Pulse activity feature
Pulse Reactions let learners and approvers respond directly to notifications — either inside the course or through secure, tokenized email links. This allows users to take action without navigating through the course, and still ensures full tracking within Moodle.
Reactions can be used to:
- Confirm completion
- Give quick feedback (thumbs up/down)
- Approve activities according to role permissions
If a tokenized link expires, users can still react after logging in. Reactions may also be displayed directly within the Pulse activity, and their placement can be customized to support different workflows. When no interaction is required, a “No reaction” option marks the notification as read automatically.
These flexible response options help collect acknowledgments, track learner progress, and streamline approval and feedback workflows across the course.
Regarding the approval workflow with Reactions, groups or user-context roles are used as the basis for approval permissions (see also Approval-based completion). The Reactions feature even allows users who are not enrolled in the course to receive an approval email via the user-context role. This can be particularly helpful when parents need to grant approvals for their children if they themselves are not enrolled in the course. It can also be useful in an employee relationship.
You can review reactions in the user interaction report.
Confirm completion
Students can react with “mark as complete” directly within the course. Therefore, a Pulse activity with a reaction is configured, along with a dedicated completion condition (“Mark as complete by the student to complete this activity”).
At the same time, the student receives an email notification stating that the “mark as complete” reaction is required to continue. This is, of course, optional.
Rating
In this example, the rating is displayed directly in the course.
This section contains several activities, including a discussion forum. Users can rate the quality of discussions after joining.
Users can rate directly within the course or conveniently via an email notification, allowing them to provide feedback without entering the course.
Approval
This course includes a free section. After completing the first activity, the approval process is activated. A notification appears in the course stating that approval is required to continue.
At the same time, the student receives an email notification stating that approval is required to continue. This is, of course, optional.
The teacher receives an email and can approve directly within the email. Of course, this does not have to be the teacher – it could also be a parent, mentor, or any other role.