Does Moodle Detect AI and Plagiarism?

A leading learning management system (LMS), Moodle has helped educators create personalized learning environments tailored to their students for over 20 years. 

However, a tool with such a long history raises an important question: has it kept up with the times? Does Moodle detect AI? What about plagiarism?

Here’s the short answer: Moodle supports AI and plagiarism detection through plugins and integrations, including Originality.ai. 

Learn more in our press release, then check out our Moodle plugin.

Read on for more on what Moodle is, its main features and benefits, and how to use plugins like Originality.ai to check student work for plagiarism and AI content.

Key Takeaways (TL;DR)

• Moodle is an open-source LMS, known for its customizable courses and learner-centric approach to education.
• In addition to course creation and management, Moodle’s main features include:
  
  • Access to an extensive plugin directory
  • Built-in assessment tools
  • An app that makes course materials available offline
• Moodle’s benefits include customizability via plugins, flexible deployment options, and an easy-to-use interface.
• Does Moodle detect AI and plagiarism? Using Originality.ai’s Moodle Plugin, users can detect AI and plagiarism within Moodle LMS.

What Is Moodle? 

Moodle (or Modular Object-Oriented Dynamic Learning Environment) is an open-source LMS software that can be used at both the academic and enterprise levels. Even organizations like Google trust it.

It stands out from other LMSs because its development has been guided by a “social constructionist pedagogy”. Or, in other words, the idea that students learn more effectively when they work together to actively build knowledge, instead of just receiving information that educators think they need to know.

Although this approach may sound entirely learner-centric, it also offers support for teachers and trainers. Moodle allows educators to customize their courses to better align with student needs, teaching style, or even institutional goals.

Better yet, it backs this kind of flexibility with a wide range of features.

What are Some of Moodle’s Main Features?

Moodle offers several features and functionalities right out of the box, though you can customize it even further with various plugins.

Moodle’s main features include:

• Course creation and management. Moodle allows teachers to create online courses, which can include text, video, assignments, quizzes, and even gamification elements like badges, points, and leaderboards 
• Customizable layout. It can even be tailored to reflect the brand of a school or institution. 
• Extensive plugin directory. Users have access to a variety of plugins, both developed within the Moodle community and by third-party programmers, including options for attendance tracking, interactive content, and plagiarism and AI detection.
• Built-in assessment tools. In addition to creating assessments, educators can also grade and manage them within Moodle’s user-friendly interface.
• Communication tools. Originally conceived for feedback and collaboration, Moodle contains a host of different communication tools, including online messaging, chat, and forums, to allow instructors and students to communicate with each other. 
• Accessibility compliance. Moodle follows international open standards for accessibility so that it can be used by students with different accessibility needs. It also includes support in multiple languages.
• Moodle app for mobile. Students can access course content, connect with classmates, and even complete and submit assignments with the app.
• Learning analytics. Educators and trainers can find and use descriptive, predictive, diagnostic, and prescriptive analytics to improve their courses.

Together, these features help support both learners and educators in the classroom, whether it’s a school or organizational setting. However, they’re not the only reasons to use Moodle.

What are the Benefits of Using Moodle? 

It’s easy to see why Moodle is so popular with educators and instructors. Moodle’s benefits include:

• Trusted worldwide. It’s used in over 200 countries, including military and high-security environments.
• Designed with security and privacy in mind. References various frameworks to ensure a secure platform, including OWASP and CWE.
• Open-source software. Free to use, install, and share, Moodle’s open-source nature also allows it to be constantly monitored by those in its community.
• Customizable courses. Educators can tailor courses to different teaching styles and learning needs depending on their audience.
• Flexible deployment options. Including both self- and cloud-hosted services.
• Highly scalable. From small classrooms to enterprise training programs, Moodle has the ability to scale without compromising performance.
• Easy-to-use interface. Responsive and accessible across devices.
• Offline access. Via the Moodle app, students can see course materials and complete activities offline. Everything will sync back up when they’re online again.

If all that isn’t enough, one of the best things about Moodle is that it can adapt its platform to meet the latest challenges in the education space. 

