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[[Image:Adding a forum.png||thumb|Adding a forum, showing General and Grade sections]]To add a forum:
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.
#As an editing teacher for a course, click "Turn Editing On", and go to the topic or week section in which you want to create the forum.
==Activity settings==
#From the dropdown menu labeled "Add an activity", select "Forum". This will take you to the forum settings page titled "Adding a new forum" page.  
To see all the settings expanded, click the link "Expand all" top right.


In an existing forum, the following settings can be found in ''Settings > Forum administration > Edit settings''.
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.)


==Forum administration settings==
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"), which will be displayed on the course 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.


===Forum type===
If "Display word count"  is enabled, then the number of words in forum posts will be shown at the bottom of each post.


There are five forum types to choose from:
===Forum subscriptions===


[[File:Forumtypes.png]]
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.  


*A single simple discussion - A single topic discussion developed on one page, which is useful for short focused discussions
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.  
*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
*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
*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.
*Standard forum displayed in a blog-like format


A [[News forum]] is a special type of forum that is automatically created with a new course.
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 CleanTeachers 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. (Button renamed and re-positioned in 3.3; previously named 'Turn editing on'.)
 
===Forum introduction===
 
Place the description of the forum here. It has the standard Moodle [[HTML editor]] toolbar to assist the teacher.
 
:''TIP:'' It is a good practice to include precise instructions for students regarding the subject of the forum and the rating and grading criteria that might be used in this forum (see below).
 
===Subscription mode===
 
When a person is subscribed to a forum it means that they will be sent email copies of every post in that forum. This will over ride some [[Edit profile|student settings in their profile]]. 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).
 
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.
 
There are 4 subscription mode options:
* Optional subscription - Participants can choose whether to be subscribed
* Forced subscription - Everyone is subscribed and cannot unsubscribe
* Auto subscription - Everyone is subscribed initially but can choose to unsubscribe at any time
* Subscription disabled - Subscriptions are not allowed. 
 
The subscription mode and subscribe or unsubscribe links appear in the Settings menu under Forum administration when viewing the forumteachers can quickly change the mode via the 'Subscription mode' options and view the current subscribers via the 'Show/edit current subscribers' link.


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.


===Read tracking for this forum?===
====Subscribe to individual forum discussions====


"Read tracking" for a forum allows users to track read and unread messages in the forum.  
In a forum with optional or auto subscription you can choose which discussions to subscribe to by clicking the subscribe / unsubscribe icon to the right of the discussion.
[[File:forumsubscribe.png|thumb|center|600px]]


There are three options for this setting:
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.
* Optional (default) - students can turn tracking on or off for the forum at their discretion
* On - tracking is always on in this forum for all members
** Not quite sure about this statement. This seems to only be true for users who have read tracking enabled in their user settings (Tested in Moodle 2.0.4 and at http://demo.moodle.net/)
* Off - tracking is always off in this forum for all members


===Maximum attachment size===
===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.


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


==Maximum number of attachments==
===Blocking posts===
The maximum number of attachments a user can add to their forum post (from 0 to 100) can be specified here.
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.


===Post threshold for blocking===
===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.


Students (i.e. users which don't have the 'Exempt from post threshold' permission) can be blocked from posting more than a specified number of posts in a given period.
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]].


===Grade===
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.


Forum posts can be rated using a [[Scales|scale]] (pre existing number or word scales). 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]].
===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]]


===Aggregate type===
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.


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 your Forum activity doesn't display as you wish, check the site settings below:


* 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.
===Using groups with Forums===
* 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.
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. )
* 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.
For more information about using groups with forums, see the documentation [[Using Forum]]
* Minimum rating - The smallest rating is returned as the final grade. This method promotes a culture of high quality for all posts.
The '''group mode''' setting has three options:
* 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.


===Restrict ratings to posts with dates in this range===
==Site settings==
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.


===RSS feed for this activity===
A description for the Forum may or may not be obligatory depending on  ''Site administration > Plugins > Activity modules > Common settings''.


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.  
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''.


===Number of RSS recent articles===
===Subscription mode===
 
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.
 
