Voted...and about to email staff to register and vote also !
Phil
Andrew, I'm a bit confused.
So it ends out (after I re-read this) that we are already working with "moodle/site:accessallgroups" set to no for non-editing teachers (let's call them tutors to match with what you then say) across all courses.
But you also said..."Now the tutors will only have access to their own groups, which means
that when they post to all of their groups posts are only made to those
groups." (I've highlighted an important bit)
I'm not seeing that...I'm not seeing any option for a tutor managing more than one group to post to all their groups at once (which went back to my original question)...I'm just seeing what we have always seen...the tutor having to post to each group individually (as per the following image)...
I have the forums set to separate groups and am not using groupings.
PhilHi Phil,
In Moodle 2.9 we added some new options around posting to multiple groups. The issue that introduced this feature was MDL-19670 and it was further improved in MDL-50714.
In your screenshot, this dropdown allows you to select which group you wish to view. Historically you needed to select the view group in order to post, but since 2.9 you've also had the ability to choose the group when posting.
When you have access to multiple groups, and you are writing a new post, and you have the mod/forum:canposttomygroups capability (introduced in 2.9 with MDL-19670) then you will be given the option to copy that post to all of your groups.
In this screenshot, I am a member of groups A, and C (but not B, and D). I do not have the accessallgroups capability and I do have the canposttomygroups capability. If I select the Post a copy to all groups option, the post I write will be copied to groups A and C only.
In writing this post, I have just noticed that when we took the Timed posts feature out of experimental (MDL-17955) this has meant that the Group options are now shown under Display period which is obviously wrong. I've just raised MDL-56208 to address this.
If you have any ideas as to how we can improve the interface here, we'd love to hear them.
Thanks,
Andrew
Hi Andrew,
Our organisation upgraded from Moodle 2.8 to Moodle 3.0 in January...the same month that I left the organisation. I came back in late July. I say that...because I have to confess (and am slightly embarrassed) that I wasn't aware of the "post a copy to all groups" feature. I had completely missed it since my return (again, in my defence, I've been focussed on other things until now) although it's a little bit hidden also.
The "Post a copy to all groups" solves our issue for non-editing teachers...but not for the Teacher in the course. We have a number of staff teaching a course, and one of them has overview (as a Paper Coordinator). They have their own groups to deal with, but can also view and post messages to all students and any group. All other staff are non-editing teachers.
But...having tested this morning, I now realise that we still have an issue...the Teacher has no way of opting post to just their own groups? It's either one group or all groups for a Teacher.
Trying to think it through, and to visualise it...to me the issue is that on the page where you first enter the forum "My groups" isn't a selectable option in the drop-down menu and it would be useful if it was...
And then if you choose this, the page that loads shows that you are posting to "My groups" (and again, it's an option here)...
This would do away with the "Copy to all groups" tick-box option completely and makes it more consistent.
So a Teacher would be able to select (via drop-down on both pages)...
- All participants
- My groups
- Group T1
- Group T2, etc
- Other groups
- Etc etc
A non-editing teacher would have...
- My groups
- Group NET1
- Group NET2 etc
Just a thought?
Phil
Hi Andrew,
I have the same concerns as Phil above. In your example, with the accessallgroups capability turned off (prevented) but the canposttomygroups capability turned on (allowed), a teacher can post to all the groups that (s)he belongs to but cannot view other groups at all when the forum is set to separate groups. With a large number of groups, separate groups is the least confusing option for students, I think, but there are legitimate reasons why a teacher would like to have access to ALL groups (observation, checking the general progress of all groups in a course, including one's own, etc) but also have the option to post only to those groups to which (s)he belongs.
And yet as functionality now stands (Moodle 3.1), with the accessallgroups turned on, the teacher is allowed to see all separate groups, but any post made using the Post a copy to all groups option sends that post to ALL groups, including the groups that the teacher only wishes to observe. However, failing to use that option, a teacher who wishes to post to all her/her groups at once is restricted to choosing ONLY ONE of the groups to which (s)he belongs and, hence, has to repeat the posting for as many times as there are groups belonged to. This is counter-productive.
To use your example above, although I belong only to groups A and C, I might have sound reasons for wanting to view groups B and D while keeping them as separate groups for students to avoid confusion. At the same time, I want to make occasional posts to my groups A and C in a single process, i.e. without having to make the same post first to A and then to C. At other times, I may wish to post only to group A.
I think Phil's suggested solution to this problem is both elegant and intuitive. I would certainly vote for this solution if it were posted to the tracker.