Moodle-Learning-Management-System/C2/Blocks-in-Admin-Dashboard/English-timed

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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.

04:54 The lower the weight of a block, the higher it will appear in that region.

-10 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 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.

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 dropdowns 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.

Contributors and Content Editors

PoojaMoolya, Sandhya.np14