Use Forums to Interact with Learners

Are you looking for ways to engage learners, encourage comments, and get feedback? A course discussion forum may be the answer.

Discussion forums are accessible by trainees under the Course Resources menu. You can start the ball rolling by posting a Welcome message thread...responding to comments received to encourage interaction.

If it's appropriate for your course, you may want to add some additional threads that are more specific - again, to engage you audience and perhaps gain insight into what is working in your course, and what isn't.

Think of a forum as a way to start a conversation with the people taking your course. It's a great way to build a sense of community and open the lines of communication with your learners.

How to add a forum to your course

It is easy to add a forum to your course. So easy, in fact, that I didn't bother doing a screen recording.

To add a forum:

  1. Click the Settings tab.
  2. Scroll down to the bottom of the screen. Select 'Yes' next to Discussion Forum.

That's it. Your forum is now accessible to learners via the Course Resources link.

But...as I mentioned above, you may want to get the ball rolling with a Welcome post.

To add a post:

  1. Click the more>> tab on the far right side. Select Forum from the menu.
  2. Click Add a New Topic and type in your post.

Finally, you may consider adding a notation about the forum in the course description, or better yet, include a note about it in the course introduction. This sets the stage for your interactions with learners - and don't forget to participate in the forum too!

You control posts in the forum

While discussion forum posts are posted immediately, you have full control over both the posts and the replies. You can delete any post thread and/or replies by clicking more>> Forum in Course Manager.

To make it easy for you to monitor and respond to comments in the forum, you'll get an email when a new post is added.