Creating a new forum and topic in Forums
On this page:
Creating a forum
Note: To complete the procedures in this
document, you must be assigned a role having the necessary
permissions. To determine your role, follow the directions in Participant roles. For a
basic understanding of roles and permissions, see Permissions and roles: Overview.
There are no default forums or topics in the Forums tool. No forums
will appear in this area until someone with an appropriate role
creates them. By default, participants (e.g., students) in a course
site cannot create forums.
Note: When you create your forum, you'll need to
add at least one topic so site participants can post messages. The
forum will not be visible to participants unless a topic is added.
To create a new forum, follow these steps:
- In your site's menubar, click
Forums
. The
Forums screen will open.
- At the top, click
New Forum
. The Forum Settings screen
will open.
- In the "Forum Title" field, type your forum's title. This is a
required field, and is limited to 75 characters.
- In the "Short Description" field, you have the option of providing
a brief description (limited to 100 characters) that will be displayed
along with the title in the Forums area.
- In the "Description" field, you may enter an in-depth description
of your forum, and provide any associated information or
resources.
- Under "Attachments", you can attach a file from your local
computer or from Resources, or specify the URL for a file on the
web. For instructions, see Options for adding attachments.
- To disable forum postings, under "Forum Posting", click the
Yes
radio button next to "Lock Topic (Disable forum
postings)". The No
radio button is selected by default,
allowing site participants to post messages about your forum topic.
- To moderate forum postings, under "Forum Posting", click the
Yes
radio button next to "Moderate Forum". The No
radio button is selected by default, allowing site participants to
post messages without moderation.
-
Under "Permissions", you can modify permission levels for
participant roles. To do so, from the list under "Permissions", select
a role for editing by clicking its name. Then, next to "Permission
Level:", use the drop-down list to select from several predefined
permission levels. Additionally, you can create custom permission
levels by clicking to enable or disable the following functions:
- New Forum: Create a new forum. You can modify this
option only via Template Settings.
- New Topic: Create a new topic. You can modify
this option only via Template Settings or Forum Settings.
- New Response: Create a new response to your
topic.
- Response to Response: Send responses to a topic
response.
- Change Settings: Change the topic settings.
- Read: Read topic responses.
- Post to Gradebook: Grade responses and add
comments. Send grades and comments to Gradebook.
- Mark as Read: Mark messages as read.
- Revise Postings: Use the radio buttons to
indicate which postings participants with the permission level can
revise (none, their own, or all postings).
- Next to "Gradebook Assignment", use the drop-down list to choose
an assignment with which the forum should be associated.
- When you're finished, click one of the following:
- Save Draft: Save your forum as a draft. You'll
return to the Forums screen. Forums saved as draft will not be
available to site participants.
- Save Settings & Add Topic: Save your changes
and add a topic to your forum. You will need to add a topic so site
members can post messages.
- Cancel: Cancel your changes; you'll return to the
Forums screen.
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Creating a topic
Note: To complete the procedures in this
document, you must be assigned a role having the necessary
permissions. To determine your role, follow the directions in Participant roles. For a
basic understanding of roles and permissions, see Permissions and roles: Overview.
Note: When you create your forum, you'll need to
add at least one topic so site participants can post messages. The
forum will not be visible to participants unless a topic is added.
To add a topic while you're creating your forum, first finish
creating the forum, and then click Save Settings & Add
Topic
.
To add a topic later (i.e., after you've created and saved your
forum), go to the Forums screen and find your forum's
title. To its right, click New Topic
.
Either of the above methods takes you to the Topics Settings
screen. From there, you can finish adding your topic. Follow these
steps:
- Next to "Topic Title", enter a title in the text box. This is a
required field, and is limited to 75 characters.
- Next to "Short Description", you have the option of providing a
brief description (limited to 100 characters) that will display below
the title in the Discussion Forums area.
- Next to "Description", you may enter an in-depth description of
your forum, and provide any associated information or
resources.
- To add an attachment, under "Attachments", click
Add
Attachment
. The file selector screen will open. For instructions, see Options for adding attachments.
- To disable topic postings, under "Topic Postings", click the
Yes
radio button next to "Lock Topic (Disable topic
postings)". The No
radio button is selected by default,
allowing site participants to post messages about your forum topic.
- To moderate topic postings, under "Topic Posting", click the
Yes
radio button next to "Moderate Topic". The No
radio button is selected by default, allowing site participants to
post messages without moderation.
Under "Permissions", you can modify permission levels for
participant roles. To do so, from the list under "Permissions", select
a role for editing by clicking its name. Then, next to "Permission
Level:", use the drop-down list to select from several predefined
permission levels. Additionally, you can create custom permission
levels by clicking to enable or disable the following functions:
- New Forum: Create a new forum. You can modify this
option only via Template Settings.
- New Topic: Create a new topic. You can modify
this option only via Template Settings or Forum Settings.
- New Response: Create a new response to your
topic.
- Response to Response: Send responses to a topic
response.
- Change Settings: Change the topic settings.
- Read: Read topic responses.
- Post to Gradebook: Grade responses and add
comments. Send grades and comments to Gradebook.
- Mark as Read: Mark messages as read.
- Revise Postings: Use the radio buttons to
indicate which postings participants with the permission level can
revise (none, their own, or all postings).
- When you're finished, click one of the following:
- Save Settings: Save your changes, post the topic,
and exit the Forum Settings screen. This returns you to the Forums
screen, where you can see your newly posted topic within your forum.
- Save Draft: Save your forum as a draft. You'll
return to the Forums screen.
- Save Settings & Add Topic: Save your changes,
and add another topic to your forum. This opens a blank Topic Settings
screen,and allows you to create an additional topic without returning
to the Forums screen.
- Cancel: Cancel your changes. You'll return to the
Forums screen.
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