The forum activity allows participants of a Module to post comments as part of a thread. Files such as images and media maybe included in forum posts.
- To add a forum you should turn on the editing and select it from add an activity or resource.
- You will then have the Adding a new forum page appear so that you can choose the settings for your forum.
- First of all give your forum a name, and then a description if required.
- Then you will need to choose the forum type, it will default to Standard forum for general use
Which forum do I need?
In the (default) Standard forum for general use, students see a button to start a new discussion (thread) and they can comment on others threads.
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.
In the Each person post one discussion option, everyone can post one topic and they can all respond to each others topics.
The Q and A 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 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.
How do I control the notifications?
Anyone on the module can view the forums (unless you have restricted the access to them) however they will only receive each post as an email in addition to this if they are subscribed to the forum.
In the Subscription and tracking menu you can choose how people are subscribed
- Optional subscription - participants themselves can choose whether or not they are subscribed
- Forced subscription - all participants are subscribed and cannot unsubscribe
- Auto subscription - All participants are initially subscribed but can choose to unsubscribe
- Subscription disabled - No one can subscribe