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| {{Forum}} | | {{Forum}} |
| ==Adding and editing a forum==
| | This page explores in more detail the settings for the [[Forum activity]] once you have added it to your course and also covers the Site administration settings. |
| #With the editing turned on, in the section you wish to add your forum, click the "Add an activity or resource" link (or, if not present, the "Add an activity" drop down menu )and choose ''Forum''.
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| # This will take you to the forum settings page titled "Adding a new forum".
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| You can access an existing forum by clicking the configure icon or clicking on the forum and then ''Administration > Forum administration > Edit settings''.
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| ==General== | | ==General== |
| {|
| | Give the Forum a name and a description if required. (For the Single simple discussion forum type, your description must include the question or topic you wish to discuss.) |
| |[[File:forumgeneral25.png|thumb|The General settings, expanded by default.]]
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| |}
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| ===Forum name===
| | For forum type, see the section 'Which forum do I need?' in [[Using Forum]] for further details with screenshots. |
| A short name of the forum (e.g. "Favourite colour"), which will be displayed on the course homepage.
| | ==Availability== |
| ===Description=== | | As well as setting a due date for forum posts, you can also set a cut-off date beyond which students can no longer post. |
| Provide instructions for your students here so they are clear what they have to do. Click "Show editing tools" to display the rich text editor and drag the bottom right of the text box out to expand it.
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| ===Display description on course page===
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| Enabling this will display the description on the course page just below the link to the forum.
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| ===Forum type===
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| There are five forum types to choose from:
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| *A single simple discussion - A single topic discussion developed on one page, which is useful for short focused discussions (cannot be used with separate groups)
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| *Standard forum for general use - An open forum where anyone can start a new topic at any time; this is the best general-purpose forum
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| *Each person posts one discussion - Each person can post exactly one new discussion topic (everyone can reply to them though); this is useful when you want each student to start a discussion about, say, their reflections on the week's topic, and everyone else responds to these
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| *Q and A Forum - Instead of initiating discussions participants pose a question in the initial post of a discussion. Students may reply with an answer, but they will not see the replies of other Students to the question in that discussion until they have themselves replied to the same discussion.
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| *Standard forum displayed in a blog-like format
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| '''Note''': [[News forum]] is a special type of forum that is automatically created with a new course.
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| ==Attachments and word count== | | ==Attachments and word count== |
| (This setting is collapsed by default)
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| {|
| | The maximum file size that may be attached to a forum post depends on the Moodle site settings. The teacher may want a smaller size limit for the forum and should bear in mind the download speeds of the course participants. |
| |[[File:attachmentsandwordcount.png|thumb|Attachments and word count settings expanded]]
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| |}
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| ===Maximum attachment size===
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| The maximum file size that may be attached to a forum post will first be determined by the Moodle site settings. The teacher may want a smaller size limit for the forum. Server file capacity, student downloading speeds and discouraging images in a document centered discussion are a few reasons to limit file size. | |
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| ===Maximum number of attachments===
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| The maximum number of attachments a user can add to their forum post (from 0 to 100) can be specified here.
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| ===Display word count===
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| If "Display word count" is enabled, then the number of words in forum posts will be shown at the bottom of each post. | | If "Display word count" is enabled, then the number of words in forum posts will be shown at the bottom of each post. |
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| ==Subscription and tracking== | | ==Subscription and tracking== |
| (This setting is collapsed by default)
| | ;Subscription mode |
| | | :When a participant is subscribed to a forum it means that they will receive notification (depending on the user’s messaging settings preferences) of each new posting. By default, forum notifications are sent about 30 minutes after the post was saved. |
| {|
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| |[[File:subscriptionandtracking.png|thumb|Subscription and tracking settings expanded]]
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| |}
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| ===Subscription mode===
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| When a user is subscribed to a forum it means that they will receive notification (via popup and/or email, depending on the user’s messaging settings preferences) of each new posting. By default, posts are recorded about 30 minutes after the post was first written. Depending upon the email settings of each forum member, they may be sent an email immediately after the 30 minute edit window is closed, or in a batch at a time fixed by the site administrator (see below). | |
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| People can usually choose whether or not they want to be subscribed to each forum. However, the teacher can choose to force subscription on a particular forum then all course users will be subscribed automatically, even those that enrol at a later time.
