Moodle: Disable chat/messaging within Moodle.

This topic has actually been a debate among teachers in my district.  Do we disable the ability for students to chat/IM/Message/Blog?  My answer of course it "No."  I know that it can be risky allowing students to use means of communication but with all the texting and cell phones they have, one more method isn't going to matter.  Chatting and messaging within Moodle is nothing more than what students used to do in the old days; pass notes.  The upside to Moodle messaging is that now you have a record of what kids are saying about and to teachers and peers.  Where as notes and texting is harder to keep a record of.  I happen to love the ability for students to use the Moodle messaging system, but if you are still not convinced or your school has a policy against it then the following tutorial will demonstrate how to disable Moodle's ability to message.

Tutorial

1.  First in order to disable the use of chat or the messaging system within Moodle you need to be an administrator or the specific rights to play around with settings.  If your administrator doesn't know how to disable it then just send him a link to this blog post.


2.  Log into moodle as an administrator.

3.  Under "Site Administration" click on the "Security" folder and then choose "Site policies."

4.  Now just scroll down until you see the "Enable messaging system" check box.  Un-check it and you are all set.  Don't forget to hit the "Save changes" button all the way at the bottom.