It seems a lot of students don't use the discussion forums as much as other activities. I believe one of the reasons is that there is no real indication that new content has been added since they viewed the forum last time. It would be nice to have an indication that new posts have been added, next to the forum name. For example, you could have "Site News - 3 new discussions".
I realise there's the recent activity block but I don't believe that solves the issue at all, especially in a course which changes a lot, not just forum posts.
If you want your students to have an additional indication that new posts have been added, click "Update this Forum" and set "Read tracking for this forum" to "On". This will track whether or not a student has clicked on a forum posting.
And I'm sorry, but I have to strongly disagree that forums are under utiltized compared to other activities. My students use the forums extensively. I usually enable ratings (out of ten points) and the students love it...
And I'm sorry, but I have to strongly disagree that forums are under utiltized compared to other activities. My students use the forums extensively. I usually enable ratings (out of ten points) and the students love it...
Also, in 1.6 there'll be a 'my moodle' page which indicates
how many posts since last login
total unread posts
per forum, per course.
how many posts since last login
total unread posts
per forum, per course.