault that they miss this step, as the 'Submit' button may be off-screen, and they are not aware they need to scroll down to view it, meaning the paper remains in draft state. 

To reduce the likelihood of this happening, include clear submission instructions to students and remind them to check the submission status.

1. Upload your assignment, save it, and check the submission status to confirm whether it is in draft or submitted. 
2. Even though you can see your Turnitin receipt, your assignment may not have been submitted. 
3. You may still edit or remove your submission while it is in draft status. 
4. When you are ready to submit your paper for grading, select the Submit button. Sometimes this may be off-screen, so scroll down the page if you don't see it. 
5. After you submit your assignment, check the submission status to confirm the status. 

It may also be useful to illustrate the process with some images.

Download instructions for students as a Word doc

Moodle Assignment can be used to download assignments and a grade sheet so that marking can be done on a computer without needing to be logged into Moodle. On completion, the graded assignments and grades can be uploaded back into the Moodle Assignment, where they are attached back to the correct student’s accounts.

Note: the names of the files include information that Moodle uses to identify them and attached them to the correct student accounts. Do not change the file names.

View this document to for a step-by-step how-to guide. (Opens in new tab.)

Moodle.org documentation > Offline marking - downloading and uploading multiple grades and feedback files (Opens in new tab.)

Apart from assigning grades, there are four ways to provide feedback to students on their assignments.

Submission Comments

• Submission comments are turned on by default, and appear near the top of the grading interface. They are intended to enable staff and students to have an ongoing conversation about the assignment - for example, a student might want to add some additional information they want the marker to know about, or the marker might want to check something with the student.
• NB: These comments are not connected to the assignment release functions and they will be seen by students as soon as they are saved. 

Click here for a downloadable version of this information. (Opens in new tab.)

Moodle.org documentation > Feedback types (Opens in new tab.)

Marking workflow lets you keep grades and feedback hidden until you are ready to release them to students.

It is also useful if you want to show your progress in grading, or co-ordinate multiple markers/graders.

View and download a How To document.

Moodle.org documentation > Marking Workflow. (Opens in a new tab.)

There are two steps to releasing grades: setting the Marking workflow status to Released, and Reveal student identities.

Assignments have Marking workflow turned on by default, this is necessary for GCAT to function.

Once the student identities have been revealed, blind marking is no longer possible.

It is also possible to hide individual students’ grades and/or to hide all of an Assignment’s grades.

Click here for a downloadable version of this information. (Opens in new tab.)

Moodle.org documentation:

• Assignment activity
• Controlling when to notify students of graded work
• Grade hiding

Occasionally if students experience difficulties uploading their assignments, you may have students email you their assignment instead of submitting them through Moodle themselves. This guide shows you the process of submitting an assignment on behalf of a student.

Note that if the submission deadline has passed, you may need to grant the student an extension first.

1. Once you receive the submission for the student, go to the assignment submission area, and select ‘View all Submissions’.

2. Find the student whose work you are submitting, and select the Edit menu, and ‘Edit Submission’. NB: You may need to 'Revert the submission to draft' if you do not see the 'Edit Submission' option.

3. Use the file picker to select the student’s assignment for upload.

4. Confirm the correct file is selected, include relevant details for the student such as student number (not student name) and upload the file.

5. Save changes to submit the file.

6. Check to confirm that the assignment has been submitted.

Moodle Forums can be used for announcements and for managing discussions

Creating forums: view and download a PDF guide.

Using Moodle Forums for Successful Online Engagement (UoG recorded upskilling session – 38 mins)

Steps to create a Moodle Forum: Turn Editing On > Add an activity or resource > Select Forum > Add   

Moodle.org documentation > Forum activity (Opens in new tab.)

The Moodle Lesson enables the teacher to present sequences of linear or branching content that responds to student input. For example, there could be video, followed by some concept-checking questions, and then some resources for further reading.

Steps to create a Lesson: Turn Editing On > Add an activity or resource > Select Lesson > Add

Moodle.org > Lesson activity (Opens in new tab.)

Moodle Scheduler creates a booking form for students to self-select appointments based on the times entered by the lecturer. Lecturers can also schedule students for specific times.

The form can include instructions, a link, and offers space to take both shared and confidential notes.

The form can be linked to other Moodle activities to ensure that the student completes specific activities before being able to book.

Email reminders can be sent automatically, or on demand.

How-to demonstration for lecturers (6m35s)

How-to demonstration for students (4m7s)

Steps to create a Scheduler: Turn Editing On > Add an activity or resource > Select Scheduler > Add

See downloadable how-to documents for lecturers, and for students.

Moodle.org > Scheduler module (Opens in new tab.)

The Moodle Quiz is used for a variety of questions such as MCQs, drag and drop, fill in the blank, or open-ended text answers.  

They are automatically graded (except for open-ended questions), and you can also have specific feedback for answers - for example, an explanation when the incorrect answer is selected. 

There are also options to randomise questions from within categories that are determined in the question bank - for example,  student might get 10 questions from a bank of 50, to avoid all of them getting the same questions. 

UoG Recorded upskilling sessions: (Links open in new tab)

• Better quiz management in Moodle (23 mins) 
• Using Moodle Quiz for Formative and Summative Assignments (48 mins) 

Creating a Moodle Quiz – View and download a How To document.

Steps to create a Moodle Quiz: Turn Editing On > Add an activity or resource > Select Quiz > Add   

Moodle.org documentation > Quiz quick guide. (Opens in a new tab.)