Moodle - Completion Status (an advanced feature)


One of the newer features within Moodle is the availability of completion status.  As an instructor, you can turn this on (as long as it has been enabled at the server level) and then use it to help students "track" which items they have completed within your course.
Advantages of this feature: There are several advantages:
  • If you do not use the gradebook, it gives an alternative way for students to track their progress
  • It is flexible by activity so you can set completion "standards" such as a grade or action, or even set it so students can mark it themselves
  • It can be used in conjunction with contingencies, so activities can be dependent on each other (students have to complete one activity to see or do another)
Disadvantages of the feature: There are a couple drawbacks to using this feature as well:
  • While a default can be set within your course, if you set parameters for completion it has to be set on each activity
  • It has to be enabled at the server level
To see if you have completion status available as a choice within your courses, go to your Administration block and under Course Administration select Edit Settings. You will have an area for Completion Tracking if it is turned on at the server level.  If you have the choice, setting it to No will hide this option for each activity.  Setting it to Yes will display an additional area of information for each activity:

Here are the choices you can set for the activity:



Here are the standards you can set it to - be warned!  The more you check, the more you can slow down your course.  It is best to only pick one...two at the most!


Again, note that these change depending on the activity.  So in a forum you will have a choice about posting responses to the forum.  And with an assignment you will have a choice about when the assignment is graded and another about when the assignment is submitted.

A very cool feature, just use it with caution as you are starting out as you may inadvertently get some unexpected results!

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