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| There are 4 subscription mode options:
| | Participants can usually choose whether or not they want to be subscribed to each forum. However, the teacher can choose to force subscription on a particular forum then all course users will be subscribed automatically, even those that enrol at a later time. |
| * Optional subscription - Participants can choose whether to be subscribed
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| * Forced subscription - Everyone is subscribed and cannot unsubscribe
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| * Auto subscription - Everyone is subscribed initially but can choose to unsubscribe at any time
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| * Subscription disabled - Subscriptions are not allowed.
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| The subscription mode and subscribe or unsubscribe links appear in'' Navigation>Forum administration'' when viewing the forum. teachers can quickly change the mode via the 'Subscription mode' options and view the current subscribers via the 'Show/edit current subscribers' link. | | The subscription mode and subscribe or unsubscribe links can be found via the gear menu inside the forum in Boost or via the Forum administration in Clean. Teachers can quickly change the mode via the 'Subscription mode' options and view the current subscribers via the 'Show/edit current subscribers' link. Teachers can manually subscribe or unsubscribe participants by clicking the 'Manage subscriptions' button. |
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| Tips: | | Tips: |
| * Forcing everyone to subscribe is especially useful in the news forum and in forums towards the beginning of the course (before everyone has worked out that they can subscribe to these emails themselves). | | * Forcing everyone to subscribe is especially useful in the news forum and in forums towards the beginning of the course (before everyone has worked out that they can subscribe to these emails themselves). |
| * Changing the setting from "Yes, initially" to "No" will not unsubscribe existing users; it will only affect those who enrol in the course in the future. Similarly changing "Yes, initially" will not subscribe existing course users but only those enrolling later. | | * Changing the setting from "Auto subscription" to "Optional" will not unsubscribe existing users; it will only affect those who enrol in the course in the future. Similarly changing "Optional" to "Auto subscription" will not subscribe existing course users but only those enrolling later. |
| * There is also a "Subscriptions not allowed" setting which prevents Students from subscribing to a Forum. Teachers may choose to subscribe to a forum if they wish. | | * There is also a "Subscription disabled" setting which prevents students from subscribing to a Forum. Teachers may choose to subscribe to a forum if they wish. |
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| ===Read tracking for this forum?===
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| "Read tracking" for a forum allows users to track read and unread forum posts.
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| {|
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| |[[File:forum administration.png|thumb|Don't track unread posts link]]
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| |}
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| There are three options for this setting:
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| * Optional - Students can turn tracking on or off for the forum via a link 'Track / Don't track unread posts' in ''Administration > Forum administration'', or via their profile 'Forum Tracking' option.
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| * Off - It is not possible to track unread forum posts
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| * Forced - Tracking is always on in this forum, regardless of user preference or setting. No link in is present in ''Administration > Forum administration''. This setting is only available when the 'Allow forced read tracking' administrative setting is enabled.
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| ==RSS== | | ===Subscribe to individual forum discussions=== |
| (This setting is collapsed by default and will only appear if RSS has been enabled sitewide and for forums)
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| {|
| | In a forum with optional or auto subscription you can choose which discussions to subscribe to by toggling the subscribe / unsubscribe button to the right of the discussion. |
| |[[File:rss25.png|thumb|RSS settings expanded]]
| | [[File:forumsubscribetoggle.png|center]] |
| |}
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| ===RSS feed for this activity===
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| This turns RSS on or off for this forum. When set to “None,” RSS is disabled. When set to “Discussions,” the RSS feed will send out new discussions to subscribers. When set to “Posts,” the RSS feed will send out any new posts to subscribers.
