Let’s learn how to add and delete blocks into our Moodle course page.
1. To hide a block from students, click on the eye. (You will still be able to see it greyed out.) Click again to make it visible to students.
2. To delete a block from the course page, click on the X. (You can add it again later; it's not gone forever.)
3. To move a block up, click on the up arrow (blocks are moved up one block at a time).
4. To move a block down, click on the down arrow (blocks are moved down one block at a time).
5. To move a block to the other side, click the left or right arrow (the block will go across be positioned at the other side and to the bottom of the column).
6. To add a new block, find the block called Blocks, and then click on Add (as shown in the following screenshot).
7. The face icons are to do with who can see and edit the blocks (ignore these for now).
Here's a table of the standard blocks that are available in Moodle, and that you could have on your course page (if you're allowed). I've explained what they do, and what I think about them:
Block name |
What it does |
Why use it |
---|---|---|
Activities |
Shows the different activities that you've set up |
If you want your students to get to certain activities quickly, or see them listed |
Administration |
The teacher's admin block |
Essential for you, and it's where your students can see their grades |
Blog menu/tags |
Allows you to add and view blog entries and keywords in blogs |
Not really necessary as a block (we look at blogs in chapter 6) |
Calendar |
A calendar where you can show course, individual, or site wide events |
Useful if you have a lot of events that you want to remind your students about |
Courses |
Lists students courses |
A quick way for them to get around their courses |
Course description |
Shows the course summary that you put in the course settings |
Not really essential—they're doing the course now, after all! |
Global search |
Lets you search all of Moodle |
Has to be switched on by your admin—and you don't need it—leave it out! |
HTML |
A blank block for your own use |
Very handy—more details later |
Latest news |
Displays what's in the news forum |
If you want that, it's fine! |
Loan calculator |
It Calculates interest on loans |
Someone, somewhere must need it—but not us |
Mentees block |
Advanced block allowing mentors to 'watch' students |
We don't need it at this stage |
Messages |
Moodle's instant messaging service |
Needs to be switched on by your admin; useful for instant communication, but younger students may find it very distracting! |
Online users |
Shows who's accessing your course online at the moment |
Useful for making sure that everyone's there, on task |
People |
Lists those enrolled in your course, and when they last visited your course page |
Another useful block to keep a check on your participants. |
Quiz results |
Displays recent quiz results |
Handy for encouraging competition amongst students, by providing a league table of scores. |
Recent activity |
Who's done what and when |
Useful for students to see what's new, and for teachers to see who's sent in their work |
Random glossary entry |
Shows a glossary entry at a certain time (if you've got a glossary) |
Think about this when we are making a glossary in chapter 3; up to you |
Remote RSS feeds |
Shows news feeds of your choice |
Can be very useful— we'll look at this in the final chapter |
Search forums |
Allows students to search through forum entries |
Don't bother with this; I've never found it useful for my classes |
Section links |
A quick way to get to a numbered section |
If you want to, fine and good; useful if your sections are very long and need a lot of scrolling down |
Upcoming events |
Information about what's coming soon, taken from the calendar or activity deadlines |
If you have a lot of events or deadlines it's useful. |
Ok, now it’s time to put the theory into practice! For our purposes, the best blocks will probably be the ones listed below. Using the instructions on the previous pages, delete the ones we don't want, add the new ones, and then arrange them equally on either side of the middle section! Let's have:
A People block
An Administration block (of course!)
A Courses block
A Calendar block
A Messages block
An HTML block (which we'll customize now)