EdtechGuides: Manage your content guide: Hide content

About hide content

You can hide content in Moodle if you do not want students to view the content. You will be able to recognise when content or sections have been hidden as a label Hidden from students will display.

If you want module content to be accessible to students at a later date you should use the Restrict access settings rather than hiding the content or section.

Hide an individual Resource/Activity

Turn Edit mode on.
Open the section where the resource/activity is located.
Select the three dots alongside the relevant resource or activity to review the options available.
Select Hide.

In Moodle 3.9, select Edit alongside the relevant resource or activity to open the menu and select Hide.

Hide a Topic/Section

Turn Edit mode on.
Select the three dots alongside the relevant section.
Select Hide section.
A message - Hidden from students will display to the right of the section.
To make the section visible again, select the three dots alongside the relevant section and select Show section.

In Moodle 3.9, Turn editing on and select the eye icon alongside a section to hide it.

Hide a block

Turn Edit mode on.
Open the Block drawer on the right of the module.
Select the cog icon on the block you want to hide.
Select Hide from the drop-down menu. The block will be greyed out.
To make the block visible, select the cog icon on the block and select Show from the drop-down menu.

In Moodle 3.9, Turn editing on and select to Show Sidebar on the right-hand side of the screen to reveal the blocks. Then follow steps 3-5 above.

Stealth activities

Staff can place any activity or resource into stealth mode. The resources and activities in stealth mode are hidden from student view on the module page, but are available to them as links in another module resource. This content displays the label, Available but not shown on module page. Stealth mode can be used as a design strategy to present an uncluttered module page to students.

Reporting

You will not be able to report on activities students access when accessed via a stealth mode link.

Stealth activities in hidden sections

If you hide a section, students will be able to access resources and activities that are set to Available but not shown on the module page via the link to Resources in the Module dashboard. If you do not want students to view certain activities or resources ensure that these are set to hidden.

Read only Moodle

When City creates its read-only version of Moodle to provide read only access during the annual update, students will not be able to access resources and activities created using stealth mode. Students will have to select the link to Resources in the Module dashboard to access files and module content.

These steps can be used to make the activity or resource available for students but not visible within a section of the Moodle module.

Apply stealth mode when creating content

If you are creating the activity, scroll down to the Common Module settings, select the Availability option as Make available but not shown on module page.
Scroll to the end of the page and select Save and return to module.

Apply stealth mode to existing content

Navigate to the section where the content is located.
Open the content.
Select Settings from the contextual navigation bar above the content.
Scroll to Common module settings.
From Availability settings, select Make available but not shown on module page option.
Select Save and return to module.

The activity will display with the text Available but not shown on module page underneath it.

In Moodle 3.9, Turn editing on and select Edit alongside the relevant content. Select Hide. Select Edit again and select Make available.

Copy link to stealth mode activity

From the module page, right-click on the primary link to the activity and select copy link address. You can paste this link into a Moodle Page or Book for students to access.

Review the screencast below to learn more about stealth mode activities.