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"
 
Note: [[RSS feeds]] must be enabled for the site and for forums in order for the RSS settings to appear.
 
===Common module settings===
 
====Group mode====
 
The [[Groups|group]] mode setting has three options:
 
# No groups
# Separate groups - each group can only see their own group, others are invisible
# Visible groups - each group works in their own group, but can also see other groups
 
If the group mode is set to separate groups:
[[Image:Forum set to separate groups.png|650px|thumb|Adding a new discussion topic to a forum set to separate groups]]
* 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.)
* Students can only start discussions for their own group.
* Students can only reply to discussions started by other group members or discussions for their own group started by a teacher.
 
If the group mode is set to visible groups:
 
* 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.
* Students can only start discussions for their own group.
* Students can only reply to discussions started by other group members or teachers.
 
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.
 
:''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.
 
:''Note 2'': There is a further setting in 2.0, enabled at system level admin > development that hides groups-enabled activities from a student if they are not in a group.
 
====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.
 
====ID number====
 
Setting an ID number provides a way of identifying the forum for grade calculation purposes. If the activity is not included in any grade calculation then the ID number field can be left blank.
 
==Locally assigned roles==
 
In ''Settings > Forum administration > Locally assigned roles'' selected users can be given additional roles in the activity.
 
===Forum moderator===
 
A student can be given the rights to moderate a forum by assigning them the role of non-editing teacher in the forum.
 
# In ''Settings > Forum administration > Locally assigned roles'' click on student
# 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.
 
See also [[Forum moderator role]].
 
==Forum permissions==
 
Role permissions for the activity can be changed in ''Settings > Forum administration > Permissions''.
 
[[File:Forum permissions.png|Frame|]]
 
Common permissions changes include:
 
===Enabling students to rate posts===
 
Click the Allow icon (+) opposite the capability to rate posts and allow the role of student.
 
===Archiving a forum===
 
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'.
 
===Guests and posting in a forum===
 
There are certain things, such as posting in a forum, that guests are never allowed to do, despite the permissions interface suggesting otherwise.
 
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?"
 
(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''.)
 
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.
 
''Anything else you'd like to achieve with a forum permissions change? Please add your suggestions to [[Talk:Forum settings]]!''
 
==User administration settings==
 
Users can choose whether or not to track unread posts in their profile settings under 'Forum tracking'. The settings are:
 
* Yes: highlight new posts for me
* No: don't keep track of posts I have seen
 
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:
 
* My home page
* Main Course page
* Within the forum itself
 
[[Image:MoodleDocs forum_show_unread_behaviour.png|frame|center|Show unread on forum page]]


==Site administration settings==
'''New in 3.4:''' Administrators can select the default subscription mode for new forums from a drop down menu.
===Timed forum posts===


The forum module has additional settings which may be changed by an administrator in ''Settings > Site administration > Plugins > Activity modules > Forum'' and, for 'Maximum time to edit posts', in ''Settings > 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.


===Long and short posts===
[[File:timedposts.png]]


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.)
===Changing the subject line of forum notifications===


===Enabling timed posts===
Normally when forum subscribers receive emails from forums, the subject line is of the form: Course short name + Subject of post:


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).
[[File:forum1.png]]


===Maximum time to edit posts===
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}


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 ''Settings > Site administration > Security > Site policies''.
[[File:forum2.png]]


===Mark post read after 'X' days===
Currently the placeholders available for use are:


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}


[[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]]
[[de:Forum anlegen]]
[[es:Configuraciones del foro]]

Latest revision as of 14:48, 12 September 2018

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 helppopup.pngnext 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 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. (Button renamed and re-positioned in 3.3; previously named 'Turn editing on'.)

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 clicking the subscribe / unsubscribe icon to the right of the discussion.

forumsubscribe.png

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 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 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.

Subscription mode

New in 3.4: Administrators can select the default subscription mode for new forums from a drop down menu.

Timed forum posts

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.

timedposts.png

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:

forum1.png

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}

forum2.png

Currently the placeholders available for use are:

{$a->courseshortname}
{$a->forumname} 
{$a->subject}