The Diary activity in Moodle allows instructors to give students a prompt and have them respond with personal reflections, journal entries, or ongoing learning notes. Each entry is private between the student and instructor, and the instructor can provide feedback and a grade.
What Is the Diary Tool?
The Diary activity is:
A private, reflective writing tool
Designed for weekly journals, personal reflections, goal tracking, metacognitive prompts, etc.
Visible only to the student and instructor
A single activity where the student may add entries over time
Gradable, with instructor feedback/comment features
Common Uses
Faculty often use Diary for:
Weekly reflection journals
Clinical/field experience logs
Reading reflections
Goal-setting and progress reflections
Practicum or internship notes
Exit tickets
Metacognitive “What I learned this week” prompts
How to Set Up a Diary in Moodle 4.5
1. Add the Diary Activity
Turn editing on
Click Add an activity or resource
Choose Diary
Click Add
2. General Settings
Name
Enter a clear title (e.g., Week 1 Reflection Journal).
Description / Instructions
Add the prompt students will respond to.
Examples:
“Reflect on your learning this week…”
“Describe a challenge you encountered and how you addressed it…”
Select Display description on course page if you want the prompt visible outside the activity.
3. Diary Settings
Entry Options
Keep the latest entry only – Moodle will overwrite previous entries if enabled (most faculty leave this off to preserve all entries).
Allow editing of previous entries – determines whether students can revise past reflections.
Availability
Set:
Open date – when students can begin writing
Close date – last date entries are allowed
If no dates are added, the diary is always open.
4. Grade Settings
You can grade a diary entry.
Options include:
Point value (e.g., 10 or 100 points)
Scale (e.g., Pass/Fail, custom scale)
Grading method – usually “Simple direct grading”
The grade automatically appears in the Moodle Gradebook.
5. Save and Display
Click Save and return to course.
Your diary is now ready for student entries.
What Faculty Can Do With the Diary Activity
1. Read Student Entries
Each student submits private written reflections.
Faculty can:
Open the Diary
Click View all entries
Select any student to read their entry
Entries are listed by student name and date.
2. Provide Feedback and Comments
Inside each student's Diary entry, faculty can:
Add Instructor Comments
Respond conversationally or provide coaching
Add private remarks the student can see
Track growth over entries
This creates a private, ongoing dialogue.
3. Grade the Diary
For graded diaries:
Open the student’s entry
Enter a grade in the grading panel
Click Save changes
Grades flow into the gradebook automatically.
You can also bulk grade from the View all entries page.
4. Download Entries (If Needed)
Faculty can export diary responses:
Use the Download entries option (if enabled by your institution’s Diary plugin settings)
Exports typically include:
Student name
Entry text
Dates
Instructor feedback
Tips for Effective Use
Create one Diary per week/topic, not one diary for the whole course—used this way, grading is easier.
Keep prompts short and focused.
Use the diary as a low-stakes reflection tool to encourage deeper thinking.
Add completion tracking so students see whether they’ve done their reflection.
Consider pairing diaries with weekly check-ins or reflection rubrics.
Student Experience (What They See)
Students will:
Click the Diary
See the prompt
Click Add entry
Type their reflection in the text box
Click Save changes
Return later to update entries (if editing is allowed)
Only the instructor sees their writing—not other classmates.