Manage Discussion Boards

Overview: The discussion board is one of many collaboration tools available to class participants. Use discussion board questions to carry on asynchronous conversations (not in real time) outside of class.

You and students can access the course Discussion Board through Tools in the course menu:

Action: From the discussion board, create a forum and add a new post to the forum:

1. Click Create Forum to create a new forum:

A forum acts like a folder – it holds discussion threads (conversations) related to a specific topic and/or timeframe It’s your responsibility as the instructor to add and organize forums for the class.

2. Name the forum and enter a description, if desired. Make desired changes to the default forum settings, if any, and click Submit.

3. To enter the forum, click on the forum name:

4. Click Create Thread to post a new discussion question (conversation topic):

5. Creating a discussion post is like creating an email. Type in a Subject, message, attach files, if any, and click Submit:

Next Steps: Class participants can click on the post’s title to read or reply to the message. Replies appear, indented, below the initial message, and can be expanded or collapsed. Students can also start their own threads as long as you have set up the forum in advance.