Dashboard for version 3.5

Dashboard for version 3.5

by Hannah Symonds -
Number of replies: 5

Hi Amazing Moodle Lovers, 

My company has just upgraded from version 2.3 to 3.5 and all off a sudden i have this thing called Dashboard. I have been looking into the dashboard and i love the idea, however our courses are elective based. So a student enrols in say Module 1 and then we exclude the exams they dont need to do from their gradebook (they end up seeing all 3 sub-modules which is annoying so if anyone knows how to prevent them from see the unneeded topic from the course that would be handy)

Anyways, the gradebook. I have images attached to the courses main setting and i noticed that these images will be displayed in the dashboard along with the summary, however this doesnt seem to be happening. The first image is the top of the dashboad and i get this for each course, i read that i need to have activity completion with end dates to get these to look different (which we dont have because our causes are rolling courses where students are added all the time so no set time limits). THe second image is what i see when i press the courses tab. So much questions:

1. Is it possible to get the course image on the dashboard somewhere with the course summary?

2. Is it possible to get the dashboard looking less ugly for the students (images, completion summary or just removing the big ugly grey boxes)

3. Is it possible for students to only see topics that are on their RPL in the courses (i have it working on their gradebook but not the main course page)

Any help would be greatly appreciated

Kindest Regards

Hannah Symonds

Attachment Dashboard.jpg
Attachment Dashboard2.jpg
Average of ratings: -
In reply to Hannah Symonds

Re: Dashboard for version 3.5

by Howard Miller -
Picture of Core developers Picture of Documentation writers Picture of Particularly helpful Moodlers Picture of Peer reviewers Picture of Plugin developers

Before we go any further, what theme is this? Looks a bit odd. 

Dashboard is just what used to be called 'My Moodle'. Different name, same idea. Can you translate your description of your issue into "Moodle speak"? Moodle doesn't have modules and sub-modules so we need to know how you map this stuff onto Moodle "things". I'm also unsure what you mean by "exclude them from their gradebook". I'm not sure that's the Moodle Gradebook you are talking about. 

And - sorry - I have no idea what "RPL" means. 


Average of ratings: -
In reply to Howard Miller

Re: Dashboard for version 3.5

by Colin Fraser -
Picture of Documentation writers Picture of Testers

Moodlespeak is the common terminology, slang if you like, that Moodle users have developed to describe problems and solutions in the 20 odd years Moodle has been around. Newbies can often get confused or post confusing questions because they don't initially, get the context of the slang used. (Every specialty develops its own specific sub-set of the language, like one-to-many or many-to-one makes perfect sense in DB design, but in relationship counselling will raise eyebrows or get a lot of eeuuwws.) To me, RPL means Recognition of Prior Learning, and I doubt that it means that in this context, so yeah, have to agree with Howard, you know what you mean, but unfortunately, we don't.  

Howard's point about the theme is actually critical. I haven't seen anything like this before, but the Boost theme doesn't show anything like this in the dashboard. If you have a look at the top right corner, there is a button that allows you to edit how your dashboard appears. Alternatively, if as a Admin, you go to Site Admin > Appearance > Default Dashboard Page you can create the look you want for the site. If you start with this Moodle Doc, you can change it to what you want.



Average of ratings: Useful (1)
In reply to Colin Fraser

Re: Dashboard for version 3.5

by Howard Miller -
Picture of Core developers Picture of Documentation writers Picture of Particularly helpful Moodlers Picture of Peer reviewers Picture of Plugin developers

I'm not sure I would call it "slang" but otherwise, yeh. This is especially common with people asking "is Moodle right for me?". They have a model of their learning (e.g. Modules and sub-modules) and Moodle has a model of learning (e.g. Course categories, Courses, Sections) and how you map one to the other is critical. 

Of course, if you need technical help here you really need to talk in terms of Moodle entities so we know what is going on. I'm neither an academic nor a teacher. I'm also British. I have many challenges big grin

I expect we've completely freaked out the OP now wink

Average of ratings: -
In reply to Howard Miller

Re: Dashboard for version 3.5

by Hannah Symonds -
Hi Howard,


Sorry for the confusion, i will try and use moodle speak for you. 

Regarding the theme, it was the old Afterburner theme. I have since writing this post upgraded the theme to Boost and therefore my issues with the dashboard have been fixed as the new theme has allowed all the images etc to be added and it looks a lot more professional and user friendly. 

Regarding my other issues, i am wanting to remove certain topics from the course main page that students are not required to complete. So we have generic courses which students are enrolled in throughout the year (self-study distant education), however some students do not require all the topics within the course but at present see everything. I have found a way to exclude and hide the quizzes in their gradebook so that they only see the quizzes they are required to sit, however all the information and quizzes are still shown on the course main page. 

So my question is, is it possible to hide these topics not needed for the particular student while keeping them open for other students that might need them. 

I hope that makes sense.

Thanks in advance

Average of ratings: -