Moodle: Forums

Need a space for you and your students to have discussions? Would you like your students to respond to and make comments on response questions? Need to set up a Q&A-style activity? Read on for step-by-step instructions on how to add the Forum and Moodleoverflow activities, as well as helpful information on the different types of forums and settings.

Create a Forum activity

1. Turn on Edit mode on your Moodle course page.
2. Click on + Add an Activity or Resource and select the “Forum” activity from the menu. 
3. Enter a name and description for the activity.
4. Choose the Forum type:
   • A single simple discussion: the instructor posts one thread and students discuss it.
   • Each person posts one discussion: every student posts a thread, all of which can be discussed by the class.
   • Q and A forum: students ask questions in threads and the instructor (or other students) post answers. For a Q&A tool with more features, see the Moodleoverflow activity.
   • Standard forum for general use: In a typical forum, everyone can post threads and everyone can reply.
   • Standard forum displayed in a blog-like format: essentially the same as “standard forum for general use“, but gives the participant the option to view each discussion topic with its text, like a blog post instead of a discussion thread.
5. Configure other settings as needed. Click on the question mark icon next to a setting to learn more about what it does. For example, you may consider changing the Subscription and tracking settings to adjust email notification preferences.
6. Click Save and Display to view the Forum or Save and return to course to go back to the course page.

Create a Moodleoverflow activity

The Moodleoverflow activity is similar to the Forum activity, but it lets users rate posts. Users who have started a discussion can mark an answer as helpful, and teachers can mark a post as a (correct) solution to the posed question.

1. Turn on Edit mode.
2. Click on + Add an Activity or Resource and select the “Moodleoverflow” activity from the menu. 
3. Enter a name and description for the activity.
4. Configure the anonymity settings. Anonymous posting is turned off by default, but you can set it so that just answerers or both questioners and answerers are anonymous.
5. Configure the review settings. If you turn review on for questions, then an instructor must approve the question before it can be viewed by students. If you turn review on for questions and answers, then an instructor must approve both questions and answers before other students can see them.
6. Configure the Rating and reputation settings to suit the needs of your forum or course. For example, you may want to ensure that user reputation is disabled if that is not a feature you need.
7. Configure other settings as needed. Click on the question mark icon next to a setting to learn more about what it does.
8. Click Save and Display to view the Forum or Save and return to course to go back to the course page.

Videos & Further Reading on Forums

• MoodleDocs: Forum activity
• Video: Forum in Moodle

Questions?

If you have any additional questions or problems, don't hesitate to reach out to the Help Desk!

Phone: 610-526-7440 | Library and Help Desk hours
Email: help@brynmawr.edu | Service catalog
Location: Canaday Library 1st floor