Moodle Forum assessment overview

Published on: 07/08/2023 · Last updated on: 17/10/2025

What is Moodle Forum Assessment?

The Moodle Forum activity is a tool for communication and collaboration that allows learners and educators to exchange ideas by posting comments in a thread. Forums can be a great way to create a sense of community and to get students to interact with each other, share ideas and drive a discussion online. Below is an example of a Moodle Forum – click on the purple question marks for an explanation of some forum features.

The Teacher can set up the forum, with one of the following options recommended for assessment:

• A Standard forum for general use – to use for ‘open discussions’
• A Question and Answer forum (Q & A forum) – to use when you would like students to post before seeing other responses.

How can forums be used?

Once set up, a forum can be used as an assessment tool in a number of ways:

• Reflection
• Small group discussion
• Role-play discussion
• Case study
• Question and answer
• Peer assessment
• Quick, positive and constructive feedback

On the forum students can:

• See the following information so that instructions are clear:
  • Due date
  • Completion criteria (e.g to start one discussion)
  • Any other written instructions provided by the teacher
• Start discussions and respond to others
• Add files (images, videos, or other) as specified in the settings by the teacher
• See replies from others

Students can also do the following (depending on the settings enabled by the teacher):

• Subscribe to individual discussions
• Rate each other’s posts

Why are Moodle Forums useful for assessment?

Forums allow for a shared space where students may have discussions with each other, answer questions related to the content and engage with one another to foster collaboration and peer to peer interaction. Forums give students the ability to compare answers with their peers, answer each other’s questions, providing transparency for students. You can also monitor forums for common misconceptions.

With this in mind, Moodle Forums are recommended for formative assessment. The forum settings allow for individual reflections, small group discussions, and the presentation of findings (group or individual) on a case study. The forum space lends itself to a range of applications, all of which allow the teacher to assess contributions, replies, analysis and depth of understanding of a concept, task or question.

Forums may be used as a non-graded activity type to encourage discussion or may also be graded based on a number of criteria or marking rubric. Forums can also be graded on student participation and engagement.

What do Moodle Forums for assessment involve?

Creating a ‘Moodle Forum’ activity for assessment involves:

1. Deciding what the purpose of the forum is: facilitating a flipped classroom, to motivate students, or to gauge the understanding of individuals, for example.
2. Adding the activity to Moodle and configuring the settings.
3. Deciding how you will evaluate and grade contributions to the forum.
4. Sharing the activity with your students so they can start contributing.

How do I set up a Moodle Forum for Assessment?

Please watch the video below to learn how to set up a Moodle Forum to use for Formative Assessment.

Following the summer 2025 Moodle upgrade some videos may be out of date, and will be updated in due course.

Moodle Forums for Assessment

1. Turn Editing On 

• Navigate to your course page. 
• Click the “Turn editing on” button (top right). 

2. Add a Forum Activity 

• In the desired section, click “Add an activity or resource.” 
• Select “Forum” from the activity chooser. 

3. Configure Forum Settings 

a. Name and Description 

Provide a clear title and a detailed description explaining: 

• The purpose of the forum. 
• What students are expected to post. 
• Any deadlines or participation requirements. 
• Assessment criteria (e.g., content, structure, grammar). 

b. Forum Type 

Choose the appropriate type. We would recommend either: 

• Standard forum for general use – open discussion. 
• Q&A forum – students must post before seeing others’ responses. 

c. Attachments and Word Count 

• Decide whether to allow file uploads.
• Enable “Display word count” if you want students to monitor their post length. 

d. Subscription and Tracking 

• Choose whether students are auto subscribed to receive email notifications. 
• Enable read/unread tracking to help students follow discussions. 

e. Post Threshold for Blocking (Optional) 

Set limits on how many posts students can make in a given time (useful for managing workload or encouraging thoughtful responses). 

4. Enable Grading 

Under the “Whole forum grading” section: 

• Set Grade type to Point or Scale. 
• Choose a maximum grade (e.g., 100). 
• Select a grading method: Simple direct grading (in which you can only give a grade), Rubric, or Marking guide. 

5. Set Activity Completion 

Enable “Activity completion” to track student progress. Set conditions such as: 

• Student must create at least one discussion. 
• A grade must be received. 

6. Tag 

Tag the forum as formative so it appears in the assessment tab. 

7. Save and Display 

• Click “Save and display” to finish setup. 
• Optionally, post a starter discussion to model expectations.