# Q and A Forums

Question and Answer forums can be used when you don't want students to see the responses of others before they respond to the discussion prompt. The setup for these forums is slightly different than a typical discussion forum.

### Adding a Q and A Forum to a Course

- Enter your course and [turn editing on](https://help.mlc-wels.edu/books/moodle/page/layout-and-navigation-basics).
- Click **Add an activity or resource**, choose **Forum** and click **Add**.
- Give your forum a name. You can also include a description or instructions for the forum. *Unlike regular discussion forums, do not put your discussion prompt in the description area.*
- Next to **Forum type,** choose **Q and A forum**.
- Adjust the [discussion forum options](https://help.mlc-wels.edu/books/moodle/page/discussion-forum-options) as needed.
- Click **Save and display**.
- On the resulting page, click **Add a new question**. If you do not add a question, students will not be able to post in this forum.
- Two textboxes will appear for a subject and message. This is where you can put the discussion forum prompt that you want students to respond to.
- Enter a **subject** for the discussion prompt. This is what students will see on the main page of the discussion forum.
- Enter the discussion prompt in the **message** box. You can add files or edit group settings by clicking the **advanced** button. Note that if you are using groups, you need to select the option to copy the question into each group.
- Click **Post to forum**.
- You can add additional questions to the forum by clicking **Add a new question** and repeating the above steps.

### Replying to a Q and A Forum

The process for replying to a Q and A Forum is different for students than a standard forum. It can be helpful to share the directions below with your students when first using a Q and A forum. Instructions can be found here - [https://help.mlc-wels.edu/books/moodle-for-students/page/replying-to-q-and-a-forums](https://help.mlc-wels.edu/books/moodle-for-students/page/replying-to-q-and-a-forums). You can also share the link with your students.