Brainstorming ideas using Forums in Moodle Cloud

By Silvina P. Hillar

Brainstorming ideas using Forums

In this postwe are going to connect different images. We are going to use Forums so that all the students can comment on two different things, and we are going to guide their writing with general questions. I propose that the title gives them a hint on what they are going to deal with, but the images that they are going to see are two websites with information. You may wonder, "Why?" Remember the premise of reading before writing. They are to read about two different places and then they are going to write about them. A way to enhance the students' vocabulary is to make them read and give them hints on it.

We are going to design a Forum activity. We enter the course and choose the weekly outline in which we want to add the activity. Let's Moodle it!

To design the activity previously introduced, you are going to follow these steps:

1.      Click on Add an activity and choose Forum. Click on Add, as shown in the following screenshot:

2.      In the Forum name block, write the title of the activity, and in Forum introduction, write what they are going to do. Visit the two websites and brainstorm about the best place to visit.
3. Later, answer the guiding questions (it is somewhat similar to the "Six Thinking Hats Technique" by Edward de Bono).

Six thinking hats brainstorming technique training from Travis Eck

4.    We are going to create a link to two websites. One of them is the official website of the Statue of Liberty, and the other is a link to the official website of Yosemite National Park. Do not mention them in the activity.

5.     Complete the necessary blocks to make the links to these websites in the Moodle course.
6.      Choose Question and Answer Forum.

7. Click on Save and display. The activity appears as shown in the following screenshot:

Students are to click on Add a new question, and an editor appears where they can write the answers to the questions given there. They can also keep these websites open in different Windows so that they don't have to close the activity.

The aim is that each student should comment on these two different places about what they think. They are expected to write simple paragraphs, as they will write articles or descriptions in further chapters. In order to answer these questions, they will have to think and use some of the vocabulary that they have already read in those websites.