LeitBox – Leitner Flashcards for Moodle
Named after Sebastian Leitner – the Austrian scientist who invented the flashcard box learning
system in 1972. LeitBox brings his method natively into Moodle.
LeitBox is a native Moodle activity plugin that turns passive course content into flashcard decks
learners can practise on their own. Built on the proven Leitner box method, it runs directly
inside Moodle – no extra login, no external tools, no data leaving the institution's own server.
Screenshots
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| Dashboard: six learning boxes (New to Expert) with overall progress at a glance | Flashcard front: the question first, with an optional hint |
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| Flashcard back: rate yourself Got it, Again, or Hard – a wrong answer never resets all progress | Bulk import: paste a ready-made AI prompt, then import a whole deck at once |
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| Card management: every card in one table, with edit, delete and export | |
A live, browsable homepage with the same screenshots is also available at
peterpleimfeldner-design.github.io/moodle-mod_leitbox.
Features
Six-Box Learning System
Cards are organised into 6 boxes (New → Beginner → Learner → Advanced → Experienced → Expert).
Three answer options give learners full control:
| Answer | Effect |
|---|
| Got it | Card advances one box |
| Again | Card stays in its current box – no penalty |
| Hard | Card falls back one box, but never all the way to the start (a new card moves to Beginner) |
A single mistake never erases all progress. Learners choose when and how often to practise – LeitBox
does not schedule reminders or due dates.
Fast Card Creation, AI-Ready
Built-in prompt templates let teachers generate entire card decks from any existing material in
minutes. Six didactic categories are available from a dropdown:
- Standard Q&A (factual knowledge)
- True or False (with explanation)
- Vocabulary & Terms (translations, definitions)
- Fill in the Blank (cloze-style)
- Jeopardy (answer first, guess the question)
- Transfer & Real-World Application (highest didactic level)
The output can be pasted directly into the bulk import field – no file upload, no encoding errors,
no CSV headaches.
Moodle-Native Completion Tracking
Three granular, combinable completion conditions:
- User answered X unique cards correctly at least once
- User promoted X cards to Expert level (box 5)
- User promoted all cards to Expert level
Full integration with Moodle's Activity Completion system.
GDPR / Privacy by Design
Full Moodle Privacy API integration. All learner data stays on the institution's own server and can
be exported or deleted via standard Moodle Data Privacy tools.
Moodle-Native & Admin-Friendly
- Full Backup & Restore API support
- Integrates with Moodle's standard Course Reset tool, so reusing a course for a new term cleanly
clears the previous cohort's learning progress
- Styles are limited to LeitBox pages, no external services
- Uses only Moodle's built-in role, permission and session management
- A dedicated capability,
mod/leitbox:managecards, controls who may add, edit, import, export and
delete cards (editing teachers and managers by default)
Calm by Design
No ranking, no leaderboards, no game points, no images on cards – LeitBox is built for focus and
speed rather than competition.
Requirements
- Moodle: 4.1 to 5.1 (automatically tested on 4.1, 4.4, 4.5, 5.0 and 5.1)
- PHP: 8.1 to 8.3
- Database: MySQL, MariaDB, or PostgreSQL
- No additional PHP extensions or server dependencies required
Installation
- Download the latest release ZIP:
mod_leitbox_vX.Y.Z.zip
- In Moodle: Site administration → Plugins → Install plugins
- Upload the ZIP and follow the on-screen instructions
Manual installation:
Extract the ZIP into your Moodle /mod/leitbox/ directory, then visit /admin/index.php to trigger
the database upgrade.
Important: The ZIP root must contain exactly one directory named leitbox. Do not rename or
restructure it.
Building the learner view (for developers)
The learner view is a Vue 3 application. Its source is shipped in frontend/; the built bundle
that Moodle loads is dist/assets/index.js. After changing anything in frontend/, rebuild it with
Node.js 18 or later:
cd frontend
npm ci
npm run build
The build writes dist/assets/index.js (a single self-contained script, including its CSS). The
bundle calls the plugin's web services through Moodle's core/ajax module and reads all texts from
the plugin's language files.
Tech Stack
| Component | Technology |
|---|
| Backend | PHP 8.x, Moodle Core API |
| Frontend | Vue.js 3, Tailwind CSS, Vite |
| Database | Moodle XMLDB (MySQL / MariaDB / PostgreSQL) |
| Security | CSRF/XSS protection via Moodle Core Services |
| Maturity | MATURITY_STABLE |
| License | GNU GPL v3 |
Versioning
This plugin follows Semantic Versioning:
- MAJOR – Architectural rewrites or dropping Moodle LTS support
- MINOR – New features or database schema changes
- PATCH – Bug fixes, translation corrections, CSS tweaks
All changes are documented in CHANGELOG.md.
Privacy & GDPR
LeitBox supports Moodle's native Privacy API. All learner interaction data is strictly linked to
their Moodle user ID and can be fully exported or purged via Site administration → Privacy and
policies → Data requests.
Backup & Restore
Full support for Moodle's native Backup and Restore API. Course backups include all flashcard decks
and, optionally, individual student progress data.
Support & Contact
License
This program is free software: you can redistribute it and/or modify it under the terms of the
GNU General Public License as published by the Free Software Foundation, either version 3 of
the License, or (at your option) any later version.
See LICENSE for full details.
