Online Users block (Part II) - Invisible and Visible Users

In my previous post on the same subject here, I  showed how a user's avatar and username could be made to disappear from the Andy J. Davis' Online Users block. The problem with that feature is that everyone in the online class could opt to be come invisible. If so, then it would be difficult for the administrator or teacher of the course to know exactly how users many had gone invisible on the coursepage.

I have since updated the block to allow the Administrator to see how many visible and invisible users are currently accessing the Moodle site. A teacher who is not an Site administrator, but is  teacher of the course and also a course administrator can also be given the same privileges. Take for example, the image below:


A Student user who has gone invisible
Here we find that Mr Smiley Face is a student who has opted to make himself invisible. He is able to see other students' avatars as long as they did not themselves choose to be invisible. 

Image 1: One invisible lurker
and one visible user. 

Mr Smiley Face student does not, however, know how many lurkers exist on the Moodle coursepage site. For all he knows, he might be the only lurker around. Or, he could be one of ten others lurking around the site.

Another addition to planet Earth for one proud Moodler in Montreal

Congratulations to you, Nicholas Walker, and to your wife, Helen, on the birth of your baby son, Julian, on Saturday 11:49pm, 14th January 2012 in Montreal, Canada! What a GREAT moment this is.

Way to go, Nick! And Nick, thanks for all the help you've been to me, thus far. May the joy you experience during this time of rejoicing, bring about more innovative ideas and creative information systems for the good of your family, students and colleagues.

Frankie Kam

Online Users block (Part I) - How to be invisible on the Online Users block. A Moodle 1.9.x and 2.x solution

Learning Outcome: at the end of this post, you will know how to allow your Moodle 1.9.x and 2.x users to hide themselves on the Online Users block. This is Part I out of two parts. You can read Part II here.

Now I don't know about you, but I like, no, LOVE, the Online Users block by Andy J. Davis. It lends an air of Web 2.0 for Moodle. The feeling of a learning community that the block helps to foster is priceless. This block is useful for students and teachers to know who is online.

Figure 1: Online Users block.
A Moodle core block.

An adaptation of Gareth Barnard's excellent Collapsible Weeks course format for Moodle 1.9.x.

Today I decided to adapt the Collapsed Weeks course format, originally developed, and copyrighted by the talented Gareth Barnard. The result of the adaptation is that the course format can now be organised by week, and you can display the topic title for any week.

Here's a screenshot:

Screen 1: Adapted Coursepage format from Garath Barnard's Collapsible Weekly format.

Student / Normal mode view.