Create and Manage Discussion Boards

The Discussion board is an outcomes-based learning tool that can be applied in a number of ways to enhance learning and measure performance.

Discussion boards can appear throughout a course site, in any area the instructor chooses. Each group may also have a private discussion board available only to those users that are a part of the group. All discussion boards that are not a part of a group are accessible from various points in the course site or by going to the discussion board tool found under the tools menu item.

The discussion board tool centralizes all of the discussion boards in the course. When users open the discussion board tool they will only see those boards they can access. Unavailable discussion boards can only be viewed by instructors, administrators, and other user roles with similar permissions. The unavailable status of a discussion board is displayed on the discussion board page, beneath the name of the discussion board.

This document assumes that you have logged into blackboard.boisestate.edu and have entered a course site where you have faculty access and the discussion board tool has been enabled.

• Click on the Discussion Board link in the course site menu
  • The Discussion Board forum list appears
• Click on the Create Forum link at the top of the page
  • The Create Forum form appears
• Add the name of your discussion board forum into the "Name" field
  • Add text into the description field to provide your students with instructions or a description of what you expect to happen in the forum
• Click on the "Yes" radio button next to "Available" to make the forum available for your students to see
• Make the appropriate selections under the "Forum Settings" area to configure the forum appropriately. (Default settings will allow users to upload images or other media)

• Click "Submit"
• Click "OK"
  • You have created a discussion board forum

Copy Forum Settings From One Group Discussion Board to Another

• Click the drop-down menu next to the forum that you want to copy and select "Copy"
• Give the new forum a name
• Make sure that "Forum Settings Only" is enabled under "Copy"
• Select the "Location" you want to copy the forum to and click "Submit"

• From the discussion board page, click on the contextual menu icon (double down arrows) next to the discussion board forum you wish to delete
• Choose "Delete"
  • A Challenge Menu appears
• Click "OK"
  • The assignment has been deleted

• From the discussion board page, click and hold on the double-sided arrow to the left-hand side of the discussion board forum, you would like to move
  • The cursor will change to a four-sided arrow
• Drag the assignment up or down and drop it in the desired location