Ops: Manage Course Categories

Course Categories are the folders used to organize your Moodle site. Just as you wouldn't throw 500 files onto your computer desktop, you shouldn't put all courses in one list.

Proper categorization ensures that students can easily find their classes and helps the operations team archive old semesters efficiently.

1. Recommended Structure (Hierarchy)

For a Pre-Master educational institution, we recommend a time-based hierarchy. This keeps current courses visible and old courses accessible but tucked away.

Example Tree Structure:

• 📂 2025-2026 Academic Year (Top Level)
  • 📂 Spring Intake 2026 (Sub-category)
    • 📘 Business Management
    • 📘 Academic English
  • 📂 Autumn Intake 2025 (Sub-category)
    • 📘 Engineering Support
    • 📘 Research Methods
• 📂 Archive / Past Years
  • 📂 2024-2025...

2. Accessing Category Management

All category operations happen in the central course management interface.

1. Navigate to Site administration.
2. Click the Courses tab.
3. Click Manage courses and categories.

This screen is split into two columns:

• Left Column: The list of Categories.
• Right Column: The list of Courses inside the selected category.

3. Creating a New Category

Steps

1. On the "Manage courses and categories" page, click Create new category (usually a link at the top or bottom of the left column).
2. Configure the settings:
   • Parent category:
     • Choose Top if this is a main container (e.g., "2026 Academic Year").
     • Choose an existing category (e.g., "2026 Academic Year") if you are creating a sub-folder (e.g., "Spring Semester").
   • Category name: Keep it short and clear (e.g., "Spring 2026").
   • Category ID number: (Optional) Useful for external reporting, otherwise leave blank.
   • Description: (Optional) Visible to students when they browse.
3. Click Create category.

4. Moving and Sorting Categories

As semesters progress, you may need to move "Spring 2026" into an "Archive" folder or reorder the list.

Sorting (Reordering)

On the main management screen, use the Arrow icons (↑↓) next to a category name to move it up or down the list.

• Tip: Keep the "Current Semester" at the very top of the list so it is the first thing students see on the homepage.

Moving a Category (Change Parent)

If you created a category in the wrong place:

1. Click the Gear icon ⚙️ next to the category name.
2. Select Edit.
3. Change the Parent category dropdown to the correct location.
4. Click Save changes.

5. Hiding Categories (Archiving)

When a semester ends, you should Hide the category. This removes it from the student's visible menu but preserves all data.

1. Go to Manage courses and categories.
2. Find the category you want to hide (e.g., "Autumn 2024").
3. Click the Eye icon 👁️ next to the category name.
   • Open Eye: Visible to students.
   • Crossed-out Eye: Hidden from students (Greyed out).

Note: When you hide a Category, ALL courses inside it are automatically hidden from the course catalog. However, students who are already enrolled can usually still access their past courses via their Dashboard timeline, depending on site settings.

6. Best Practices

• Don't go too deep: Try to keep sub-categories to a maximum of 3 levels (Year -> Semester -> Subject). Deep folders make it hard for users to navigate.
• Use "Misc" temporarily: Moodle creates a default category called "Miscellaneous". Use this for testing or draft courses, but hide it from students.
• Archive annually: At the end of the academic year, move the entire Year folder into a top-level "Archive" category to keep the site fresh.