Managing your Notifications Settings in Moodle
Are you feeling overwhelmed with too many notification messages from Moodle? Do you feel like there are notifications that you want, but are not receiving? This is the tutorial for you! Whether you want to know about things like overdue assignments/submissions or you just want to trim down to the most important notifications, we can show you how.
Control Your Notification Types (All Users)
To get started you will need to enable email notifications for assignments, quizzes, or other items you want notifications about.
Control Notifications for Select Assignments/Quizzes (for Instructors)
Then you will need to decide which assignments and quizzes you need notifications from. I do not recommend turning it on for every assignment/quiz - it will clog your inbox.
Notification Methods
There are 4 main notification types you can enable on Moodle:
- Activity Stream - Adds notifications to the Activity Stream. The Activity Stream can be added to your dashboard course by turning on Edit Mode and then selecting Add block.
- Web - Adds a notification that shows in the bell icon in the upper right corner of Moodle.
- Email - Sends an email notification to your Davidson-Davie email address.
- Mobile - Used to refine what types of push notifications you want to display on your phone, if you are using the Open-LMS app.
Web Notifications Icon: The bell icon that always displays at the top of Moodle is your web notifications. A red bubble indicates the number of unread notifications you currently have.
Some recommended Notification Types with Descriptions
Some Moodle notification types are more helpful for instructors and some are better for students. We cannot customize Moodle notifications based on role/course. However, you can customize your notification settings on your Notification Preferences page to select what is most important to you. We encourage you to review the following notification descriptions to determine which notifications would be most helpful for you.
| Type | Notification Name | Description | Recommended for |
|---|---|---|---|
| Assignment | Assignment notifications | Student has submitted an assignment or student submission is overdue. Dependent upon faculty configuration in each assignments settings. | Teachers |
| Assignment | Assignment notifications | Student has received a grade/feedback. Dependent upon faculty configuration in each assignments settings. | Students |
| Assignment | Assignment due soon notification | Student needs to submit an assignment soon. Sent 48 hours before due date. In cases where the time between the assignment being created and due is less than 48 hours, the notification is sent as soon as possible (source: MDL-79716). | Students |
| Assignment | Assignment overdue notification | Student has not made a submission, sent after due date/time. | Students |
| Assignment | Assignments due in 7 days notification | Student needs to submit an assignment. Sent 7 days before due date | Students |
| Feedback | Feedback notifications | Notices from setting Enable notification of submissions in Feedback settings | Teachers |
| Feedback | Feedback reminder | Feedback non-respondent reminder message | Students |
| Forum | Subscribed forum posts | Default for forum subscription handling | All Users |
| Forum | Subscribed forum digests | A digest of forum subjects or subjects and posts if enabled in User - Forum Preferences, Set default for this in User default preferences | All Users |
| Lesson | Lesson essay graded notification | Notify students a teacher has graded a Lesson essay question | Students |
| Quiz | Notification of your student's quiz submissions | Message that student has submitted a quiz | Teachers |
| Quiz | Confirmation of your own quiz submissions | Notice to student that your quiz was successfully submitted | Students |
| Quiz | Warning when your quiz attempt becomes overdue | Dependent upon Instructor's Quiz settings | Students |
| Quiz | Notification that your attempt has been graded | Message that a teacher has posted feedback on an Quiz activity | Students |
| Quiz | Quiz opens soon | Notification for students when they have an quiz about to open, sent out 48 hours before the quiz is available. In cases where a quiz is created and the time between the quiz being available and open is less than 48hours, then the notification is sent as soon as possible (source: MDL-79718). | Student |
| System | Personal messages between users | Using the Messaging interface tool | All Users |
| System | Badge recipient notifications | Notify recipient of a badge when it is awarded to them | Any badge recipient (typically Student role) |
| System | Badge creator notifications | Notify creator of a badge when it is awarded to someone | Any badge creator (typically Teacher or Manager role) |
| System | Message contact requests notification | Notifies users when a non-contact user attempts to send them a message | All Users |
| System | Asynchronous backup/restore notifications | Notifies users when a backup/restore is completed message, see Course backup | Teachers (this notification does not seem to be working currently) |
| System | Grade notifications | Message that a teacher has posted feedback on an assignment | Student |
| System | Course completed | Automatic notification (congratulations note) about completing the course - sent to the student after all the course completion criteria have been achieved | Student |
| System | Course content changes | Message that alerts students that a course activity was updated - activity title only, does not provide details about what has change) | Student |