Discussion forums and topics increase communication and collaboration in your course.  Discussions are organized into Forums and Topics. All discussion topics must belong to a forum.  

To create a new forum:

• Select Discussions on your navigation Bar. You can also access Discussions under the Course Admin tab in the Communication section.
• Click New.
• Select New Forum.  
• Give your forum a title.  
• Navigate to Description and enter a description, if desired, to provide learners with details about the information to be covered in the forum.  
• Select the options you want to apply to the forum, such as allowing anonymous posts or requiring a moderator to review the comments learners make prior to posting them.  
• If want to ensure that learners post an original comment before they can reply, check,  “Users must start a thread before they can read and reply to other threads in each topic.”  
• Select “Display forum description in topics” to allow you to enter one set of consistent instructions for learners that will display in both the forum and topic.  
• Navigate to the Restrictions tab to set availability and locking details.
  • To restrict learner access to a specific date range, set the Start and End date availability.  
  • Leave the default if you want to make the forum always available to learners.  
  • Click Has Start Date to set the date and time the forum will become available.  
  • Click Has End Date  to set the date and time the forum will no longer be available.  
• Click Save and Close
• Your forum displays in the Discussions List.

To create a discussion topic:

• From Discussions, click New.
• Select New Topic. 
• All discussion topics need to be contained within Forums. Select a Forum that will house your topic from the Forum drop-down list or create a new forum using New Forum.  
• Then, select your Topic Type. There are two types of topics, open topics, where all learners can contribute, and groups or section topics, that restrict contribution to the specified group or section.  
• Navigate to Title and enter a title.
• Enter a description, if desired, to provide additional context or guidelines for learners.  
• Select the Options that you want to apply to the topic, such as the ability for learners to post anonymously or requiring that a moderator approve posts before they display.  
• Navigate to Rate Posts to apply a rating scheme to your discussion topic.  
  • This allows readers to rate posts using one of three methods: Five Star, Up Vote/Down, Vote, or Up Vote only. you can also select No Ratings.
• Navigate to the Restrictions tab to set date availability.  
• You can also choose to lock or unlock a topic in the Locking Option section.  When you lock a topic, it still displays to learners.  However, they cannot participate in the topic until the date it is unlocked.  
  • Click, Unlock topic for a specific date range.  
• Click Has Start Date to enter the desired date and time.  
• Repeat these steps for Has End Date.  
• Click Save and Close.  
• The topic displays following the designated forum in the Discussions List.  

You can use the Discussions tool for journal assignments. You can set up your discussion as private groups with restricted discussion areas for learners to journal.

To create a discussion that can be used for a single user journal:

• Go to the Groups Tool and in Manage Groups, click New Category.  
• Enter a name and description for the category.  
• Click the Enrollment Type menu and select Single user, member-specific groups.  
• In the Additional Options section, click Set up discussion areas.  
• Select an existing discussion topic or create a new topic.  
• Click the forum drop-down menu to select where your discussion will live or create a new Forum if required.  
• Click Save.  

To create a group journal:

• From Discussions, click the Actions menu for the topic where you want to create groups and click Edit Topic.  
• In the Availability Dates & Conditions accordion, click Manage Restrictions.  
• Click Restrict topic and separate threads and select the group you want to restrict the topic to.  
• When you’re done, click Add.  
• In the Evaluation & Feedback accordion, select the Allow evaluation of individual posts to evaluate learners’ posts individually.  
• Select a Calculation Method.  
• Click Save and Close.  

Evaluate learners on their discussion participation by grading discussion topics. 

To grade a discussion topic:

•  From the Discussions list, navigate to the topic you want to evaluate.  
• Click the topic’s context menu and select Assess Topic.  
• Note: The Assess Topic option appears only if you link the topic to a grade item.  
• Once the Assess Topic page displays, you are presented with a View Options menu, which, allows you to change between Show Topic Score View, and Show All Scores View.  
• Navigate to the learner you want to evaluate and click Topic Score to assign a grade.  
• If you have attached a rubric to the discussion topic, and the Assess with Embedded Rubrics feature is enabled, the rubric will automatically display in the Topic Score window.  Here, you can find the total number of posts a learner made.  
• You can also view each post in detail. You have the option to enter the learner’s grade into the topic score field, or by using the attached rubric. Selecting the rubric levels the learner has achieved will automatically generate the topic score. 
• You can also Click Topic Score to override the rubric-calculated score. During override a Clear Override option becomes available.  
• You can also provide the learner with additional feedback.  
• When you are ready, click Save and Close.  
• You are returned to the Assess Topics page. Select Publish to Grades for each learner you have evaluated to update your gradebook with the newly graded items.  
• When you are ready, click Save and Close.Evaluate learners on their discussion participation by grading discussion topics.  

Discussion Statistics allows you to gain insights into who is posting, and which topics are generating the most interest. 

To use Discussion Statistics:

• From Discussions, click Statistics.  
• You can Export to CSV, and review statistics by Users or by Forums and Topics.  
• When you view statistics by User, you will see an overall summary and be able to view by User,  Sections, or Groups, search for a specific user, or browse your classlist.  
• You are presented with a post interaction breakdown for each user.  
• Choose Forums and Topics to review interaction and engagement on a forum or topic.   
• Select a Topic name to see more specific data, such as learner specific data.