Aside from the out-of-the-box standard scales, you have the ability to create your own scales, and few teachers I speak to realise that those scales don’t have to be made up of words. Whatever you decide to use, always design your scales in an increasing order of value.

Why bother?

Sometimes using images, pictogram or symbols is a more efficient way to convey an idea than words or even sentences. This is especially true when working with young students or with students with ESL. Symbols are also useful as they use less space on a screen than their wordy counterparts, useful for mobile devices.  Example:

Custom scales

Click here to find out how to create custom Moodle scales. Note that, unless you have special privileges, you will only be able to access your scales within the same course you created it in. You should ask your Moodle administrator to make your scale ‘standard’ so that it is accessible throughout your entire Moodle site.

Some useful symbols

You can simply copy and paste those HTML symbols to create scales for your subject. This is by no means an exhaustive list and you can find lots more HTML symbols using your favourite search engine. Note that you can also use those symbols anywhere else on Moodle, including activity/resource names.

Warning: some of the symbols are letters/words from languages other than English and thus have a meaning. Some symbols might not work on all platforms and older browsers.