{"id":1049,"date":"2024-01-11T11:56:05","date_gmt":"2024-01-11T11:56:05","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/wordpress.moodleanswers.com\/using-moodle-forums-effectively\/"},"modified":"2025-10-09T20:48:04","modified_gmt":"2025-10-09T20:48:04","slug":"using-moodle-forums-effectively-2","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/sites.ulethbridge.ca\/moodle-answers\/2024\/01\/11\/using-moodle-forums-effectively-2\/","title":{"rendered":"Using Moodle Forums Effectively"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>This tutorial will give you an overview of the Moodle Forum tool.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p><!--more--><\/p>\n<p class=\"error\">NOTE: The default &#8220;<strong>Announcements<\/strong>&#8221; at the top of your Moodle course is <strong>NOT\u00a0<\/strong>an actual forum.<\/p>\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"images\/announcements_nt.png\" alt=\"\" \/><\/p>\n<p>Rather it is a unidirectional communication tool for course announcements. You may easily re-label this to Course Announcements if you wish. Anything you post to the &#8220;News Forum&#8221; will be posted to the Forum and the Latest News Block, and will be automatically emailed to all students registered in the class. \u00a0<\/p>\n<p>\u00a0<\/p>\n<p><strong>Creating a\u00a0Forum:<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>First, turn editing on. This button is located on the top right of your screen.<\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\" size-full wp-image-691\" src=\"https:\/\/wordpress.moodleanswers.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/05\/turn_editing_on_nt-c5c.png\" alt=\"\" width=\"132\" height=\"49\" \/><\/p>\n<p>In the section of your course in which you want to add the forum, choose <strong>Add an Activity or Resource<\/strong>.<\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\" size-full wp-image-692\" src=\"https:\/\/wordpress.moodleanswers.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/05\/add_activity_resource_nt-312.png\" alt=\"\" width=\"245\" height=\"61\" \/><\/p>\n<p>From the selection, choose\u00a0<strong>Forum.<\/strong><\/p>\n<p><strong><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\" size-full wp-image-957\" src=\"https:\/\/wordpress.moodleanswers.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/01\/add_forum_nt-c66.png\" alt=\"\" width=\"430\" height=\"614\" srcset=\"https:\/\/sites.ulethbridge.ca\/moodle-answers\/files\/2017\/01\/add_forum_nt-c66.png 430w, https:\/\/sites.ulethbridge.ca\/moodle-answers\/files\/2017\/01\/add_forum_nt-c66-210x300.png 210w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 430px) 100vw, 430px\" \/><\/strong><\/p>\n<p>\u00a0<\/p>\n<p><strong>Choosing the right type of forum format:<\/strong><\/p>\n<p><strong><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\" size-full wp-image-958\" src=\"https:\/\/wordpress.moodleanswers.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/01\/forum_type_nt-c09.png\" alt=\"\" width=\"598\" height=\"143\" srcset=\"https:\/\/sites.ulethbridge.ca\/moodle-answers\/files\/2017\/01\/forum_type_nt-c09.png 598w, https:\/\/sites.ulethbridge.ca\/moodle-answers\/files\/2017\/01\/forum_type_nt-c09-300x72.png 300w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 598px) 100vw, 598px\" \/><\/strong><\/p>\n<p>The type of forum you use depends on what you want it to do.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p><strong>Basic and commonly used forum types:\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>&#8211; Standard forum for general use -> An open forum where anyone can start a new discussion at any time.<\/p>\n<p>&#8211; Q and A forum -> Students must first post their response to a specific question before being able to view other students posts.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>&#8211; A single simple discussion -> A single discussion topic to which everyone can reply.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Other forum types you might find useful:<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>&#8211; Each person posts one discussion -> Each student can post exactly one new discussion topic, to which everyone can then reply.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>&#8211; Standard forum displayed in a blog-like format -> An open forum where anyone can start a new discussion at any time, and in which discussion topics are displayed on one continuous page (like a blog) with links to &#8220;discuss this topic&#8221; for each different topic.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Forum Settings to Consider<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>Various settings determine specifically how students interact with each forum.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Attachments and word count\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>-> determines whether or not students can include an attachment with their post.<\/p>\n<p>-> determines whether or not to display a word count. (Does not restrict the number of words).<\/p>\n<p><strong>Subscription<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>-> when &#8220;subscribed&#8221; the participant will receive an email every time someone posts to that forum.<\/p>\n<p>Optional Subscription -> Participants can choose whether or not to be subscribed<\/p>\n<p>Forced Subscription -> Everyone is subscribed and cannot unsubscribe<\/p>\n<p>Auto Subscription -> Everyone is subscribed initially but can choose to unsubscribe at any time<\/p>\n<p>Subscription Disabled -> Subscriptions are not allowed<\/p>\n<p><b>Post Threshold for Blocking<\/b><\/p>\n<p>-> determines how often a student can post to the forum within some specified time period.