How to Setup a Forum Activity

How to Setup a Forum Activity

Idea
Overview
The Forum activity in Moodle allows students and trainers to engage in asynchronous discussions by posting and replying to messages. It's useful for reflective tasks, peer interaction, and gathering evidence of participation in VET and RTO courses. Forums can be graded, linked to competencies, and restricted by groups or availability. They support learner engagement and are ideal for both communication and assessment purposes.

In this tutorial, we will guide you through the steps to set up a Forum activity.

Notes
Step Tutorial
InfoNOTE: You need Teacher or Manager access before you can perform this action.

Step 1: Turn Editing On

  1. Log in to your Moodle site as a Trainer or Manager.

  2. Navigate to the course where you want to add the Forum.

  3. Click the "Turn editing on" button (usually top right of the course page).



Step 2: Add the Forum Activity

  1. In the desired section/topic, click “+ Add an activity or resource.”

  2. Select Forum from the list of activities.


Step 3: Configure Basic Settings

Fill in the key fields:

  • Forum name:
    Provide a clear title, e.g. “Assessment 1: Reflection Forum” or “Week 2 Discussion – Ethical Practice in Aged Care”.

  • Description:
    Explain the purpose of the forum, expected participation, guidelines (e.g., word count, etiquette), or how it contributes to assessment.
    ✅ Tick “Display description on course page” if you want it visible to students up front.


Step 4: Adjust the settings as needed.

General
Name* - (Required Field) Enter the name of the Forum activity

Description – Provide context for the Forum session. You can include instructions, expected participation, or links to prep material.

Display description on course page - (Checkbox) If enabled, the description will be displayed on the course page just below the link to the activity or resource.

Choose the Forum Type

In Forum type, choose the most appropriate format:

Standard forum for general use
- Open discussion where anyone can post and reply — great for ongoing topics.

Single simple discussion
- One topic only — all responses appear under it. Ideal for focused questions.

Each person posts one discussion
- Each student can post one discussion thread; everyone can reply to others. Great for reflections.

Q and A forum
- Students must post before seeing others' posts. Excellent for assessment.

Standard forum displayed in a blog-like format
- Visually appealing alternative to the standard forum.
Availability (optional)

Due date / Cut-off date (if used for assessments):

  • Set a due date to encourage timely participation.

  • Set a cut-off date to prevent late posts (optional).

✅ These dates are helpful for competency-based tracking or collecting participation evidence for RTO reporting.
Attachments and word count

Maximum attachment size: Limit file upload size (e.g., 5MB, 10MB).

Maximum number of attachments: Restrict the number of files each post can have.

✅ Display word count: Tick this to show students the word count of their posts — useful for meeting reflection requirements (e.g., 150-word minimum).
Subscription and tracking

  • Subscription mode:

    • Optional: Students choose to subscribe.

    • Forced: All students receive emails of posts.

    • Auto: Subscribed by default, can unsubscribe.

    • Disabled: No subscriptions allowed.

  • ✅ Read tracking: Leave on so unread posts are highlighted for students.
Discussion locking

  • Set a period of inactivity (e.g., 1 week, 2 weeks) after which the discussion will automatically lock.

🛠 Helpful for preventing late or spam responses in old threads.
Post threshold for blocking

  • Configure limits on posts within a set time:

    • Post threshold: Max number of posts allowed in a set period (e.g. 3 per day).

    • Blocking period: Define the time frame (e.g. 1 day).

    • Warning threshold: Set to show a warning before a student is blocked.

✅ Useful for managing student behaviour and spam control.
Whole forum grading

  • Enable grading for the entire forum activity.

  • Set the grading type:

    • Point (e.g., out of 10)

    • Scale (e.g., Satisfactory/Not Yet Satisfactory)

  • Choose grading method:

    • Simple direct grading

    • Rubric

    • Marking guide

  • Grade category: Assign to the correct category in the Gradebook (e.g., Unit 1 Assessments).
Ratings

  • Allows grading individual posts using ratings.

  • Aggregate type:

    • Average of ratings, Sum, Maximum, Count, etc.

  • Scale:

    • Choose Point or a Custom Scale (like Competent / Not Yet Competent).

  • Restrict ratings to posts with dates: Optional – useful for marking posts within an assessment window.

📌 Ratings appear in the Gradebook if grading is enabled.
Common Module Settings

  • Availability: Show or hide the forum.

  • Group mode:

    • No groups: Everyone interacts together.

    • Separate groups: Each group has its own forum space.

    • Visible groups: Groups can see each other’s posts but can only post within their group.

  • Grouping (optional): Assign the forum to a specific grouping of students.
Restrict Access

  • Add conditions such as:

    • Date restrictions

    • Group membership

    • User profile fields (e.g., only available to certain cohorts)

  • Combine with completion conditions to create learning pathways.
Completion conditions
This allows the teacher to set completion criteria in the settings of a specific activity. A check mark will appear next to the activity once the student meets the criteria. There are three available conditions:
  1. None
  2. Students must manually mark the activity as done
  3. Add requirements – Additional fields will appear. You can adjust the settings as needed.
Set reminder in Timeline – This field will appear if either ‘Students must manually mark the activity as done’ or ‘Add requirements’ is ticked. This allows teacher to set a reminder for students to work on this activity. 
Info
NOTE: A teacher may mark an activity as complete on behalf of a student from the Activity completion report if they have the capability to Override activity completion (which is enabled by default).
Tags
Add relevant tags to make the forum easily searchable within the course.
Competencies
Course competencies - Course competencies linked to this activity.

Upon activity completion - Choose whether to Do nothing, Attach evidence, Send for review, or Complete the competency.

Step 5: After setting up the Forum, click the available Save buttons below. You may tick the Send content change notification checkbox if you want the participants get notified about the new or changed activity or resource. Only users who can access the activity or resource will receive the notification.



Your Forum activity will now be displayed in the section where you selected ‘Add an activity or resource’.

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