Moodle-Learning-Management-System/C2/Blocks-in-Admin-Dashboard/English-timed
From Script | Spoken-Tutorial
| Time | Narration |
| 00:01 | Welcome to the Spoken Tutorial on Blocks in Admin's Dashboard. |
| 00:08 | In this tutorial, we will learn how to add and delete blocks and set the Front page. |
| 00:18 | To record this tutorial, I am using:
Ubuntu Linux OS 16.04, |
| 00:26 | Apache, MariaDB and PHP obtained through XAMPP 5.6.30, |
| 00:35 | Moodle 3.3 and Firefox web browser. |
| 00:41 | You may use any web browser of your choice.
However, Internet Explorer should be avoided as it causes some display inconsistencies. |
| 00:54 | Learners of this tutorial should have basic knowledge of the Admin’s dashboard.
If not, please refer to the relevant Moodle tutorials on this website. |
| 01:08 | Switch to the browser and open your Moodle site.
Make sure that the XAMPP service is running. |
| 01:17 | Login with your admin username and password details. |
| 01:22 | We are now in the Admin’s dashboard. |
| 01:26 | Recall that Blocks serve a specific purpose or information and are found on all pages of Moodle. |
| 01:38 | Let us understand how we can work with Moodle Blocks now. |
| 01:44 | Depending on the theme used, blocks can be on the right side or on both sides. |
| 01:52 | Blocks contain information we want people to see whenever they log in. |
| 01:58 | There are many types of blocks available in Moodle. And, they can be moved or arranged easily as per our preferences. |
| 02:09 | We will now add a few blocks to our dashboard. |
| 02:14 | Click on the navigation menu on the left of the page. |
| 02:19 | Click on Customise this page button on the right hand side of the dashboard. |
| 02:26 | Notice that a new menu item Add a block is visible now. Click on Add a block. |
| 02:35 | A new pop-up window opens. We need to select the type of block that we want to add. |
| 02:43 | For example, click on Messages. You can see that the Messages block now appears in the dashboard. |
| 02:53 | Currently there are no messages. |
| 02:56 | By default, all new blocks get added to the right-most column. |
| 03:02 | Let us add one more block. Click on Add a block menu on the left. |
| 03:09 | Select HTML from the list of menu types.
HTML block is a block where one can write custom HTML. |
| 03:19 | Using this, we can embed widgets such as Library widgets, News feeds, Twitter, Facebook etc. |
| 03:30 | Notice now that a NEW HTML BLOCK has been added below the Messages block. |
| 03:37 | Click on the gear icon in the HTML block.
Then click on Configure (NEW HTML BLOCK) block. |
| 03:46 | Configure HTML block has 3 sections:
Block settings , Where this block appears and On this page. |
| 03:57 | By default, the first section is expanded. |
| 04:02 | Click on Expand all to expand all the sections. |
| 04:07 | In the Block title, let’s type: “Things to do”. |
| 04:12 | Let us add some tasks for this admin user in the Content area. |
| 04:19 | Type the following: Create a new course, Create new users, Add users to the course. |
| 04:30 | The editor is an HTML editor and can be used like any other word processor or editor. |
| 04:39 | Scroll down to see the options under Where this block appears. |
| 04:45 | Under Default region, select Content.
In Default weight, select -10 (minus ten). |
| 04:54 | The lower the weight of a block, the higher it will appear in that region.
-10 (minus ten) is the lowest. |
| 05:03 | By selecting -10, I am ensuring that it is at the top of the content region. |
| 05:12 | This block will appear on the Admin’s dashboard. |
| 05:17 | Now comes the “On this page” section.
This is where you can define the configuration for the page where this block was added. |
| 05:28 | In our case, this is the dashboard.
This configuration will override the default configuration defined in the above section |
| 05:40 | that is, the Where this block appears section.
Let us select Content in Region and -10 (minus ten) in Weight in this section. |
| 05:53 | Please note that depending on the type of the block, configuration settings will vary. |
| 06:01 | Click Save Changes to save the changes and go back to the dashboard. |
| 06:07 | See that the new HTML block with the title Things to do is now visible.
And, it is the topmost block in the content region. |
| 06:18 | We can also change the position of a block by dragging it using the Move icon. |
| 06:25 | Let us move Things to do block below the Course Overview block by dragging and dropping it. |
| 06:34 | Let us see how this changes the configuration we set a few minutes back. |
| 06:40 | Click on the gear icon and then on Configure Things to do block.
Then click on Expand All. |
| 06:49 | Scroll down to see “On this page” section. The weight has changed to -2 (minus two).
The default weight, however, remains the same. |
| 07:03 | Click Cancel to go back to the dashboard. |
| 07:07 | We do not need this Learning Plans block. So let us delete it.
Click on the gear icon and then on Delete Learning plans block. |
| 07:19 | Confirm pop-up window appears and prompts us to make sure about this deletion.
Click on Yes button here. |
| 07:29 | Notice that the Learning Plans block is no longer available.
We can always add this block later if required. |
| 07:40 | Let us now customize the front page of our Moodle installation. |
| 07:46 | Click on Site Administration link on the left menu. |
| 07:51 | Scroll down to locate Front Page settings in the Front page section. Click on it. |
| 08:00 | Let us change the Full Site Name to Digital India Learning Management System. |
| 08:08 | This is the text that appears at the top of every page above the breadcrumbs. |
| 08:15 | Short name is the text that appears in the title of the page. |
| 08:20 | Notice that the title of this page is Digital India LMS followed by the name of the page we are in. |
| 08:29 | Short name is also used as a logo text if we do not provide any logo image. We will leave it as it is. |
| 08:40 | Scroll down to see drop-downs for Front page items.
These are the list of items that can be shown on the front page. |
| 08:50 | All visitors, whether they are logged in or not, can see these items. |
| 08:57 | The order is determined by a combination box. We will leave this as it is. |
| 09:05 | So, all users will be able to see the list of courses (if available) and nothing else. |
| 09:13 | Next is the Front page items when logged in.
This is the list of items that can be shown to the users who are logged in. |
| 09:24 | Let us select Enrolled courses in the first drop-down. |
| 09:29 | We will leave the rest of the options with their default values. |
| 09:35 | Scroll down and click on Save Changes. |
| 09:40 | Let us now summarize. |
| 09:43 | In this tutorial, we learnt to add an HTML block called “Things to do” and specified where it should appear on the page. |
| 09:54 | We also set up the frontpage for guests and logged-in users. |
| 10:00 | Here is an assignment for you:
Delete the Private files block . Add a new HTML block using the guidelines given in the Code files link. |
| 10:14 | The video at the following link summarizes the Spoken Tutorial project. Please download and watch it. |
| 10:23 | The Spoken Tutorial Project team conducts workshops and gives certificates.
For more details, please write to us. |
| 10:33 | Please post your timed queries in this forum. |
| 10:37 | Spoken Tutorial Project is funded by NMEICT, MHRD, Government of India.
More information on this mission is available at the link shown. |
| 10:51 | This script has been contributed by Priyanka.
This is Nancy Varkey along with the spoken tutorial team signing off. Thank you for joining. |
