When giving listening tests, it is usually important to control the number of times a student is able to listen to a track or file. This enables us to put all students on an equal footing in regards to the test and helps conserve time. While there may be times when this is not true, nearly all tests do limit listening tasks to one or two times.

Unfortunately, there is no way of setting up the built-in Moodle MP3 player so that it plays a single time. There is, however, a way around this. We have the option of installing a different player. One player that has been developed specifically for testing in Moodle is Matt Bury's Moodle MP3 Player for Tests. It can be downloaded from http://code.google.com/p/moodle-mp3-player-for-tests/ and an explanation of how it is used is found at http://code.google.com/p/moodle-mp3-player-for-tests/wiki/HowToUse. It is a simple-looking player, much like the Moodle MP3 player, but with a bit more functionality. The next image is an image of the player taken from the site hosting the download:

This player allows many options in the audio setup, including the key ability to play files automatically and limiting the number of times a student is able to listen to the file. In many tests this type of setting is necessary or desirable. The setup takes a bit of work, and it is not too difficult for those with a bit of HTML skill, but it could be a bit overwhelming for those without any coding experience. Most likely your institution's system admin will be able to help you get it working.