Create a Forum for Student Questions in Moodle

My name is Victoria Shropshire; I teach in the English department here at Elon, and I'm going to talk to you now about What I call the virtual coffe shop forum in my courses Essentially it's the virtual version of your students raising their hand in class So that when they're doing their readings on an assignment, or When they're doing some research and they have a question, they can Ask you the question in real time Meaning that without instant messaging, or having to fill your in box with a Bunch of help me help me's, they can post it here. And the fact that they Posted an a community where the entire class reads what their writing actually Increases the formality with which they ask the question as well So it's helpful For sort of reinforcing this idea of a professional communication That students are going to have to take with them into the workplace after graduation Which is always nice But also it reinforces a level of respect as well You essentially create a forum To which all of your students are subscribed All the time. They post it in this virtual coffee shop space. Everyone enrolled in The course Sees the question that they ask And then when I reply to it, the entire class sees my response to it as well So this is also, as the instructor, helps alleviate the volume on your inbox From multiple students asking the same question I should Advise anyone you uses the space To be very clear about how you want the space to be used and what kinds of Questions can be posted there My instructions very specifically say that students should not ask personal Questions, or questions that would be one-on-one. Say, for instance, regarding their grades Every now and then I do have a student who forgets this, doesn't mean instructions And of course they've asked it in a community space where the whole Class, or every member of the class can see that they've asked that question And so I will usually reply For the whole class to see That they need to go back and read the instructions; that that's not what this Space is for and Usually that's embarrassment enough that they send me a private e-mail or ask the question in a more appropriate format I have here in the window A very short description of what the virtual coffee shop is But the first day of class, along with the syllabus And some Moodle introduction to a course, I make sure that the students know what this is, where it is, and how it works So during the course of the semester, and if you'll look here at my 110 course You'll see that in the very beginning of the semester Sudents will post and there will be one response This one response Is me responding. This is a single student asking question and I'm making a reply As the semester goes on though, you'll see four, two, and up here Four, five, three; and this is other students After the semester has progressed, becoming more comfortable and familiar With one another And answering each other's questions as well, which becomes a real teaching moment You'll see at the top summit they have three and seven And that means that students have entered either into a dialogue, or there are Multiple students All trying to answer the same question, sometimes before I can even get into Moodle and answer the question for them I always make sure that I had Read through The responses to make sure that students are answering each other's questions correctly But that's, so far, never really been an issue It's a wonderful way to use the moodle forums So that students can ask a question In real time, or ask a question right when they have it, verses bookmarking it Or trying to remember to bring it to class. They get a real-time Response from their professor, and then, of course, as the semester progresses, you'll often see that students will answer students in this space as well