Hello,
Does anyone know if it's possible for students to see a count of their discussion contributions to a forum.
We run several forums per module as part of our assessment regime and ask student to contribute approx 10 times. It would be good if they could easily see how many contributions they have made without having to literally count each posting.
Thanks in advance,
Stephen
I have a similar situation. In one of my courses, I expect students to make four posts. Here's what I do.
I create a "Standard forum for general use". I put this into a "Participation" grade category. Then, in "Ratings", I use an aggregation type of "Count of ratings", and a "Scale" = 4.
Whenever students make a post that I read and think is fine, I award 1 point. (Make sure to turn java support on, so that you can give the one point in-context.)
Doing it this way, the total number of points (i.e., the grade for this discussion topic) will show up in the grade book.
I am putting a couple pictures in this post that might help. I hope that I explained my system well. If not, ask more questions.
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Hi Rick,
Thanks for your advice, ideally I could do with a solution where the tutor doesn't have to intervene. Some of our classes can be quite large and it would be good if the posting count was automated...
Cheers
Stephen
It might be that you just want a "raw" count. However, I suggest that you actually consider having someone read each post. Otherwise, how would you know if a student just posts something like "abc", which means nothing and should not be counted as a valid post. Also, how would you control the improper use of profanity, and other junk?
If you are going to ask students to provide their thoughts, I think that it is good practice for the instructor, teacher, or assistant to take some time and read what the students are saying. Just my opinion.
Other than my method posted earlier, I don't know of any way to get the raw count. I suppose that someone could write a custom query again the Moodle database.
Hi Rick,
Yes, all our posts are read by a tutor and feedback is then provided at the end. The count would just help students keep track of how many contributions they have made.
I know this can be acheived by clicking on the 'Search Forum' button but it would be nice if this count was on the discussion page so no need to search for it - just a thought.
Cheers
Stephen
You seem to be somewhat on top of this issue. I will suggest another strategy.
You might consider telling students that they will almost immediately get 1 point when they post. This will be done manually by the tutor.
Then, let students know that after the discussions are over, the tutor will provide more points where appropriate. It will be up to you to decide the total points available, such as 5.
By immediately giving one point, students will see their count in the gradebook.
I hope that you can understand what I mean. If not, ask for clarification.