Learn@Illinois Moodle - Moodle to Canvas Equivalency Chart
To compare and contrast the different features between Learn@Illinois Moodle and Canvas, please look over the charts below. Note: this is not a completely finalized list. If you have any suggestions, please feel free to leave your feedback in the comment box at the bottom. Thank you!
For a permanent link to this information, please use: https://go.illinois.edu/MoodleToCanvasComparison
Activities
Moodle | Canvas | Notes (how it functions in Canvas) | How To Guide |
Assignment | Assignment | 4 types: Text Entry, Website URL, Media Recordings, File uploads. If multiple are selected, students have to pick whichever one they need and submit their work there. Confetti ensues. You can set up plagiarism review there, peer review, and assign to different groups from within the edit settings menu. Rubrics are a separate thing. | |
Attendance | Attendance | No set session times, but you can set everyone as present, unmark all, or specify who is present, absent, or late (no other options). Under "Roll Call settings", able to specify that attendance does or doesn't count toward the final grade, and what percent is set for lateness. Can also give badges. Students cannot self-mark as present. A seating chart is also available. *Found in External Tool | |
Certificate | Outcomes | Not a whole lot of use, so not a big deal. Have to do a lot of work to set up outcomes. | |
Chat | Chat | No repeats or separation by groups. Can't specify if everyone can view past sessions. Doesn't open up in a new window. *Found in External Tool | |
Choice | No direct equivalent | There is no activity that offers this functionality. Workaround:
| |
Database | No direct equivalent | There is no activity that offers this functionality. In desperation... Workaround: Page. Change "users allowed to edit this page" to "teachers and students" and then maybe set up a table for students to edit and put their info in. No grade attached, but you can set up an Assignment activity and set it to "On Paper", and link it to it. | |
External Tool | External Tool | Direct equivalent, but this is a consortium of activities, so the specific activities within the ET will differ. | |
Feedback | No direct equivalent | TBD Potentially quiz with an ungraded survey setting. | |
Forum | Discussion | Direct equivalent | |
Glossary | No direct equivalent | There is no activity that offers this functionality. In desperation... Workaround: Page. Change "users allowed to edit this page" to "teachers and students" and then maybe set up a table for students to edit and put their info in. | |
Group choice | Group set | Pretty good equivalent, even if not direct. People > +Group Set > Check Self Sign-Up (put how many groups and limit groups to _ members.) You can edit the names in the group set. Need more testing with actual students, but you have to make People visible from the settings menu so that students can do it. (Note: This is not an activity in Canvas.) | |
H5P | No direct equivalent | Probably different external tools or quiz. It depends on a specific H5P activity, so this is a difficult/unfair comparison. | |
Illinois Media Space Assignment | Assignment | Pretty good equivalent, even if not direct. Media Recordings. Or! You can be fancy and have students submit a Website URL if it's on Youtube or somewhere else. May be able to select Kaltura from External tools when creating the assignment (needs testing) TBD: Media Recordings may be disabled | |
Journal | No direct equivalent | There is no activity that offers this functionality. Workaround: Assignment. Not a direct 1-o-1, but you can set it up as a text entry with no deadline, if you want. Probably duplicate numerous times if you want a weekly one, but you can't exactly keep a running diary. | |
Lesson | No direct equivalent | There is no activity that offers this functionality. Workaround: Page. However, has a lot less functionality. Can't do the branching and you also can't ask questions in the meantime, so this is not a good substitute if that's what you want. However, if you're using the lesson as a lecture with no questions or interaction, page with an embedded video or PowerPoint works perfectly. | |
OU blog | TBD | ||
OU wiki | Not exactly... | There is no activity that offers this functionality. Workaround: Page. Change "users allowed to edit this page" to "teachers and students". No grade attached, but you can set up an Assignment activity and set it to "On Paper", and link it to it. | |
Questionnaire | Quiz | TBD | |
Quiz | Quiz | No Description type, so you can't exactly do lessons in quizzes, but you can either 1) have a page as a lesson, which can lead to a quiz, 2) have a bigger wall of text in a Canvas question, or 3) use the stimulus question type with media attached, followed up by a question. The Classic Quiz does have a Text option. | |
SCORM package | SCORM | TBD | |
Scheduler | Calendar | Pretty good equivalent, even if not direct. + > Appointment Group. You can set up pretty much all of the same things as in Scheduler, but just from the calendar. Important note: have to add it to the correct calendar from the get-go - otherwise you won't be able to edit the series to put it in the proper place. (Note: This is not an activity in Canvas.) | |
Survey | No direct equivalent | There is no activity that offers this functionality. Moodle's Survey has pre-selected survey instruments to assess student learning and gather data. If instructors want to conduct a course assessment, they can use the Ungraded Survey option in Quiz. | |
Turnitin Assignment | Assignment | Really good equivalent, even if not direct. *Turn on Plagiarism Review - this might change in the future. | |
Wiki | Not exactly... | There is no activity that offers this functionality. Workaround: Page. Change "users allowed to edit this page" to "teachers and students". No grade attached, but you can set up an Assignment activity and set it to "On Paper", and link it to it. | |
