Adding Activities

Activities, such as forums, quizzes and wikis enable interactive content to be added to the course. Some are only suitable for a tutor/teacher supported course (tutor only) rather than a free standing open educational resource.

  • Assignment allows learners to submit assignments for grading (tutor only)
  • Blog allows for creation of blogs within a course (tutor only)
  • Choice enables a tutor to ask a question and offer possible responses (tutor only)
  • Custom Certificate is your preferred design, rather than standard Statement of Participation
  • Forum provides a discussion Moodle forum facility (tutor only)
  • Glossary can be a list of definitions, like a dictionary, or resources for information.  
  • H5P HTML5 Package of interactive content (presentations, videos, multimedia, questions etc).
  • Lesson enables sharing content and/or practice activities in flexible ways (tutor only). 
  • Questionnaire allows survey construction using a variety of survey question types.
  • Quiz enables a course author to create quizzes comprising questions of various types.
  • SCORM package Shareable Content Object Reference Model collection of files.   
  • StudentQuiz allows students to add questions for the crowd (tutor only).
  • Wiki lets users edit a set of linked pages, often a collaborative activity (tutor only). 
  • Workshop enables collection, review and peer assessment of students' work (tutor only)


5. Forum

5.1. Forum netiquette

It is a good idea to remind those who post in your forum about good behaviour. The following message could be used in the forum introduction:

Please use this forum to ask questions or discuss any issues that arise as you study. You should be aware that the forum is moderated, so please keep all posts course specific, and always remain respectful to your fellow learners.

If you’d like to post a question or comment, click on the button ‘Start a new discussion’, making sure that you include a title in the subject line.

The following additional information, originally used in the DIY Learn forum, may also be useful guidance to share with forum users:

Forum Code of Practice

Communicating effectively online: Netiquette

The word ‘netiquette’ (short for ‘net etiquette’) refers to the rules of good online behaviour. Although the principles of online communication are similar to those for face-to-face conversation, there are differences. For example, other people can’t see the expression on your face or hear your voice, so what you write sets the tone of the conversation.

Good netiquette involves:

  1. Thanking, acknowledging and supporting people. People can’t see you nod, smile or frown as you read their messages. So, if they get no acknowledgement, they may feel ignored and be discouraged from contributing further.

Why not send a short reply to keep the conversation going? If the online group is small, this can make a big difference.

But bear in mind that in a large, busy forum too many messages like this can be a nuisance.

  1. Acknowledging before differing. Before you disagree with someone, try to summarise the other person’s point in your own words. Then they know you are trying to understand them and will be more likely to take your view seriously.

Otherwise, you risk talking at each other rather than to each other.

  1. Making your perspective clear. Try to avoid speaking in an impersonal way, using phrases like:
    • ‘This is the way it is …’
    • ‘It is a fact that …’

That will sound dogmatic and leaves no room for anyone else’s perspective.

Why not start ‘I think …’?

A common abbreviation is IMHO (in my humble opinion) – or even IMNSHO (in my not so humble opinion). If you are presenting someone else’s views, say so, perhaps by a quote and acknowledgement.

  1. Clearly showing your emotions. Emotions can be easily misunderstood when you can’t see faces or body language. People may not realise you are joking. And one person’s joke can seem offensive to someone else

Smileys or emoticons such as :-) and :-( can be used to express your feelings (look at these sideways). Other possibilities are punctuation (?! #@*!), <grin< or <joke>. Many online forum systems allow you to use graphic emoticons to express a variety of emotions.

You should also be aware of your audience as people from widely differing cultures and backgrounds may read what you write online. What you find funny may be offensive to them.

AND FINALLY, DON’T WRITE IN CAPITAL LETTERS – IT WILL LOOK LIKE YOU’RE SHOUTING!

  1. Avoiding flaming. If you read something that offends or upsets you, it is very tempting to dash off a reply and hit 'Send' – but don’t! Online discussions seem to be particularly prone to such ‘flames’, often an unwitting breach of netiquette will escalate in a flaming spiral of angry messages. So, if you feel your temperature rising as you write, save your message, take a break or sleep on it – don’t hit 'Send'.

Some final advice …

  • Use ‘threading’ properly. If someone replies to a message, then someone replies to the reply, and so on, then the whole ‘chain’ of messages is called a thread, and the forum software makes is easy to follow a thread. If you are introducing a new topic or issue, start a new thread with a new subject line.
  • Before you write a message, take time to see what is being discussed and how. Lurking (reading messages without posting anything) is quite acceptable online
  • Keep messages short. People don’t want to read large chunks of text onscreen
  • Write a good subject line (title) for your message – people often haven’t time to read messages unless the subject line looks relevant
  • Keep to one subject (one topic of discussion) per message
  • When replying to a message, only quote part of the earlier message, if you need to. Don’t include everything, or messages get longer and longer.