| | When you reply to a post you will see a tickbox 'Discussion subscription'. It will already be ticked if you have chosen in your forum preferences to be subscribed to discussions you post in by default. If you have chosen not to subscribe to forum discussions by default, then you can tick this box to be notified of posts from this particular thread. |
| | ;Read tracking |
| | :If this is set to Optional, students can see which posts they have not yet read if they (1) enable forum tracking in their forum preferences and (2) turn tracking on from the Actions menu |
| | :Note that the admin can allow "Forced read tracking" which offers another option - to force this in the forum for everyone. |
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| ===Number of RSS recent articles=== | | ==Discussion locking== |
| | This setting will close forum threads after a specified period of time. Note that teachers can also manually lock individual threads from the list by clicking the three dots: |
| | [[File:manualdiscussionlocking.png|center]] |
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| This number sets the number of articles that go out via RSS. If this number is set to 5, then the 5 most recent articles will be sent to subscribers. As new posts (or discussions) get added, the oldest post/discussion gets replaced on the RSS feed. If your forum gets a lot of posts every day, you will want to set this number high.
| | ===RSS=== |
| | If [[RSS feeds]] are enabled for the site and for forums, then an expandable section for RSS settings will appear. Here the teacher can turn RSS feeds on or off for that forum.When set to “Discussions,” the RSS feed will send out new discussions to subscribers. When set to “Posts,” the RSS feed will send out any new posts to subscribers. |
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| The administrative cron (admin/cron.php) must run after the forum is created and posts or discussions have been made. Otherwise the user will receive an error "Error reading RSS data"
| | Cron must be working regularly for the RSS feed to work; otherwise participants will see ' Error reading RSS data'. |
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| ==Post threshold for blocking== | | ==Post threshold for blocking== |
| (This setting is collapsed by default)
| | By default, course participants can post any number of messages to forums. If you want to restrict this number and block them after a certain number or time, the expandable section 'Post threshold for blocking' allows you to specify your choice. You can also send a warning that they are about to be blocked. |
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| {|
| | ==Whole forum grading== |
| |[[File:postthresholdforblocking.png|thumb|Post threshold for blocking settings expanded]]
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| |}
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| ===Time period for blocking===
| | When grading is enabled from here, grading options appear, allowing the teacher to select points or a scale. Advanced grading methods such as rubrics may also be used and can be selected from the forum cog menu / Advanced grading. For more information on grading with forums, see [[Using Forum]] |
| Choose here the time period in which can be blocked from posting more than a given number of posts. (To make a user exempt, give them the capability ''mod/forum:postwithoutthrottling'')
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| ===Post threshold for blocking===
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| Set the number of posts here that users may add before they are blocked.
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| ===Post threshold for warning===
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| Set the number of posts here after which users will be warned they are about to be blocked.
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| ==Grade== | | ==== Ratings==== |
| (This setting is collapsed by default) | | Forums use a rating [[Scales|scale]] which you can customise. You can also set a "Grade to pass" which may be connected with [[Activity completion]] and [[Restrict access]] such that a student will not be able to access a follow up activity until they have obtained a required grade (rating) in the forum. |
| Choose the category in which this forum will appear if ratings are enabled.
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| ==Ratings==
| | By default, only teachers can rate forum posts, though students can be given permission to do so if desired (see forum permissions below). This is a useful tool for giving students participation grades. Any ratings given in the forum are recorded in the [[Gradebook|gradebook]]. |
| (This setting is collapsed by default) | |
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| {|
| | You can set an 'aggregate type' to decide how all the ratings given to posts in a forum are combined to form the final grade (for each post and for the whole forum activity). See [[Ratings]] for an explanation of aggregate types and which one is best for you. |
| |[[File:ratings25.png|thumb|Ratings settings expanded]]
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| |}
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| ===Roles with permissions to rate=== | | ==Other settings== |
| Forum posts can be rated using a [[Scales|scale]]. By default, only teachers can rate forum posts, though students can be given permission to do so if desired (see Forum permissions below). This is a useful tool for giving students participation grades. Any ratings given in the forum are recorded in the [[Gradebook|gradebook]].
| | Depending on what is enabled for your site and course, you may also need to explore [[Common module settings]], [[Restrict access| Restrict access]], [[Activity completion]], [[Tags]] and [[Competencies]] |
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| ===Aggregate type===
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| You can set an aggregate type, in other words, decide how all the ratings given to posts in a forum are combined to form the final grade (for each post and for the whole forum activity). Some scales do not lend themselves to certain types of aggregates. There are five options:
| | If you want your forum to display in the [[Course overview block]], you need to add an 'Expect completed by' date in the [[Activity completion]] section. |
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| * Average of ratings (default) - This is the mean of all the ratings given to posts in that forum. It is especially useful with peer grading when there are a lot of ratings being made.
| | If your Forum activity doesn't display as you wish, check the site settings below: |
| * Count of ratings - The counts the number of rated posts which becomes the final grade. This is useful when the number of posts is important. Note that the total can not exceed the maximum grade allowed for the forum. A count may be used if the teacher simply wants to acknowledge that a reply was given in the case students being required to make a certain number of posts in the discussion. Note: Count of ratings does not work for the "Separate or Connected Ways of Knowing" scale or custom scales due to the limitation imposed by the max grade.
