Forum settings: Difference between revisions

Latest revision as of 14:45, 17 March 2017

A teacher can add a Forum activity in a course when editing is turned on by clicking an 'Add an activity or resource' link (or, if not present, the "Add an activity" drop down menu) and selecting Forum.

Activity settings

To see all the settings expanded, click the link "Expand all" top right.

Give the Forum a name (which students see on the course page) and a description if required. (For the Single simple discussion forum type, your description must include the question or topic you wish to discuss.)

Clicking the question mark icon next to any setting you don't understand will display extra help.

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.

Forum subscriptions

When a user 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, posts are recorded about 30 minutes after the post was first written. Depending upon the email settings of each forum member, they may be notified immediately after the 30 minute edit window is closed, or in a batch at a time fixed by the site administrator (see below).

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.

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. In Moodle 3.0 onwards, the number of subscribers is shown in brackets on the 'Show/edit current subscribers' page.

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 "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.
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.

Subscribe to individual forum discussions

In a forum with optional or auto subscription you can choose which discussions to subscribe to by clicking the 'dot' icon to the right of the discussion. An envelope tells you are already subscribed.

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.

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.

Cron must be working regularly for the RSS feed to work; otherwise participants will see ' Error reading RSS data'.

Blocking posts

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.

Grade and 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 and Activity completion

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 The group mode setting has three options:

Site 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.

Timed forum posts

In Moodle 3.1 onwards, timed forum posts is no longer an experimental feature and is enabled by default for new installations.

