How can I ensure that the current discussion forum appears in the course overview block?

How can I ensure that the current discussion forum appears in the course overview block?

by Hartmut Scherer -
Number of replies: 5

Hi all,

This may have been discussed before. Then, I would appreciate a link to the discussion. 

Students in my online class are asked to post three times per week. Then, they will have completed this activity. So far I couldn't figure out how to make a discussion forum appear in the course overview block. When students log into the DE site, they can see assignments and quizzes, if they need their attention in that particular week, but no discussion forums.

As I cannot set a due date in the discussion forum, which is a requirement for an activity to appear in the course overview block, is there any workaround for the discussion forum to appear in the course overview block so that students know that they also have to do something in the discussion forum? 

With kind regards,

Hartmut

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In reply to Hartmut Scherer

Re: How can I ensure that the current discussion forum appears in the course overview block?

by Luiggi Sansonetti -
Picture of Particularly helpful Moodlers Picture of Plugin developers Picture of Testers

Hi

I don't know if it's simply possible, but you can try this :

  • create a new assignment "Forum to do"
  • give into description the link to the forum

  • set a DUE date (because only cut-off doesn't appear...)


  • specify the submissions types on "online text" with 1 word limit (for exemple)


So for student :


It's not very perfect but it works...

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In reply to Luiggi Sansonetti

Re: How can I ensure that the current discussion forum appears in the course overview block?

by Hartmut Scherer -

Hi Luiggi,

Thank you for your fast reply and for the workaround. This helps to provide a more consistent experience for students using the course overview block. I will try out your suggestion and see how students respond to it. It's great to have a workaround.

With kind regards,

Hartmut

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In reply to Hartmut Scherer

Re: How can I ensure that the current discussion forum appears in the course overview block?

by Luiggi Sansonetti -
Picture of Particularly helpful Moodlers Picture of Plugin developers Picture of Testers

You're welcome, I use a lot of workaround and I love to play with Moodle... tongueout

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In reply to Luiggi Sansonetti

Re: How can I ensure that the current discussion forum appears in the course overview block?

by Hartmut Scherer -

Hi Luiggi,

While I tried to implement your workaround for the discussion forum I found out that students can see if someone has posted a comment in the forum since their last login. So it is not the due date that triggers the event in the course overview block but any post after the last login of the user. I can live with this setup.

Again thank you for sharing your workaround.

With kind regards,

Hartmut

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In reply to Hartmut Scherer

Re: How can I ensure that the current discussion forum appears in the course overview block?

by Luiggi Sansonetti -
Picture of Particularly helpful Moodlers Picture of Plugin developers Picture of Testers

Yes you're right, the forum is notified when there is a new message unread.

But for the first time, when the forum is empty, there is no notification in the course overview block.

For exemple, the forum is empty, no message :

We can see only the assignment activity but not the forum activity


When someone posted a message, there is the notification into the block, yes


You said : "So far I couldn't figure out how to make a discussion forum appear in the course overview block. When students log into the DE site, they can see assignments and quizzes, if they need their attention in that particular week, but no discussion forums"

So I thought it was in case of the forum is empty for the first time, as a to do list...

To be simplier, you can put the first message into this forum to give description of the task, without using assignement workaround...


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