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CareerPLUS Course Mechanics

How to Post on Discussion Forums

There are several discussion boards available throughout the micro course (Open Forum, Content Discussion Forum, Unit Discussion Prompt, and Wrap-Up Discussion Forum). To post to any of these discussion forums, please follow the instructions below.

Text Post

When you are ready to add your post to the discussion forum, follow the instructions below:

  • Use the Add a new topic button to begin the process. This will load the Add your discussion menu.
  • Add a descriptive title to your new post by typing it in the Subject field.
  • Type or paste the content of your new post in the Type your post field. If you desire, or if it is required by your facilitator, you can add an attachment to your post.
  • After double-checking your post to ensure you are ready to submit, use the Submit button to add your post to the forum.
Video Post

First of all, video posts are never required, but maybe an alternative method of posting. To make a video post, you will need to have a camera and microphone on your computer or laptop. Please note that there is a 5-minute limit to all video posts.

For an instructional video on how to post a video response in a Moodle discussion forum, please click here.

Written instructions are also included below:

  • When you are ready to add your post to the forum, use the Add a new topic button to begin the process. This will load the Add a topic menu.
  • Add a descriptive title to your new post by typing it in the Subject field.
  • Click on the video icon in the Message toolbar. Click Start Recording.
  • A pop-up may appear asking for permission for Moodle to use your microphone and camera. Click “Allow.”
  • The video will immediately begin recording. Click Stop Recording when you are finished.
  • You will have the option to Record Again or you can select Attach Recording.
  • Click Post to Forum. 
How to Respond to Another Person’s Post

All posts made to the discussion forum will be listed beneath the Add a new topic button. To view other posts in the forum, select the title of the post. This will display the content of that post. If you wish to reply, you may do so by entering your reply in the Add your reply section and using the Submit button. The steps for creating a reply post are the same as for creating a new post.

Quickmail

You may use the Quickmail functionality at the top of your micro course to send a private message to the micro course facilitator. Please be sure that you do not use Quickmail if your question or comment is better suited to one of the discussion forums.

Use Quickmail when you have questions about:

  • Your progress in the micro course.
  • To inquire about the correct answer to a quiz question (after you have achieved the 80% competency on that quiz).
  • Anything that you do not feel comfortable posting publicly on one of the discussion forums.

How to Send a Message to Your Facilitator:

  1. Under Quickmail, select “Compose New Email” beneath this heading.
  2. Select the name of your facilitator in the Potential Recipients list. When the facilitator’s name is highlighted, use the Add button. This will move the facilitator’s name into the Selected Recipients field.
  3. Scroll down on the page to locate the Message composition area. You can attach any desired files, add a subject, and type a message to your facilitator here.
  4. If you would like to receive a copy of your email, select Yes beneath Receive a copy.
  5. Use the Send Email button when finished to send the email.

Where does my Quickmail message go? Where do I find my email?

Moodle Quickmail will go to your facilitator’s email account. Any message that is sent to you via Quickmail will go to your email account. You cannot check this email from Moodle, and responses to Quickmail messages will need to be sent from a person’s personal email account.

Manage Email Notifications in Moodle

Moodle makes it easy to keep track of online discussions in your courses using email notifications when you are “subscribed” to a forum. The default notification setting for discussion forums for your micro course is “no notifications.” The instructions below show you how to control these notifications and prevent your inbox from being flooded with too many messages.


Manage Notifications through Your User Preferences (Across All Micro Courses)

Every Moodle user has the ability to control how they receive email notifications from Moodle. To customize these settings:

  1. Log in to Moodle.
  2. Click your name or user icon (top right of your course page) and from the User menu drop-down, select Preferences. Your Preferences page will open.
  3. On the Preferences page, under User account, click The Forum Preferences page.
  4. On the Forum Preferences page, from the Email digest type drop-down menu, select how Moodle will send notifications when you are following discussions. You have the following options:
    • No digest (single email per forum post).
    • Complete (daily email with full posts) (default).
    • Subjects (daily email with subjects only).
    • Note: By choosing Complete or Subjects you will receive one email per day with notifications from Moodle. If you choose No digest, you will receive an email every time a classmate or facilitator posts to discussions you are following.
  5. From the Forum auto-subscribe drop-down menu, select how you will follow discussion forums:
    • No: Don’t automatically subscribe me to forum discussions (default). Recommended.
    • Yes: When I post, subscribe me to that forum. Not recommended; you will receive email notifications from any forum you contribute to.
  6. At the bottom of the page, click Save changes to finish making changes.

Manage Subscriptions to Particular Forums and Discussions (Within Specific Micro Course Discussion Forms)

If your facilitator has set the subscription mode for a forum to be optional, you can choose whether or not to receive email notifications. You can also choose to subscribe to individual topics in a forum discussion, as opposed to receiving emails for all topics in that forum. This can be especially useful in forums with multiple discussion topics where you only need to follow particular topics.

To change your subscription mode for an entire forum:

  • Log in to Moodle.
  • Open the forum, and click on the gear icon on the right, and the forum drop-down menu will appear.
    Click Subscribe to this forum to receive emails.
    • Click Unsubscribe from this forum if you do not want to receive emails.

To change your subscription mode for a discussion topic within a forum:

  • Click on the “Subscribe” radio button located next to the discussion topic until it turns blue (to subscribe) or gray (to unsubscribe)

To change your subscription mode from an email notification you received:

  • At the bottom of an email message sent from Moodle, click Unsubscribe from this forum (or Unsubscribe from all forums). You will be sent to Moodle (you may need to log in) where you will be asked to confirm your choice. Click Continue to unsubscribe and stop receiving email notifications.
    Note: If you do not see a link to unsubscribe, your facilitator has set the subscription for the forum to Forced subscription, and you cannot unsubscribe.