Note: You are currently viewing documentation for Moodle 3.8. Up-to-date documentation for the latest stable version of Moodle may be available here: Forum activity.
The forum activity allows students and teachers to exchange ideas by posting comments as part of a 'thread'. Files such as images and media maybe included in forum posts. The teacher can choose to grade and/or rate forum posts and it is also possible to give students permission to rate each others' posts.
This activity can be the most important – it is here that most discussion takes place. Forums may be structured in different ways, and can include peer rating of each posting. Generally, forum postings may be edited up to 30 minutes after posting. The postings can be viewed in a variety for formats, and can include attachments. By subscribing to a forum, participants will receive copies of each new posting in their email. A teacher can impose subscription on everyone if they want to.
Forums are divided into two main categories:
To add a forum you should turn on the editing and select it from the Activity chooser.
# '''General forums''' (found in section 0 of the course)
{{MediaPlayer | url = https://youtu.be/UYqiLhJvSqA | desc = Overview of the Forum activity}}
# '''Learning forums''' (the forums of the specific parts of the course: they are organized and numbered according to the course sections they appear in).
Forums are organised under following headings:
# '''Forum''' (the name of the forum)
You can find out more information in the '''[[Forum settings]]''' documentation. For information on using forums, see the documentation '''[[Using Forum]]'''
# '''Description'''
# '''Discussions''' (the number of discussions started)
# '''Unread posts''' (the number of posts you have not read yet)
# '''Track''' (the 'yes/no' information about your choice whether or not track the unread posts - if your choice is negative, you will find an '-' sign instead of the number of the posts unread)
# '''Subscribed''' (the 'yes/no' information about your choice whether or not get the posts transferred to your mail box)
# '''RSS''' (the 'RSS' (Really Simple Syndication) button - please refer to [[RSS in Forums|RSS in forums]] for additional information
==Which forum do I need?==
In the (default) '''Standard forum for general use''', students will see an introduction text in a separate space above the list of discussions. Students see a button to start a new discussion (thread).
== General forum usage ==
*All students are by default autosubscribed to the general forum. Use it as a questions forum, where you answer questions about Moodle or about the course. Tell all students that before they ask you a question about the course, or Moodle, they should check the questions forum first. That way you don't have to answer the same questions over and over! If a student asks you a new question about the course, or about Moodle, have them enter that question into the questions forum, and answer it there.
[[File:standardforum.png|thumb|center|467px|Student view of "Standard forum" type]]
*Create a training and support Moodle course for your installation, and answer instructor and user questions in the General forum for that course. The forum can become a storage area for troubleshooting topics.
==Learning forum usage==
In a '''Single, simple discussion''' the teachers posts a question and students are able only to reply. They cannot start a new topic of discussion. This is useful if you wish to keep a discussion focused.
Forums can be used in a number of ways. What you do depends on what type of teaching you are involved in and what you want to achieve.
===What it takes to have an active forum===
[[File:Single simple discussion.png|thumb|center|450px|Student view of "A single simple discussion" forum type]]
*Many instructors in the humanities find forums particularly useful for facilitating quality thought and interaction among students, while developing language skills.
The '''Question and Answer forum''' is best used when you have a particular question that you wish to have answered. The teacher posts a question and students respond with possible answers. By default a Q and A forum requires students to post once before viewing other students' postings.
*The best forums are often forums where students are required to return more than once, read the posts of their peers, and respond to them. To facilitate this kind of forum activity, for academic and adult learners, it is sometimes necessary to create a staggered grading structure and timeline for forum posts, so that, for example, students have to make a first post in response to an instructor, then return at a later date and read the posts of their peers, and respond to those.