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| * Maximum rating - The highest rating is returned as the final grade. This method is useful for emphasising the best work from participants, allowing them to post one high-quality post as well as a number of more casual responses to others.
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| * Minimum rating - The smallest rating is returned as the final grade. This method promotes a culture of high quality for all posts.
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| * Sum of ratings - All the ratings for a particular user are added together. Note that the total is not allowed to exceed the maximum grade for the forum. Note: Sum of ratings does not work for the "Separate or Connected Ways of Knowing" scale or custom scales due to the limitation imposed by the max grade.
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| ===Restrict ratings to items with dates in this range=== | | ==Using groups with Forums== |
| The teacher can allow only posts within a certain date range to be rated. This is useful if the teacher wants to keep students focused on the most recent content and maintain a specific pace within the forum or course.
| | For 'Group mode' in the expandable Common module settings section allows you to specify how your forum works with groups. (Note that Single simple discussions cannot be used with groups as this feature is not implemented. Use a standard forum instead. ) |
| | For more information about using groups with forums, see the documentation [[Using Forum]]. |
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| ===RSS feed for this activity=== | | ==Site administration settings== |
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| This turns RSS on or off for this forum. When set to “None,” RSS is disabled. When set to “Discussions,” the RSS feed will send out new discussions to subscribers. When set to “Posts,” the RSS feed will send out any new posts to subscribers.
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| ===Number of RSS recent articles===
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| This number sets the number of articles that go out via RSS. If this number is set to 5, then the 5 most recent articles will be sent to subscribers. As new posts (or discussions) get added, the oldest post/discussion gets replaced on the RSS feed. If your forum gets a lot of posts every day, you will want to set this number high.
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| The administrative cron (admin/cron.php) must run after the forum is created and posts or discussions have been made. Otherwise the user will receive an error "Error reading RSS data"
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| Note: [[RSS feeds]] must be enabled for the site and for forums in order for the RSS settings to appear.
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| ==Common module settings==
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| (These settings are collapsed by default)
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| |[[File:cm25.png|thumb|Common module settings expanded]]
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| See [[Common module settings]] for more information, but note the details below relating specifically to use of forums with groups.
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| ===Group mode===
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| The '''group mode''' setting has three options:
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| # No groups
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| # Separate groups - each group can only see their own group; others are invisible
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| # Visible groups - each group works in their own group, but can also see other groups
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| If the group mode is set to separate groups:
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| |[[File:groupsforum.gif|401x|thumb|Adding a new discussion topic to a forum set to separate groups]]
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| * Teachers are given the option of adding a new discussion topic for all participants or for a selected group. If a teacher adds a new discussion topic for a selected group, then only group members can reply to it. If a teacher adds a new discussion topic for all participants, then students can't reply to it. (This is to ensure that groups are kept separate.)
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| * Students can only start discussions for their own group.
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| * Students can only reply to discussions started by other group members or discussions for their own group started by a teacher.
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| If the group mode is set to visible groups:
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| * Teachers are given the option of adding a new discussion topic for all participants or for a selected group. If a teacher adds a new discussion topic for a selected group, then only group members can reply to it.
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| * Students can only start discussions for their own group.
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| * Students can only reply to discussions started by other group members or teachers.
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| Teachers, and other users with the capability [[Capabilities/moodle/site:accessallgroups|moodle/site:accessallgroups]] set to allow, can view and post in all forum discussions, regardless of the group mode setting.
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| :''Note'': Single simple discussions cannot be set to separate groups (as this feature is not implemented). Instead, a standard forum should be used, with the teacher copying and pasting the same discussion topic for each separate group. If required, a permissions override may be set to prevent students from starting new discussions.
