Moodle Guides in English

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Why Forums?

Moodle forums are a convenient and effective way to conduct an asynchronous discussion – this is to say, a discussion in which each participant responds at a time that is convenient for him or her (unlike a chat, in which the parties to the discussion must be logged in simultaneously in order to conduct the discussion). The two most common uses of forums are "Billboard," which is a kind of automatic mailing list for all participants (and is automatically created with each new course); and a “Discussion Forum," which is essentially a substitute for email correspondence between the teaching staff and course participants, or among course participants themselves. In addition to these two applications, a forum can be used in numerous and varied ways that are beyond the purview of this quick guide.

How Do I Create a Forum?

  1. Enter Edit mode on the course site
  2. Add a forum activity
  3. Name the activity, and write a few words about the purpose of the forum
  4. Choose the desired type of forum. In most cases it will be a "Standard forum for general use”.
  5. Save the settings. You have now successfully created a forum


Creating a Discussion

In a regular forum, the posts belong to the discussions. For the most part, each discussion has one topic. When the need arises for another discussion, a new discussion is opened on a new topic by creating a first post in the discussion. This is how it is done:

  1. Enter forum activity
  2. Click on the button "Add a new discussion topic"
  3. Type  the subject of the post and its contents
  4. Click on "Post Forum" to generate the discussion


How can the Participants Respond in a Forum?

The next and essential step in a functioning forum is responses to the opening post in the discussion, submitted by the participants in the course. To respond, course participants select "Reply" under the post to which they wish to respond, and write the contents of their response. (In this case, there is no "subject" line, because the subject should be determined by the opening post in the discussion).


It is important to note that there are many additional options for managing and using the forum that meet virtually every need possible.
Need help? Contact Moodle Support Coordinators.

Best of Luck!