Teaching with Technology

Blocks in Moodle

Moodle blocks allow you to add information or functionality to a Moodle course page. They are located in the block drawer on the right of the screen. Each Moodle course has the Filtered course list block. Course pages using Panopto have a Panopto block, which is often hidden.

To add a block, turn editing on and open the block drawer. Click the Add block option at the top of the drawer and select the block you wish to add.



Commonly used blocks at Reed include:

  • Calendar shows upcoming due dates assigned via Moodle activity settings on a clickable month-long calendar. It can be useful for students in tracking when activities are due.
  • CLAMPmail allows faculty to send email to the entire class, a group of students, or a subset of students directly from Moodle. Note that you will also see the CLAMPmail option in the course menu under More.
  • Latest announcements displays the most recent announcements by clickable title and is useful if you often communicate with your class via the announcements forum.
  • Recent activity shows recent course updates and can be helpful for students keeping track of changes to due dates or new content posted to Moodle.
  • Search forums allow users to search forum posts by keyword.
  • Upcoming events displays a clickable list of upcoming due dates assigned via Moodle activity settings.

Many faculty at Reed do not use blocks in their Moodle course pages, so if you have added a block to your page that you think will be useful to students, let your students know what it is and where to find it.