One of the most popular activities in Moodle is the use of forums to promote discussion and engagement with students.  There are several types of forums to choose from, and most people use a standard forum for general use.

A Q&A forum is (you guessed it) a place where you can post questions and students can post responses.  But what makes Q&A forums different is that a student cannot see responses from other students until they post their own response.  You might choose to use a Q&A forum over a different type of forum if you wanted to ensure that each student posted an original response before they could read and consider other students’ perspectives.

We often get questions about academic integrity and forums, especially around ensuring that students are not simply using other students’ ideas in their posts.  These concerns are valid, and the Instructional Designers in the E-Learning Office are available to help you communicate your expectations to your students.  Q&A forums can address some of these concerns, as a student must post their own response before other responses are visible.

If you have questions about using Q&A forums, please click here to get in touch with the E-Learning Office.

For detailed steps on how to set up a Q&A forum in your course, click here.