Adding a Forum Activity
Margarita Berezyanskaya
Last Update 13 giorni fa
Course participants can engage in asynchronous discussions, i.e., discussions that take place over an extended period of time, using the Forum activity module. Teachers can either create new Forum activities or use pre-existing ones within the courseware.
Participants can subscribe to a Forum to receive notifications of new forum posts. A teacher can set the subscription mode to optional, forced or auto, or prevent subscription completely. To support balanced participation, teachers can limit the number of posts a student can make within a given time period.
Forum posts can be rated by teachers or students (peer evaluation), and the ratings can be aggregated to form a final grade in the grade book.
Using the Forum Activity to Enhance Blended Learning
Forums are effective tools for connecting online learning with face-to-face instruction. In addition to enabling communication outside the classroom, forums can be used to:
- share course announcements by using a news Forum with forced subscription;
- discuss course content or reading materials;
- continue conversations started during in-person sessions;
- provide private, one-on-one support using separate groups (one student per group).
Step-by-Step Instructions for Adding a Forum Activity
1. At the top of the Course Homepage, click on the Edit mode toggle button in the upper right corner of the screen to activate the editing tools.
Note: The toggle moves to the right, indicating that course editing is now on.
2. In the section where the link to the Forum should appear, hover the cursor over the dotted line between two activities. The Add content (plus icon) appears.
3. Click on the Add content icon.
4. In the Add content drop-down that appears, click on the Activity or resource link.
Note: The Add an activity or resource pop-up appears.
5. Click on the Forum icon.
The Adding a new Forum page appears. Settings in the General section are used to set the general information about the activity.
6. Type a descriptive name in the Forum name textbox.
10. Select the appropriate type of forum in the Forum type option.
- Single simple discussion: Participants cannot start new topics. All posts appear within a single discussion thread, which helps keep the conversation focused.
- Each person posts one discussion: Participants can create only one discussion topic but may reply to other participants' posts.
- Q and A forum: Participants must submit their own post before they can view others' responses.
- Standard forum displayed in blog-like format: Participants can start new topics in an open forum displayed on a single page. Replies are made by clicking the Discuss this topic link.
- Standard forum for general use: Participants can start multiple discussion topics and reply to others. This is the most flexible and commonly used forum type.
12. Settings in the Attachment and word count section are used define attachment limits and word count options for student posts in the forum.
13. The Maximum attachment size setting is used to restrict the size of a file that can be attached to a forum post. There is also a setting to disable attachments entirely.
17. The Subscription mode setting enables the teacher to to control how participants subscribe to the forum:
- Optional subscription: Participants choose whether to subscribe;
- Forced subscription: All participants are subscribed;
- Auto subscription: Participants are subscribed by default but can unsubscribe;
- Subscription disabled: Subscriptions are not allowed.
20. The Post threshold for blocking section can be used by teachers to restrict the number of postings a student can make within a specified time period.
21. It also will send a warning message to students when they are approaching the posting limit set for the forum.
22. The Whole forum grading section allows teachers to select the type of grading for the forum activity. Available options include Point and Scale.
23. Below the Whole forum grading Scale Type, instructors can select an advanced grading method, such as Simple direct grading, Marking guide, or Rubric. Instructors can also assign a Grade category and set a minimum passing score in the Grade to pass field. The Default setting for "Notify students" section allows instructors to control whether students are notified of their grades after forum posts are assessed.
24. The Ratings section is used to rate students' forum postings and calculate a grade in the gradebook. The Aggregate type setting determines how the final score is calculated. Options include:
- Average of ratings
- Count of ratings
- Maximum rating
- Minimum rating
- Sum of ratings
If No ratings is selected, no grade will be recorded in the gradebook.
25. The Scale setting, whether selected as Scale or Point, allows the user to specify the Maximum score for ratings.
26. The Restrict rating to items with dates in this range setting defines the time period during which ratings are allowed, using From and To dates.
28. The Availability setting is used to Show/Hide the activity. This functions the same as using the Show/Hide icon when editing mode is enabled on the course homepage.
33. Selecting the Add restriction... button opens a pop-up window where access rules can be defined.
34. Click the Save and return to course button to save/update the activity.
Deployment Tips
- Consider using a single simple discussion forum when the task has a narrow focus, as students will not be able to create new topics.
- You can also use single-member groups to create a private forum for journal writing or one-on-one communication between each student and the teacher.
- Teachers are encouraged to subscribe to all active forums to receive email notifications of posts, which helps support easier monitoring and moderation.
- Forum posts can include audio. To add audio, start a new post, select Add in the Attachments section, and use the Record Audio option in the File picker. More details are available in the Creating a Text & Media (with audio or a YouTube video) article. (Students can also use this feature.)
- Additional ideas and best practices for using forums can be found online by searching: Moodle forum tips.
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