Forum

The Forum Activity provides an asynchronous discussion environment for learners, with discussion threads initially created by the teacher.

Forums can be 'locked' as an activity which is only available for the period of the specific activity (ie: no more contributions can be made once the learner clicks 'Finish', or they can be 'unlocked', in that learners can add to the Fourm throughout the life of the whole sequence.

Click here to view an animation on using the Forum activity.

The Forum and Scribe Activity combines a Forum Activity with a Scribe Activity for collating Forum Postings into a written report. When used in small group mode, the tool creates parallel Forum and Scribe areas for each small group, and then shows the outcome of each group collated on a whole class page.

The Share Resources and Forum Activity combines a Forum Activity Activity with a Share Resources Activity which allows Learners to create Forum postings based on resources by provided by the sequence author, or from resources that they add to the activity themselves.
When used in small group mode, the tool creates parallel Forum and Scribe areas for each small group, and then shows the outcome of each group collated on a whole class page.

View of the Forum Basic tab.

The Basic Tab for the Forum Activity allows you to specify a title for the activity, give learners a set of instructions for completing the activity, and create Forum topics to categorize messages:

• Title: All Activities have a web page title which is presented at the top of the activity page when displayed in the Learning Environment. This is NOT the same title as the Title that can be set using the Properties Inspector.
• *Instructions:*All Activities have a text area that is presented beneath the title. This is where the main activity text to be displayed to learners is entered. The text can be formatted using the Rich-Text Editor. Image, Video, Audio and URL content can also be displayed in the Instructions area.
• Specific Feature - Forum Topics
  • To create a new Forum Topic, click "+ Create a New Topic". A new text box will open on the properties sheet where you can create the new topic.
  • Subject: This is the title of the Forum Topic, and is displayed on the main Forum Screen in the Learning Environment.
  • *Body:*This is where the content of the Forum Topic is created. To view the topic body, learners click on the Forum Title in the Learning Environment.
  • Attachment: Files such as documents, pictures or audiovisuals can be added to a forum topic for viewing/downloading.
  • To change the order in which topics are displayed, use the Green up and down arrows.
  • To edit a topic, click the Yellow pencil.
  • To delete a topic, click the Red cross.

View of the Forum Advanced tab.

• Lock When Finished: This option is available on all Activities.
  • Enabling this option in Forum means that learner's will only be able to contribute and/or edit postings until they click the "Finish" button. If afterwards they return to the Forum, they will only see a history record of the Forum session, and will not be able to create new posts or topics.
  • If this option is disabled, the Forum session will be available for contribution and editing until the sequence is stopped by a monitor.
• Allow Learners to Change their own postings: When enabled, this option allows learners to edit postings once they are part of the forum. The default is 'on.'
• Allow Learners to Upload Files: This feature allows learners to add attachments to their forum postings. The default setting is 'on.'
• Allow Learners to use Rich Text Editor: This feature allows learners to add formatting effects to their postings. The default is 'off.'
• *Maximum number of characters per posting:*The length of each individual post to the forum can be limited by using this setting. The default is enabled with 5000 characters.
• *Add Notebook... :*This option is available on all Activities. Enabling this option creates a Notebook as part of the Activity, which Learner's can use to reflect on the activity just completed. The reflections are personal (ie: not shared with other learners).
• Posting Limits: Only one of these options can be enabled for each specific forum.
  • Allow Learners to Create New Topics: This allows learners to add new forum topics to the activity. This setting is enabled by default.
  • *Number of Posts per Learner per Topic:*This specifies how many postings Learners are permitted to add before they can progress to the next activity. This setting is disabled by default.

Vea la pestaña de instrucciones. Esta pestaña presenta las mismas características para todas las actividades.

La pestaña de Instrucciones tiene las mismas características para todas las actividades LAMS.

Esta pestaña permite al instructor crear instrucciones sobre la actividad así como también subir archivos que puedan ser de utilidad a otros instructores y tutores en el uso de la misma. Por ejemplo, documentos de referencia, planillas de evaluación, etc). Estas instrucciones y archivos pueden ser accedidos desde la interfaz de monitoreo por todos los intructores y tutores.

Hay dos modos de intrucciones posibles: Intrucciones para le modo online o offline. El instructor puede escribir instrucciones para estos dos modos ya que es posible que por alguna razón se decida utilizar esta actividad en modo offline o online.

Estas instrucciones son de importancia si se pretende compartir secuancias de aprendizaje con otros instructores. Estas instrucciones pueden no solo aclarar de la manera que esta actividad debe ser utilizada con estudiantes, sino tambien proveer de información pedagógica sobre la actividad.

View of the Forum Summary Screen.

The Forum Summary screen presents marking features, much like Submit Files. If the activity has been modified by a Grouping activity, the Screen will be seperated into different areas for each group (in the figure, the groups shown are Group 2 and Group 4.)

Monitors can assign a numerical mark to Learner postings either by viewing the Forum (click View Forum) which will allow a mark to be assigned to each individual Learner posting, or by assigning a mark for the entire forum, by clicking Mark.

In order for Learners to be able to view their marks through LAMS, the Monitor must click the _Release Marks" button. Learners will then be able to re-enter the sequence through their own LAMS accounts and view their marks.

View of the Instructions Tab

In the Authoring Environment, Authors can use the Instructions Space to attach support files for a specific activity, or leave comments for othe Monitors about how a given activity should be run.

These comments and files can be viewed from here - the Instructions Tab.

View of the Forum Statistics Summary Screen.

The Forum Statistics tab displays statistics about the number of messages posted in each Forum, and the Average marks that have been assigned by the Monitor.