The forum activity module enables participants to have asynchronous discussions i.e. discussions that take place over an extended period of time.
There are several forum types to choose from, such as a standard forum where anyone can start a new discussion at any time; a forum where each student can post exactly one discussion; or a question and answer forum where students must first post before being able to view other students' posts. A teacher can allow files to be attached to forum posts. Attached images are displayed in the forum post.
Participants can subscribe to a forum to receive notifications of new forum posts. A teacher can set the subscription mode to optional, forced or auto, or prevent subscription completely. If required, students can be blocked from posting more than a given number of posts in a given time period; this can prevent individuals from dominating discussions.
Forum posts can be rated by teachers or students (peer evaluation). Ratings can be aggregated to form a final grade which is recorded in the gradebook.
Forums have many uses, such as
- A social space for students to get to know each other
- For course announcements (using a news forum with forced subscription)
- For discussing course content or reading materials
- For continuing online an issue raised previously in a face-to-face session
- For teacher-only discussions (using a hidden forum)
- A help centre where tutors and students can give advice
- A one-on-one support area for private student-teacher communications (using a forum with separate groups and with one student per group)
- For extension activities, for example ‘brainstorming’ for students to ponder and suggest solutions
If we select the option Forum in + Add an activity or a resource, we will be able to add a forum in the Virtual Classroom to have conversations (not in real time) with the students. It is compulsory to add a name to the forum. There are different types of forums, but the most practical is the forum for general use. Many of the forum configuration options can be left as they are by default.
The option Subscription and tracking allows us to select the mode of subscription to the forum: optional (participants choose to participate or not), or off (all students are subscribed by default and nobody can unsubscribe) or automatic (all students are subscribed by default but each student can unsubscribe). Each time a student posts a message to the forum, each participant will receive an email with the message.
You can also select how to track the forum: if the Reading tracking is left as optional (default option), each participant will be able to enable or disable the tracking of new forum posts.
The Common module settings and Access restrictions options work in the same way as the File option.
Once the Forum has been created, to add a topic we will have to enter it and click on the Add a new discussion topic button so that the Subject and Message options appear (obligatory).
When we post a message to the forum, we are given 30 minutes to edit it, delete it, etc. before it is published.
