Sakai: Discussions

Forums

The Forums tool in Sakai allows you to have online class discussions. Discussions are asynchronous, which means participants do not have to be online at the same time.

Forums are one of the most popular tools in online and hybrid courses and can be used in traditional courses as well. Forums can provide opportunities for in-depth student reflection, application of concepts, and peer learning. Forums also add a critical element of student-to-student interaction to online instruction.

Basics

• How to Set Up Forum Topics: Video | Handout
• How to Grade Students' Forum Posts: Video | Handout

Best Practices for Forums

• Best Practices for Forums - Our very best tips, all on one page
• Forum Questions Used by Durham Tech Instructors
• Sample Rubric for Grading Forums
• More Rubrics for Grading Forums (Middle Tennessee State University)
• Generating and Facilitating Engaging and Effective Online Discussions (University of Oregon)

More info

• What do tests look like to students? (video)
• How to Create an Assessment Using Markup Text (pdf)
• Detailed instructions for each question type (University of Florida)
• Which test settings should I choose? (pdf)
• What do the Feedback Settings do? (Loyola pdf)
• Tests & Quizzes training manual (pdf)

• How to Set Up and Grade Forums
• How to Grade Discussion Posts (video)
• How do I stop the flood of emails (after posting in a Forum/Topic)?
• Provide students with Feedback in a Forum/Topic (UNC)