Blocks

Note: Blocks 2.0 contains details on changes to Blocks in Moodle 2.0. Please refer to these notes before editing this page

This is an overview of Blocks in Moodle 2.0. For a more detailed explanation, please go to Blocks 2.0

Default block positions for a new course page

A Moodle block contains a feature that loads in the right-hand or left-hand side of a course's home page. There are several types of standard Moodle blocks, and others are available as Contributed code. If needed, each block type can be used multiple times on a page.

Blocks can also appear or be used in other places, such as on the Front Page, in some activities, and in a student's My Moodle page. Administrators can add Sticky blocks in a site which will appear in every course.

Block types

There are many different types of blocks in a course that can be used by a teacher. The teacher can add blocks from a pull down menu. Other blocks provide information or settings that a teacher may use. Some activities allow blocks to be inserted by the teacher.

Pull down

Each course has an add block pull down menu.

Activities A block used by teachers to add activities

Admin Bookmarks

Blog Menu

Blog Tags

Calendar - display calendar

Comments

Community Finder

Course Completion Status

Course/Site Description

Online Users - only online Participants

People - link to Participants

Quiz Results

Random Glossary Entry

Remote RSS Feeds

Section Links

Other blocks

Sticky blocks A block that is forced to appear on every page as part of a site setting
Course administration block contains course settings.
Courses Lists student's courses
Course/Site Description Teacher's description of course
Latest News
Recent Activity
Search Forums
Upcoming Events

There are also many contributed blocks available for download from the modules and plugins database including:

Course page block arrangement

The People block with editing turned on

New blocks can be added using the Add blocks dropdown menu. Existing blocks (except Sticky blocks) can be hidden, deleted or moved up, down, or across to the other column using the icons in the block header.

User with editing roles, need to turn on editing on the page to add or move blocks.

Adding blocks to activities

Certain activity modules, such as the Lesson module and the Quiz module, support blocks on their pages. The site administrator must turn this function on so that the teachers will be able to add side blocks on those pages, otherwise the interface does not show this feature to the teacher.

By default, this feature is disabled in the Site administration block. An administrator can enable it by checking the showblocksonmodpages box in Administration > Appearance > Themes > Theme settings. When enabled, users who can manage course activities will be able to add blocks to pages.

Documentation