So, that brings us to our big questions: Does Moodle detect AI and plagiarism?

Does Moodle Check for Plagiarism?

There’s no Moodle plagiarism checker, but it does support plagiarism detection through third-party plugins, such as Originality.ai. This allows educators to choose the tool they like best.

Once a plugin has been selected, installed, and enabled, it can check for plagiarism through Moodle by following this general process:

1. Students submit their quizzes, forums, and assignments through Moodle. Educators decide whether to opt for automatic scanning upon submission or to do it manually.
2. The plagiarism service then analyzes the content. How this analysis is completed depends on which plugin you choose. Some might check comprehensive databases of journals, websites, academic papers, and, in some cases, other student submissions. While others are web-search-based and identify potential instances of plagiarism by scanning for matching content in Google. Learn more about Originality.ai’s plagiarism checker.
3. Once the scan is complete, the service generates a plagiarism report, which can differ depending on the chosen plugin. Originality.ai’s plagiarism report, for example, provides an overall score, highlights any potential plagiarism matches, and gives the URLs to their sources.
4. Educators and (if enabled) students can then view the report and decide on next steps.

Instructors and educators should then manually review the work to determine if plagiarism has occurred. 

Limitations of plagiarism detection plugins

Tools like Originality.ai are highly accurate (up to 99.5%, read our plagiarism checker accuracy study). 

However, it’s still important for educators to review the assignment, as a plagiarism detection score shouldn’t be the only measure to identify instances of cheating.

After all, plagiarism is often considered cheating in schools and other training programs, so it’s important to be sure before getting anyone into trouble.

Not to mention that there are different types of plagiarism. 

Many plagiarism detection tools struggle to identify more advanced forms of plagiarism, like patchwork or paraphrasing. 

Originality.ai’s plagiarism checker accuracy study shows how it can identify complex types better than some major competitors.

Does Moodle Detect AI?

As with plagiarism, there’s no built-in Moodle AI detector, but the platform does support AI detection via third-party plugins, including Originality.ai.

The process that Moodle uses to detect AI through these plugins is similar to the one it uses for plagiarism:

1. Students submit their work to Moodle, where educators have enabled the Originality.ai or other AI detector plugin.
2. The plugin analyzes the content to detect machine-generated text. Learn more about how AI detection works.
3. An AI detection report is generated once the scan is complete. This provides a score representing the likelihood of AI use in the content, and flags the relevant sections. Learn more about the meaning of AI vs human content detection scores.
4. Trainers, educators, and students (if enabled) can then review the report and decide what to do next (if anything).

As with plagiarism plugins, those administering AI scans should go through the report manually after receiving the results. Although AI checkers can also be highly accurate (Originality.ai’s rate is over 99%: read our AI content detection accuracy study), they too have limitations.

Limitations of AI detection plugins

False positives are a limitation for AI detector Moodle plugins, and are exactly the reason why human review is so essential at this stage. However, the good news is that it’s possible to limit them.

For example, Originality.ai’s AI detection false positive rate is 0.5% (with our Lite AI detection model). By pairing this with an AI detection Chrome extension that provides an overview of a learner’s writing process, false positives can be avoided.

Another limitation here relates to language. Many AI detectors specialize in checking for English text. Originality.ai, for example, offers a multilingual model that supports 30 languages.

Now, the last limitation here is perhaps the most important one: a plugin built to check for AI does not necessarily detect plagiarism. 

Many instructors need to check for both these days, and can find themselves juggling multiple tools to get the information they need. Fortunately, it is possible to get a tool that does both, like Originality.ai’s. 

Let’s get into how to integrate it with Moodle.

How Do You Integrate Moodle with Third-Party AI and Plagiarism Detection Tools?

To integrate Moodle with your chosen third-party plagiarism detection tool, you’ll need to first decide which tool you want. Different plagiarism detectors have different price points and features, so as an example, we’ll walk you through how to do it with Originality.ai.

