How to Manage Site Home Settings

Overview

In the LMS, administrators can customise the Site Home (front page) to control what both prospective visitors and enrolled learners see upon visiting the site. In addition to general branding and course display settings, administrators can enable Edit mode directly on the Site Home to add interactive activities and shared resources.

In this tutorial, we will guide you through configuring your Site Home settings, enabling Edit mode, adding shared activities and resources, and exploring key use cases for site-wide learner engagement.

NOTE: Only administrators are allowed to make these modifications, as this is permitted based on their assigned permissions.

How to Manage Site Home Settings

Step Tutorial

1. From the Home page, scroll down and select Settings. You will be directed to the main configuration page where you can update the content and layout of the home page.

2. Update the site’s basic information. You may update the following fields:

Main Point	Details
Full site name	The full title of your site, displayed throughout the LMS.
Short name for site	A shorter version of the name, typically used in navigation or breadcrumbs.
Site home summary	A short introduction or description. This can be displayed by adding a Course/Site Summary block on the home page.
Site home Items	These are the elements or blocks that appear on the Moodle Site Home page: Announcements – Displays recent course announcements or site-wide messages to keep users informed. List of courses – Shows a simple list of all available courses on the site for easy access. Enrolled courses – Displays the courses the user is currently enrolled in. List of categories – Organises courses by categories, allowing users to browse courses grouped by subject or type. Combo list – Provides a drop-down menu where users can select a category to view its courses. Course search box – Adds a search box that lets users quickly find courses by typing keywords or course names. None – No course listings or blocks are displayed on the Home page; the page remains minimal.

3. Adjust additional display and content settings. The following settings allow further control of the home page:

Maximum category depth	Specifies how many levels of child categories are expanded. Deeper categories appear as expandable links.
Maximum number of courses	Sets the maximum number of courses displayed in course listings on the home page.
Add custom content	When enabled, a section will appear at the top of the page where you can add your own content.
Number of announcements	Determines how many announcements are displayed on the home page.
Comments displayed per page	Sets how many comments appear per page if commenting is enabled.
Default site home role	Specifies the default role assigned to users when viewing the site home (usually left unchanged).

4. Scroll to the bottom and click Save changes. Your updates will be applied and reflected on the site home page.

How to Add an Activity or Resource to the Site Home

Important note: Any activity or resource placed directly on the Site Home is accessible to ANY student or staff member across ALL courses and programs. Users do not need to be enrolled in a specific course to view or use these items.

Practical Use Cases for Site Home Activities

Adding activities to the Site Home enables centralised learning support and administration. Common use cases include:

Use Case 1: Central Resource & Orientation Hub

Activity Types: Text and media area, URL, Page, or Folder

Why use it: Instead of manually uploading student handbooks, IT support links, academic policies, or assessment appeal forms into every individual course, you can create a single Text and media area on the Site Home. All enrolled learners automatically have instant access to the same current documents upon logging in.

Use Case 2: General Virtual Drop-In Room

Activity Type: BigBlueButton (BBB)

Why use it: Set up an open, central BigBlueButton meeting room on the Site Home. Trainers or student support staff can quickly message a learner to meet in the "Student Support Lobby" for instant consultations or tech assistance without needing to schedule a separate meeting or enrol the student into an extra course.

Use Case 3: Organisation-Wide Surveys & Feedback

Activity Type: Feedback or Questionnaire

Why use it: Collect learner feedback, onboarding surveys, or student satisfaction reviews across your entire organisation from a single, central location.

Step Tutorial

1. Enable Edit Mode on the Site Home

To add interactive activities or resources directly to the front page:

Navigate back to the Home page.
In the top-right corner of the page, toggle Edit mode to ON.

2. Add an Activity or Resource to the Site Home

With Edit mode enabled, locate the main section on the Site Home and click + Add an activity or resource.
From the activity chooser, select the desired activity or resource type (e.g., Text and media area, BigBlueButton, URL, Folder, Page, or Feedback).
Configure the activity details, description, and availability settings.
Click Save and return to site home.
When finished adding content, toggle Edit mode to OFF.

And that's how to manage Site Home settings and add shared activities in the LMS!

Congratulations on completing this tutorial. We hope this has been helpful to you and your organisation. For any questions or concerns regarding this function, please reach out to the support team via email.