Moodle side blocks
The moodle homepage and also each course homepage generally contain additional blocks on the left or/and right with the centre column containing the course content. There are many varieties of these 'side blocks' each designed to provide additional information or functionality to the learner or tutor. New moodle users are sometimes confused by the concept of having side blocks down both sides of the page and often feel that it makes the screen look too cluttered. Side blocks are therefore used sparingly by site designers, however, many side blocks provide very useful features so it is important to to appreciate how they might help your user experience.
The function of most of these side blocks is self-explanatory, however, a brief explanation of more common side blocks you will see on the moodle home page or in your own course sites is given below.
My courses
This menu lists only the courses that you personally are enrolled for within moodle. Selecting the "All courses..." link will present you with a list of all the courses on the moodle site, whether you are enrolled for them or not.
Calendar
The calendar tool will allow you to see at a glance all important upcoming events. Events may be related to the whole moodle site (global events posted by moodle administrators); to courses you are enrolled on (posted by your course tutors); to groups you may be part of on some courses (more on groups later); or may be events that you have posted yourself as a personal reminder. Events are highlighted on the calendar according their type (global, course, group or user). The Calendar tool is explained in more detail in the "Student Guide to Using Moodle" course within moodle.
Upcoming Events
This information panel presents you with a list of reminders of events occurring in the next few weeks. Selecting the event title will direct you to the Calendar tool and more details about that event.
People
The people side blocks provides an easy way to quickly see who all the participants are in your course. If you select the nam of another course participant, you can view their moodle profile and optionally send that person a message.
Search Forums
As you would expect from its name, this side block simply allows you to search all the forums for your course in one go. The "Advance search" offers many flexible options for narrowing down your search.
Administration
The administration side block contains quick links to general administrative tools to manage your account or monitor your progress. Some courses won't feature graded exercises or in some cases grades will be hidden from students by your tutor. In such cases the Grades option will not appear.
Activities
Some users find the Activities menu quite useful for quickly locating resources within a course site. It provides a link to a page listing each type of resource. This side block menu is described further in the help page about navigation.