8 tips to drive learner engagement in LMS forums

This article explores top tips on driving learner engagement with learning management system forums.

How to get users actively involved in discussions in LMS forums

When they are used well, forums can be one of the most powerful features of a learning management system. LMS forums can become hubs for discussion, knowledge sharing and debate.

They can also open channels of communication between colleagues who might not ordinarily have contact with each other, and encourage thought leaders to flourish in all areas of your organisation.

But all of that is dependent on being able to convince learners to engage in LMS forums. Here are 8 tips for doing precisely that.

1. Set expectations

Too often LMS forums are created to the principles of ‘build it and they will come’. All too often, they don’t. Define expectations for forum engagements. This could be specific to each forum or organisation-wide guidelines. 

The main thing is that you communicate to people why they should engage, how to engage and what the objectives of the forum are for them and the organisation.

2. Prompt engagement

Don’t rely on the guidelines alone to drive engagement. Instead, directly prompt forum activity with relevant signposting. This could be by placing a thought-provoking question or observation to start discussions or by intervening in useful places, such as adding a forum at the end of a presentation. 

The Featured Topics add-on available as part of our Spark theme allows you to promote key discussions anywhere on a Moodle or Totara LMS to drive engagement with your forum. You could also use landing pages, promotional banners and other links to promote key forum topics.

3. Provide feedback

Assign moderators to each forum. In addition to moderating the discussion, they should also provide feedback so that learners understand how well their input is supporting the objectives and the forum, and how they can further improve their contributions to add even more value in future. 

4. Add variety to discussions

Combine different media types and formats to keep your LMS forum fresh and engaging. Incorporate video, audio, scenarios, gamification, case studies, images, polls and other tools to keep your learners engaged.

5. Grade your learners

Formalise — and bring a competitive element to — your expectations for the forum by grading your learners. This could be by directly grading the inputs of your learners. Alternatively, you could set posting schedules or a minimum number of posts for your learners to achieve.

6. Create smaller communities

Provide forum space for smaller groups to exchange ideas on their specialisms, software and other niches. This is good for generating detailed discussions and might encourage participation from those who are reluctant to join larger discussions. UDG Healthcare used Totara Engage’s workspaces functionality to create discussion areas for employees with shared professional interests.

7. Make forums useful

Create a culture in which your learners know that a forum isn’t only a place for peer-to-peer discussion but somewhere where they can go for leadership, advice and support. The Association of Corporate Treasurers uses forums to create discussions between tutors and learners who are studying for ACT qualifications.

Similarly, using your LMS as a news hub — using dashboards to keep users up-to-date with key information — increases the likelihood of the forum becoming a hotbed of conversation.

8. Move beyond mandatory learning

Creating an LMS that offers more than mandatory learning will increase engagement across the board, including in your LMS. Offer self-service learning that gives your users a chance to dig into their professional interests and other learning that excites them.

Increase engagement with your LMS forums

To start implementing those tips or to discuss your organisation’s specific needs, just fill out the form below and we will be in touch shortly.

Tags