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Preferences\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>\u00a0*In your Profile Settings*<\/p>\n<p>&#8211; Forum auto-subscribe &#8220;No&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>&#8211; Forum tracking &#8220;Yes&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>\u00a0<\/p>\n<p><strong>Grading Forums<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>Forums can be configured to let you &#8220;rate&#8221; (ie: grade) student posts. When &#8220;rating&#8221; is enabled, Moodle will create a grade column for this forum activity in the gradebook.<\/p>\n<p>Under the Ratings Tab, determine how you want to aggregate ratings for posts.<\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\" size-full wp-image-959\" src=\"https:\/\/wordpress.moodleanswers.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/01\/ratings_nt_2-e45.png\" alt=\"\" width=\"528\" height=\"200\" srcset=\"https:\/\/sites.ulethbridge.ca\/moodle-answers\/files\/2017\/01\/ratings_nt_2-e45.png 528w, https:\/\/sites.ulethbridge.ca\/moodle-answers\/files\/2017\/01\/ratings_nt_2-e45-300x114.png 300w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 528px) 100vw, 528px\" \/><\/p>\n<p>Average of Ratings tends to work best for most forums. There are other options, but these need to be used cautiously.<\/p>\n<p>Next, set the maximum score (grade) you want to rate each post out of.<\/p>\n<p>You may also want to restrict ratings to a specific time period to ensure that students post to the forum in a timely manner.<\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\" size-full wp-image-960\" src=\"https:\/\/wordpress.moodleanswers.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/01\/restrict_ratings_nt-a89.png\" alt=\"\" width=\"704\" height=\"286\" srcset=\"https:\/\/sites.ulethbridge.ca\/moodle-answers\/files\/2017\/01\/restrict_ratings_nt-a89.png 704w, https:\/\/sites.ulethbridge.ca\/moodle-answers\/files\/2017\/01\/restrict_ratings_nt-a89-300x122.png 300w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 704px) 100vw, 704px\" \/><\/p>\n<p>As you rate (grade) each student&#8217;s post, the current average of ratings for that student (or other aggregation you selected) will be pushed to the gradebook.<\/p>\n<p>\u00a0<\/p>\n<p><strong>Grading using Rubrics<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>Rubrics can also be used with forums. <a href=\"index.php\/grading\/using-rubrics-in-the-moodle-forum-tool\">Click here<\/a> to learn how.<\/p>\n<p>\u00a0<\/p>\n<p><strong>Extra Things to do with Forums<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>Using the WYSIWIG editor within a forum topic or reply, it is possible to embed audio, video, or images into a forum post, exactly as you do on a Moodle content page.<\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\" size-full wp-image-622\" src=\"https:\/\/wordpress.moodleanswers.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/08\/wysiwig-f82.png\" alt=\"\" width=\"599\" height=\"355\" srcset=\"https:\/\/sites.ulethbridge.ca\/moodle-answers\/files\/2015\/08\/wysiwig-f82.png 599w, https:\/\/sites.ulethbridge.ca\/moodle-answers\/files\/2015\/08\/wysiwig-f82-300x178.png 300w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, 599px\" \/><\/p>\n<p>\u00a0<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>This tutorial will give you an overview of the Moodle Forum tool.\u00a0<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":67,"featured_media":1675,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","_links_to":"","_links_to_target":""},"categories":[11,22,20],"tags":[65,41],"class_list":["post-1049","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-activities","category-_forums","category-_instructor-tutorials","tag-forums","tag-moodle"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/sites.ulethbridge.ca\/moodle-answers\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1049","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/sites.ulethbridge.ca\/moodle-answers\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/sites.ulethbridge.ca\/moodle-answers\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sites.ulethbridge.ca\/moodle-answers\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/67"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sites.ulethbridge.ca\/moodle-answers\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1049"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/sites.ulethbridge.ca\/moodle-answers\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1049\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1444,"href":"https:\/\/sites.ulethbridge.ca\/moodle-answers\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1049\/revisions\/1444"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sites.ulethbridge.ca\/moodle-answers\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/1675"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/sites.ulethbridge.ca\/moodle-answers\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1049"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sites.ulethbridge.ca\/moodle-answers\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1049"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sites.ulethbridge.ca\/moodle-answers\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1049"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}