Moodle e-course management system as a tool for holding distance Olympiads at university

The article reveals the functionality of the e-courses management system Moodle as a tool for holding Olympiads in a distance format. The technology of development of tasks for the Olympiad is described, taking into account their implementation in Moodle, and two ways of presenting tasks are shown: 1) as a single test with a given number of questions and with different forms of test questions; 2) in the form of several separate tests, distributed over course modules. It is substantiated that the choice of the way of presenting tasks depends on the specifics of the Olympiad and on the presence/absence of the need to divide tasks into thematic modules. A description of the types of test questions that can be used for the tasks of the Olympiad is given: open form, closed form, multiple choice, essays, etc. As an example, the stages of developing an Olympiad in information security for students of pedagogical university are described. The system of tasks of the Olympiad is given and it is shown how to present these tasks in Moodle for automatic and manual checking. The technology described in the article allows the development of distance Olympiads for both students and schoolchildren. Students of pedagogical university were selected as the target audience. The procedure for evaluating the Olympiad tasks completed by students in manual and automated form is demonstrated with specific examples.