How to Create a Discussion Forum and Topic

Relevant to: faculty and staff

This article contains information considered accurate at the time of publishing. Technology updates, changes in University security practices, policies and procedures may effect the information in this article - updates to articles are scheduled on a periodic basis and will address any required changes.

Introduction

Discussions are a key component of many online courses at SUNY Empire. This article will show you how to get started using discussions, including creating discussion forums and topics. It will also explain the importance of creating a discussion forum before creating a topic.

Creating a Discussion Forum

Use forums to organize your discussion topics into categories. Your course can have multiple forums and topics, but you must create a forum before you can create a topic since all topics belong to forums.

1. Click Course Menu on the navbar. Then, click Discussions.
2. Under Discussions List, click New, then click New Forum.
3. Enter a Title for your new forum.
4. Enter a Description for your new forum.
5. In the Options section, select any of the following:
   • Allow anonymous posts - students can post anonymously.
   • Users must start a thread before they can read and reply to other threads in each topic - students have to create a post before seeing what other students already posted.
   • A moderator must approve individual posts before they display in the forum - the moderator (usually the course instructor) reviews and approves all posts before they become visible to the entire class.
   • Display forum descriptions in topics - allows instructors to show a forum description in addition to a topic description when viewing a topic.
6. In the Restrictions tab, you may set the following options:
   • Hide from users will keep students from seeing the discussion forum.
   • Availability options specify when learners can access (or view) a forum based on a specific date set by you.
   • Group and Section Restrictions can restrict the forum so only certain groups of students can see it.
7. Click Save and Close.

Creating a Discussion Topic

You must create a forum BEFORE you can create a topic since all topics belong to forums.

• Click Course Menu on the navbar. Then, click Discussions.
• Under Discussions List, click New, then click New Topic.
• From the drop-down list, click the forum you want to place your topic in. If you want to create a new forum for your topic, click New Forum.
• Enter your New Topic Details (Title, Description, Options)
• Restrictions for topics are the same as forums.
• Assessment allows you to create a grade item for the topic, a score out of a certain amount of points, and allows you to add a rubric for grading. You can also click allow assessment of individual posts to grade each student's post individually.
• Click Save and Close.

To Make a Discussion Topic a Graded Activity

Here is how to configure a discussion topic to be a graded activity

• From the navbar, select Course Menu. Then, from the drop-down menu, select Discussions.
• Select the down chevron next to the topic you wish to assess.
• Select Edit Topic.
• Select the Assessment tab above the topic.
• Use the Grade Item drop down list to attach an existing numeric grade item or click New Grade Item to create a new numeric grade item.
• Give the topic a Score Out Of to evaluate the overall score of the learner's contributions to the topic.
• Select the Add Rubric button to attach one or more existing rubrics, or select the Create Rubric in New Window link to create a new rubric for the topic.
• Select the Allow assessment of individual posts check box if you want to score individual posts. Then, select your calculation method to allow assessment of individual posts in the topic.
  • Calculation methods include: Average post score, Maximum post score, Minimum post score, Mode post score - Highest on multiple, Mode post score - Lowest on multiple, or Sum of post scores.
  • In addition, if Allow assessment of individual posts is selected, you may also choose Include unassessed posts in the calculated topic score as zero.
• Select Save and Close.