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| ==Restrict access/Activity completion==
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| (These settings are collapsed by default)
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| These settings are visible if [[Conditional activities]] and [[Activity completion]] have been enabled in the site and the course.
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| ==Locally assigned roles==
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| In ''Administration > Forum administration > Locally assigned roles'' selected users can be given additional roles in the activity.
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| ===Forum moderator===
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| A student can be given the rights to moderate a forum by assigning them the role of non-editing teacher in the forum.
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| # In ''Settings > Forum administration > Locally assigned roles'' click on student
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| # Select the student from the potential users list on the right, and use the Add button to add them to the existing users list on the left. Multiple users may be selected by holding down the Apple or Ctrl key whilst clicking on the users' names.
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| See also [[Forum moderator role]].
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| ==Forum permissions==
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| Role permissions for the activity can be changed in ''Administration > Forum administration > Permissions''.
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| [[File:Forum permissions.png|Frame|]]
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| Common permissions changes include:
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| ===Enabling students to rate posts===
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| Click the Allow icon (+) opposite the capability to rate posts and allow the role of student.
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| ===Archiving a forum===
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| A forum can be closed / archived so that students may no longer start new discussions, nor add replies, but can still read all the discussions by clicking the Prevent icon (X) for the student role for the capabilities 'Start new discussions' and 'Reply to posts'.
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| ===Guests and posting in a forum===
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| There are certain things, such as posting in a forum, that guests are never allowed to do, despite the permissions interface suggesting otherwise.
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| The guest role has some special functionality, for example when a guest user attempts to post in a forum, they obtain the message "Sorry, guests are not allowed to post. Would you like to log in now with a full user account?"
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| (Note: If guests don't obtain the "Sorry, guests are not allowed to post" message because they have no reply link, then self enrolment needs enabling in ''Settings > Course administration > Users > Enrolment methods''.)
| | A description for the Forum may or may not be obligatory depending on ''Site administration > Plugins > Activity modules > Common settings''. |
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| If you wish guests to be able to post in a forum, you can [[Manage roles|create a similar role]], say "visitor" with very few permissions allowed, then create an account and assign it the role of visitor. Guests can then share this visitor account.
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| ''Anything else you'd like to achieve with a forum permissions change? Please add your suggestions to [[Talk:Forum settings]]!''
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| ==User administration settings==
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| Users can choose whether or not to track unread posts in their profile settings under 'Forum tracking'. The settings are:
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| * Yes: highlight new posts for me
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| * No: don't keep track of posts I have seen
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| If the user chooses 'Yes: highlight new posts for me' and the forum administrator has set the 'Read tracking for this forum?' to On or Optional then the user will have new posts highlighted for them. The posts will be highlighted in the following places:
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| * My home page
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| * Course page
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| * Within the forum itself
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| * In forum discussion threads
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| [[Image:MoodleDocs forum_show_unread_behaviour.png|frame|center|Show unread on forum page]]
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| ==Site administration settings==
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| The forum module has additional settings which may be changed by an administrator in ''Administration > Site administration > Plugins > Activity modules > Forum'' and, for 'Maximum time to edit posts', in ''Administration > Site administration > Security > Site policies''. | | The forum module has additional settings which may be changed by an administrator in ''Administration > Site administration > Plugins > Activity modules > Forum'' and, for 'Maximum time to edit posts', in ''Administration > Site administration > Security > Site policies''. |
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| ===Use email address in reply===
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| By default, a user's email is set as the 'From' address for forum notifications (unless the user has hidden their email address in their profile) so that recipients can choose to reply personally rather than via the forum. To set noreply@yourmoodlesite.org as 'From' address for all forum notification emails, untick the forum_replytouser checkbox.
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| ===Long and short posts===
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| The long and short post setting determine how forum posts on the site front page, social format course pages, and user profiles are displayed. (Note: There is currently an unresolved issue - "Site news - forum length setting has no effect for certain users" - MDL-4781.)
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| ===Enabling timed posts===
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| Timed forum posts may be enabled i.e. having the option to set a display start and end date for a new discussion. Timed posts can then be created by users with the [[Capabilities/mod/forum:viewhiddentimedposts|capability to view hidden timed posts]] (normally admins and teachers).
