Core Moodle does not track browser tabs. As of September 2026, no standard Moodle log records which tab, site or app a student opens during a quiz, and no web page can read another tab. What each university adds on top is a separate question.
Those 146,839 sites share one codebase and very different rules. Each university chooses which plugins, lockdown browsers and proctoring tools sit on top of its quizzes, so the honest answer changes by campus.
This guide separates what core Moodle records from what add-ons record. It then answers the second question students search most: whether Moodle deadlines can sync with a calendar.
What Is Moodle and Who Uses It?
Moodle is a free, open-source learning management system (LMS), first released on 20 August 2002 by Australian developer Martin Dougiamas. Universities download the code, host it themselves or through a partner, and rename it freely.
York University students, for example, know it as eClass.
Students meet Moodle through five tools: course pages, assignments, quizzes, forums and the calendar. Its main rival in Australia and the US is Canvas, covered in our guide to how Adelaide University runs Canvas.
Scale is lopsided. Of the 146,839 registered sites, 116,564 have under 1,000 users, while 30 sites serve more than 1 million each. Spain leads with 12,987 sites, ahead of the United States at 12,005 and Germany at 8,582.
Lists like this age fast. UNSW shows why.
In September 2026, UNSW announced that D2L Brightspace will replace Moodle for its 80,000+ students over a multi-year transition. Moodle remains the live system there until the switch, and every rule below still applies to current UNSW quizzes.
Can Moodle Track Tabs by Default?
No. A default Moodle install records what happens inside Moodle and nothing outside it.
The standard log stores each quiz event with a timestamp and an IP address: attempt started, each page viewed, summary viewed, attempt submitted. The quiz also autosaves responses every 60 seconds by default, which builds a timeline of answer changes.
What most students get wrong is assuming no tab log means no evidence. Timing is evidence. An attempt where 35 of 40 pages were each answered in under ten seconds reads oddly to any marker, with no tab data involved.
Logs describe behaviour inside the quiz. Only that.
How Does Tab Tracking Actually Work?
Every browser tab runs in isolation. A page cannot read another tab's address, title or content. This is a browser security rule, not a Moodle design choice, and no plugin can override it.
What a page can read is its own state. The Page Visibility API reports hidden when the tab is covered or minimised, and a blur event fires when the click focus moves to another window.
Two signals. Both say "not here". Neither says where.
Page timestamps
Visible or hidden state
Focus or blur state
Desktop apps and files
Second monitors
Phones and paper notes
Core Moodle listens for neither signal. Add-ons do, and they stack in five layers. The higher the layer, the more a student has to install, which is the simplest way to tell them apart.
Layer 2 is a core setting named "Full screen pop-up with some JavaScript security". Per MoodleDocs, the quiz opens in a window covering all others and blocks copy and paste "as far as is possible". It logs nothing about tabs.
Layer 3 is where tab switching becomes visible. CD ExamFocus, built for Moodle 4.5 and later, records when the quiz stops being the active tab and warns the student on return. Its documentation states that it stores no destination URL, no browsing history and no IP address.
Other plugins are stricter. The fsquiz access rule for Moodle 5.1 submits the attempt the moment a student leaves its full-screen window. Cheat Detection, listed in the official directory, logs time per question, focus loss, copy actions and suspicious browser extensions.
Layer 4 changes the device, not the page. Safe Exam Browser has shipped inside core Moodle since version 3.9. It removes the URL bar, disables switching to other applications by default and runs no extensions.
Layer 5 is the only one that sees a screen.
What Does a Focus-Loss Flag Prove?
A flag proves that the quiz page stopped being active at, say, 10:14:32 for 9 seconds. Nothing more.
False positives are routine. A system notification, a low-battery warning, a password manager pop-up or a click on a second monitor all fire the same blur event. Screen readers and other assistive software can do it too.
That is why CD ExamFocus labels its own output a review aid that "never determines misconduct".