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}

@@ Line 1: / Line 1: @@
- '''Note for Contributors'''
+{{Forum}}
- This page should explain what can be seen on the <u>moodlesite.com/course/mod.php</u> page
+A teacher can add a Forum activity in a course when editing is turned on by clicking an 'Add an activity or resource' link (or, if not present, the "Add an activity" drop down menu) and selecting Forum.
- when adding a forum
+==Activity settings==
+To see all the settings expanded, click the link "Expand all" top right.
-When creating or editing a forum activity, you will have to fill in the following data:
+Give the Forum a name (which students see on the course page) and a description if required. (For the Single simple discussion forum type, your description must include the question or topic you wish to discuss.)
+Clicking the question mark icon [[File:helppopup.png]]next to any setting you don't understand will display extra help.
-==Forum name==
+===Attachments and word count===
-A short name of the forum (e.g. "Favourite colour"). This will be displayed on the course's homepage.
+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.
-==Forum type==
+===Forum subscriptions===
-For now, there are three forum types to choose from:
+When a user 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, posts are recorded about 30 minutes after the post was first written. Depending upon the email settings of each forum member, they may be notified immediately after the 30 minute edit window is closed, or in a batch at a time fixed by the site administrator (see below).
-'''A single simple discussion''' - a single topic discussion developed on one page, which is useful for short, focussed discussions
+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.
-'''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
+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. In Moodle 3.0 onwards, the number of subscribers is shown in brackets on the 'Show/edit current subscribers' page.
-'''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
+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 "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.
+* 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.
-==Forum introduction==
+====Subscribe to individual forum discussions====
-Type the description of the forum here. Include precise instructions for students regarding the subject of the forum and, if necessary, the grading criteria.
+In a forum with optional or auto subscription you can choose which discussions to subscribe to by clicking the 'dot' icon to the right of the discussion. An envelope tells you are already subscribed.
+[[File:forumsubscribe.png|thumb|center|600px]]
+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.
-==Can a student post to this forum?==
+===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.
-This option allows you to restrict students from posting new content in this forum.
+Cron must be working regularly for the RSS feed to work; otherwise participants will see ' Error reading RSS data'.
-For most forums you will want to leave students unrestricted, for which you should choose the first option ('''Discussions and replies are allowed'''). Thus, you will choose to allow them to start new discussion topics (threads), and also to post replies within those threads.
+===Blocking posts===
+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.
-Sometimes, however, you will want to disable this ability. For example, this is useful for the News forum when you only want teachers to post new items that appear on the course main page. In this case you might choose the third option '''No discussions, no replies'''.
+===Grade and Ratings===
+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.
-Sometimes you might want to only allow teachers to start new discussions, but still allow students to reply within those threads (for example within the news forum on the site home page). In this case you would choose the second option, '''No discussions, but replies are allowed'''.
+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]].
+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.
-==Force everyone to be subscribed?==
+===Other settings===
+Depending on what is enabled for your site and course, you may also need to explore [[Common  module settings]], [[Conditional activities| Restrict access]] and [[Activity completion]]
-When a person is subscribed to a forum it means that they will be sent email copies of every post in that forum (posts are sent about 30 minutes after the post was first written).
+If your Forum activity doesn't display as you wish, check the site settings below:
-People can usually choose whether or not they want to be subscribed to each forum.
+===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]]
+The '''group mode''' setting has three options:
-However, if you choose to force subscription on a particular forum then all course users will be subscribed automatically, even those that enrol at a later time.
+==Site settings==
-This 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).
+A description for the Forum may or may not be obligatory depending on  ''Site administration > Plugins > Activity modules > Common settings''.
-If you choose the option "Yes, initially" then all current and future course users will be subscribed initially but they can unsubscribe themselves at any time. If you choose "Yes, forever" then they will not be able to unsubscribe themselves.
+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''.
-Note how the "Yes, initially" option behaves when you update an existing forum: Changing from "Yes, initially" to "No" will not unsubscribe existing users, it will only affect future course users. Similarly changing later to "Yes, initially" will not subscribe existing course users but only those enrolling later.
+===Timed forum posts===
+In Moodle 3.1 onwards, timed forum posts is no longer an experimental feature and is enabled by default for new installations.
-==Read tracking for this forum?==
+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.
-If 'read tracking' for forums is enabled, users can track read and unread messages in forums and discussions. The instructor can choose to force a tracking type on a forum using this setting.
+[[File:timedposts.png]]
-There are three choice for this setting:
+===Changing the subject line of forum notifications===
-'''Optional [default]''' - students can turn tracking on or off for the forum at their discretion
+Normally when forum subscribers receive emails from forums, the subject line is of the form: Course short name + Subject of post:
-'''On''' - tracking is always on
-'''Off''' - tracking is always off
-==Maximum attachment size==
+[[File:forum1.png]]
-Attachments can be limited to a certain size file, chosen by the person who set up the forum.
+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}
-Sometimes it is possible to upload a file larger than this size, but the file will not be saved on the server and you might see an error.
+[[File:forum2.png]]
+[[de:Forum konfigurieren]]
-==Allow posts to be rated?==
+[[fr:Ajouter/modifier un forum]]
+[[ja:フォーラムの追加/編集]]
-Here you will have to consider whether or not enable two options:
+[[es:Configuraciones del foro]]
-====Use ratings====
-If you decide to rate posts on the forum, you will have to define settings of the three following aspects:
-* Users
-If you want everybody to rate posts, choose 'Everyone can rate posts'. Otherwise, pick 'Only teachers can rate posts'.
-* View
-If you want to keep the grades known only to the individual students graded, you should choose the option 'Students can only see their own ratings'. If there is no such a need, opt for 'Students can see everyone's ratings'.
-* Grade
-There are several grading scales you can choose from. You can give a number of points to each post (from 1 to 100) or you can opt for two other scales: '''Scale: satisfactory''' (Outstanding, Satisfactory and Not satisfactory) or '''Separate and Connected ways of knowing''' (Mostly Connected Knowing, Separate and Connected, Mostly Separate Knowing). More information about the latter one are to be found [[Separate and Connected ways of knowing|here]].
-====Restrict ratings to posts with dates in this range====
-If you enable the '''Use ratings''' option, you will also face the necessity of choosing whether or not enable another option restricting ratings to posts in terms of time.
-==Group mode==
-This sets the group mode of the choice activity to one of the following three:
-* no groups
-* separate groups
-* visible groups
-==Visible to students==
-You can hide the activity from students by selecting "Hide" here. It is useful if you wouldn't like to make the activity available immediately.

Documentation