Here’s how to integrate Moodle with the Originality.ai plugin:

1. Log in to your Moodle site as an administrator
2. Click on the “Site administration” menu
3. Click on “Plugins”
4. Upload the plugin from a ZIP file (you can download it from Moodle), or install it directly from the Moodle plugins directory. In either case, make sure that the plugin is compatible with your version of Moodle
5. Once installed, head to the plugins menu and scroll down to the “Plagiarism” section. Click the Originality.ai plagiarism plugin.
6. Configure the plugin. Decide which AI model to use for scans, where it can be used (like for assignments, forums, or quizzes), and whether to add a disclosure informing students that their content will be scanned.
7. Add your Originality.ai AI API base URL and key. 

In just a few minutes, the plugin should be ready to use. Here’s a video breaking it all down:

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Then, go ahead set up a test assignment and submit a document to make sure the plugin is working as intended. 

Once you verify that the report has been generated and that it’s accessible, you should be ready to start plagiarism detection through Moodle.

Limitations of Using Third-Party Plugins with Moodle

Although third-party Moodle plugins can be convenient, there are some limitations to consider:

Downtime and reliability

Any third-party service that Moodle uses in order to generate a result (such as a plagiarism or AI detection report) can be affected by downtime. If a service is down for whatever reason, Moodle users will also not be able to access it, which can create a backlog.

Have a question about Originality.ai? You can reach our exceptional support team here.

Data privacy

A major concern with some third-party services is how secure the information is which is uploaded to their servers, such as student essays. 

The key to avoiding any issues here is to do thorough research into the policies of different third-party plugins. Originality.ai uses industry-leading encryption protocols, learn more about how Originality.ai treats content.

Subscription fees and usage limits

A quality plugin doesn’t always come for free, especially when it includes industry-leading AI and plagiarism detection technology. It’s therefore essential for instructors to look into subscription fees and usage limits before choosing a tool, and make sure they align with budgets.

Learn more about Originality.ai pricing.

Learning curve

Some plugins are easier to use than others, and this applies to both educators and students. It’s therefore a good idea to view tutorials on how to integrate and use a Moodle plugin before committing to one.

For example, Originality.ai offers tutorials for both teachers and students. 

Best of all, they’re only about a minute long each, so everyone can start using the plugin pretty quickly after viewing.

Here’s the Originality.ai Moodle tutorial for students:

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And here’s the Originality.ai Moodle tutorial for teachers:

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Detect AI and Plagiarism with Originality.ai’s Moodle Plugin Today

The capabilities may not be built into Moodle’s platform, but users can still detect AI and plagiarism through Moodle with plugins from Originality.ai and other third parties.

Originality.ai’s Moodle plugin stands out for a few reasons:

• Multiple AI detection accuracy studies have identified Originality.ai as the most effective at detecting AI
• Better than Copyscape, Grammarly, and Turnitin at detecting global, paraphrase, and patchwork plagiarism at 5% and 15% thresholds, according to our plagiarism accuracy study
• Easy to set up and use, with tutorial videos to help along the way

Ready to give it a try? Download Originality.ai’s Moodle plugin today.

Further Reading on AI & Education:

• 5 AI Detectors Used by Colleges and Universities for Research
• Are Colleges Using AI Detectors?
• ChatGPT Study Mode: Key Insights

Frequently Asked Questions

Check out the FAQs below for more about Moodle, AI, and plagiarism.

Does Moodle detect cheating?

Yes, Moodle can detect certain types of cheating when integrated with plugins like Originality.ai. For example, if a learner is trying to plagiarize human-written content or pass off AI-generated text as their own, teachers can detect plagiarism or AI-written content with the Originality.ai plugin. Keep in mind, that plagiarism and AI detection scores shouldn’t be the only measure to identify instances of academic cheating.

Can Moodle detect ChatGPT?

It doesn’t have a built-in detector, but Moodle can detect ChatGPT through third-party plugins, such as Originality.ai. With over 99% accuracy, Originality.ai can detect AI-generated content from leading large language models (LLMs), including ChatGPT.

Can Moodle detect copy and pasted text in essays or assignments?

Moodle can detect copy-and-pasted text with a plugin like Originality.ai. With the plugin integrated into and enabled through Moodle, Originality.ai can check for plagiarized and AI-written text.