Patterns carry more weight than single flags. Twelve exits of 20 seconds, each followed by a correct answer to a long calculation, will prompt questions. One 4-second exit will not. In both cases a person decides, through the university's academic integrity process.
Technology flags. People judge.
How Can You Check Your Quiz Setup?
The quiz start page discloses most of the setup. Moodle lists a quiz's access rules before the attempt begins, and layers 4 and 5 cannot run without the student's own action. Four signs map to the five layers.
A "Launch Safe Exam Browser" button
Layer 4. The quiz only opens inside Safe Exam Browser or Respondus LockDown Browser. Other tabs, apps and extensions are blocked for the whole attempt, so tab tracking is irrelevant.A notice that the quiz needs JavaScript and opens full screen
Layer 2. The attempt runs in a pop-up covering other windows with copy and paste limited. No tab log exists at this layer unless a layer 3 plugin is also installed.A webcam, microphone or screen-share prompt
Layer 5. A proctoring tool such as Proctorio or Respondus Monitor is attached. Expect recording for the full attempt and a consent step before the timer starts.Nothing unusual on the start page
Layer 1 or layer 3. Focus-loss plugins may show an extra line under the quiz rules, or warn only after the first exit. The course coordinator can confirm which applies.Read the rules first. They matter more than the layer.
The unit guide or assessment brief states the permitted materials. In a declared open-book quiz, opening lecture slides in another tab is not misconduct, whatever the log records.
When the brief is silent, ask in writing and keep the reply.
Can You Sync Moodle With a Calendar?
Yes. Moodle exports its calendar as an iCalendar feed that Google Calendar, Outlook and Apple Calendar can subscribe to. The native route takes about 2 minutes and 6 steps.
- Open the Moodle Dashboard, go to the Calendar, and select Import or export calendars.
- Click Export calendar.
- Under events, choose All events or Events related to courses. Both include assignment due dates.
- Under time period, choose Recent and next 60 days or a custom range.
- Click Get calendar URL and copy the link. Do not click Export.
- Paste it into Google Calendar (Other calendars, then From URL) or Outlook on the web (Add calendar, then Subscribe from web).
Step 5 is where most students go wrong. The Export button downloads a one-off .ics snapshot, so a deadline the lecturer adds in Week 5 never appears. The calendar URL creates a live subscription.
The feed has three limits. Updates are not real-time. The 60-day window shows about 8 weeks ahead, so final deadlines in a 12-week teaching period stay invisible in Week 1. And the feed carries events, not reminders.
Alerts depend entirely on the receiving calendar app.
One caution. The URL contains a personal authentication token, so sharing it shares the calendar.
For students who want deadlines to arrive as reminders, not only as calendar entries, AskSia is the stronger route. One sync replaces the 6 steps and repeats for every course on the dashboard.
How Should You Prepare for Moodle Quizzes?
AskSia is an AI study agent used by 2M+ students at 2,000+ universities, and its Moodle workflow starts where the calendar feed stops.
Moodle holds the files and the deadlines. AskSia turns both into a plan.
The AskSia Chrome extension covers Canvas, Blackboard, Brightspace and Moodle. On Moodle it adds a Sync to AskSia button on every course in the Course overview. Installing is free, syncing runs on the A+ plan, and access is read-only.
After the sync, Sia Note compresses each week's readings into one page, lecture transcription handles recordings, and Mock Exam mode produces timed practice in quiz format. Pair the reminders with a weekly study schedule so revision starts before the quiz opens.
Then close everything.
Disable study extensions before a graded attempt. At least one directory plugin scans for browser extensions, and Safe Exam Browser blocks them all. Preparation belongs before the timer starts.
Frequently Asked Questions
Does Moodle detect cheating?
