Topics Map > Learn@Illinois
Learn@Illinois Moodle - Blocks Help
Learn more about the various Blocks available in Moodle and how you can use them to customize your course site.
For a permanent link to this information, please use: http://go.illinois.edu/MoodleBlocks
What is a Block?
Blocks are little boxes that appear on the left or right of your main course page that have various functions. You can watch this video on Moodle.org to learn more about blocks: What are blocks?
Default Blocks
- Quickmail - Email groups of students within your course.
- Search Forums - Search the course forums for a word or phrase.
- Latest News - See recent posts made in the Announcements forum.
Other Commonly Used Blocks
- Calculator Block - Add a standard calculator to your course.
- i-Card Photos - View students' photos so you can remember names.
- i>clicker - Integrate i>clicker.
- Mass Actions - Edit multiple activities at once.
- McGraw-Hill AAIRS - Link your course with McGraw-Hill Connect.
- UI Custom CSS - Customize the look of your course.
- UI Group Viewer - View groups in the course. Students see only groups that they are members of.
Standard Blocks (Moodle.org Documentation)
- Activities - Click on an activity to see a list of all of those activities in your course (all assignments, quizzes, forums, etc.).
- Activity Results - Displays the grades of individuals or groups from a particular activity.
- Attendance - Quickly access the Attendance activity functionality.
- Blog Menu - Quick links to view and add blog entries.
- Blog Tags - For courses with multiple blogs, shows a word cloud with names of your different blogs based on usage.
- Calendar - Shows course events.
- Comments - Allows comments on the page.
- Configurable Reports - A place to view custom course reports.
- Course Completion Status - For courses that have activity completion enabled, shows what has been done to complete the course.
- Course/Site Summary - Provides space for a short course summary.
- Courses - Provides links to the courses that the user is enrolled in.
- Feedback - Provides links to the "Feedback" activities in the course.
- Global Search - Not enabled.
- HTML - Use the text editor to add content or set up a Twitter feed for your course.
- Latest Badges - Show the latest badges.
- Learning Plans - View personal learning plans.
- Logged in User - Shows information about the user currently logged in such as picture, name and location.
- Messages
- Online Users - See who is currently in the course.
- Pearson MyLab and Mastering
- People - Link to the Participants/Enrolled users page.
- Private Files - Link to private files.
- Random Glossary Entry - Show random glossary entries, or quotes of the day.
- Recent Activity - See activity in the course since you last accessed it.
- Recent Blog Entries - See the latest blog entries.
- Remote RSS Feeds - Display one or more RSS feeds.
- Self Completion - Students may click "Complete Course" to declare that they have completed the course.
- Tags - View a word cloud of tags (by default this displays users' interests as stated in their profiles.
- Upcoming Events - Displays events from the calendar in a summarized list.
Frequently Asked Questions
- How do I add, configure, or delete blocks?
See our Adding, Configuring, and Deleting Blocks page. - How can I hide or show a block?
See our Hiding and Showing Blocks page.