Internal - Faculty & Staff

Why Use Forums?

Why Use Forums?

A discussion board is a tool that allows students to discuss a question or topic asynchronously online. They are one of the most useful tools in helping a student become actively engaged in course content. Members of the class are able to initiate a conversation by starting a discussion thread; other members can then respond to the original message and/or to responses left by their classmates.

SNAP Theme in Moodle

Default Moodle Theme

Advantages and Challenges

Advantages
  • Allows conversation about a topic to continue without time restrictions.
  • More democratic than traditional in-class conversations, as it gives all students an opportunity to contribute a response.
  • Promotes more meaningful conversation by giving students the chance to process others’ responses and carefully craft their own contribution to a conversation.
  • Students who don’t feel comfortable speaking up in front of class can respond in a written format.
Challenges
  • Can be difficult to moderate a discussion so that the conversation is ongoing and meaningful–students often feel it’s acceptable to give short responses or mirror the responses of others.
  • Crafting good discussion questions that allow for adequate input from all students can be difficult.
  • Moderating discussion board conversations can be time consuming for the instructor.