Core Moodle does not detect cheating. It records evidence: start and submit times, page views, IP addresses and an answer history saved every 60 seconds. Detection comes from add-ons. Turnitin checks written submissions, focus-loss plugins log exits from the quiz page, and Safe Exam Browser, core since Moodle 3.9, blocks other apps. Markers also read patterns. Identical wrong answers from 2 students, or 40 questions finished in 6 minutes, stand out in the standard quiz report. No tool issues a verdict. CD ExamFocus states that its review priority never determines misconduct, and universities run a formal integrity process before any penalty. Practise under the same conditions instead. Run past questions through AskSia's Mock Exam mode with a timer, then read the assessment brief for permitted materials.
Can Moodle tell if you split screen?
Not directly. With two windows side by side, the quiz page stays visible, so the Page Visibility API keeps reporting visible and nothing changes on Moodle's side. Clicking into the second window is different. The quiz window fires a blur event, and a layer 3 focus-loss plugin can log the time and duration of that exit. Core Moodle ignores blur events. Only sites running plugins such as CD ExamFocus (Moodle 4.5+) or quizaccess_fsquiz (Moodle 5.1) act on them. The second submits the attempt at once. Safe Exam Browser removes the option entirely. It runs full screen, and Moodle's documentation confirms that switching to other applications is disabled by default. A second monitor behaves like a second window. If the brief allows notes, keep them on paper or ask the coordinator whether on-screen notes will trigger flags.
Does Moodle monitor your screen?
No. Moodle is a website, and browsers block websites from capturing a screen unless the user approves a share prompt for that specific session. Screen and webcam recording come from proctoring tools at layer 5, such as Proctorio or Respondus Monitor, which universities connect to Moodle quizzes. These tools cannot run silently. They need an installed extension or application plus a consent step, so a monitored quiz is announced before the attempt starts. Of the 5 monitoring layers, only this one sees screen content. Layers 1–4 see timestamps, focus changes or nothing beyond the quiz page. Check the quiz start page and the unit guide for the words proctored or invigilated. If neither appears, email the course coordinator before quiz day and keep the reply.
Can Moodle detect ChatGPT?
Core Moodle has no AI detector. The AI subsystem added in Moodle 4.5 generates and summarises text for users. It does not scan submissions for AI writing. Detection arrives through plugins. Many universities connect Turnitin, whose AI writing indicator scores essays and assignments, not multiple-choice quiz answers. During a quiz, Moodle cannot see a ChatGPT tab for the same sandbox reason it cannot see any tab. A layer 3 plugin logs the exit. Layers 4–5 block or record it. Pasted answers leave traces too. The Cheat Detection plugin logs copy actions on question text, and essay responses can be sent to Turnitin after submission. Policy matters more than tooling. Read our guide on whether using AI counts as cheating, then run drafts through AskSia's AI detector to see sentence-level flags.
Can teachers see what you open on Moodle?
Yes, inside Moodle. Every click on a course file, page, forum or video link is written to the site log with a timestamp and an IP address, the same log that records quiz events. Teachers read this through three standard course reports named in MoodleDocs: Logs, Activity report and Course participation. Together they show who opened which resource and when, including students who never opened it. The record stops at the click. Moodle knows a PDF was opened at 21:04 but not whether it was read for 40 minutes or closed after 4 seconds, and it sees nothing once the file is downloaded. Most lecturers use these reports for support, not surveillance. A student with zero resource views by Week 4 is a common trigger for an outreach email. Assume course activity is visible and use it well. Open each week's materials on Moodle first, then sync the course to AskSia and build Flashcards from the same files.
Where Do These Answers Stop Applying?
Three limits apply. Plugin behaviour changes by version, so the details above describe releases current in September 2026. Each university configures Moodle privately, and no public list shows which plugins a site runs.
Policy outranks technology. An unlogged action can still breach the rules, and a logged one can be innocent.
The course coordinator's written answer beats any guide. This one included.
AskSia is not affiliated with Moodle Pty Ltd. Moodle is a trademark of its owner.
