Completion tells you a student passed the bar. It does not tell you how much of the video they actually watched. A learner who watched every minute and one who watched the minimum and skipped the rest can both show "Completed," and if that is all your gradebook knows, the two look identical. The FastPix plugin closes that gap inside Moodle: it powers Moodle's own completion with real watch data, and then grades each student automatically on how they watched.
TL;DR
- Completion is Moodle's, powered by FastPix. The FastPix Video activity (
mod_fastpix) uses Moodle's completion condition "Students must watch the video," and FastPix player events supply the watch data behind it. - The course owner sets the percentage. Set it to, say, 50%, and a student reaches Completed by genuinely watching 50% of the video, without fast-forwarding or seeking to get there. Once they cross it, later skipping does not un-complete it.
- The grade is automatic. FastPix scores each student from their actual completion rate and their seek and skip behavior, so a full watcher scores higher than a minimum-then-skip watcher.
- No manual grading, no xAPI or SCORM. The grade lands in Moodle's gradebook on its own.
How video completion works in Moodle with FastPix
Moodle already has a completion framework, and it is good. The piece it cannot do for a plain video is know how much was watched, because an uploaded file gives Moodle nothing but "opened." FastPix's mod_fastpix activity supplies that missing signal.
When you add a FastPix Video activity (mod_fastpix), it adds a completion condition: Students must watch the video, with a percentage you choose. As the learner plays the video, the FastPix player emits events, and those events are what drive Moodle's completion. The student reaches the threshold by actually watching: fast-forwarding or seeking ahead does not count toward the percentage, so the only way to hit 50% is to watch 50%. The moment their genuine watch share crosses the number you set, Moodle marks the activity Completed through its standard completion API. After that point the activity stays completed even if they jump around, because they have already met the bar.
So completion is Moodle's, exactly as it works for every other activity. FastPix just makes it true for video by feeding it real player events instead of a single "opened" flag.
How the grade is calculated automatically
Completion is binary: the student either crossed the threshold or did not. A grade is where the detail lives, and this is the part FastPix adds.
When you enable a grade on the activity, FastPix calculates it automatically from two things: the student's actual completion rate (how much of the video they really watched) and their seek and skip behavior. A student who watched the whole video end to end earns a higher grade than one who watched only the minimum percentage and skipped the rest, even though both are marked Completed. The grade is the number that tells those two learners apart.
The course owner does not score anything by hand. They set the completion percentage and turn on the grade, and the formula does the rest, writing the result to Moodle's gradebook. The outcome is a gradebook that reflects effort and attention, not just attendance.
Set it up: completion and grading
This assumes the plugin is installed; the Moodle video plugin guide covers the one-time setup. Completion and grading are settings on the FastPix Video activity.
Open Completion conditions, choose Add requirements, turn on Students must watch the video, and set the percentage. Add Receive a grade so the automatic grade lands in the gradebook, then save.
As students watch, FastPix player events drive the completion, and the activity is marked Completed once a student's genuine watch share crosses the threshold. For an assessment where you do not want any skipping at all, the activity also offers a no-seek option that blocks forward skips outright.
In the gradebook, the automatic grade reflects how each student watched. Two students who both completed can carry different grades, because one watched in full and the other met the minimum and skipped.
A teacher with the right permission also gets a Watch report on the activity, with unique viewers, average watched percentage, completion rate, and where viewers drop off, all from the same player-event data, and exportable to CSV.
Completion tells you they passed; the grade tells you how much
It helps to keep the two ideas separate. Completion is a threshold: did the student watch the percentage you require, yes or no. The grade is a measurement: of the students who passed, how thoroughly did each one watch. Moodle's completion gives you the first, the FastPix automatic grade gives you the second, and a serious course wants both. The completion drives course progress and release rules; the grade drives the gradebook and tells you who actually engaged.
None of this runs on xAPI or SCORM. The completion is Moodle's own, the grade is calculated from FastPix player events, and both land in Moodle without a learning-record-store to operate.
How a compliance team grades on real watch time
For training that ends in a certificate, "watched enough to complete" and "watched it all" are different facts, and an auditor may care about both. A team running mandatory compliance courses on Moodle wanted completion to gate the certificate and a grade to show how carefully each person actually watched.
They set the FastPix Video activity to require a watch percentage for completion and turned on the grade. Now completion gates the certificate, the automatic grade shows who watched in full versus who met the minimum and skipped, and the watch report is the evidence trail, none of it scored by hand. Getting started took a free FastPix account, with the first $25 of delivery and storage covered by signup credits, and the plugin from the Moodle directory; the completion and grades have been automatic since.
FAQ
How does the FastPix plugin track video completion in Moodle?
The FastPix Video activity (mod_fastpix) uses Moodle's own completion condition, "Students must watch the video," and feeds it with FastPix player events. The student reaches completion by genuinely watching the percentage you set; fast-forwarding or seeking does not count toward it.
Can a student skip ahead to complete the video?
To reach completion, no: seeking ahead does not count toward the required watch percentage, so they have to watch it. Once they have crossed the threshold, later skipping does not un-complete the activity, but their grade still reflects how much they actually watched.
How is the grade calculated?
Automatically, from the student's completion rate and their seek and skip behavior. A student who watched the whole video scores higher than one who met the minimum percentage and skipped the rest, so the grade distinguishes them even when both are marked Completed. The course owner does not grade by hand.
Do I need xAPI or SCORM for this?
No. Completion is Moodle's own, the grade is calculated from FastPix player events, and both write to Moodle's gradebook, so there is no learning-record-store to stand up.
What is the difference between completion and the grade?
Completion is a yes/no threshold (did they watch the required percentage). The grade is a measurement of how thoroughly they watched. Completion drives course progress; the grade drives the gradebook.
