Moodle is an excellent learning management system for courses that cater to students studying at a distance. But students studying remotely can feel isolated.

Being able to see that other students are online is a great motivator. Creating a sense of community allows students to feel that they are not alone in their studies. Seeing where online users are located around the world can add an element of significance to the community studying a course.

We will look at a block that complements the Online Users block, to show online users located in a small Google map:

Asking for feedback from students can be like pulling teeth. This invaluable information is very hard to extract from students. Simplifying the task of providing feedback to a simple rating out of five stars might not be appropriate for all courses, but it is certainly simpler and may encourage more students to provide feedback. It also provides a quick, visual aid for comparing courses:

Announcements from teachers to students are an important part of any course. We look at a block that improves on the standard Latest News block to provide relevant information in more compact form:

Time plays a part in all learning. But how much time? We will look at a number of blocks that allow teachers to make time a more explicit part of their course: