Moodle blocks are modules located in your course and provide quick links to various areas. Examples of blocks include Activities, Administration, Calendar, Navigation, Section links, and Upcoming events.
Click the links (bookmarks) below to navigate to step-by-step instructions.
The four required Moodle blocks in your course include the following blocks.
~ Contact or Instructor Information: This HTML block should include your name, school district, and WIU email address. You can also include your school email address, if desired.
~ Course Resources: This HTML block includes resources on how and when to access the Help Desk, how to submit an assignment, and how to edit a PDF using DocHub. You can choose to add other resources, if desired.
~ Activities: The Activities block lists and allows navigation between the different activities available in your course (e.g., Forums, Quizzes, Assignments). The first time you enter your course, the only category that is listed is Forums because one forum exists by default – Announcements. The Activities list grows as you add activities to your course.
~ Upcoming events: The Upcoming events block displays events from the calendar in a summarized list, such as upcoming assignments and quizzes. Students can click on a date to see a day-view calendar for that day.
If the Contact Information HTML block is missing from your course or needs to be edited, follow these steps:
From the right side of your course home page, click Turn editing on.
Make sure the left Navigation panel is visible. If it isn’t, click the menu button at the top left of your course home page to make it visible.
Scroll to the bottom of the Navigation panel and click Add a block.
Scroll down the block list and click HTML. The HTML block will be placed on the right side of your course home page.
To edit the new HTML block, click the Actions menu to the right of (new HTML block) and then click Configure (new HTML block) block.
In the HTML block title field, type Contact Information (or Instructor Information).
In the content area, type the following text:
~ Your name and school district
~ Your WIU email address
The Contact Information HTML block should be the top block on the right side of your course. Click Where this block appears to expand the section, click the drop-down arrow next to Default weight and select -10 (first).
You can also adjust Display on page types to have your Contact Information appear on any page, any course page, or any type of course main page.
Click On this page to expand the section, click the drop-down arrow next to Weight and select -10 (first).
Click Save changes.
If the Course Resources HTML block is missing from your course or needs to be edited, follow these steps:
Scroll to the bottom of the Navigation panel and click Add a block.
Scroll down the block list and click HTML. The HTML block will be placed on the right side of your course home page.
To edit the HTML block, click the Actions menu to the right of (new HTML block) and then click Configure (new HTML block) block.
In the HTML block title field, type Course Resources.
In the content area, type the following text:
~ Reaching out to the eAcademy™ Help Desk
~ Submitting an assignment
~ Using DocHub to edit PDF files (This is an optional item if you require students to edit PDF worksheets in your course.)
Highlight the text for Reaching out to the eAcademy™ Help Desk (1) and then click Insert/edit link (2) to add a link to the first item in the Course Resources HTML block.
Copy the URL below for the Getting help for eAcademy issues Google Doc by hovering your mouse over the link, right clicking your mouse, and selecting Copy Hyperlink.
Paste the link into the Link URL field by right clicking your mouse and selecting Paste. If necessary, first delete any existing link in the Link URL field.
Before clicking Insert, change the Target to Open in new window (_blank). This step is very important. If you leave the default setting Open in this window/frame, when students close the resource document, they end up closing Moodle and are exited from the course.
Click Insert.
Reaching out to the eAcademy™ Help Desk is now a hyperlink in the Course Resources HTML block. Remember to click Toolbar Toggle to expand the HTML editor and underline the hyperlinked text; this is an accessibility best practice.
Follow the same steps to add (or edit) links for Submitting an assignment and Using DocHub to edit PDF files.
~ Link to Submitting an assignment Google Doc:
~ Link to Using DocHub to edit PDF files Google Doc:
Click Save changes when finished adding all the links to the Course Resources HTML block.
Here are the HTML blocks that students should see on the right side of your course home page.
If the Activities block or Upcoming events block is missing from your course, follow these steps:
Scroll to the bottom of the Navigation panel and click Add a block.
Click Activities. The Activities block will be placed on the right side of your course home page.
If necessary, you can move the block up or down the right side of your course home page by hovering your mouse over the Move icon and dragging the block to a different location.
From your course home page, scroll down again to the bottom of the Navigation panel and click Add a block.
Scroll down to the bottom of the block list and click Upcoming events. The Upcoming events block will be placed on the right side of your course home page.