Moodle Format: Flexible Sections

Overview

The Flexible sections course format organizes a course into collapsible sections with only 1 parent section expandable at a time. This course format looks very similar to Custom sections format except:

1. Subsections can also be added inside other sections (a.k.a. nested sections).
2. If an instructor hides a parent section, all nested sections and activities become hidden as well.
3. If a section has both activities and subsections, activities are displayed first before subsections.

Configuring Flexible Sections Format

Below includes instructions for changing the course format, creating nested sections and highlighting sections. 

How to enable the format:

1. Click on the Settings tab on the top bar of your course page.
2. Scroll to and expand the Course format section.
3. Open the drop-down menu next to the Format label, and select Flexible Sections format. You will also see additional customization options:
   • Show top section title: Choose whether to display the course “General” section title.
   • Display course index: Control whether the left-hand Course index sidebar is shown to students.
   • Sections and activities / Only sections: Decide whether the course index should display both sections and activities, or just section names.
   • Accordion effect: Allow only one section to be expanded at a time (collapsing others automatically).
   • Display back link in activities: Show a “Back to course” link at the top of activity pages.
4. Once the settings are adjusted, click the Save button at the bottom of the page.

How to add subsections:

1. Enable Edit Mode via the top-right corner of your page.
2. Locate and expand the section you would like to host the subsection.
3. To the right of this section, click on the traffic light ( ⋮ ) icon.
4. Select the Add subsection option.
5. Then edit the section as usual.

How to highlight a section:

Highlighting a section can help students locate the section of focus in your course, whether that be the week's topic or some section you'd like to highlight.

1. Enable Edit Mode via the top-right corner of your page.
2. Locate the desired section.
3. To the right of this section, click on the traffic light ( ⋮ ) icon.
4. Select Highlight section option.

Image Reference

Questions?

If you need further assistance or have specific questions that aren't covered in this article, please don't hesitate to reach out for personalized support by submitting a Moodle Support ticket. 

Acknowledgement 

Contributions from Carly Born, Em Palencia, Don Vosburg, Sam Johnson-Lacoss ‘24, Paul Claudel Izabayo ‘25, Seth Bonney '27, and Mohammed Albarassi ‘28.