Managing student submissions on Moodle was messy until I learned how to create Google email rules and filter the Moodle submission notifications into the appropriate email folders. This organization allows me so quickly see how many assignments have been submitted grouped by courses. This short article will detail how to go through the two-step process working within both Google mail and the Moodle assignment dropboxes.

The first thing to consider is what to add to your Moodle assignment names so you know what to use in your Google email rule. I use the course prefix as this key. All my Moodle assignment names end wth a dash followed by the course prefix.

This screen snapshot shows an example of assignment names for week 10 work in my CIT 210 course:

To change the name and notification status, edit the settings for each assignment dropbox on Moodle then add the text to the end of the assignment name.  Scroll down in the edit screen to the Notifications block and, if necessary, change No to Yes in the Notify graders about submission area.

The second step is to go to your Google email account to create the folder structure and the rules.

To create the folder structure, click on the More option as shown by the blue arrow below:

This folder structure begins with a folder named TO CORRECT with folders for my classes listed below it. See the yellow highlighting in the screen snapshot above.

Once the folders are in place, create the rules by following these steps:

1. Click the down arrow to the right of the Settings gear:
2. Selects Settings from the drop-down menu:
3. Select Filters on the blue horizontal menu bar.
4. Click the Create a new filter option:
5. Insert your filter text as shown in the following screen snapshot then click the Continue option
6. Select the following two options, selecting your appropriate folder label. Then click the Create

The next time a submission is made to the Moodle assignment dropbox, a notification will be sent to the new ‘TO CORRECT’ folder.

Rules can also be created for your Moodle discussion forums following these same steps.