Moodle Help Guide

The Announcements forum is a specialized forum for communicating general news and announcements to class participants. 

Course Announcements: Every Moodle course contains a “Course Announcements” forum. When you post a message here, which can be done by clicking the three vertical dots [] to the right of the “Course Announcements” forum, selecting “Edit settings, clicking the “Forum” tab at the top, and selecting “Add discussion topic,” all the students enrolled in the course will automatically receive an email with the content of that message. Only instructors can post to this forum. You can include attachments like videos and PDFs by clicking on the “Advanced” link below the text box. Both you and your students can easily view past messages that you've posted, by looking through the Course Announcements activity.

There are two methods to communicate with individual students or small groups in your course:

Messages: The Messages tool is found in a drop-down menu under your profile name at the top right corner of the screen. Click on the “Messages” option to use this tool. You can adjust the settings of Messages to limit who can contact you via this tool. A record is kept in your Messages of the conversations you have had with individuals. This allows for quick contact between you and individual students. Attachments are not allowed.

Forums for Individuals or Small Groups: You can restrict access to a Forum to an individual learner or a specific group or groups, and use that Forum to provide feedback and otherwise communicate with those students.