List of Moodle Blocks

This refers to Moodle 4.1 from December 2023 onward

The Navigation menu (top menu)

This appears on every page and the content depends on the role of the user. It allows you to quickly move between topics/weeks by selecting the relevant section. 
The default is generally:

• 'Dashboard' - access the 'Timeline' for any upcoming activities that require action and 'Recently accessed modules'. You can customise your 'Dashboard' page by adding and configuring a number of other blocks.

The other menu options are;

• 'Home' - access to a list of all modules in Moodle organised into Campuses, Faculties and Schools. You can only access modules on which you are enrolled (this may be by automatic enrolment or self-enrolment).
• 'My Modules' - access modules that you are enrolled onto. 
• 'More' - includes;
  
  • 'Test Your text': Link to a module in Moodle (called TurnitinUK, text-matching tool, on which anyone can self-enrol) and in which students can test their assignments for text-matching via Turnitin prior to submission;
  • 'Online timetables (UNUK)': Access timetables online (UK campus only);
  • 'My Media': Access to any Media Space videos that you have permissions for.
  • 'Help and Support': Help guides for students and staff, accessibility help, studying effectively, libraries locations and catalogue searches. Moodle support contact information. 

The module menu

This appears on every module page that you are enrolled on as 'Editing Teacher'.

• 'Module': Module content is displayed.
• 'Settings': Edit module settings.
• 'Participants':  Select to enrol users, add groups, groupings and change permissions. 
• 'Grades': Select to access grader reports.
• 'Reports': Select to access logs and activity reports.
• 'More': Select to access 'Question bank', 'Content bank', 'Badges', 'Filters', 'Repositories', 'Module import', 'Year end and archive', 'Brickfield Accessibility+ Toolkit', 'Recycle bin', 'Module Reuse'.

The Block Drawer

The block drawer appears at the top right of every page.  Select the grey arrow toggle button to open the block drawer. 

Once, opened, you will have access to your module blocks, such as 'Upcoming events', 'Year end and archive', 'Search forums', 'Comments', 'Activities'. 

The Module Index

The module index appears on the top right of every module page and can be opened by selecting the button.

Once opened you can access the module index to navigate and to edit where activities and resources are located by simply dragging.

Your personal menu

Links to the following appear on the dropdown menu under your name on the top right

• 'Profile': View and edit your profile
• 'Grades': Select to access current module grades from modules you are enrolled onto.
• 'Calendar': Select to access Moodle calendar.
• 'Messages': Access to messages where you can send and receive messages.
• Private files': Access to private files for uploading and managing a set of files.
• 'Reports': Select to access custom reports.
• 'Preferences': View and change your preferences on Moodle. This includes how you receive notifications.
• 'Switch role to...': Choose a role to get an idea of how someone with that role will see this module.

List of blocks

Blocks appear in the right hand column of a Moodle page

They have various configurations depending on what they are and what page(s) they are allowed on.

There are blocks that will always appear in a Moodle module or on your Dashboard (see below) and the University of Nottingham has created some blocks specifically for our own needs.

Year End and Archive (not visible to students)

• Module hidden from students: Highlights that students cannot see module
• Status: What kind of module it is
• Archive date: Click on date to request alternative date
• Other versions: Searches Moodle for similar modules in another year or campus
• New version: Allows you to request a new version of the module
• Import content: Finds similar modules from which you can import content

Blocks on your Dashboard

The default is for the dashboard blocks listed above

My Modules

This is what everyone sees when 'My Modules' is selected and lists all the modules you are enrolled on. See How to change the order of my modules

Blocks on Module pages

Latest announcements

Shows the latest post in the 'Announcements' (News Forum). This is where you will see the latest news for the module. Announcements are made to students and other participants.  It's important to read any news and announcements.

