4.2. Using the forum to communicate with students and facilitate communication among students¶
Use the forum to communicate with students within the course and for students to communicate with one another.
Among the various types of forums, you can use the Announcements forum to send general messages to all participants in the course. Please refer to the detailed manual for information on how to set this up.
Announcement¶
This feature is used to send notifications to all students in the course. Only instructors can post announcements; students cannot view them or reply to them.
*This is automatically created within a section when you create a course. Although it is a type of forum, you cannot create a new one, so please be careful when deleting it.
If you want to create an additional announcement, you can duplicate an existing one and publish it.
For information on configuration options, please refer to the "Forum" section.
Forum¶
What is a forum?¶
This module allows you to create bulletin boards (BBS) and host online discussions.
There are the following types of forums.
| Types of Forums | Content |
|---|---|
| A simple discussion | Each participant replies to a single topic. |
| Each person post one discussion | Each participant can create one topic, and they can reply to each other. |
| Q and A forum | Participants must post their own comments before reading others' posts. |
| Standard forum displayed in blog-like format | Participants are free to start new topics. The titles and content of each topic are displayed in a list. |
| Standard Forum for General Use | Participants can start topics at any time. The titles of each topic are displayed in a list. |
| Announcement | This is automatically created when you create a course. You can use it to send announcements to all course participants. Students cannot create topics or reply to them. |
How to Use the Forum¶
1. Install the forum module.
2. Configure the forum.
This section explains the main settings. For information on other settings, please refer to the detailed manual.
<General>
| Settings | Content |
| :--- | :--- |
| Forum Name | Enter the text for the link to the forum on the course page. |
| Description | Enter the overall description of the forum. |
| Display the description on course page | When you check it, a description will appear on the course page. |
| Forum Type | Select the type of forum. |
＜Availability＞
| Settings | Content |
|---|---|
| Due date | Set the forum's expiration date. Posts will still be allowed after this date, so if you want to prevent posts after a specific date, set the forum's closure date. |
| Cut-off date | If this date is set, the forum will no longer accept posts after this date. |
<Subscription and tracking>
| Settings | Content |
|---|---|
| Subscription Mode | You can specify whether forum participants receive email notifications when a post is made to the forum. |
| Read tracking | Selecting "Off" will disable the unread management feature. Selecting "Optional" allows participants to enable or disable the unread management feature. |
3. Once you've finished configuring the settings, click "Save and view"
The following page will appear, allowing you to create a topic. To create a topic, click "Add discussion topic" *If the forum type is set to "Simple discussion with a single topic," you cannot add topics.
4. Enter the topic content, then click "Post to forum" at the bottom of the page.
5. Once the post is complete, a message like the one below will appear.
6. To reply, click the topic you want to reply to.
7. Click "Reply" enter your post, and then click "Post to forum"
