Discussions

Step 1: From the course homepage, select Discussions on the navigation bar.

Step 2: The Discussions List page will appear where you will see a list of your existing discussions (if you have created any previously). If not, you will need to start by creating a new forum first. To do this, select the New dropdown menu and select New Forum.

Step 3: A New Forum window appears where you will need to provide a Title for your new forum and can also provide an optional Description.

You can add additional options such as Allow anonymous posts, Users must start a thread before they can read and reply to other threads in each topic, A moderator must approve individual posts before they display in the forum and the option to Display forum description in topics.

Step 4: Select Save and Close when done.

When you have completed the steps above, you can move onto the Restrictions Tab. 

Restrictions Tab

Availability – Availability sets visibility restrictions on the forum. This means that the forum (category) and all the topics (individual discussion boards) created under that forum inherit the visibility dates that you specify.

Release Conditions –Release Conditions can be added to a Discussion Forum. These conditions must be met before a learner can access the Discussion Forum. If multiple Release Conditions are attached, users must meet them all before they can access the Forum.

Group and Section Restrictions – If you would like for students to discuss in smaller groups, instead of as a whole class, enable group restrictions ( you’ll have to set these groups up separately beforehand, but you can set the number of groups or number of learners in groups).

Step 5: When done, select the Save and Add Topic option to save your created forum and start adding a topic (the discussion board).

Step 6: The New Topic window appears where you provide a topic Title followed by your discussion instructions in the Description box. Notice that the forum under which this discussion board will be created is listed as the forum that we just created. In this example it is entitled Example Forum.

Step 7: Other options that you can set for this discussion board include Allow anonymous posts, Users must start a thread before they can read and reply to other threads, and A moderator must approve individual posts before they display in the topic.

Step 8: After setting your options, you can now set your Availability.

When done, you can either select Save and Close to save your topic and return to the Discussions List page or you can select the Save and New option to save your topic and create another topic under the Unit 1 Forum.

Step 9: To make your discussions gradable and associate them with the grade book, select the Assessment tab.

Step 10: In the Assessment window, select the New Grade Item link, the New Grade Item window appears.

Step 11: Type in the Name of the grade item . Enter the point value of the discussion in the Maximum Points box (10 points is the default; you can change this value) . Select Save.

Step 12: Enter the Score Out of value for the discussion topic . You may attach a rubric by clicking the Add Rubric box. When done, select Save and Close.