Adding a block to courses in one category

We just saw how as admin or with appropriate permissions, we can add a block to a single course category page. We also saw as we did so that we had the option of adding the block to the courses themselves as well.

When and why might we want to do this? If it is a useful and relevant block for all courses in a category, then adding the block this way will save individual course teachers having to create the block themselves and will also create consistency across the category. One such block is the new Comments block.

The Comments block (which we'll study in greater depth in Chapter 7, New Modules for Moodle 2) allows users to make comments on courses, resources, and activities throughout Moodle. It would be useful for both Andy and Stuart as teachers to have a Comments block in order to get feedback from their students.

To achieve this, and assuming we have appropriate permissions, we need to start on the course category page again:

  1. With the editing turned on, the …course/category/php?id=1 (or whichever) page and choose Comments from the Add a block drop-down menu.
  2. Click the configuration (hand/pen) icon.
  3. In the settings below, choose the options as shown in the next screenshot:
    Adding a block to courses in one category

What we've done is set up a category block which will appear everywhere in that category because we have set:

  • Page contexts to Display on 'Category: Miscellaneous' and any pages within it
  • Restrict to these page types to *(Any page)

Let us now follow Stuart back into his French course and discover what teachers can do with blocks.