The 20 Must-Have Moodle Plugins

One of the greatest thing about Moodle’s Open-Source framework, other than the cost savings, is the ability to customize your online courses to your exact specifications. Hundreds of custom third-party plugins are offered for free by Moodle contributors, which once installed, can change the look, feel and functionality of your Moodle to suit your organizations personal learning requirements. 

Moodle's list of open source plugins is a long one, so in order to make your search a little bit easier, we’ve decided to share with you our top 20 must-have Moodle Plugins. We recommend these to all our clients, and are happy to now share them with you as well! Here are the 20 must-have Moodle Plugins in alphabetical order:

Moodle Plugin #1 - Interactive Content – H5P

One of the most popular Moodle plugins, H5P allows for creating rich content inside your LMS for free. Some examples of what you get with H5P are Interactive Video, Quizzes, Collage and Timeline.

Moodle Plugin #2 - Accessibility

Moodle's appearance can be customized to each user's individual preference. Customizations can include text size and color schemes. Changes can be evidenet throughout all pages, and can also be saved permanently if desired. 

Moodle Plugin #3 - Attendance

Allows you to keep track of attendance in your Moodle course. 

Moodle Plugin #4 - Adobe Connect

Integrates Adobe Connect web-conferencing and online meeting software right into your Moodle, providing single sign-on access. 

Moodle Plugin #5 - Banner/Luminis Message Broker

Provides real-time integration between your Moodle site, and the student management system.  

Moodle Plugin #6 - BigBlueButton

This provides integration with BigBlueButton, an open source web-conferencing platform designed to provide a better learning experience for remote learners in distance education. Learners can view slides and video, and access chat features through this plugin. It also records all sessions, so learners can access them again later. 

Moodle Plugin #7 - Custom Certificate

A must-have for certification courses in Moodle, the Certificate Moodle module creates customizable PDF certificates/diplomas for learners who have “graduated” from your course. 

Moodle Plugin #8 - Checklist

A great learner management tool, this plugin allows Moodle administrators or teachers to create checklists for students, allowing them to keep track of what they have done, and what they still need to complete.   

Moodle Plugin #9 - Dialogue

Allows students or teachers to start two-way dialogue with one another. This is great for courses where frequent interaction and communication is a key component.

Moodle Plugin #10 - Face-to-Face

Used to keep track of, manage, and remind learners of face-to-face training sessions which require advanced booking. Each session can be offered in one, or multiple sessions.  

Moodle Plugin #11 - Game

Allows you to incorporate gamification into your online learning and training programs. You can make use of games including hangman, corssword, sudoku, and snakes and ladders, in your questions and quizzes. 

Moodle Plugin #12 - SAML2

SAML2 is by far the most robust and supported protocol across the internet and is now supported by this plugin.

Moodle Plugin #13 - Grade Me

Useful plugin for teachers and admin, that pulls together and displays all assignments, quizzes, essays, and file responses that still need to be graded. This plugin works with Moodle groups, so teachers only see assignments from students that belong to the same groups as them. 

Moodle Plugin #14 - Lightbox Gallery

Moodle managers and admin can create and manage lightbox image galleries in Moodle. 

Moodle Plugin #15 - Moodle Welcome

This Moodle plugin displays a welcome message to new users when they enter the system and notifies the Moodle administrator or moderator that a new user has been created. 

Moodle Plugin #16 - Pcast (Podcast)

Allows you to create and display podcasts in Moodle. Podcasts can be created/added by instructors or course participants. 

Moodle Plugin #17 - Progress Bar

A useful time-management plugin for students that provides a visual display of the progress they have made in course assignments and activities so far. Teachers also have access to the data shown here, so they can keep track of student progress. 

Moodle Plugin #18 - Restrict By Badge

Restricts access to certain sections or modules until a badge is earned.

Moodle Plugin #19 - Turnitin (Plagiarism Detection)

This plugin integrates with Turnitin plagiarism detection system to scan for plagiarism throughout all of your Moodle modules - including, but not limited to, quizzes, blogs, and forums.

Moodle Plugin #20 - Collapsed Topics

An interchangeable topic based format that solves the issue of the 'Scroll of Death' when a course has many topics/weeks. All sections except zero have a toggle that displays that section. One or more sections can be displayed at any given time.

So there you have it – twenty Moodle Modules you must have!

Are there any Moodle modules that we missed? Leave a comment or reply to us on Twitter - @lambdasolutions.

	Ben Young
	Director of Learning Solutions