In this article we will discuss one of those newest features for Moodle 4.0, the Course Index. The Course Index is similar to a table of contents where it will list all of the components of your course as you add them to your page. It is completely interactive and provides links to shortcuts for each item as a quick way to find and access them. This will take the place of the Navigation Menu that you are used to seeing on the left hand side.
For a more detailed tutorial on the Course Index, please check out the following YouTube video:
Using the Course Index
1. To access the course index, navigate over to the left hand side and click the button with the three horizontal lines.
2. If you have already populated your Moodle course, you will see all of your course content show up on your course index similar to a table of contents. This not only includes the content itself, but topic and week titles as well. If you haven't populated your course yet, you will see course content show up as you add it.
3. The course index has it's own scroll bar located on the right hand side which means it can move independently to your main course page. This is useful especially if you have a lot of content on your course and you are looking to just use the course index as a way to quickly access the item.
If you do scroll down on the main course page though, you will see that the course index will follow along with you as you scroll, highlighting each item for easy access.
4. Moving items is much easier than it used to be. If you want to move an item up or down on your page, you can do so using the course index. Make sure your editing button is turned on first. Once you have done that, navigate to your course index and find the item that you want to move. Once you hover over that item, you will see a symbol with four arrows. This indicates that you are ready to move this item. Simply drag the item up or down where you would like for it to show up and it will easily move there.
If you have an item that you would like to move from the far bottom or the top of the page and are finding it hard to drag and scroll, you are now able to collapse menus to make that task much easier. Simply collapse the menus that you do not need, and then follow the same instructions to move the item where you would like it to go. In this example, we have moved the syllabus from week 4 up to week 1.
5. With 4.0, you still have the ability to hide any items that you do not wish for the student to see. If you hide it on your end, it will show up as greyed out on your course index to indicate that it is hidden. From the student perspective, they will not see the item at all.
Similarly, if you enable restrict access conditions on any of your content, a lock will show up next to that item on the course index indicating that those conditions are present. This lock does not hide this item from the student. They are still able to see it on their end, however, the lock will indicate to them that there are additional parameters set on this item that need to be completed.
6. If you are using Activity Completion for your items, students will have visual indicators on their end when they view their course index letting them know what they have completed already and what they still need to do. The hollow circles next to an assignment indicate the activity criteria has not been met. Green circles indicate that the assignment criteria has been completed.
