The database activity allows participants to build, display and search a database of entries about any topic. Participants can add their own entries which editing teachers have the option to moderate. This gives students more autonomy over their own learning and allows them to co-construct their own knowledge alongside their peers.

This activity is a powerful and versatile tool. As well as a content bank, it can also be used for:

• Contact, absence and extension request forms
• Image galleries
• Collecting project resources
• Generating timesheets
• Recording contact hours or time spent on CPD.

This video is an excellent introductionLink opens in a new window to some of these.

If you only need to build a bank of terms and definitions, the simpler Glossary activity may be more suitable. See the Glossary GuideLink opens in a new window for more information.

Add a database activity

1. Go to the Moodle space and enable Edit mode .
2. In the relevant section, click  Add an activity or resource.
3. Select Database from the list.
4. Give your Database a Name and Description.
5. Under Entries, select whether to moderate entries before they appear, whether students will need to add entries before viewing others' entries, and set a maximum number of entries. You can also allow comments.
6. Under Ratings, select whether students can rate their peers' entries. Please note you will first need to add the Student role to the mod/data:rate permissions list in Permissions.
7. If you have Activity completion switched on, you can set a minimum number of entries to be added before the activity will be marked as completed.
8. Amend any other relevant settings, then click Save and display.

You are now ready to start adding content to your database. See the Moodle Docs guide for building a database for more.

---

More information on the Database activity is available at Moodle Docs.Link opens in a new window