LESSON ACTIVITY IN MOODLE WITH AI · AI AUTHORING

From your seed to a target Lesson

Bring together a working example, your teaching material and a clear learning brief.

Where are we?

You have prepared, tested, backed up and restored a seed Lesson. You are now ready to use it as a reference while collaborating with ChatGPT on a larger target Lesson. Your next step will be to restore and test the target in Moodle.

Three ingredients, three different jobs

  • The seed: examples of working Lesson pages, questions, feedback, jumps and settings.
  • Your material: the subject matter, illustrations and any teacher notes.
  • Your brief: who the learners are, what they should learn and how the Lesson should support them.

A seed is a reference, not a ceiling. ChatGPT may research features absent from it, but a working example of a feature you need reduces uncertainty. For this first target, we use content pages and single-answer multiple-choice questions.

Our example: teaching the heart

Use the Servier Heart Physiology PowerPoint supplied as a file resource in this course, together with your seed backup. It is an illustrated resource deck containing 21 slides, rather than a fully explained teaching presentation. We will select relevant diagrams and develop a beginner Lesson about chambers, valves and blood flow.

Our target is 14 Lesson pages in total: nine content pages and five question pages. Remediation uses these existing explanation pages; it does not add extra pages.

Turn material into teaching.

A slide may make sense when a teacher explains it aloud, but be incomplete for an independent learner. Ask ChatGPT to identify missing explanations, propose them openly and supply sources. Review those additions before approving them.

Before you paste the first prompt

  1. Start a ChatGPT conversation that supports file uploads and file analysis. Upload your seed .mbz and the PowerPoint .pptx (or any other contnet source).
  2. Include useful speaker notes or an accompanying transcript if your slides depend on spoken explanations. Tell ChatGPT to confirm what it can actually inspect.
  3. Enter the Moodle version where you will restore the target. Preserve seed settings deliberately; do not assume they will be inherited correctly without checking.
  4. Use material you have permission to adapt, and remove personal or student information before uploading.

If the chat cannot inspect the PowerPoint graphics, provide a PDF export or selected slide images as well. These can help with visual inspection, but do not replace the editable source or establish that the seed backup has been inspected.

1 · Ask for a plan

Copy the text below, replace the bracketed details and paste it into the same ChatGPT conversation.

I am creating a Moodle Lesson with you as my authoring collaborator. I will restore and test it myself; do not connect to my Moodle site. I have attached: 1. A working seed Lesson backup (.mbz), without user data. 2. Servier-Heart-Physiology.pptx, an illustrated resource deck, not a complete teaching lesson. Target Moodle version: [enter your version, for example 4.5 or 5.2]. Target title: The heart: chambers, valves and the route of blood. Audience: older secondary-school learners or adult beginners, with no prior anatomy knowledge. Learning outcomes: learners should identify the four chambers; explain the role of valves; distinguish pulmonary from systemic circulation; and trace blood through the heart, lungs and body. First inspect the actual attachments. Explain what you can read, including slide graphics and any notes. Inspect the seed's pages, question structure, feedback, jumps, embedded files and settings. If you cannot unpack the .mbz or inspect a diagram reliably, say so; do not pretend to have inspected it. Propose a 14-page Lesson (9 content pages and 5 single-answer multiple-choice question pages), following the suggested plan below. Treat the slides as source material rather than requiring one Lesson page per slide. Select only relevant illustrations; omit advanced ECG, cell biology and conduction detail from this beginner Lesson. The deck contains little explanatory text. Clearly identify explanations you propose to add and verify them against authoritative anatomy references, with source links. Flag anything uncertain for my review. Preserve original diagram labels accurately; do not invent anatomical diagrams or infer meaning from colour alone. Give me a table of page titles, types, learning purpose, source slide numbers, proposed additions, button labels and jump destinations. For each question, propose the correct answer, plausible distractors and explanatory feedback. Correct answers move forward; incorrect answers return to the relevant explanation, from which the learner can return to the question. Make every route capable of reaching the ending. Preserve the seed's activity settings unless I explicitly approve a change. Report any settings that may conflict with the proposed learning design. Include Servier attribution and identify any adaptations. Do not generate the final .mbz yet. Wait for my approval of the plan.

A suggested 14-page plan

Give this table to ChatGPT with Prompt 1, or let it propose an equivalent plan for your approval.

