Filters transform text in a Moodle course into more complex forms, such as embedded video, TeX notiation, H5P activities, and more. Instructors can enable filters to more easily create interaction in their course page without the need for copying embed code or working with HTML. Filters can be enabled or disabled at the course-level, or activity-level. 

This article provides an overview of what Filters are available in a Moodle course.

Overview of Filters

Filters have a number of different features to enable multimedia in a course. This can be for embedded YouTube or Panopto videos, H5P activities created in the course but hidden from the student's view, for mathematical expressions, and much more. For more information on Filters, see Moodle's "Filters" documentation.

The following Filters are available for use with NC State's Moodle instance:

• H5P Filter
  
  • This allows for H5P activities in a course to be embedded in a text field of that course.
• MathJax
  
  • This allows for MathML/MathJax TeX notation to be converted to a visual mathematical expression.
• Activity names auto-linking
  
  • This allows for the exact text of an activity title to also link to that activity.
• Poodll Filter
  • A pre-requisite for many functions added with Poodll.
  • For more information on using this filter, see Moodle's "PoodLL filter" documentation. 
• Multimedia plugins
  • This replaces a link to a multimedia resource, such as a YouTube video, with a video player.
  • To use this filter, follow the instructions in the "Enabling Video Embeds for Content in Moodle" article.
• Display emoticons as images
  • This replaces common emoticons with an emoji image instead.
  • Enabling this can result in issues with displayed content in the course. See the "Turning Off Moodle's Emoticons Filter" article for more details.
• Gamification Filter Reward
  • If using Gamification, a Filter Reward is a special reward for completing activities in the course that uses HTML and CSS.
  • For more information, see the "Overview of the Moodle Gamification Plugin" article.
• Glossary auto-linking
  • If using a Glossary activity, any terms defined will be linked to their Glossary entry when typed in a text field.
• Convert URLs into links and images
  • When either using the URL to an image file in a file repository or a standard webpage, it will turn it into an image or a clickable link respectively.

Some of these filters are enabled or disabled by default, but can be edited at any time at the course-level or the activity-level.

Configuring filters for the course

To enable or disable any of these filters for a Moodle course:

1. Navigate to the Moodle course.
2. In the course menu at the top of the main Moodle course page, select the More tab.
3. In the drop-down menu that appears, select the Filters option.
4. In the Filter settings page that appears, configure each filter using the drop-down menu in the Active? column.
5. Click the Save changes button at the bottom of the page.

Each of these filters can be configured at any time.

Configuring filters for activities and resources

To enable or disable any of these filters for a specific activity or resource:

1. Navigate to the activity or resource.
2. In the activity menu at the top of the page, select the More tab.
3. In the drop-down menu that appears, select the Filters option.
4. In the Filter settings page that appears, configure each filter using the drop-down menu in the Active? column.
5. Click the Save changes button at the bottom of the page.

Each of these filters can be configured at any time.

Additional Resources

For additional assistance, please contact the LearnTech Help Desk at learntech@ncsu.eduor (919) 513-7094, or via the Get Help form on the DELTA Knowledge Base.