Scheduling announcements with timed forum posts
It is possible to control when a forum post is visible through the display settings on the post. This allows you to make a post visible at a point in the future. Something that is particularly useful for module announcements.
Only those with Teacher, Non-Editing Teacher or Course Administrator access to a QMplus area are able to access the display settings on a post. Students are not able to control the display of any posts that they make.
This guide covers:
How to create a timed post
Timed posts can be created in any QMplus discussion forum, including the module announcements forum.
To setup a timed post:
- Go to the ‘Announcements’ forum activity in your QMplus course and Add a new topic.
- Enter the ‘Subject’ and ‘Message’. Before clicking on Post to forum, click on the Advanced link to reveal some additional settings:
Here you can set the period that you want the post to display for by setting the date and time for the start and end of the period. Once you have set a display period on a post it will only be visible to students during that period. (before that time it will not appear in the ‘Announcements’ forum).
If you only want the announcement to appear for a specific period of time, you can also set the ‘Display end’ date and time. If this checkbox is ticked, the post will be hidden once the date and time is reached, otherwise it will continue to remain visible.
When returning to the ‘Announcements’ forum, you will notice the post has been added with a ‘Timed’ label. This post will not be visible to your students until the defined ‘Display start’ date and time has been reached
What about notifications?
Notifications for timed posts will not be sent out until after the post has become visible.
Did this answer your query? If not, you can raise a ticket on the online Helpdesk or email: its-helpdesk@qmul.ac.uk . Alternatively you can also request a particular guide or highlight an error in this guide using our guides request tracker.
Produced by the the Technology Enhanced Learning Team at Queen Mary University of London.
Related items
Next steps
You can find more information about the forums on Moodle Docs.