Create and Manage Activities in Moodle

Overview

An "activity" is an item of interactive content created using one of the numerous Moodle tools. For example, a chat session or an assignment.

An activity differs from a resource in that it requires some kind of student input to develop independent and active student learning. All forms of assessment within Moodle are "activities".

This page tells you how to create activities, how to organise your activities list, and how to access an activity for editing and how to delete an activity. It also lists the activities that are available for inclusion in your course.

To start thinking about how you might use activities in your course, visit the page What Can You Do with Moodle?

When to use

Include activities in your Moodle course when you want your students to experience assessment as learning, whether that assessment is formative or summative.

Use activities at the beginning of a course as icebreakers and to investigate students' prior knowledge, and throughout a course to maintain engagement and to monitor students' progress through the course.

Benefits

Online activities are important both to blended courses and distance education. They enable speedy feedback between students and teachers, and learning can take place in both real-time and asynchronous modes.

Guide

Getting started

The Using Technology in Teaching page is a useful place to start when you're thinking of incorporating online learning activities into your course.

Step by step instructions

Create an activity—basic

  1. On the course home page, click Turn editing on at the top right. 
  2. On the course home page, in the appropriate section, click Add an activity or resource.

     

  1. In the Add an activity or resource window:
  • Select the activity you want.
  • For more information about your choice, click the little information icon in the cell. More help link would also show up which opens a relevant docs.moodle.org page, if one is available.
  1. On the Adding a new [chosen activity] page, complete the mandatory fields and any additional fields that are appropriate to the activity. Note that for the following activities, you can opt (using the Display description... check box) to have the activity Introduction text display below the link on the course home page: Assignment, Chat, Choice, Database, Forum, Glossary, Quiz, SCORM package, Wiki, Workshop. Take care not to over-use this option.

    

  1. Click Save and return to course to view the new activity in the content list on the course home page, or Save and display to preview the activity.

  

Create an activity by duplicating

Note: You should not duplicate Turnitin activities as this will create an error.  Refer to the note on the Turnitin page.

Rather than creating each activity from scratch, you can save time by copying an existing activity and modifying it. To duplicate an activity:

  1. On the course home page, click Turn editing on. 
  2. Select the Edit dropdown next to the activity's name, and select Duplicate icon Duplicate. The activity is duplicated. 

  

  1. The duplicated activity contains a 'Copy' text in the title to differentiate it from the original one. Change the title of the duplicated activity by selecting the Edit Title Icon.

      

  1. Next to the new copy's name, select the Edit dropdown, and select Edit settings to and begin modifying the duplicated activity.

    

Organise the resources/activities list

To organise the resources and activities in your course, create labels and use indenting:

  • To indent the activity in the section’s content list, click the Move Right icon Move Right icon.
  • To move the activity up or down the list, click and hold the Move icon Move icon and drag the item to the desired position.

It is recommended that you add an 'Activities' block to your course so that students can easily navigate to activities and resources in a course. 

Note that the Activities block will also provide students with a useful list of all resources in a course.

Edit an activity

To edit an activity:

  1. Click Turn editing on at the top right of the page. 
  2. Next to the appropriate activity, click the Edit dropdown and select Edit settings.  

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  1. On the Updating page, make the necessary changes.
  2. Click Save and return to course to save your changes, or Save and display to view the changed activity.

   

  

Delete an activity

To delete a resource:

  1. Click Turn editing on at the top right of the page. 
  2. For the appropriate activity, click the Edit dropdown and select the  Delete (resource or activity) icon Delete option.

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  1. A confirmation dialog box displays. Select Yes to delete the activity.

 

The activity no longer displays in the resources list.

Manage recycle bin

To manage restore or delete an activity in recycle bin:

  1. On the main page of your course, go to Settings > Course administration > click Recycle bin. Recycle bin only appears when there are items in it.
  2. Find the activity you want to manage and click Restore or Delete icon to recover or permanently remove the item.

Adding an ID to an activity

Activities/resources do not have an ID by default, and this is fine in many instances. However adding an ID to an activity allows for later reference, which supports the following use cases:

  • Gradebook formulas can use activity ID's to perform grade calculations
  • Moodle can use activity ID's to synchronise grades with the UNSW Astra service
  • Custom reporting based on ID

Instructors can set their own ID number when they create an activity, or by editing it on a later date. To do this:

  1. On the course home page, click Turn editing on at the top right. 
  2. On the course home page, in the appropriate section, click Add an activity or resource to create a new activity, or click the Edit dropdown and select Edit settings for a pre-existing activity
  3. On the activity page, scroll down if needed and click to expand Common module settings
  4. In the ID number field, enter the desired ID
    • Note: ID numbers are case-sensitive, letters are supported, and ID's must be unique within the course.


       
  5. Once the rest of the activity settings are completed as required, scroll down and click Save and return to course

Note: If your course is synchronising grades with the UNSW Astra service, the ID number(s) will need to be obtained from Astra, and entered for the activities that require grades to be synchronised. As ID's are case sensitive, special care must be taken to ensure ID's match exactly.

Advanced guide

Additional information

Further assistance

If you experience technical or other issues, consult the Where to get help page.