diff --git a/block_hshcourselist.php b/block_hshcourselist.php
index b7995c84306a19568405971564cc5d9e4991a9d2..8ba9e37314a2fa8a8c215585511996b58639bb46 100644
--- a/block_hshcourselist.php
+++ b/block_hshcourselist.php
@@ -70,7 +70,7 @@ class block_hshcourselist extends block_base {
         $anchor = html_writer::tag('a', '', array('name' => 'hshcourselistanchor'));
 
         $ordercheckbox = html_writer::empty_tag('input',
-            array('type' => 'checkbox', 'name' => 'orderbysemestercheckbox', 'id' => 'orderbysemestercheckbox_id'));
+            array('type' => 'checkbox', 'name' => 'orderbysemestercheckbox', 'id' => 'orderbysemestercheckbox_id', 'checked' => 'true'));
         $ordercheckbox .= html_writer::start_tag('label', array('for' => 'orderbysemestercheckbox_id'));
         $ordercheckbox .= get_string('orderbysemester', 'block_hshcourselist');
         $ordercheckbox .= html_writer::end_tag('label');