Every Moodle user knows that the Assignment module is an extremely useful tool that makes it possible for teachers to collect work from their students, review it, provide feedback and even assign grades in a centralised way.
In this module, students are allowed to submit a large range of digital content by uploading files, including text documents, spreadsheets, presentations, images, audio recordings and video clips. Alternatively, they can type directly into text fields. Regardless of which method is used to create an assignment, it’s a good way to measure the progress of each student individually.
If you want to use this module more effectively as an educator, you need to use the right tools. In this article, you will find the top 5 useful assignment submission plugins that you can use in the Moodle Assignment module to provide better learning experiences.
1. ONLYOFFICE assignment submission
This plugin, created by the developers of the ONLYOFFICE online office suite, allows teachers to create an assignment activity from any Word document, add the required fields (for example, radio buttons, drop-down lists, text areas, checkboxes, complex fields, etc.) and ask students to submit their work by filling out the attached form.
When you add a fillable form to the Assignment module, you just enable ONLYOFFICE Document submission type in the Submission types section. When your assignment is published, the ONLYOFFICE plugin automatically creates an individual fillable form for each student. The students complete the form by entering information in the fields and submitting their work.
Using the ONLYOFFICE plugin, you can collect homework, request feedback from your students and create tests, obtaining individual submissions via a single document with interactive fields.
This feature works in combination with the main ONLYOFFICE plugin that enables document editing and co-authoring within the Moodle platform. The ONLYOFFICE Assignment Submission plugin is currently available on GitHub and will soon appear in the Moodle plugins directory.
2. OneNote submissions
This plugin, developed by the Microsoft team, allows students to work on Moodle assignments in OneNote, a note-taking app. The plugin creates an individual OneNote page for an assignment submission, and a student types on this page. Then the plugin saves the student’s work from OneNote as a zipped folder that contains the HTML and all associated images. After that, it’s possible to recreate the OneNote page in Moodle.
This plugin comes with a special radio button that allows you to specify that your students can work using OneNote pages. Additionally, there is an option for the maximum file size of OneNote submissions.
This plugin forms part of the suite of Microsoft 365 plugins for the Moodle platform. You can download it from its official page in the Moodle plugins directory.
3. Assignment notes
This is not a plugin that helps teachers to deal with assignment submissions. Instead, it allows you to upgrade the whole Assignment module by adding specific submission notes to make the grading process more effective.
For example, if one of your students has a specific learning difference (SpLD), you can create the corresponding submission note by entering the SpLD abbreviation in a custom profile field. When someone opens this Moodle assignment to grade the students’ submissions, they will see a popup window with the SpLD abbreviation when marking the work submitted by a student with such a problem.
This plugin is available in its official Moodle plugins directory page.
4. Grade reviews
This plugin has been developed to meet the needs of British Higher Education facilitates grade review by providing an opportunity for second marking or moderation of students’ submissions by a different teacher.
For example, as a teacher, you can review the grading done by another educator and leave your own comments. In this case, your comments will be only visible to other teachers. With this plugin, it’s possible to specify who can create, see or delete comments in assignment
submissions.
This plugin is available in its Moodle plugins directory page and can be used to encourage fair grading as educators can exchange their opinions in threaded discussions and reach a consensus.
5. Automatic extension
This plugin is more helpful for students than teachers because it allows them to request an automatic extension when performing an assignment. When this plugin is enabled, a “Request extension” button will appear on the assignment view page. If a student clicks the button, they will be redirected to a confirmation page. If confirmed correctly, an extension will be applied to the assignment giving students more time to get the job done.
Like any other plugin on this list, Automatic extension is free and can be downloaded from its official page in the Moodle plugins directory.
Final thoughts
Moodle plugins come in handy if you want to upgrade your e-learning platform and add new features. Assignments are an important part of the educational process, so choosing the right plugins for your needs is always a good idea. We recommend trying each option from the list to make the assignment submission and grading processes as effective as possible. If you don’t find what you need, you can always take a look at the Moodle plugins directory!