When creating a forum, instructors can decide on a forum subscription mode and determine whether you want students to receive email notifications of new postings.

Set Up Forum Subscription mode

  1. Go to your Moodle course and click Turn Editing On. 
  2. Click Edit and select Edit Settings next to the link to the Forum.
  3. Click Subscription and tracking to expand the section and select one of the following options from the Subscription mode:
    • Optional subscription - Participants can choose whether to be subscribed
    • Forced subscription - Everyone is subscribed and cannot unsubscribe
    • Auto subscription - Everyone is subscribed initially but can choose to unsubscribe at any time
    • Subscription disabled - Subscriptions are not allowed.
  4. Click Save and return to course.

If the instructor chooses Forced subscription or Subscription disabled there is nothing for a student to do.

With Auto subscription or Optional subscription, students have options to choose whether they want to receive email notifications whenever someone posts a message to the forum.