Moodle attendance feature. I do not use the attendance feature to take attendance, I use it to grade my students’ Prepare Activities. In Moodle, the instructor can set up the attendance feature however she wants. I have it set up with a 5, 4, 3, 2, 1, 0 scale. I set up all of the sessions at the beginning of the semester. At the start of each class I open the session on my ipad and I record the grade as I walk around the room looking at student papers. The grade is automatically put into the Moodle grade book and I connect with each student at the start of each class.

Drop Box and Notability. Sometimes I have students turn in papers electronically. I have a shared dropbox for each class that students can put files into. Dropbox is free to use for the instructor and the student. I have students turn in pdf files. If they don’t, I can convert their file to a pdf. I open the file in an app on my ipad called Notability. Notability costs about $3 and is well worth the price. In notability, I can read the paper and write on it in different color inks. If I change my mind, it is easy to erase what I wrote and write something new (which is not easy with actual paper and ink). Once the paper is graded, I upload it to dropbox and the student downloads it to their device.

In Notability I can also copy and paste, paste in a picture, highlight, type and draw. It is a really easy to use app. Whenever I want to make a key available to my students, I write it up using notability, upload it into dropbox as a pdf, and then post it on Moodle. I can do all of this without ever making a paper copy.

If you want help learning to use these tools, let me know. I will be happy to help you out.