As the number of Moodle courses grows throughout a semester, they often become crowded with pages, files, assignments, forums and other various learning activities. While Moodle provides powerful tools for managing the course content, students can still find themselves having to scroll through endless lists just to locate the resource or activity they need.
Improving course organisation is essential to creating a more intuitive learning experience. That’s where Activity Groups Format comes in: a minimalistic Moodle course format designed to automatically organise activities into meaningful categories, making course pages easier to navigate without changing the way teachers manage their courses.
Key Features
Once activities are added to a course, this format automatically organises them into cards based on their module type.
| Module-type Grouping | Activities are automatically sorted into up to six administrator-defined groups (e.g. Learning Materials, Assessments, Communication Tools) according to their Moodle activity type |
| Fallback Group | Activities whose module types are not assigned to a group are placed into a catch-all group instead of being hidden |
| Card Layout | Each group is displayed as a clean, organised card on the course page, making activities easier to browse and access |
The grouping updates automatically whenever activities are added to the course.
Who it Helps
- Administrators
Standardise how activities are categorised across courses, site-wide, without touching a theme or writing code. - Teachers and Trainers
Present course content in clearly grouped cards, with all readings together and all assessments together, without changing how courses are built. - Course Creators
Design content-heavy or self-paced courses where activity type matters more to students than the week or topic it was added under. - Students
Navigate courses more easily, scanning grouped cards by activity type instead of scrolling through long topics or weekly sections.
Why Choose Activity Groups Format?
Activity Groups Format was developed with the aim to make course navigation easier. Rather than displaying every activity in a single continuous list, the plugin automatically organises visible activities and resources in logical categories based on their Moodle module types.
For example, all assignments and quizzes can be grouped under Assessments, while lecture notes, files and pages appear under Learning Materials. Discussion forums can be placed under Communication Tools, allowing students to quickly locate the content they need instead of searching through a cluttered course page.
This plugin changes only how activities are presented to learners, enabling teachers to continue using Moodle’s familiar editing interface to add, edit, move, hide or delete activities. This makes Activity Groups Format easy to adopt without disrupting existing workflows.
Getting Started
Installing Activity Groups Format is straightforward:
- Install the plugin in the course/ format/ activitygroups directory.
- Complete the standard Moodle plugin installation through Site Administration.
- Configure activity groups via Site Administration → Plugins → Course Formats → Activity Groups Format.
Administrators can then customise group titles and assign Moodle module types to create a course structure that best suits their institution.
A More Organised Moodle Experience
Whether you’re managing courses for a school, university, or workplace training programme, Activity Groups Format offers a simple yet effective way to improve course navigation while preserving Moodle’s core functionality.
By automatically organising activities into logical categories, the plugin helps learners spend less time searching for content and more time engaging with it. At the same time, teachers can continue using Moodle exactly as they always have, making adoption effortless for both educators and administrators.
Interested in making Moodle courses easier to navigate? Contact Pukunui Malaysia to learn more about Activity Groups Format and how it can support your organisation’s learning environment.
