Purpose
The purpose of this article is to provide step-by-step instructions for creating a Q & A forum in a Moodle course.
Procedures
Make sure Edit mode is on.
Click Add and then click Activity or resource.
Select Forum.
Give your forum a title, type a description in the description box (optional), and check the box next to Display description on course page (optional).
Select Q and A forum from the dropdown menu under the activity description box.
Enable due date and/or cut-off date in the Availability section.
Change Display word count to Yes in the Attachments and word count section if you want your students to see if they have met any word count criterion.
Set either Whole forum grading to Scale or Point or set Ratings to Sum of ratings. Do not set both or you will end up with duplicate tabs in the gradebook.
Set up completion tracking. If you select Add requirements, you can require a minimum number of replies.
Save your settings.
Click Add a discussion topic, add your subject and instructions, and click Post to forum.
This is what students will see on the course page.
Students can click the Advanced option in the lower right corner to find the ribbon with icons for adding images and video, changing text size and color, et cetera. Once the students are finished writing, they must click the Post to forum button. They will have 30 minutes to edit their posts before they are permanent. Please make sure your students understand there is no Add a new discussion thread button like in forums they may have seen in other classes. In the Q & A forum, the student must click on the instructor's post to reply.