Fora in QMplus
Here is a brief explanation as I understand it. I will describe the default setup, since most aspects of QMplus can be reconfigured, and you or previous module organisers may have deleted, hidden or otherwise reconfigured the fora on your module pages. Posts to a forum remain available in QMplus until explicitly deleted (which is a rollover option) and users who are subscribed to a QMplus forum automatically receive every post by email.
Our UG module template, and hence every new page created using it, has two fora, one labelled “Module announcements” and one labelled “Student forum”.
The Module announcements forum is a special type of forum called a News forum. It is intended primarily for the module organiser to publish announcements about the module and only staff with at least the Teacher role can post to it. All users are automatically subscribed and cannot unsubscribe. Posts can appear automatically at the top of the page immediately to the left of the image, but this is not our current default configuration. If you want to be sure that all students registered for a module receive an announcement then use the Module announcements forum.
The Student forum is intended for student discussion of the module (e.g. as an alternative to Facebook) and all users with at least the Student role can post to it. All users are automatically subscribed initially but they can unsubscribe, and anonymous posting is allowed. (Beware that these are the current default options, which I recommend, but they may not have been the default for older module pages, depending on when they were created.) Anonymous posting seems to encourage some students to post, but it can be turned off, which may be necessary if it is abused. If you want to start a discussion among students registered for a module then use the Student forum.
You can create additional fora freely except that there can be only one News forum. Older pages may have forum descriptions that are no longer entirely appropriate. If you want to see my currently recommended wording then please look at MTH4105 - Introduction to Mathematical Computing. For general background information please see the QMplus help, and for even more general background information please see the Moodle 3.0 documentation. (In academic year 2016–17, QMplus is Moodle 3.0.)
