Forum

Intro

The Forum activity is an asynchronous discussion tool that enables you to create structured, threaded conversations where students can post, reply, and engage over time. Unlike live chat, forums allow students to reflect before contributing, supporting deeper and more thoughtful interaction..

Why do I want to use Forum?

• Encourage deeper thinking through reflective, well-considered responses

• Promote inclusive participation, giving all students time to contribute

• Foster peer learning by exposing students to diverse perspectives

• Support collaboration beyond the classroom or scheduled sessions

• Track participation and engagement across discussions

• Develop critical thinking and argumentation skills

• Enable ongoing dialogue that evolves over time

Educational Insight

Forums are usually used for asynchronous discussions. This gives students the opportunity to read all the messages in a thread, reflect on it and get a chance to better work on the topic/idea.

As a teacher, you are able to track student participation and encourage participation and collaboration.

What can I use Forum for?

You can use Forum in a variety of teaching scenarios, including:

• Debates and discussions on complex or controversial topics

• Case-based learning, where students analyse and respond to scenarios

• Peer feedback activities, allowing students to review each other’s work

• Reflection exercises, encouraging students to articulate their learning

• Pre- or post-class discussions in a flipped or blended learning setup

• Knowledge sharing, where students contribute resources or insights

Pedagogies that use Forum: Reciprocal Learning, Think-Pair-Share, Predict Observe Explain, etc.

How does it work?

You create one or more discussion threads with prompts or guiding questions

Students post messages, respond to others, and build on ideas. Discussions are threaded, making it easy to follow conversations.

You can enable ratings or grading for posts to assess contributions

You can control participation, such as:

• Limiting the number of posts

• Restricting post length

• Setting deadlines

You can allow anonymous posting to encourage honest participation

As a lecturer, you can monitor all the activity, identifying engagement patterns and participation levels.