Forums

Overview

Several areas of the platform, such as courses/classes and groups, can include discussion forums.

Discussion forums can be installed or uninstalled by an administrator.

Participating in a forum

To participate in a forum:

1. Access a course or group.
   
2. Click Forums in the secondary navigation menu.
   
3. Forums display as tiles by default. On each tile, you can see the forum discussion's image, title, description, and the number of discussions.
   

Please note that not all courses or groups have the forum feature enabled. Instructors, teachers and administrators can enable forums for individual courses, classes, or groups.

When you enter a forum, the latest discussion postings are listed. There are multiple options within the forum:

1. Search  allows you to search all posts for key words or users. 
   
2. + Post allows you to create a new discussion. 
   
3. Subscribe allows you to subscribe to a forum.
   
1. Subscribing to a forum will send a copy of each posting to your message box with a link back to the discussion.
   
2. You can also subscribe via RSS (if enabled), which will displays posts on a news feed.
   
4. Posts by users will display the discussions by user. 
   

Additional icons display to indicate which posts you have read.

 indicates that you have read a particular posting
 indicates that a posting has been updated since you last read it.
 indicates that you have not read a particular posting

If you select an existing discussion, all related posts display. 

Discussions are threaded, so it's easy to follow and reply to any part of the conversation.

Posting to forums

To create a new discussion post in a forum:

1. Access a course, class, or group.
   
2. Click Forums in the secondary navigation menu.
   
3. Click a forum tile.
   
4. Click + Post.
   
5. The Post pop-up displays.
   
1. Add a subject.
   
2. Add and format your content.
   
3. Click Send.  
   

You can also schedule forum posts for the future:

1. Add a subject.
   
2. Add and format your content.
   
3. Click the When dropdown.
   
1. Select At specified time and select a date and time.
   
2. Or select After specified time and select a specific number of days, hours and minutes.
   
4. Click Send.  

Installing the Forums app

If forums are not currently available on your platform, administrators can install if from the app center:

1. Click Admin on the main navigation menu.
   
2. Click App center.
   
3. Install Forums from the Collaboration section.
   
1. Forums can also be uninstalled from the App center by selecting Uninstall.

Enabling and configuring course and group forums

Instructors, teachers and administrators can enable forums for courses, classes, and groups:

1. Access the course or class.
   
2. Click Admin from the course/class or group navigation menu.
   
3. Click Features.
   
4. Select Forums.
   

Once forums are enabled for your course, class, or group, the Forums tab will appear on the secondary navigation menu.

To add a new forum:

1. Access your course or group.
   
2. Click Forums from the secondary navigation menu.
   
3. Click + Add.
   

The Add forum pop-up displays.

1. Enter a name and description for the forum.
   
2. Click Save.
   

To configure the forum you just created:

1. Click the forum tile.
   
2. Click Configure. 
   

The Configure settings display, which allow you to edit multiple aspects of the forum.

1. Click Edit to edit the name or description of the forum.
   
2. Click Change picture to update the picture that is displayed on the forum tile.

Additional forum configuration settings include:

1. Select Lock to prevent new postings.
   
2. Select Allow replies to allow course and group users to reply to postings.
   
3. Select Enable voting to allow members to vote individual postings up or down.
   
1. Enabling voting adds   or  buttons for users, allowing them to upvote and downvote posts.
   
4. Select Only allow the moderator to post messages to create a read-only forum.
   
5. Select Enable RSS feed to allow members to subscribe to a RSS feed of forum postings.
   

​

The Configure page also allows you to add automated actions to the forum.

To add forum automation:

1. Click + Add in the Post actions section to create an action when users post to the forum.
   
2. Click + Add in the Reply actions section to create an action when users reply to posts on the forum.

​

The Add action pop-up displays with multiple tabs of actions.

1. Awards: Award users badges, certificates, coupons, or points if they post or reply on the forum.
   
2. Integrations: Add API or integrated tool actions when users post or reply on the forum. Integration options will vary based on the setup of your platform.
   
3. Membership: Add or remove users to a group or enroll them in a course when they post or reply on the forum.
   
4. Other: Add tags, to-do items, or send custom notifications to users when they post or reply on the forum.
   

In the example below, two Award actions were added:

1. Post actions: Users are given five points in the course game for posting to the forum.
   
2. Reply actions: Users are given two points in the course game for replying to a post.
   

Scheduled posts

Forum members can schedule posts for a specified time in the future.

Instructors, teachers, and administrators can view and edit these posts.

To see posts scheduled for a future time:

1. Access the course or group.
   
2. Click Forums.
   
3. Click a forum tile.
   
4. Click Scheduled posts. 
   

​

The Scheduled posts pop-up displays any future dated messages, along with the date and time it will post to the forum.

1. Click Edit to edit the message or scheduled date and time.
   
2. Click Delete to delete the post.
   

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