Creating Group Discussions

Relevant to: faculty and staff

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Introduction

You can use topic or forum restrictions to create discussion areas where members of a group or section can collaborate on assignments or discuss course material in small teams. You can also use restrictions to create separate forums or topics for each group or section in a course offering.

Restrict a Forum or Topic to a Group

This method of restricting a discussion topic or forum to a specific group is appropriate to use when each group is assigned to discuss or collaborate on a specific topic. By following this process, the discussions will be limited and only available to specific groups and will likely require a separate discussion forum or topic for each group.

1. From the course homepage, select Course Menu in the navbar and select Discussions.
2. On the Discussions List page, select the chevron next to the forum or topic you want to restrict and select Edit Forum or Edit Topic.
3. Select the Availability Dates & Conditions menu located on the right side of the screen and scroll down to Group and Section Restrictions.
4. Select the Manage Restrictions link to open the Group and Section Restrictions window.
5. Select the Restrict topic option.
6. In the Select who will see this topic section, select the group category and associated group(s) you wish to have access to the discussion.
7. Select the Add button at the bottom of the window.
8. Select the Save and Close button to save the updated restriction setting.

To open the forum or topic to everyone again, select the X icon next to the group listed in the Group and Section Restrictions section of the Availability Dates & Conditions menu.

Restrict Topic and Separate Threads

This method of restricting a discussion topic and separate threads means that each group will all work on the same discussion topic, but will only see their group members' posts. The instructor will have the ability to see everyone's posts and will be able to filter the threads to see posts made by specific groups.

1. From the course homepage, select Course Menu in the navbar and select Discussions.
2. On the Discussions List page, select the chevron next to the forum or topic you want to restrict and select Edit Forum or Edit Topic.
3. Select the Availability Dates & Conditions menu located on the right side of the screen and scroll down to Group and Section Restrictions.
4. Select the Manage Restrictions link to open the Group and Section Restrictions window.
5. Select the Restrict topic and separate the threads option.
6. In the Group Category or Section drop-down, select the group category you wish to have access to the discussion.
7. Select the Add button at the bottom of the window.
8. Select the Save and Close button to save the updated restriction setting.

To open the forum or topic to everyone again, select the X icon next to the group listed in the Group and Section Restrictions section of the Availability Dates & Conditions menu.