Introducing AI in Moodle, Moodle Workplace and Totara

See how the use of AI in Moodle, Moodle Workplace and Totara is enhancing learning experiences.

You’ve almost certainly seen AI — and especially Generative AI — starting to feature in the software and systems you use on a daily basis. AI tools are now integrated into our inboxes, word processors, search engines and other platforms. Learning management systems are no exception.

Platforms including Moodle, Moodle Workplace and Totara are leveraging the power of AI in e-learning to:

• Make it quicker and easier to build creative, engaging courses
• Improve accessibility and make learning more engaging for everyone
• Provide cost-effective, real-time support to learners with learning recommendations
• Streamline the generation of relevant quizzes and assessments

Let’s explore how AI is currently being used in all three platforms.

AI in Moodle LMS

Moodle has declared a commitment to what it terms “human-centred AI”. It predicts that AI will become an important part of all educational technology. But it also acknowledges that this brings “high risks to education”.

It says: “At Moodle, we are committed to a human-centred approach to AI that maximises the safety, efficiency and accessibility of learning for everyone.”

A new AI subsystem was introduced in Moodle LMS 4.5. This is designed to ensure the technology behind various AI technologies integrates easily with your LMS. These include:

AI-power content generation and summarisation

Generate AI text and images directly from your Moodle editor to simplify content creation, while also saving time and resources. AI-generated content is tagged as such for transparency. There are also settings to allow learners to use AI to create and summarise text.

AI connector

The Moodle AI Connector brings AI-powered technologies, such as ChatGPT, Dall-E, and Stable Diffusion, into your Moodle platform. This enables you to leverage these technologies within Moodle to enhance learning.

AI text-to-question generator

Take text from your course material or other resources and create quizzes to assess each learner’s understanding and engagement levels. Using AI, it automatically creates dynamic quizzes and questionnaires from source materials. The difficulty of the questions adjusts automatically based on the learner’s performance.

OpenAI chat block

Embed OpenAI within your Moodle site using this versatile block. Learners can engage in interactive conversations with the technology behind ChatGPT. This can provide learners with real-time assistance, feedback and clarification.

AI text-to-image repository

Using this plugin, you can instantly create AI images within Moodle’s file picker. It uses OpenAI technology to instantly create images based on text prompts or text within courses. This means you can quickly and easily make course materials more visually engaging through a relatively low investment of resources.

AI in Moodle Workplace

All of the AI features available in Moodle LMS are also available in Moodle Workplace.

The only difference is that the additional features available within Moodle’s enterprise LMS might open up more opportunities for you to deploy Moodle’s AI features.

AI in Totara Learn

Totara points to endless opportunities to enable efficiencies and smarter ways of working by incorporating AI technology within its LMS.

It describes its approach as: “Human-centric AI that drives L&D efficiency and delivers exceptional learning experiences.”

Since Totara version 18.8, AI tools have been integrated into the Totara Learn platform. AI capabilities currently available in Totara include:

OpenAI integration

Connect ChatGPT and other OpenAI products directly to your Totara site. As well as offering familiar ChatGPT features to your learners and admins, you can also use the integration to develop custom plugins to meet your organisation’s needs.

One example of this is creating chatbots with access to limited data within your Totara site. The chatbot could have access solely to specific course contents and resources so it can provide meaningful responses to learners’ questions. This has the potential to provide a better experience for learners while also saving time for educators.

AI-assisted course tags

With Totara’s AI-assisted course tag generator, OpenAI automatically suggests suitable course tags to course admins.

Based on the course title and course description, as well as data on how existing courses are tagged within the course content catalogue, the AI assistant proposes relevant tags. If the options aren’t suitable, there is an option to ‘regenerate tags’. This prompts the assistant to look at alternatives.

Machine learning

A key aspect of Totara’s AI offering is its machine learning recommendation engine. The platform examines factors like existing learner profiles, recently viewed content and average completion time to serve personalised recommendations to learners. 

This includes analysing the most viewed courses, resources and playlists of the past few days to suggest trending content. Another example is recommending resources with a read or watch time of less than five minutes to help learners use spare time to complete micro-learning activities.

Start using AI in Totara, Moodle LMS or Moodle Workplace

Do you have an idea for using AI to drive efficiencies or improve learning outcomes for your organisation? Talk to our learning technology experts to see how this could be achieved using the AI capabilities of Totara, Moodle LMS or Moodle Workplace.

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