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| ===Maximum time to edit posts===
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| This specifies the amount of time people have to re-edit forum postings, glossary comments etc. Usually 30 minutes is a good value. The setting may be changed by an administrator in ''Administration > Site administration > Security > Site policies''.
| | Teachers (and others with the capability [[Capabilities/mod/forum:viewhiddentimedposts|mod/forum:viewhiddentimedposts]]) can then set a display period of a date and time for the forum post to appear. |
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| ===Read tracking===
| | [[File:timedposts.png|500px]] |
| {{New features}}
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| Sets the default read tracking selection when creating new forums. If 'Forced' is selected here, but [[#Allow forced read tracking|Allow forced read tracking]] is not enabled, 'Optional' will be the default setting.
| | ===Changing the subject line of forum notifications=== |
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| ===Allow forced read tracking===
| | Normally when forum subscribers receive emails from forums, the subject line is of the form: Course short name + Subject of post: |
| {{New features}}
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| With this option set, "Forced" will be an option for "Read tracking" when creating or editing Forums. Forced forums have read tracking enabled regardless of user preference.
| | [[File:forum1.png]] |
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| This setting can place additional load on servers. With this setting disabled, users who set their profile setting to not track read posts see faster load times of courses pages. With this setting enabled, that performance increase is lost, and all course views see the same performance as if the users personal setting was on.
| | The subject line can be changed - for example to: Course short name + Forum name + Subject by going to ''Site administration>Language>Language customisation'' and in forum.php changing the string ''postmailsubject'' to |
| | {$a->courseshortname} {$a->forumname} {$a->subject} |
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| When disabled, any forums previously set to "Forced" (or "On" prior to Moodle 2.6) will be treated as optional.
| | [[File:forum2.png]] |
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| ===Mark post read after 'X' days===
| | Currently the placeholders available for use are: |
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| This setting is forum_oldpostdays and specifies the number of days after which any post is considered to be read. E.g. If this is set to 14 days then any post older than 14 days will be considered read. If you set this to 0 then '''ALL''' posts are instantly considered to be read. If you don't want any posts to be considered read without the user reading them then set a high figure (e.g. 1000)
| | {$a->courseshortname} |
| | {$a->forumname} |
| | {$a->subject} |
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| [[de:Forum konfigurieren]] | | [[de:Forum konfigurieren]] |
| [[fr:Ajouter/modifier un forum]] | | [[fr:Ajouter/modifier un forum]] |
| [[ja:フォーラムの追加/編集]] | | [[ja:フォーラムの追加/編集]] |
| | [[es:Configuraciones del foro]] |
This page explores in more detail the settings for the Forum activity once you have added it to your course and also covers the Site administration settings.
General
Give the Forum a name and a description if required. (For the Single simple discussion forum type, your description must include the question or topic you wish to discuss.)
For forum type, see the section 'Which forum do I need?' in Using Forum for further details with screenshots.
Availability
As well as setting a due date for forum posts, you can also set a cut-off date beyond which students can no longer post.
Attachments and word count
The maximum file size that may be attached to a forum post depends on the Moodle site settings. The teacher may want a smaller size limit for the forum and should bear in mind the download speeds of the course participants.
If "Display word count" is enabled, then the number of words in forum posts will be shown at the bottom of each post.
Subscription and tracking
- Subscription mode
- When a participant is subscribed to a forum it means that they will receive notification (depending on the user’s messaging settings preferences) of each new posting. By default, forum notifications are sent about 30 minutes after the post was saved.
Participants can usually choose whether or not they want to be subscribed to each forum. However, the teacher can choose to force subscription on a particular forum then all course users will be subscribed automatically, even those that enrol at a later time.
The subscription mode and subscribe or unsubscribe links can be found via the gear menu inside the forum in Boost or via the Forum administration in Clean. Teachers can quickly change the mode via the 'Subscription mode' options and view the current subscribers via the 'Show/edit current subscribers' link. Teachers can manually subscribe or unsubscribe participants by clicking the 'Manage subscriptions' button.
Tips:
- Forcing everyone to subscribe is especially useful in the news forum and in forums towards the beginning of the course (before everyone has worked out that they can subscribe to these emails themselves).
