In this series of blog posts our resident developer and expert on all things Moodle related, Connor, will be picking a Moodle plugin to feature each month which he thinks is innovative, useful, or perhaps new to the platform.
This month we’ve chosen the Collapsed Topics plugin, which can be found in the Moodle plugins directory here:
https://moodle.org/plugins/format_topcoll
The Collapsed Topics plugin is an interchangeable topic- or week-based format that solves the issue of the so called ‘Scroll of Death’ when a course has a large number of topics.
In Moodle the standard course formats such as “topic” and “week” can quickly become difficult to manage when a large amount of content is added, requiring the user to scroll through multiple pages to locate their desired item.
The Collapsed Topics plugin solves this problem ingeniously by creating a collapsible menu system which groups items by topic or week as desired. We’ve found it extremely useful for cleaning up and decluttering courses by hiding content sections when they are not needed.
As part of the Titus Learning Moodle theme, we apply additional styling to this plugin to ensure it fits seamlessly within the branding of the parent Moodle.
The plugin is authored and maintained by Gareth J Barnard, who has also created a guidebook to using the plugin.
With over 4,000 downloads from the Moodle website, and a number of Moodle awards for automated testing, compatibility with Moodle releases on launch day and also a “Featured plugin” award, it’s clear that we’re not the only ones to have noticed how indispensable this free addition to the platform can be.
Look out next month for the October plugin of the month – you’ll be able to access all posts in this series via the “Plugin of the month” tag below.
In the meantime, if you have any questions relating to using Moodle more effectively at your school, feel free to get in touch.
