How to Create & Use Discussion Board

The forum activity module enables participants to have asynchronous discussions i.e. discussions that take place over an extended period.

To add the forum component, make sure to have “edit mode” on.

• Click “Add an activity or resource” and simply type forum to add to your course.

• Name your Forum and add a description.

• 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 question, 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. Teachers can also make the forum available within the time limits.

• 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 each 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 grade book.

• You can set other forum settings according to your preferences. If you wish, you can modify your forum settings later. Click Save and display to save the changes.

• The forum has been created.