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  7. Moodle Boards – A pinboard activity

Moodle Boards – A pinboard activity

Published on: 08/08/2023 · Last updated on: 14/10/2024

What is Moodle Boards?

Moodle Board enables a post-it board (or pinboard) activity for students. This is a collaborative activity where the teacher sets out several columns with optional names and then participants can add contributions to the columns. Students post are anonymous to each other (however, it is recommended to inform students that those in the Teacher’s role will be able to access creation details, such as names).

Options

The teacher can set up the activity with the following options:

  • A closing date for submissions.
  • How the posts are ordered in a column (by date or star count).
  • Whether posts can be rated – by students, teachers, or neither.

Teacher actions

On the board a teacher can:

  • Add and delete columns.
  • Move any of the posts from one column to another.
  • Download a copy of the board contents.
  • Download a spreadsheet of submissions of the students.

Student actions

On the Board students can:

  • Add a new post to a column with some of the following:
    • A title.
    • Up to 250 characters in text.
    • Add a link.
    • Upload an image.
    • Embed a Youtube video.
  • Edit or Delete one of their posts.

They can also do the following depending on the settings of the teacher:

  • Move their notes among columns.
  • Star someone else’s post.

Board activity uses

  • This tool can be helpful for such activities where you want students to interact whilst they gather and share ideas.
  • Teachers can set up topics for students to post and comment on.
  • Boards can also be utilised to organise resources for students.

How to create a Board activity

  1. Add the activity to Moodle and configure the settings.
  2. Amend the Headings (by double-clicking in place) and number of columns to provide students with guidance as to what they need to post in the columns. You can also provide a post in the column with more information or a post to be seen as an example.
  3. Announce the activity to your students so they can add their posts and rate the posts of others.

Below is an example of a Board activity.

Moodle Board activity example.

Moodle Boards FAQ

Frequently asked questions

No, posts are anonymous to students. Currently there is no way to change this.

If you need students to identify themselves as the author of a post (for other students to see), we recommend advising students to add their names in the Post title or Content box of their post.

You can Export submissions to see who has created each post, with a date and time stamp. To view student activity beyond this, you can use the Logs. You can find Logs from the main page of your Moodle space, by clicking the Reports tab.

Yes, as a teacher you can remove, as well as move any posts on the Board.

To delete a post simply click the x on the chosen post.

And confirm your selection by selecting Delete.

To move a post you can click, hold and drag the post to the appropriate column.

No, you cannot pin a post. However, you can sort your post by creation date, so it is recommended to enable this function and add your post to the column before making the Board visible to students.

Board does not automatically update to show other people’s activities. You will need to refresh your screen to view new posts and ratings.

In Edit mode you can drag the columns into new positions using the four-headed cursor.

No, participants won’t be able to directly comment on posts. Participants can rate a post (if enabled) and add a new post to a column but cannot comment on a specific post.

No, participants cannot upload a file.

Participants can add text (up to 250 characters), links, images, or YouTube clips to a post.

You cannot change a response after you have liked a post. Board will ask you to confirm you want to rate a post so that you cannot accidentally like a message.

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