Feature Tutorials

Adding a Q & A Forum Activity

The Q & A Forum allows faculty to set up a discussion thread where  students must post their own ideas before being able to see the responses to others. This can be used to encourage the share of individual thoughts during class discussion. 

Tip: Faculty using the Q & A Forum type may want to share this student resource in their course. 

Adding an Forum 

Important Note:  If you are using  the small group functionality in a Q & A forum, review the lower creating a  post for a Q & A forum using groups. 

Step 1: Click Turn editing on.

Step 2: Locate the topic section (or week) in which the content will be located and click +Add an activity or resource.

Step 3: In the pop-up menu, scroll down through the many activity choices to the Resources area and select the Forum activity.

Step 4: Enter a title in the Forum name field. 

Step 5: Enter directions for the discussion in the Description field. Including explicit instructions in this field can provide helpful guidance for students, including dates and deadlines for posting original thoughts and replies to other students. 

Step 6: Click the check box if you wish the description to display on the front of the course. If left unchecked, the description will display after they click into the resource.

Step 7: Click the Forum type field and select Q & A forum.

Note: Clicking the blue Question mark (?) icon displays an explanation of the different forum types. 

Step 8: Discussion forums by default are worth no point value in your grade book. We strongly suggest changing the default grade setting to make the discussion forum worth point value. 

8a: Click on Whole forum grading to open the menu. 

8b: Change the Grade Type to Point. 

8c: Adjust the Maximum Grade to reflect the number of points you think the forum should be worth. 

Step 9: Scroll to the bottom of the page and click Save and return to course when finished. 

Creating a post for a Q & A forum 

The discussion thread  in a Q & A Forum type must be initiated by an instructor in the course. Students will not see the Add a new Discussion Topic button and are unable to begin their own thread.  In this forum type, all student posts are in response to the initial post created by the instructor.  Faculty can start multiple threads in the forum to initiate more than one discussion topic. 

Step 1: Click the forum link on your course page.

Step 2: Once in the forum, click the Add a new discussion topic button.

Step 1: Click the forum link on your course page.

Step 2: Once in the forum, click the Add a new discussion topic button.

Step 3: Under add your discussion, enter the subject in the Subject field. 

Step 4: Enter the discussion text in the Message field. 

Step 5: Click Post to when finished. 

Note: Files can be attached to the post by clicking Advanced. 

Step 6: To view replies or edit the post, click on the forum subject line of the desired discussion. 

Creating a Post for a Q & A Forum Using Small Groups

Using Moodle's group functionally in the Q & A forum type requires a series of steps when creating the initial instructor post  to ensure all student groups see the thread and are able to respond. 

Step 1: Click the forum link on your course page.

Step 2: Once in the forum, click the Add a new discussion topic button.

Step 3: Click Advanced. 

Step 4: Under add your discussion, enter the subject in the Subject field. 

Step 5: Enter the discussion text in the Message field. 

Note: Files can be attached to the post by clicking Advanced. 

Step 6: Scroll down to the lower section and click Post a copy to all groups.

Step 7: Click Post to forum when finished.