Page Purpose / title Type
1 Welcome and learning outcomes Content
2 Reading a heart diagram Content
3 The four chambers Content
4 Check: chambers Question
5 Valves and one-way flow Content
6 Check: valves Question
7 The route to and from the lungs Content
8 Check: pulmonary circulation Question
9 The route to and from the body Content
10 Check: systemic circulation Question
11 Putting the complete route together Content
12 Check: trace the route Question
13 Review and revisit Content
14 Summary, sources and Finish Content

Check the loops: after an incorrect answer, the learner revisits an explanation. That page must offer a way back to the question. A jump to an explanation alone is not a complete remediation route.

2 · Review the teaching before packaging it

Copy the text below, replace the bracketed details and paste it into the same ChatGPT conversation.

I approve the page plan with these changes: [describe your changes, or write "no changes"]. Now draft the complete learner-facing content for the approved 14 pages, including all five MCQs, answers, scores where applicable, explanatory feedback, button labels and exact jump destinations. Write concise, accessible explanations for independent learning. Use the selected diagrams purposefully, with captions and useful alternative text. Include short instructions telling learners what to notice. Keep anatomical orientation clear. Do not add unrelated advanced topics or pad the Lesson to reach the page count. Separate learner-facing content from your notes to me. List the slide number used for each illustration and the sources supporting added explanations. Include a route table so I can check the flow, and a list of settings retained or proposed for change. Preserve image attribution and indicate adaptations. Do not generate the .mbz yet. Wait for my review of the teaching content, questions and navigation.
Your review checkpoint

Read every explanation and question. Check that the diagrams match the text, that each question has one unambiguous correct answer, and that feedback teaches something useful. For this anatomy example, have a teacher familiar with the subject verify the added content. Ask for revisions in the same conversation before proceeding.

3 · Request the target backup

Copy the text below, replace the bracketed details and paste it into the same ChatGPT conversation.

I approve the content and navigation with these final changes: [describe changes, or write "no changes"]. Using the attached working seed .mbz as the structural reference, create a downloadable Moodle backup (.mbz) containing only the approved target Lesson, with 14 pages: 9 content pages and 5 single-answer MCQ pages.
When creating the Moodle .mbz, ensure that the packaged moodle_backup.xml starts with this exact XML declaration, using double quotation marks:
<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?>
Do not place a byte-order mark, whitespace or other content before it. Include the literal opening tags <moodle_backup> and <information> within the first 200 bytes.
Before delivering the .mbz, reopen the completed archive and verify these exact bytes and strings. Also validate the XML, page and answer IDs, navigation jumps, remediation return routes, embedded-file references and image files. Report which checks you performed. Distinguish structural validation from an actual Moodle restore test; I will restore and test the activity myself.
Include the approved illustrations as embedded Moodle files, not references to files on your computer. Include no enrolled-user data or learner attempts. Target Moodle version: [repeat your version]. Retain the seed's activity settings except these explicitly approved changes: [list changes, or write "none"]. Replace seed demonstration content with the approved target content. Use unique page identifiers and valid answer and navigation references. Make the final content page's Finish button jump to End of lesson; do not create an End of branch or cluster for this simple route. Check the archive structure, XML, file references, page count, question answers and navigation references. Confirm each incorrect-answer route allows a return to its question and all routes can reach the ending. Report checks actually performed and any limitations. Do not claim Moodle restore or learner testing unless you actually performed it in Moodle. Provide the downloadable .mbz, a concise list of settings and a restore-and-test checklist. If your available tools cannot create or validate the backup, explain the exact limitation and provide the approved content and route table for manual construction; do not rename an unrelated file to .mbz.

What counts as success?

A downloadable file is an intermediate result. Success is a Lesson that restores in your Moodle version and works for learners.

  • Restore into a test course and confirm the 14 pages and embedded illustrations are present.
  • Check the relevant activity settings, question answers, scores and feedback.
  • Try correct and incorrect answers, follow every return route and reach End of lesson.
  • Use a test learner account for completion and grading checks; teacher preview alone does not establish those behaviours.
  • Report any restore error or navigation problem to ChatGPT, including the exact message and page involved, so you can revise and retest.
Ready for the next section?

You should now have an approved learning design and a target .mbz ready for testing—or a clear account of what prevented file creation. In the next section, restore, evaluate and refine your target Lesson.

Sources and attribution

Servier permits reuse and adaptation of its illustrations under CC BY 4.0. Keep a credit in the target Lesson and your video description, and indicate any adaptations.

Illustrations provided by Servier Medical Art (smart.servier.com), licensed under CC BY 4.0. [Describe adaptations if made.]

Servier attribution guidance · Moodle documentation: activity restore

Last modified: Monday, 5 October 2026, 11:31 AM