Forums are used to organize discussions and discussion topics and may be added or modified by accessing the Add Forum page or the Modify Forum page. While Instructors must create new forums, they can enable other users to manage a forum once it is created. The fields on the Add Forum page and the Modify Forum page are the same and the two pages function in a similar manner. The difference being, the Add Forum page opens with empty fields while the Modify Forum page opens with populated fields.
Follow the steps below to open the Add Forum page or Modify Forum page.
Step 1 Click Discussion Board in the Course Tools area of the Course Control Panel.
Step 2 Click Add Forum. To modify a discussion, click Modify and the Modify Forum page will appear.
The table below details the fields on this page
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Field |
Description |
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Forum Information |
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Title: |
Enter the forum’s title. This title will appear as the name of the Discussion Board forum to all users. |
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Description: |
Enter a description of the forum. The following options are available: · Smart Text: Automatically recognizes a link entered in the text box. Smart text recognizes the ENTER key as a paragraph tag and accepts HTML tags as well. Smart Text will also prompt to load images if an image source text is used when adding smart text as part of a content item. · Plain text: Displays text as written. · HTML: Displays text as coded using HTML tags. · ABC: Opens Spell Check. · Preview: Opens the text as it will appear to the user. |
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Forum Settings: |
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These options allow or disallow users to; post messages anonymously, edit the message once it has been posted, attach files, and create new messages. Check the appropriate boxes to:
· Allow anonymous posts · Allow author to edit message after posting · Allow author to remove own messages · Allow file attachments. · Allow new threads |
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Forum User Settings |
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Highlight a user and click the appropriate button to assign Forum User Settings. |
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Normal |
Users are automatically assigned Normal settings. Changing a Forum Administrator’s privileges to Normal will revoke their administrator settings. |
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Admin |
Assigns forum administrator privileges to a selected user.
· Permanent Forum Administrator – the person creating the forum, no one can take away these privileges.
· Forum Administrator privileges – assigned by the Permanent Forum Administrator. Instructors can create a forum and then enable another user to manage the forum through the Forum Administrator privileges. |
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Block |
Blocks a user from posting to the Discussion Board forum. Only the Forum Administrator or the Permanent Forum Administrator can block a user. |
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Unblock |
Unblocks a user that was formerly blocked from posting to the Discussion Board forum. |