Workshop | Assignment | Pretty good equivalent, even if not direct. Set up Peer Review. Very different because there aren't phases, but there are times of when you can assign reviews (if you automatically assign them). You can also make it manual. Option to set a number of reviews. You can also set up a rubric, but it will appear on the side as opposed to in-assignment. *Bonus: peer reviews appear anonymous. | |
Zoom | Zoom | Direct equivalent. We'll see what the full integration will look like later - stand by for now. *Found in External Tool |
Resources
Moodle | Canvas | Notes (how it functions in Canvas) | How To Guide |
Book | Page | Probably a collection of pages or a link out to an eternal tool of sorts. This will be unique to every instructor. | |
File | Files | Direct equivalent. A little bit less functionality, but you can pull from other files already uploaded to the course. | |
Folder | Not exactly... | It depends on how it should be set up. Folders aren't widely used, but you can have a module with the collection of pages, or just a page that leads to other pages. | |
IMS content package | TBD No video assignment resource | ||
IMS | Kaltura My Media or Kaltura Media Gallery | TBD | |
Label | Text Header | Has a lot less utility. You can't put anything in the Header other than a word or a phrase. | |
Page | Page | Has a lot more utility. Can have students collaborate, embed PowerPoints, videos, and other media. | |
URL | External URL | Direct equivalent |
Question Types
Moodle | Canvas (New Quiz) | Canvas (Classic Quiz) | Notes (how it functions in Canvas) | How To Guide |
Question bank | Item bank | Question bank | Two different question banks in Canvas if you use both of the quiz engines. | |
Can tag | Can tag | Can't tag | Some instructors really utilize the tagging feature to organize their questions in addition to the actual categories - something to note for the classic quiz. | |
Direct Equivalents | ||||
Description | Stimulus | Text (no question) | Not quite a perfect direct equivalent, but it is really close. Stimulus is a media question that requires an additional attachment of follow-up questions. In Moodle and Canvas Classic, you can use a Description/Text question type to do the same, but without the attached follow-up questions. | |
Drag and drop into text | Hot Spot | -- | Canvas note: you can only do one marker at a time. Workaround is to duplicate the hotspot question and select the other things that you want selected. You can select different shapes of selectors. | |
Drag and drop markers | Hot Spot | -- | Canvas note: you can only do one marker at a time. Workaround is to duplicate the hotspot question and select the other things that you want selected. You can select different shapes of selectors. | |
Drag and drop onto image | Hot Spot | -- | Canvas note: you can only do one marker at a time. Workaround is to duplicate the hotspot question and select the other things that you want selected. You can select different shapes of selectors. | |
Essay | Essay | Essay | ||
Essay | File Upload | File Upload | In Moodle, you select "File Upload" under the Essay question type. | |
Matching | Matching | Matching | Matching | |
Multiple Choice | Multiple Answer | Multiple Answers | One question type in Moodle, separate ones on Canvas. | |
Multiple Choice | Multiple Choice | Multiple Choice | One question type in Moodle, separate ones on Canvas. | |
Numerical | Numeric | Numerical Answer | Students provide a numerical answer. | |
True/False | True or False | True/False | This is true. | |
Available in Canvas but not Moodle | ||||
-- | Categorization | -- | For this question type, you would create a category or several (like mammals, reptiles, birds, fish, etc.) and then have the answers that you would like to go in the category. Can also add distractors that are rogue answers to throw off the students. | |
-- | Fill in the Blank | Fill in Multiple Blanks | Specific to Canvas, in New Quiz, you can select "Fill In the Blank", and then have multiple blanks but selecting the text and pressing Enter. | |
-- | Formula | Formula | ||
-- | -- | Multiple Dropdowns | ||
-- | Ordering | -- | What's the order that you would like to do things in? You can also give a start/end if you fill in the top & bottom fields. | |
Available in Moodle but not Canvas | ||||
Calculated | ||||
Calculated multichoice | ||||
Calculated Simple | ||||
Embedded answers (Cloze) | ||||
Essay (auto-grade) | No workaround. | |||
Regular expression short answer | ||||
Select missing words | ||||
Short answer | Fill In the Blank | Fill In the Blank | Workaround: Essay, or Fill in the blank, or a Multiple choice. No direct equivalent. |
General Features
Moodle | Canvas | Notes | How To Guide |
Logs | New Analytics | Lacks event stream. Turn it on in the Course settings under the Feature Options. | |
Grouping | Group set | Can assign group leaders to groups, different group set up options (# of groups, # of members per group). Duplicate group set option. | |
Gradebook | Grades | Different viewing/arranging options available. | |
Quickmail/Moodle Messaging | Inbox | Inbox seems very similar to both of these Moodle features. It is found independently of a specific course, but you can still filter by courses and the groups within the courses. | |
Participants | People | Contains group set set up, has filtering and search options, add people via email. | |
Edit Settings | Settings | Similar options, can adjust navigation - show/hide different working spaces like assignments, quizzes, discussions, people, announcements. etc. Add description and course image. See course-specific Feature Options for New Quizzes, Analytics, Rich Content Editor, and more. |
If you have any questions about moving your course from Moodle to Canvas, please don't hesitate to reach out to us at atlas-tlt@illinois.edu for a consultation.