Moodle Calendar Block


Using the Moodle Calendar Block

                The calendar tool on Moodle is a great way for students to keep track of assignments and plan their time accordingly. When the Calendar Block is enabled, a month calendar view will show up on the right sidebar within each separate course with due dates color coded by type. When a student hovers over each date, they can follow a link straight to the assignment. They can also use the block to access the big Moodle Calendar that holds dates for every course in which the student is enrolled. Students even have the option to export the Moodle Calendar in order to sync it with their personal online calendars. So how do professors enable the Calendar Block in order to give students all of these wonderful possibilities? The first step for professors is to go into their course with editing turned on and scroll all the way to the bottom of the left sidebar. There you will find the helpful “Add Block” tab. When clicked, the popup box allows you to add the “Calendar” block that will immediately populate in the right sidebar.


The next step is to make sure that all your assignments show up on the calendar. You may have noticed that certain Moodle activities like discussion boards do not have dates built in like the quiz activities. In order for discussion board activities to show up in the calendar you must give them dates by activating your Activity Completion settings. To do this, click the gear button in the top right corner of your class view. Select “Edit Settings” and in the “Course Completion” drop down menu enable “completion tracking”. Now that Activity Completion is enabled, you just need to go into each discussion board and use the new drop-down menu to edit your date and preferences. As soon as you enable the date, it will show up on the course calendar and your new Calendar Block!



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