Chat

The chat activity allows course participants to have a real-time synchronous discussion in a Moodle course. Learners click on the Chat link on the course page and can type messages in real time. Users can export and download chat history and this can be saved as required.

The chat function provides a range of functionality which allows users to star frequently contacted users, create group chats and also private messages. 

Forum

The Forum activity allows students and teachers to exchange ideas by posting comments as part of a ‘thread’. Files such as images and media may be included in forum posts. The instructor can choose to grade and/or rate forum posts and it is also possible to give students permission to rate each other’s posts. Forums are created and managed at a course level, but their visibility and access to them can be restricted to specific groups of learners or topics of learning. 

Breakout Rooms

All three virtual classrooms available through Moodle LMS enable the ability for academic staff to create breakout rooms during live sessions which will allow students to collaborate and the tutor/teacher can join the individual breakout rooms to aid in the collaboration.

Glossary Activity

The Glossary activity allows participants to create and maintain a list of definitions, like a dictionary. While it can be set up and used only by the teacher, its main function is as a collaborative exercise allowing students to contribute to a useful tool within the Moodle platform and create shared understanding of certain topics. 

Wiki Activity

The WIki activity allows students to create a collaborative document by building pages together, similar to Wikipedia. Unlike other collaborative editing programs (such as Google docs) the Wiki is a standard Moodle activity and so no extra permissions or logins are needed.

Creating External and Internal Notifications

Notifications can be configured on the Moodle platform. Notifications alert teachers, students and other users about events in Moodle such as new forum posts, assignments needing grading or badges awarded. New notifications are highlighted with a number in the notifications menu at the top of the Moodle screen.

Moodle Workplace provided Dynamic Rules functionality which saves time and money by automating a whole range of business processes including communications to users registered in the platform via email or natively. Dynamic rules can also be used for user enrolment; awarding certificates or qualifications; and reminders and notifications based on a series of ‘if this, then that’ rules. (In Moodle Workplace, ‘if this’ rules are titled ‘Conditions’ and ‘then that’ rules are titled ‘Actions’). 

Once you’re in the Dynamic Rules section, you will first be prompted to give the rule a name and set the number of times this rule can be triggered within a time period. From here you will be taken to a new page with a series of conditions which are the ‘if then’ rules. For our example we will need to choose the program status setting, choose our company onboarding program, and set it to complete. Now it’s time to set the actions, which are the ‘then-that’ rules, and very simply we choose ‘allocate users to certifications’ and choose the Completed Onboarding certification.