• How does a Discussion Forum work?
• Create a forum
• Create a topic

Students can easily collaborate and communicate through Brightspace discussion forums. Create a discussion forum for a course to give students the opportunity to discuss a relevant topic. The Discussions homepage can be accessed via:

Click on Course Tools > Discussions.

A forum can consist of multiple topics, just as a course can consist of multiple forums.

The instructor can allow students to discuss a specific topic or place them in groups so they can exchange ideas in a private environment. Starting a discussion works the same in both cases: you must first create a forum and then add one or more topics.

A topic is a place where students can post and read messages. They can create one or more threads within a topic. Threads are main posts where others can reply by posting a message. A student can create a thread and post a reply. As an instructor (the moderator of the discussion), you can edit or delete all student posts. You can also follow forums, topics, and/or threads (subscribe) so you receive notifications when there are new posts or updates.

Topics can be found within a forum and are usually named after the subject of the discussion. A forum can contain multiple topics. For example, the title of a forum might be "More Exams in the Evening" with a topic "Arguments For" and a topic "Arguments Against" below it.

• Go to Course Tools in the course navigation bar.
• Click on Discussions.
• Click New and then click on New Forum.

1. Give the forum a title.
2. Do you want to create a topic with the same title right away? Check 'Create a new topic...'.
3. Add a description (and/or video or link) in the HTML editor.

Under Options, you can choose various settings for your discussion forum:

• Check Allow anonymous posts if you want to allow anonymous posts. The name of the person posting will not be visible to students. Posts are only anonymous for students, but the moderator (the instructor) can still see the names.
• 'Users must start a thread before...' is an option to require students to start a thread before they can read other posts and/or replies.
• 'A moderator must approve...' gives the option to accept or reject any post before it is published.
• Check Display forum description in topics if you want the forum description to be visible in every topic. Topics can also have their own description.

There are several ways to create a topic. After creating a forum, you can click Save and Add Topic, which will take you to the screen below. You will also end up here if you click on New Topic instead of New Forum in Discussions.

1. Enter the title of the topic here.
2. By clicking on Change Forum, you can choose which forum you want to place the topic under or if you want to create a new forum.
3. If you want to grade the topic, you can specify how many points you want to assign and whether you want to include the topic in your Grade Book.
4. Add a description (and/or video or link) in the HTML editor.

When creating a topic, you can choose to make it available for a specific period under Availability Dates & Conditions. Enter a Start Date and End Date for this. Additionally, you can create Release Conditions that ensure a student must, for example, read a piece of content before they can participate in this topic.

The options above are not available because no groups have been created, but when groups are created in the course, you can choose to make certain topics available only to specific groups. This will be visible under Group and Section Restrictions.

Under Post & Completion, you can check several settings, such as allowing a student to hide their name, requiring them to start a thread before they can reply or see threads, or requiring that a student's post be approved before it is posted.

Under Evaluation & Feedback, you can add a Rubric or Learning Objectives and check whether the posts that are made can be evaluated.