Bringing personal identity and motivation to Moodle
We’re excited to introduce Avatar, a course activity that transforms how learners experience identity, motivation, and progression. With evolving characters, platform-wide visibility, and rich creative possibilities, Avatar brings a fresh, personal touch to online learning.
Avatar progression
Character identity
Pre-selected avatar with limited availability
‘My Avatar’ interface and popover region
Avatar details
Secret information
A new way to shape learner identity
Design avatar characters that develop alongside learners. Each avatar can include:
- Up to 10 progression stages
- Unique artwork or animations
- Descriptions, narrative elements, and “secret” information
- Visual worlds that change as the learner progresses
These elements turn avatars into more than images — they become identities, stories, and motivational anchors woven into the learning experience.
Centrally managed, platform-wide
All avatars are created and maintained in a central admin interface, ensuring consistency and easy governance across courses. Administrators can:
- Create and edit avatars at any time
- Restrict availability to specific course categories or cohorts
- Archive older avatars while keeping learner history
- Import and export full avatar sets for fast setup
This centralization makes Avatar incredibly flexible, especially when using ready-to-go design packages that can be imported and customized in minutes.
Integrated as a course activity
Avatars become part of the course experience through the Avatar course activity, where learners can discover, select, and upgrade their avatars.
Course creators can enrich the activity with:
- Custom headers and footers
- Course-specific storytelling
- Availability restrictions for pacing and exclusivity
Learners encounter avatars as part of their natural course flow, which makes progression feel meaningful and connected to their learning journey.
Unlocking motivation through progression and scarcity
Avatar supports many motivational and gamified learning approaches:
- Progression stages unlock over time as learners complete tasks
- Certain avatars can be made rare or exclusive
- Restrictions based on cohort, course category, role, time periods, and more create unique experiences.
- Secret content such as enrollment keys or clues can be embedded
These mechanics help create anticipation, reward effort, and encourage exploration.
A growing collection learners can explore
As learners progress, they collect avatars and unlock new stages. Their personal collection lives in the My Avatars interface, where they can:
- Browse all collected avatars
- Track how far they’ve progressed
- Choose which avatar represents them
An optional popover region lets avatars appear in the top navigation — making them a visible part of daily platform use.
Learners can also use avatars as their Moodle profile image, or platforms can assign profile images automatically for branding or thematic purposes.
Fast setup with importable Avatar design packages
To make starting easy, Avatar supports complete backup and import of avatar sets. This allows:
- Quick installation of professionally designed avatar packages
- Consistent identity themes across multiple courses or platforms
- Fast customization without design work from scratch
Perfect for institutions that want great visuals with minimal effort.
👉 Learn more about our design packages and creation guidelines.
A more personal, engaging Moodle experience
Avatar brings together identity, progression, and creativity to enrich the Moodle learning experience. It encourages learners to engage more deeply, express themselves visually, and enjoy discovering how their characters grow over time. For course creators and administrators, it opens new doors to storytelling, motivation, and imaginative learning design.