Create a Forum (marked)

Video Guide

Discussion Board - Create a forum (marked) (YouTube, 6m 39s)

Overview

Use forums to organise your discussion board into main topic areas i.e. A forum for assignment questions and a forum for tutorial reading responses.

Marking Options

Activity type	Set up	Marking set up
Overall mark for contributions to discussions (i.e. for the semester).	Create a forum. Use threads to divide the discussion into sub topics if needed. Decide if you will select to allow students to create threads (when you create the forum).	Select Grade Discussion Forum when creating the forum. A column is automatically created in the Grade Centre for the forum mark.
Individual marks for different discussion/responses (i.e. a mark per week)	Create a forum. Create a separate thread for each item you wish to mark.	Select Grade Threads when creating the forum. Select Grade Thread when creating each thread. A column is automatically created in the Grade Centre for each thread mark.
Individual marks for different discussion/responses (i.e. a mark per week) Set up as “Post first” so students must enter their own response before they can view the responses of other students.	Create a forum for each discussion/response you wish to mark. Select Post first.	Select Grade Discussion Forum when creating each forum. A column is automatically created in the Grade Centre for each forum mark.

Activity type

Set up

Marking set up

Overall mark for contributions to discussions (i.e. for the semester).

Create a forum.

Use threads to divide the discussion into sub topics if needed.

Decide if you will select to allow students to create threads (when you create the forum).

Select Grade Discussion Forum when creating the forum.

A column is automatically created in the Grade Centre for the forum mark.

Individual marks for different discussion/responses (i.e. a mark per week)

Create a forum.

Create a separate thread for each item you wish to mark.

Select Grade Threads when creating the forum.

Select Grade Thread when creating each thread.

A column is automatically created in the Grade Centre for each thread mark.

Individual marks for different discussion/responses (i.e. a mark per week)

Set up as “Post first” so students must enter their own response before they can view the responses of other students.

Create a forum for each discussion/response you wish to mark.

Select Post first.

Select Grade Discussion Forum when creating each forum.

A column is automatically created in the Grade Centre for each forum mark.

Create a Forum

From the Course Menu, click on Discussion Board.
Click on the Create Forum button.

discussion board in course menu selected, create forum selected

Forum Information

Enter an informative title for the forum in the Name textbox.
Enter instructions for the forum in Description textbox.

Example description:

Weekly questions about the required readings will be posted within this forum. You will need to post your response to the questions within the corresponding thread before you can view other student responses.

An overall participation mark for the semester will be awarded based on your responses. For more information, refer to the Course Profile.

name and description of forum

Tip: If the forum is set up as Post first (Students need to create a thread in order to view other threads in the forum) include this information in the description.

Tip: Include a link to the Discussion Boards student guide in the description.

Forum Availability

You may wish to limit the time a forum is visible to students (i.e. for an assignment specific forum).

Select the Yes radio button.

Note: If you select No for Available, this will override any date and time restrictions.

If required, select the Display After checkbox and enter the date using the Date Selection Calendar and enter the time using the Time Selection Menu.
If required, select the Display Until checkbox and enter the date using the Date Selection Calendar and enter the time using the Time Selection Menu.

Date and Time Restrictions

Viewing Threads/Replies

Select the required radio button:
- Standard View: Students can enter and view all threads and replies.
- Participants must create a thread in order to view other threads in this forum: Student will not be able to enter the discussion board until they post their own thread.

Note: Selecting Participants must create a thread in order to view other threads in this forum will automatically select the other forum settings needed.

View threads and replies

Grade

Select the required radio button:
- Grade Discussion Forum: Allows you to give an overall mark for forum contributions from a student.
- Grade Threads: When you create a thread in the forum, you have the option to mark it. For more information, refer to the Create a Thread guide.

Tip: If you are unsure of which options to choose, refer to the table at the beginning of the guide.

Grade Discussion Forum (if selected)

Enter the total marks for the Discussion Board in the Points possible textbox.
Alternatively, click on the Add Rubric button to attach a rubric. For more information, , refer to the Rubrics guide.
Optionally, check the Show participants in "needs grading" status checkbox and select the required number of posts from the drop-down list.
Optionally, check the Due Date checkbox and enter the date using the Date Selection Calendar and enter the time using the Time Selection Menu.

Grade Discussion forum

Allowing members to optionally subscribe will mean students can opt to receive an email every time something is added to the forum/thread. If you select to also include the body of the post in the email, students will also receive the content posted.

Select the Allow members to subscribe to forum radio button.
Select the Include body of post in the email radio button.

Subscribe options

Create and Edit

Optionally, check the Allow Anonymous Posts checkbox.

Tip: In most cases, this option would not be selected to ensure appropriate use of the forum, however anonymous posts may be useful in some cases if students are reluctant to post questions.

Check the Allow Author to Delete Own Posts checkbox.
Select the Only posts with no replies radio button.
Check the Allow Author to Edit Own Published Posts checkbox.
Optionally, check the Allow Authors to Create New Threads checkbox if you want students to be able to post new questions.

Note: You may select to not allow students to create threads if you are setting up the forum so they only respond or ask questions by replying to a thread you have created.

Check the Allow File Attachments checkbox.

Tip: Allow File Attachments must be enabled in order to use the Kaltura mashup.

Check the Allow Users to Reply with Quotes checkbox to allow students to quote the content of another student posts.
Optionally, check the Force Moderation of Posts checkbox to have all posts approved by a moderator (Instructor) before being posted.

Note: Choosing this option can be very work intensive and it is recommended that you set guidelines for post contents instead.

Create and edit

Additional Options

Optionally, check the Allow Post Tagging checkbox.
Optionally, check the Allow Members to Rate Posts checkbox for peer assessment or voting purposes.
Click on the Submit button.

Additional options

Course Link

Marked discussion boards that are relevant to content in the Assessment section of the course can have a link added to the relevant section of the course.

For instructions on how to create a link to an existing discussion board within the Assessment folder, refer to the Add a Course Link guide.