===Essay plans===
{|
Create a forum where only the teacher can start discussions, but the students can only reply. Each thread you start contains an essay question (or several similar ones). The students make a bullet point plan for the essay and post it as a reply.
| [[File:QA1.png|thumb|Inital view of Q&A forum]]
| [[File:QA2.png|thumb|Students cannot see posts until they post]]
| [[FIle:QA3.png|thumb|Other posts visible when editing time is over]]
|}
This works well as a revision strategy as the students can see how others have approached the same task. Once everyone has posted their plan, you can start a discussion as to which plans seem better and why. Creating a scale to use for rating the posts can be useful so that the students can see how helpful other people think their effort were.
===Grading forums===
The '''Standard forum displayed in a blog-like format''' works like the standard forum for general use, but the first post of each discussion is displayed (as in a blog) so that users can read it and then choose to respond by clicking the "Discuss this topic" button bottom right of the post.
*You can use the ratings to grade student activities by restricting ratings to instructors only, and then rating all student posts. But be aware that this reports an average of all ratings for a single student to the gradebook, and not a sum total of the ratings for all posts. So if you want your students to make several posts in one forum, then you may want to use an Assignment module to house the Forum grade for a particular block. That grade will then be reported to the gradebook. Be sure to make it clear to the students that they don't have to do any assignment in that assignment module, and that that's where their forum grade will be housed.
*There are lots of discussions about Forum best use and Forum assessment in the Teaching Strategies Forum http://moodle.org/mod/forum/view.php?id=41.
[[File:Bloglikeforum.png|thumb|450px|center|Blog like forum]]
*A useful discussion about Forum assessment can be found here http://moodle.org/mod/forum/discuss.php?d=66008.
==Need more help?==
==Teacher forums==
* [[Forum settings]]
* [[Using Forum]]
* [[Forum FAQ]]
A teacher-only forum may be added to a course by creating a hidden forum. Teachers are able to view hidden course activities whereas students cannot.
Prior to Moodle 1.7, each course had a teacher forum, accessible via a link in the course administration block.
[[Category:Forum]]
== See also ==
[[de:Forum]]
[[es:Actividad de foro]]
* [http://download.moodle.org/docs/using_moodle/ch4_forums.pdf Using Moodle Chapter 4: Using Forums, Chats and Dialogues]
* Using Moodle [http://moodle.org/mod/forum/discuss.php?d=5367 The philosophy underlying "no editing after 30 minutes"] forum discussion
* Using Moodle [http://moodle.org/mod/forum/view.php?f=116 Forum module] forum
* Using Moodle [http://moodle.org/mod/forum/discuss.php?d=66008 Best Practices for grading discussions] forum discussion
[[category:Modules]]
[[es:Foros]]
[[eu:Foroak]]
[[eu:Foroak]]
[[fr:Forum]]
[[fr:Forum]]
[[it:Attività Forum]]
[[ja:フォーラムモジュール]]
Latest revision as of 16:16, 21 January 2020
The forum activity allows students and teachers to exchange ideas by posting comments as part of a 'thread'. Files such as images and media maybe included in forum posts. The teacher can choose to grade and/or rate forum posts and it is also possible to give students permission to rate each others' posts.
To add a forum you should turn on the editing and select it from the Activity chooser.
You can find out more information in the Forum settings documentation. For information on using forums, see the documentation Using Forum
Which forum do I need?
In the (default) Standard forum for general use, students will see an introduction text in a separate space above the list of discussions. Students see a button to start a new discussion (thread).
Student view of "Standard forum" type
In a Single, simple discussion the teachers posts a question and students are able only to reply. They cannot start a new topic of discussion. This is useful if you wish to keep a discussion focused.
Student view of "A single simple discussion" forum type
The Question and Answer forum is best used when you have a particular question that you wish to have answered. The teacher posts a question and students respond with possible answers. By default a Q and A forum requires students to post once before viewing other students' postings.
Inital view of Q&A forum
Students cannot see posts until they post
Other posts visible when editing time is over
The Standard forum displayed in a blog-like format works like the standard forum for general use, but the first post of each discussion is displayed (as in a blog) so that users can read it and then choose to respond by clicking the "Discuss this topic" button bottom right of the post.