Recommended blocks for module pages

• 'Accessibility+ Review':  Accessibility+ Review block allows you to click the 'Submit for analysis' button to review your module content against a set of common accessibility rules. 
• 'Latest announcements': Displays latest announcements.
• 'Module resources': This provides a link to the Reading List and/or Module Details in the University module catalogue. The Talis reading list is currently supported. More information about Talis reading lists.
• 'Upcoming events': Events - including assignment deadlines - that are coming up soon. Even if the Calendar is not used much, it is useful for a reminder of the assignment deadlines.

• 'Calendar':  An alternative to Upcoming events is a full calendar. The calendar within a module shows only events relevant to that module.  It may or may not include lectures and other sessions relating to the module, depending on your School and whether the lecturer has added these events.

  • Moodle calendar always automatically includes deadlines for assignments that are in Moodle.
  • Where a School or Programme wants a School-wide or Programme-wide calendar, they may create an umbrella module to which all relevant students/staff have access, and put all events in there.
  • The calendar on your My Moodle page collects all the entries in the calendars in the modules in which you are enrolled. Within each module the calendar relates to that module alone. You can use your My Moodle calendar for your own diary entries as well as to see when assignments are due, or other events added by the module convenors.
  • The calendar is part of Moodle but can be exported to iCal.
• 'Activities':  Lists all types of items in the module e.g., Resources, Assignments, Databases.
  • You can then click on one and see a list of all instances of that activity that appear throughout the module, e.g., a list of all Resources – the list includes the Title and Description, one of the key places where description is displayed.
  • This one is useful, perhaps particularly towards the end of a module to provide an alternative view of resources for revision.
  • The list of Resources accessed from the Activities block is where the Description comes in useful.
• 'Enrol block':  This block links to a page showing a list of all participants, i.e., everyone enrolled onto the module including staff.  From here you can send messages to students and  navigate to their personal profiles and blog(s). This is very useful for quick access, for both staff and students.
• 'Remote RSS feeds':  A School or lecturer may have chosen to link to a RSS feed (condensed headlines of new items) for a blog or web page. Typically this may be information on the School website or a University of Nottingham blog or external blog, or a News or Events feed relating to your subject.  The content will update regularly so take a look.

Other blocks

• 'Activity results': Displays results from an activity.
• 'Blog menu': The blog menu block provides links to
  • View all my entries
  • Add a new entry

plus context-sensitive links for adding an entry about the module or a particular activity.

This is of most use of blogs are an integral part of activity in the module. You can associate a blog post with a particular module or a particular activity, but ALL blog posts are public and can be seen by all users (unless you choose to keep them private to yourself only).  By associating a post with an activity or module it's possible to sort and view blog posts for that activity.

• 'Blog tags':  Tag cloud of blog tags from across the site
• 'BS Nexus': This is a Business School block ONLY.  It contains links to administrative systems and tools used only by the Business School and that are relevant to your module
• 'Comments':  The comments block can be added to any page to allow users to add comments: it shows a list of latest comments and an input box. The Comments block allows users to add comments relating to a particular page in Moodle (such as the page displaying an embedded document. It shows a list of latest comments and an input box.
• 'Curriculum Map':  Allows configuration to link to curriculum map or module.
• 'Latest badges': Displays latest badges earned.
• 'Kaltura Media Gallery':  Displays Media Space videos linked to the Moodle page and the option to add videos.
• 'Medical School Formulary': Displays link to Medical School Formulary.
• 'Self completion':  Allows a student to decide for themselves when they have a completed a course. In order to use this block, enable completion tracking in the settings and set the activity completion of activities to 'Students can manually mark the activity as completed'.
• 'Blog menu':  Provides links to view blog entries and to add a new entry, with the option of a blog RSS feed.
• 'Search forums':  Only searches forums however, not resources or other activities so may not be used.  'Search forums' allows you to search the forums in this module.
• 'Private files':  Link to private files.
• 'Tags':  Tag cloud for tags in people’s descriptions – not turned on.
• 'Text':  Provides block to add text.
• 'Upcoming events':  The 'Upcoming events' block displays events from the 'Calendar' in a summarised list.