Build a Course
Forum
Add a Forum in MOLE
1. On the MOLE course home page, click Turn editing on at the upper right of the page.
2. In the relevant page section, click Add an activity and in the resulting pop-up, under activities, select Forum. Click Add.
3. On the Adding a new Forum page, enter a forum name and description of the forum.
4. Select the Display description check box if you want the text you entered in the Description to display on the course home page below the forum's link.
5. Choose the type of forum that makes sense for the activity you are asking your students to do:
A single simple discussion - A single discussion topic which everyone can reply to (cannot be used with separate groups).
Each person posts one discussion - Each student can post exactly one new discussion topic, which everyone can then reply to.
Q and A forum - Students must first post their perspectives before viewing other students' posts.
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 page with "Discuss this topic" links.
Standard forum for general use - An open forum where anyone can start a new discussion at any time.
6. Complete the Availability section, selecting Enable and specifying dates and times at which you want to allow students to post in the forum. Although this date is displayed in the calendar as the due date for the forum, posting will still be allowed after this date. Set a forum cut-off date to prevent posting to the forum after a certain date.
7. Complete Attachments and word count section.
Maximum attachment size - each attachment cannot exceed this file size. (If a student can attach multiple files, and attaches files at different times, the total can exceed the set size.)
Maximum number of attachments - each student will be able to upload up to the maximum number of attachments for their submission.
Display word count - this setting specifies whether the word count of each post should be displayed or not.
8. Complete Subscription and tracking section. When a participant is subscribed to a forum it means they will receive forum post notifications. There are 4 subscription mode options:
Optional subscription - Participants can choose whether to be subscribed
Forced subscription - Everyone is subscribed and cannot unsubscribe
Auto subscription - Everyone is subscribed initially but can choose to unsubscribe at any time
Subscription disabled - Subscriptions are not allowed
Read tracking enables participants to easily check which posts they have not yet seen by highlighting any new posts. If set to optional, participants can choose whether to turn tracking on or off via a link in the actions menu or administration block, depending on the theme. (Users must also enable forum tracking in their forum preferences.)
9. Forums may also be used as graded assignments. In order to add grades to posts, in the Ratings section choose an Aggregate Type and a Grade Scale. Once a student makes a post to the forum, a drop-down menu will appear on the post making it easy to assign a grade when you read it.
The aggregate type defines how ratings are combined to form the final grade in the gradebook.
Average of ratings - The mean of all ratings
Count of ratings - The number of rated items becomes the final grade. Note that the total cannot exceed the maximum grade for the activity.
Maximum - The highest rating becomes the final grade
Minimum - The smallest rating becomes the final grade
Sum - All ratings are added together. Note that the total cannot exceed the maximum grade for the activity.
If "No ratings" is selected, then the activity will not appear in the gradebook.
10. To add restrictions on accessing the activity, click Add restriction. The Add restriction window will open, containing the following options:
Activity completion - Require students to complete (or not complete) another activity.
Date - Prevent access until (or from) a specified date and time.
Grade - Require students to achieve a specified grade.
User profile - Control access based on fields within the student’s profile.
Restriction set - Add a set of nested restrictions to apply complex logic.
If you have groups in your course, you will see the following additional options:
Group - Allow only students who belong to a specified group, or all groups.
11. Complete any further relevant sections of the page and click Save and display.
Add a New topic to a Forum
1. Click the link to the forum activity (not the edit icon, but the link to open the forum). The Forum page will open, showing the description you provided when you set up the activity. If no topics or posts have been added, you see "There are no discussion topics yet in this forum.
2. Click Add a new discussion topic (for a Q & A forum click Add a new question). The Your new discussion topic page will open.
3. On Your new discussion topic page enter a subject and a message (both required).
4. Click Advanced beside the cancel button in order to view other fields.
4. If subscription is set to Optional in the forum's settings, select the Discussion subscription check box to receive email copies of posts made to this forum. (This will affect you, not your students.)
5. You may choose to add an attachment.
6. Click Post to forum to post your message. You will be returned to the forum page with a confirmation message.
7. Once replies have been made, click the link to the topic to view replies or add additional replies to the thread. (If read tracking is enabled, the number of unread posts will be indicated and links highlighted.)