Manage Forums

Overview

• Star Discussions
• Pin Discussions
• Lock Discussions
• Subscribe to Discussions
• Subscribe to an entire Forum
• Reply to Posts (including reply privately)
• Summary Report of Participation

Star Discussions

You can star a discussion to bring it to the top of the list of discussions. This only affects your view, it cannot be seen by others and does not affect their view. Anyone can star a discussion.

While viewing the forum:

• Click the empty star icon to the left of the discussion. A filled in star means the discussion has already been starred.

 

While viewing the discussion:

• Click Settings in the upper right and select "Star this discussion"

 

 

Pin Discussions

You can pin a discussion to bring it to the top of the list of discussions for everyone. Only instructors can pin discussions.

While viewing the forum:

•  Click the three dots to the right of the discussion. Then select "Pin this discussion." A pinned discussion will have a pin icon to the left.

 

While viewing the discussion:

• Click Settings in the upper right and select "Pin this discussion"

 

 

Lock Discussions

You can lock a discussion to prevent any further replies within that discussion thread. Only instructors can lock discussions.

While viewing the forum:

•  Click the three dots to the right of the discussion. Then select "Lock this discussion." A locked discussion will say Locked under the discussion subject.

 

While viewing the discussion:

• Click Settings in the upper right and select "Lock this discussion"

 

 

Subscribe to Discussions

You can subscribe to a discussion to receive an email notification whenever someone replies within the discussion thread.

While viewing the forum:

• Click the slide button in the Subscribe column for that discussion thread. If you are already subscribed to a discussion, it will be blue.

 

While viewing the discussion:

•  Click Settings in the upper right and select "Subscribe to this discussion"

 

 

Subscribe to an entire Forum

You can subscribe to an entire forum to receive an email notification whenever anyone posts anywhere within the forum. While viewing the forum, click on the gear icon in the upper right to open the Forum Administration area and choose Subscribe to this Forum.

 

 

Reply to Posts (including reply privately)

In most circumstances anyone can reply to a discussion post, but only instructors can reply privately. As only instructors can reply privately, students cannot respond to a private reply.

While viewing the post, click Reply in the lower right.

 

To access the text editor toolbar or to add an attachment, click Advanced in the lower right.

By default the reply is visible to everyone in the course or everyone in the group (if set to seperate groups). If you wish to reply privately, check the box for "Reply privately." Only instructors can reply privately.

 

When finished click Submit.

 

Private replies will display "This is a private reply. It is not visible to other participants" above the text of the post. As students cannot reply privately, they cannot respond to a private reply.

 

 

Summary Report of Participation

The Summary Report provides an overview of the participation level for each student in a forum or the whole course.

To access, while viewing your forum click the gear icon on the upper right to open the Forum Administration area. Choose Summary Report. 

 

At the top of the report you can select the desired forum from the dropdown, or choose "All forums in course" to see the data across all forums.

For each student you will see the number of discussions posted, number of replies posted, the date and time they first posted in the discussion, and the date and time of their most recent post, among other information. You can also export to Excel the table information and full text of posts for each student.

 

You can bulk message students from this page. Check the box to the left of each student you wish to message. Scroll to the bottom of the table and for the dropdown “With selected users” select “Send message.”

 

Compose your message and click Send.