Hiding things in Moodle

It is possible to hide items from students in your Moodle course.

Hiding a resource or activity

To hide a resource or activity:

1. Turn on Edit mode.
2. Click on the options menu (three dots) next to the item you want to hide.
3. Hover over Availability, then select Hide on course page.

A gray “Hidden from students” button will now appear with the item’s name to indicate the item is hidden.

Revealing a resource or activity

To make the item visible to students:

1. Turn on Edit mode.
2. Click on the gray Hidden from students button underneath the item you want to reveal.
3. Select Show on course page.

Alternately, you can reveal a resource or activity from the same options menu where you originally hid it.

Hiding a section (topic or week)

To hide an entire section:

1. Turn on Edit mode.
2. Click on the options menu (three dots) next to the title of the section you want to hide.
3. Select Hide.

You can reveal the section again in the same options menu (selecting Show this time), or you can click on the gray Hidden from students button that now appears with the section’s name.

In the course settings, you can control whether hidden sections are shown to students as “Not available” or are completely invisible.

Items visible by link only

Sections can only be fully visible or fully hidden. Resources or activities can be fully visible, fully hidden, or available by link only.

To hide a resource or activity from the main course view but make it available via link:

1. Turn on Edit mode.
2. Hide the section using the instructions above.
3. Underneath the item you want to make available by link only, click on the gray Hidden from students button.
4. Select Make available but don’t show on course page.

Conditional visibility

You can control the visibility of items or topics by time, grade, and other variables using the Restrict Access settings. A common example is to make an assignment visible after a certain date. This can be done by the following steps:

1. Open the more options menu (three dots) of a resource, activity, or section.
2. Click on Edit settings.
3. Scroll to the bottom and expand Restrict access, then click on Add restriction...
4. Click the Date button.
5. Set a date and time when the material should become available to the student.
6. If you want the item to be completely hidden from students until it becomes available, click on the eyeball so that it has a line through it.
   • Otherwise, the name of the item will be visible to students, but they won't be able to access it until the date you set.

Verifying the hidden items

To make sure students can't see the items you've hidden, you can switch your role to student by clicking on your name in the top right, going to Switch role to . . . , then selecting Student. The hidden items should not be visible. Switch back by clicking on your name in the top right again and selecting Return to my normal role.