blocks

Blocks are items which may be added to almost any page in LearningZone and can be used to add additional content to pages throughout your LearningZone site that are useful to users. For example, a Course completion status block may be added to a course page so that learners can quickly access and view their course progress. A Calendar block might be added to the site front page so that site users can see a list of events.

Manage blocks

Blocks are managed by a site administrator or another role with the Manage blocks (site:manageblocks) capability. To manage which blocks are available on your site and to access block settings follow the path Site administration > Plugins > Blocks > Manage blocks from the Administration block.

A list of blocks will be presented in a table providing information about each block, including additional options (where applicable):

• Name:Displays the name of the block.
• Instances:Displays the total number of specific blocks created on your LearningZone site.
• Version:Displays the version number of the block.
• Hide/Show:Click the eye icon to hide or show a specific block.
• Protect instances: Use this option to lock a particular type of block. Once locked, no-one will be able to add or delete instances. You can, of course, unlock again if you need to edit instances. This is intended to protect blocks like Navigation and Administrationwhich can be very hard to get back if accidentally deleted.
• Settings:Some blocks provide a Settings link so that the defaults for that block can be configured.
• Uninstall:Select the Uninstall link to uninstall a specific block.

Uninstalling a block will completely delete everything in the database associated with the plugin, including its configuration, log records, user files managed by the plugin etc. There is no way back and LearningZone itself does not create any recovery backup.

Available blocks

There are a number of blocks available in LearningZone some of which are standalone (such as the HTML block) and some that work with other LearningZone content (such as the Quiz results block which pulls information from the quiz activity on a particular course). 

Using blocks

To add a block to your course follow these steps:

1. Select Turn editing on for the particular page.
2. Find the block you want to add from the Add a blockdropdown 

Common configurations 

All blocks have a set of common configurations that can be set to your preferences, additionally some blocks have specific settings and these are explored in more detail further down this page.

Both the common and specific block configurations can be accessed when editing is turned on, by clicking the cog icon and then selecting Configure [ name ] block.

Common configurations are broken into sections:

• Configure display:Allows you to choose whether or not to show the block's border.
• Where this block appears: Configure the default display location and positioning for all instances of this block type.
• On this page: Configure the display location and positioning of this block type on this page. 

Current learning block

The Current learning block shows a combined view of all current courses, programs, and certifications in a single unified view. The block shows the status (Not yet started or In progress) and a completion due date (if there is one).

Determining which items which items are displayed to the user is controlled via a set of rules. Since programs and certifications contain one or more courses, duplication of courses is avoided by only showing standalone courses in the main list, and displaying information about courses that form part of a program or certification inside the expanded view of that item.

Content display rules 

For courses to be displayed they must either feature in the users active learning plan(s) and/or the user is enrolled in the course. However, even if a course matches those two criteria, it will not be displayed if:

• The course is not visible (hidden).
• The course is part of an active program or certification (as this would lead to duplication).
• The course status is either Completeor Complete via RLP. 

For programs and certifications to be displayed the learner must be assigned to them and/or they must be part of the learner's active learning plan(s). However, even if a program or certiciation matches those two criteria, it will not be displayed if:

• The program/certification is disabled (this is done via Advanced features). 
• The program/certification is not visible (hidden), this includes hiding via audience based visibility. 
• The program/certification is marked as Complete. 
• The program/certification is marked as unavailable. 

Configurable options specific to the Current learning block are:

Program completions block

The Program completions block lists one or more selected programs and the user's completion status for each.

The program names displayed in the block content link to the individual programs. The user's completion status displays a progress bar if the logged in user is assigned to the program, otherwise Not assigned is displayed.

The block honours availability and visibility settings so only programs that are available to and visible by the logged in user may be displayed.

Adding Program completions block to a page

1. Select Turn editing onfor the particular page.
2. Then select Program completions from the Add a block 

Configuring Program completions block

Configurable options specific to the Program completions block are:

Report table block

The Report table block displays tabular data belonging to a selected Report builder report. Optionally a saved search for the report can also be selected to limit the data shown in the block.

The block content only displays the data table from the selected report including pagination and the option to sort by column headings. Other report functionality (such as filters, saved searches, and export options) are not included but can be accessed by clicking the View full report link at the bottom of the block content.

The records shown in the data table are restricted to the records accessible by the logged in user, not for the user who created the block.

If the selected report or selected saved search being used becomes unavailable (for example it is deleted or the search is made not public) then the block will act as if no report was selected and the block will not be shown.

Note that configuring two blocks with same report on the same page can interfere with column sorting.

Adding Report table block to a page

1. Select Turn editing onfor the particular page.
2. Then select Report table from the Add a block

Configuring Report table block

Configurable options specific to the Program completions block are:

Featured links block

The Featured links block (FLB) is a customisable block that provides an easy way to navigate to both internal LearningZone pages and external sites. The main design feature is the use of customisable, image based tiles. Featured Links blocks can be added to LearningZone Dashboards to provide a graphical interface to a LearningZone site, within courses, and on profile pages.

Featured Links Blocks are enabled by default. As with other blocks, you can go to Plugins > Blocks > Manage blocks from the Site administrationmenu to manage block availability.

Adding Featured links block on a dashboard

1. Click on Site administration > Appearance > Dashboards.
2. Create a new Dashboard or open an existing Dashboard.
3. Turn Blocks editing on.
4. Choose from theAdd a Block menu choose Featured Links. 
5. From the Featured Link block click the Add tile
6. Configure the settingsto your preferences. 
7. Click Save changes. 

Adding Featured link block to a course

1. Go to the course you wish to add the featured link block to. 
2. Turn editing on and then from the Add a blockdropdown menu select Featured Link. 
3. From the Featured Link block click the Add tile
4. Configure the settingsto your preferences. 
5. Click Save changes. 

Tile settings 

You can also click the cog icon () to configure the block settings. Decide the block title, tile size (large, medium, or small), tile shape (square, portrait, landscape, or full width), and add an manual ID. You can also configure common block settings.

Activity results block

The Activity results block shows a range of grades for a particular activity. An example of how this could be used is showing the top five grade results to incentivise others to beat them, essentially creating a leader board. This can be done using the learners full name or displaying results anonymously. 

It is possible for a Site Administrator to set the defaults and lock certain fields for the Activity Results block. To do this you will need to go to Plugins > Blocks > Manage blocks from the Site administration menu and then click Settings alongside the Activity Results block. If a field is locked then the value cannot be changed. New blocks will be locked to the default, however it is important to note, the lock does not change existing Activity Results blocks. Any existing blocks will have the settings locked to whatever value they have at the moment the lock is enabled. When locked, existing blocks can't change their value, even if they wish to change to the default value. Therefore, caution is advised if you are trying to enforce settings such as the privacy field or want to prevent low or high results from being shown.

Adding Activity results block on a page

1. Select Turn editing onfor the particular page.
2. Then select Acitivty results from the Add a block

Configuring Activity results block