Learn@Illinois Moodle - Moodle to Canvas Comparison Chart

To compare and contrast the different features between Learn@Illinois Moodle and Canvas, please look over the charts below.
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 Guides (links open in new window)
Assignment
Assignment

Direct equivalent.

5 types (multiple types can be selected): Text Entry, Website URL, Media Recordings, Student Annotation, File uploads. There are also options for plagiarism review powered by Turnitin and peer review. Can be assigned to different groups from within the edit settings menu.

What are Assignments?

Instructor Guide: Assignments

Video Tutorial: Assignments Overview

Attendance
Attendance

Partial equivalent.

Does not display to students and students cannot self-mark as present. Teachers 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 whether attendance should count towards the final grade, and what percent is set for lateness.

*Found in External Tool
Certificate
Outcomes
Not widely used. Contact atlas-tlt@illinois.edu for assistance.  
Chat
Chat

Direct equivalent.

Cannot separate by groups; chat is for entire course. Message history is visible for everyone.

*Found in External Tool
Choice
No direct equivalent

There is no activity that offers this functionality.

Workaround: Quiz. Change the Quiz Type to “Ungraded Survey”. Caveat is that you can't display the results to students.

Database
No direct equivalent

There is no activity that offers this functionality. 

Workaround: Page. Change "users allowed to edit this page" to "teachers and students" and then 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 External Tools will differ.  
Feedback
No direct equivalent

There is no activity that offers this functionality. 

Workaround: Quiz. Change the Quiz Type to “Ungraded Survey”. Has the option to be anonymous.
Forum
Discussion
Direct equivalent
Glossary
No direct equivalent

There is no activity that offers this functionality.

Workaround: Page. Change "users allowed to edit this page" to "teachers and students" and then set up a table for students to edit and put their info in.
Group choice
Group set

Close equivalent, even if not direct. 

People > +Group Set > Check Self Sign-Up (select how many groups to create and limit groups to a designated number of members). The People tab needs to be visible in the settings menu so students can click there to select their groups.

*This is not an activity in Canvas.
H5P
No direct equivalent
There is no activity that offers this functionality. Recommended to use the Moodle LTI.
Illinois Media Space Assignment
Assignment

Close equivalent, even if not direct. 

Use the Media Recordings option in an Assignment, or have students submit a Website URL if it's on YouTube or somewhere else. 
Journal
No direct equivalent

There is no activity that offers this functionality.

Workaround: Assignment. Set up as a Text Entry with no deadline. Could duplicate numerous times if you want a weekly one, but you can't keep a running diary.
Lesson
No direct equivalent
There is no activity that offers this functionality. Recommended to use the Moodle LTI or rebuild as quizzes.
OU Blog
No direct equivalent

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.
OU Wiki
No direct equivalent

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
No direct equivalent

There is no activity that offers this functionality.

Workaround: Quiz. Has the option to be anonymous. Students cannot view responses.
Quiz
Quiz

Direct equivalent, but question types differ (see Question Types chart below).

SCORM package
SCORM

Direct equivalent.

Scheduler
Calendar

Partial equivalent. 

+ > Appointment Group. You can set up some 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.

*This is not an activity in Canvas 

Survey
No direct equivalent

There is no activity that offers this functionality.

Workaround: Quiz. 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

Close equivalent, even if not direct. 

Turn on Plagiarism Review in Assignment.

Wiki
No direct equivalent

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 

Partial equivalent. Recommended to use the Moodle LTI.

Set up Peer Review in Assignment. Very different because there aren't phases. You can assign reviewers automatically or manually. 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.
Zoom
Zoom
Direct equivalent.
*Found in External Tool
 

Resources

Moodle
Canvas
 Notes about how it functions in Canvas
How To Guides (links open in new window)
Book
Page

Partial equivalent.

Create a module with a collection of pages.
File
Files

Direct equivalent.

A little bit less functionality, but you can pull from other files already uploaded to the course.
Folder
Page

Partial equivalent.

Create a module with a collection of pages.
IMS content package
Not widely used. Contact atlas-tlt@illinois.edu for assistance. 
Kaltura Video Resource
Kaltura at Illinois

Direct equivalent. 

Add a video from the text editor or from the External Tool menu.

Page
Page

Direct equivalent.

You can embed PowerPoints, videos, and other media. There is also an option to allow students to edit a Page.
Text and media area (formerly Label)
Text Header

Has a lot less utility. You can't put anything in the Header other than a word or a phrase.

URL
External URL

Direct equivalent

 

Question Types

Moodle
Canvas (New Quiz)
Canvas (Classic Quiz)
Notes
How To Guides (links open in new window)
Question bank
Item bank
Question bank

Two quiz engines in Canvas: Classic and New. Each have their own distinct item or question bank. Note that you cannot tag questions in the Classic Quiz question bank.

Direct Equivalents
Description
Stimulus
Text (no question)

Not a direct equivalent, but it is 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
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
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.
--
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 by 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 Guides (links open in new window)
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. See Gradebook Features chart below.
Quickmail/Moodle Messaging
Inbox
Inbox is 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 or NetID.
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.
 

Gradebook Features

Moodle
Canvas
Notes
How To Guides (links open in new window)
Grader report
(Traditional) Gradebook
Just as in Moodle, this is the main page by default.
User report
Individual Gradebook
In contrast to Moodle, Canvas shows only the summary of the grade for the Assignment Group, but you can view grades for individual assignments. In Canvas, scroll down on the Individual Gradebook page to the Content Selection section and Select a student.
Single view
Individual Gradebook / (Traditional) Gradebook
In Canvas, scroll down on the Individual Gradebook page to the Content Selection section and Select an assignment. In contrast to Moodle, this will only display that assignment for an individual student. If you need to see all of the student grades for one assignment, you can go to the (Traditional) Gradebook page and use the Assignment Names search bar to search for the assignment that you want to view.
How do I view assignments or students individually in the Gradebook?
Gradebook setup
Assignment Groups Weight
 
This is accessed and enabled by going to the Assignments page and clicking the Options icon.
How do I view assignments or students individually in the Gradebook?
Gradebook categories
Assignment Groups
In Moodle, instructors go to the Gradebook setup page click Add category. In Canvas, instructors go to the Assignments page and create (Assignment) Groups from there.
How do I view assignments or students individually in the Gradebook?
Bulk inserting grades
Automatically apply grade for missing submission
In Moodle, bulk inserting grades is often used to replace missing grades with zeroes. This can be done in Canvas under the Late Policies tab, which can be accessed from the Gradebook Settings gear icon on the main (Traditional) Gradebook page. Using the Canvas Missing Submission Policy
Importing/exporting grades
Actions -> Import/export
In Canvas, you can import or export a .csv file
Hiding grades
Manually post grades, hide grades
In Canvas, if you do not want grades to be automatically published to students when you grade, navigate to the Gradebook Settings gear icon on the (Traditional) Gradebook page. From there, you can select the Grade Posting Policy tab and select Manually Post Grades.
Grading within the Assignment
SpeedGrader
As in Moodle, this can be used to grade assignments, group assignments, and discussions in Canvas.
 
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.
An earlier version of this article was called “Equivalency Chart.” We changed it to “Comparison Chart”. We recognize that a lot of features between Moodle and Canvas are not fully equivalent to each other, and this chart serves to illustrate the closest available options.

Related Links



Keywords:
activities, resources, quiz, gradebook 
Doc ID:
111169
Owned by:
ATLAS-TLT in University of Illinois LAS
Created:
2021-06-03
Updated:
2025-05-02
Sites:
University of Illinois Liberal Arts and Sciences