- Changing the setting from "Auto subscription" to "Optional" will not unsubscribe existing users; it will only affect those who enrol in the course in the future. Similarly changing "Optional" to "Auto subscription" will not subscribe existing course users but only those enrolling later.
- There is also a "Subscription disabled" setting which prevents students from subscribing to a Forum. Teachers may choose to subscribe to a forum if they wish.
Subscribe to individual forum discussions
In a forum with optional or auto subscription you can choose which discussions to subscribe to by toggling the subscribe / unsubscribe button to the right of the discussion.
When you reply to a post you will see a tickbox 'Discussion subscription'. It will already be ticked if you have chosen in your forum preferences to be subscribed to discussions you post in by default. If you have chosen not to subscribe to forum discussions by default, then you can tick this box to be notified of posts from this particular thread.
- Read tracking
- If this is set to Optional, students can see which posts they have not yet read if they (1) enable forum tracking in their forum preferences and (2) turn tracking on from the Actions menu
- Note that the admin can allow "Forced read tracking" which offers another option - to force this in the forum for everyone.
Discussion locking
This setting will close forum threads after a specified period of time. Note that teachers can also manually lock individual threads from the list by clicking the three dots:
If RSS feeds are enabled for the site and for forums, then an expandable section for RSS settings will appear. Here the teacher can turn RSS feeds on or off for that forum.When set to “Discussions,” the RSS feed will send out new discussions to subscribers. When set to “Posts,” the RSS feed will send out any new posts to subscribers.
Cron must be working regularly for the RSS feed to work; otherwise participants will see ' Error reading RSS data'.
Post threshold for blocking
By default, course participants can post any number of messages to forums. If you want to restrict this number and block them after a certain number or time, the expandable section 'Post threshold for blocking' allows you to specify your choice. You can also send a warning that they are about to be blocked.
Whole forum grading
When grading is enabled from here, grading options appear, allowing the teacher to select points or a scale. Advanced grading methods such as rubrics may also be used and can be selected from the forum cog menu / Advanced grading. For more information on grading with forums, see Using Forum
Ratings
Forums use a rating scale which you can customise. You can also set a "Grade to pass" which may be connected with Activity completion and Restrict access such that a student will not be able to access a follow up activity until they have obtained a required grade (rating) in the forum.
By default, only teachers can rate forum posts, though students can be given permission to do so if desired (see forum permissions below). This is a useful tool for giving students participation grades. Any ratings given in the forum are recorded in the gradebook.
You can set an 'aggregate type' to decide how all the ratings given to posts in a forum are combined to form the final grade (for each post and for the whole forum activity). See Ratings for an explanation of aggregate types and which one is best for you.
Other settings
Depending on what is enabled for your site and course, you may also need to explore Common module settings, Restrict access, Activity completion, Tags and Competencies
If you want your forum to display in the Course overview block, you need to add an 'Expect completed by' date in the Activity completion section.
If your Forum activity doesn't display as you wish, check the site settings below:
Using groups with Forums
For 'Group mode' in the expandable Common module settings section allows you to specify how your forum works with groups. (Note that Single simple discussions cannot be used with groups as this feature is not implemented. Use a standard forum instead. )
For more information about using groups with forums, see the documentation Using Forum.
Site administration settings
A description for the Forum may or may not be obligatory depending on Site administration > Plugins > Activity modules > Common settings.
The forum module has additional settings which may be changed by an administrator in Administration > Site administration > Plugins > Activity modules > Forum and, for 'Maximum time to edit posts', in Administration > Site administration > Security > Site policies.
Teachers (and others with the capability mod/forum:viewhiddentimedposts) can then set a display period of a date and time for the forum post to appear.
Changing the subject line of forum notifications
Normally when forum subscribers receive emails from forums, the subject line is of the form: Course short name + Subject of post:
The subject line can be changed - for example to: Course short name + Forum name + Subject by going to Site administration>Language>Language customisation and in forum.php changing the string postmailsubject to
{$a->courseshortname} {$a->forumname} {$a->subject}
Currently the placeholders available for use are:
{$a->courseshortname}
{$a->forumname}
{$a->subject}
