At this time, the official version of Moodle does not have a traditional e-mail client. Here are some suggestions that will help you understand what you can use in Moodle. If you have questions regarding an e-mail client for Moodle, please see the FAQ Moodle Research and Planning FAQ.
General Class Announcements
The Moodle News Forum was created for just this purpose. The News forum is included by default in every Moodle course. Students are automatically subscribed to this forum so they may receive a copy of the message posted by the instructor in their IUP e-mail. Only the instructor can add or delete messages in this forum. Moodle gives users the ability to set up forum tracking of unread messages in their profiles. This can help improve navigating the forums. To read more about Moodle announcements, please see the article Viewing Moodle Announcements.
Assignment Submissions
Students can submit one or more files for an assignment using the Moodle "Advanced uploading of files" assignment type. A "notes" feature enables the student to communicate with his or her instructor. (The instructor must set Allow Notes to yes when configuring the assignment). The instructor can review the student's submissions, mark up these files, and resubmit them to the students. Grading and commenting capabilities are integrated into this activity. Submissions are controlled by availability and due dates. To read more about this Moodle assignment type, please see the article “Adding a Moodle Assignment: Advanced Uploading of Files.”
Individual Communication between Instructor and Student
Moodle has an instant messaging tool, Moodle Messages, which allows communication between a student and instructor. This tool is not course specific, so the student or instructor would have to indicate the course in the body of the message. File attachment is not supported. When sending a message using Moodle Messages, if people are logged on to Moodle, they should receive the messages immediately. When people have not been logged on for ten minutes, the message is sent to their IUP e-mail, and they may also be notified they have a message when they are next logged into Moodle. Moodle messages are maintained in a history log and can be recalled at a later date if necessary. Moodle messages are sitewide (not organized by course).
Alternatively, individual IUP e-mail accounts can be used for one-on-one communication.
Organize Course Mail Messages
When using IUP e-mail, it is recommended that you set up a separate folder for each course and create an I-mail rule to sort course e-mail to better organize your messages. For information on creating I-mail rules, please see IUP I-mail Rules Help.
