Hot Question

The Hot Question activity helps teachers collect learner questions, rank them by peer voting, and moderate discussion in real time or asynchronously.

Participants can post questions or responses to a prompt (for example a lecture, reading, topical issue, or revision task). Other participants can vote on entries to raise the most relevant items to the top.

Typical uses

• Live lecture Q and A
• Asynchronous course question board
• Suggestion box and feedback collection
• Quick polls and prioritization
• Discussion prompts linked to readings or videos

To use

1. Log in to your Moodle course.
2. Turn editing on.
3. In the selected section, choose Add an activity and select Hot Question.
4. Enter a name and add a clear prompt in the description.
5. Configure options such as anonymous posting, approval workflow, availability, and groups.
6. Configure activity completion if needed.
7. Select Save and display.
8. Add an initial question or prompt to guide learners.

Post anonymously

When enabled, participants may hide their identity from other participants. This can encourage participation when learners may hesitate to ask questions publicly.

Approval required

When enabled, new entries are visible only to users with moderation permissions until approved.

Availability

Open and Close times control when posting is allowed.

• Use Open time to prevent posting before an event.
• Use Close time to stop posting after an event.
• Set both for a defined posting window (for example, during a live class).

Tools

Available tools depend on user capabilities.

Student tools

Above the questions:

• Previous round: View earlier rounds (read-only for learners).
• Next round: Return toward the current round.
• Refresh: Reload the activity to show the latest entries, votes, and priority changes.

By each question:

• Priority: Students cannot change priority.
• Heat: Students can vote to add heat (subject to activity settings and permissions).

Teacher and admin tools

Above the questions:

• Export to CSV: Download activity data (site admins can export broader data according to permissions).
• Previous round and Next round: Navigate rounds.
• Open a new round: Archive the current round and start a new one.
• Remove this round: Delete the current round and its associated data.
• Refresh: Reload the view.

By each question:

• Priority: Set positive or negative priority values.
• Heat: Works as configured for voting.
• Remove: Delete the question and associated values.
• Approved: Approve entries when approval workflow is enabled.

How can staff see who voted on questions?

Vote details are available in that Hot Question activity logs (for example via course reports, depending on role and Moodle version).

Ideas for usage

• Build a tag cloud from submitted questions.
• Collect and vote on questions for recorded lectures, then address top items in the next session.
• Gather and prioritize feedback during a class.
• Encourage learners to compare and refine questions collaboratively.

Examples

The screenshot below shows Hot Question used with a video-related prompt.

Compatibility

• Moodle 4.5 to 5.1
• Current stable release: 5.0.0

See also

• StudentQuiz module - StudentQuiz supports student-authored quiz questions with moderation and participation workflows.