07. Using forums Contents
7. Using forums
Moodle has two types of forums: "Announcements," which acts as a bulletin board for contacting course students, and a regular "Forum" that provides a platform for discussions.
Announcements (see "Chapter 6: Contacting Students")
This is used for communication from the teacher to the students. Posts made as an announcement will be sent to all students by email, providing an efficient way to contact students participating in the course (see section 6.1).
Forums (explained in this section)
Students as well as faculty members can make posts, providing an opportunity for mutual learning in which students can express their questions and opinions on matters related to the class. Use it to promote discussion among students. Instructors can pick a topic to encourage discussion.
The types of forums available in Moodle are shown in the table below.
7.1 Creating a forum
Adding a forum/adjusting settings
Add a "Forum" to the course topic.
After launching edit mode, click "Add activity or resource" in topics to display a list of available activities/resources. Select "Forum" from the list and click "Add".
Set up the added forum.
1. Enter the forum name
2. Enter the forum description.
3. Select the "Forum type".
There are five types of forums that can be used, but in general, please use the "Standard forum for general use" (the features of each are explained below).
In the standard forum for general use, students can also create topics and post to them.
After adjusting the settings, click "Save and return to course" at the bottom of the screen to save the settings.
7.2 Posting in a forum
The method of posting and replying to messages differs depending on the type of forum. This section explains the differences between each forum type.
Using a "Standard forum for general use", "Standard forum displayed in blog format" or "Each person posts one discussion"
Differences between these three forums
The two standard forums allow users to create as many topics as they wish.
In an "each person posts one discussion" topic, only one can be created.
Other than that, all three can be used in the same way.
Starting a topic
From the course, select the "Forum" you wish to adjust by clicking on it.
The forum will open.
Initially there are no topics or posts.
Click on "Add discussion topic".
The forum posting window will open.
Enter a topic subject and message content, and click "Post to forum".
Viewing and replying to messages
From the course, select the "Forum" you wish to view by clicking on it.
The list of forum posts will be displayed.
The area labeled "Discussion" corresponds to the "Subject" when you enter a topic.
Click on the topic you wish to view.
This will allow you to view the posts.
If you are enrolled in the course as a teacher, you can "Edit", "Delete", and "Reply" to discussion posts.In this example, "Reply" is used.
To reply, click "Reply" in the lower right corner of the screen.
Click "Reply" to display the "Write your reply..." field.
Enter your reply and click "Post to forum".
Your post and reply will be visible to all teachers and students participating in the same forum.
(If you have specified a group in the "Restrictions" setting, your reply will be visible only to the group you have specified.)
Editing a message
Open the list of forum posts as described in "Viewing and replying to messages" to open your post.
Select "Edit" from the actions displayed at the bottom.
The "Edit discussion topic" window will appear.
You can change the subject, message, attachments, display period, etc.
In the figure, the text is added to the original post as indicated by the red frame.
After editing, click the "Save changes" button.
Using "Simple discussion of a single topic"
If you select "Simple discussion of a single topic" when setting up the forum, you can reply only to the first topic set, and you cannot add a new topic (the button "Add discussion topic" will not appear).
Using a "Q&A forum"
To use a Q&A Forum, click "Add new question" and enter the "Title" and "Message" for your question.
However, in order to view other students' answers in the Q&A forum, you must first post your own response.
If the responses of the other students are not displayed immediately after posting, please check again after the editing grace period (set to 30 minutes) has passed.
If you haven’t posted your own response:
If you try to browse before posting your own response, a message will display reading "This is a Q&A forum. To read other people's answers to these questions, you must first post your own reply" and you will not be able to read other people's responses.
After posting your response:
The screen shown in the figure belongs to "Student 05".
The student is able to view the responses of other students (red frame).
