The Discussions tool is organized by Forums, Topics, and Conversations.
- Forums are mandatory categories containing Topics. There can be more than one Forum in a site.
- Topics contain Conversations.
- Conversations are threads of discussion and are the venue for site participants to post, read, and reply to messages.
This article covers the process for creating a new Forum. Forums are useful for grouping several similar topics together, such as graded Conversations, or group Topics. They can also be used to specify the default settings for all Topics within that particular Forum. All new Topics will inherit the current Topic settings by default.
Go to Discussions.
Select Discussions from the Tool Menu of your site.
Choose New Forum.
Select New Forum to add a new discussion.
Title the Forum.
Complete the Forum Title field.
Enter a short description. (Optional)
If desired, complete the Short Description field.
Enter a detailed description. (Optional)
If desired, use the Rich Text Editor to complete the Description field to provide more detailed instructions about the items in this Forum.
Add attachments. (Optional)
Optionally attach file attachments to the Forum. Select the Add attachments button to browse for and select a file from your device.
Select posting settings.
There are several discussion posting options in the Forum Posting area from which to choose:
- Lock forum: lock the contents of the Forum so students can no longer post messages. However, they can continue to read existing messages.
- Moderate topics in forum: configure the Forum such that all messages posted within must be approved by the instructor before other students can see them.
- Require users to post before reading: require users to post their own response first before they can view other messages posted previously. This is a useful option if you prefer that students respond to a discussion prompt before seeing other student responses.
Note: Settings selected here will apply to all of the Topics created within this Forum, but can be overriden by the settings of an individual Topic if desired.
Select availability settings.
- Select Show Immediately to allow the new Forum to be available to students immediately after creation.
- Select Specify dates to open (show) and/or close (hide) to configure the Forum to be available during specific dates.
Activate automatic marking as read.
Optionally activate Mark All Messages in Conversations Read. This option provides students with an option to mark all messages within a conversation, or thread, as read.
Specify Gradebook item.
Open Select a Gradebook item to specify a Gradebook item that will automatically be used when grading posts in the new Forum.
Note: You must first create the Gradebook item in Gradebook tool before you can select it to be associated with a discussion or topic.
Tip: Many instructors prefer to assign Gradebook items to Topics (rather than Forums) to be more specific about grading.
Modifying permissions
In most cases, the default discussion permissions are appropriate. By default, instructors are discussion Owners, and all other site participants are Contributors. The Owner can add and delete Topics, modify permissions, edit the Forum and Topic descriptions, etc. Contributors can only read, post, and reply to messages.
Modify Permission Level.
- Select the Permission Level menu that's associated with a role for which you'd like to change the permissions.
- Select a new Permission Level.
In the example, the Teaching Assistant is provided with the Owner role for the new Forum.
Create a custom permission level (optional).
- Select the Customize menu that's associated with a role for which you'd like to change the permissions.
- Select new permissions for the role as needed.
Choose Save.
Choose Save to create the new Forum.
Alternatively, choose Save Settings & Add Topic to create the Forum and advance immediately to the Topic creation page.
Note: All Forums need at least one Topic in order to be active. See How do I add a new topic? for more information.