Development:Anonymous Users

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Template:Moodle 2.0

Objective

To allow users to switch into an anonymous mode when using certain activities eg when posting to a forum, so that the user's real identity cannot be ascertained by other non-privileged users.

= Possible Use Cases

1. Activity: for example a forum may be switched into anonymous mode by teacher rendering all posts
2. User: a user may choose to participate in an activity anonymously
3. Role Play: a teacher may choose to run the whole course in an anonymous mode to allow students to role play

Settings

Global

• Anonymous Mode: On/Off
• Anonymous Images: On/Off
• Enable Course Anonymous Mode: On/Off

Course

• Anonymous Mode: On/Off/Optional

Activity

• Anonymous Mode: On/Off/Optional

User Profile

The following additional fields will be added

• Alias
• Alias image

New Table

The anonymity of the activity will depend upon:

1. Global settings - site administrator can switch anonymous mode on/off
2. Module settings - teacher can set anonymous to on/off/optional
3. User settings - user can switch on/off

Scenarios

There are 3 possible scenarios for an activity:

1. Teacher sets an activity to run in "Anonymous Mode". Using the example of a forum, all users who post to the forum will do so anonymously;
2. Teacher sets an activity to run in "Optional Anonymous Mode". In this scenario moodle will check the user settings to see if they have enabled anonymity;
3. Teacher sets an activity as "Not Anonymous".

User Profile

Proposed new settings in a user's profile:

Field	Type	Description
anonymous_name	text	User can enter an anonymous name they would like to use. This field may be disabled depending on global settings