Your courses can have more than one forum, each of which could contain messages about a specific topic or session. New discussion forums can be added from the course menu (if listed in the course menu), from within a course Content Area, or from the Control Panel.

The following three sections provide directions for creating discussion forums.

Adding a forum from the Course menu

1. Click on the Communications or Discussion Board link (the link  will vary based on the design of your course shell)
2. Click the [Add Forum] button located on the top left-had side of the screen. The Forum Form will be displayed.
3. Enter a Title for the forum in the “Title” field
4. Type or paste the discussion guidelines in the “Description” field.
5. Select the forum rules by clicking on the check boxes under the “Forum Setting” header.
6. Click the [Submit] button to save the forum.

Adding a forum from the Control Panel

1. Click on the Control Panel link located on the lower left-hand side of your screen. The Control Panel will be displayed.
2. Click on Discussion Board which is located under the “Course Tools” header.
3. Click the [Add Forum] button located on the top left-had side of the screen. The forum form will be displayed.
4. Enter a Title for the forum in the “Title” field
5. Type or paste the discussion guidelines in the “Description” field.
6. Select the forum rules by clicking on the check boxes under the “Forum Setting” header.
7. Click the [Submit] button to save the forum.

Adding a forum from a Content Area

1. Click on the Control Panel link located on the lower left-hand side of your screen. The Control Panel will be displayed.
2. Then click on a Content Area.
3. Next click on the dropdown arrow next to the Select on the upper right-hand side of the screen.
4. Then click on Discussion Board, and then click the [Go] button. The Add Link screen will be displayed.
5. From the Add link screen you can choose to select a new Discussion Board or link to an existing forum.
1. To link to an existing forum click on the click on the forum title then click the [Next] button located in the lower right-hand side of the screen.
1. Type or paste instructions into the Text field.
2. If you would like to restrict the dates and times that students would be able to access the forum set the Date Restrictions. If no restrictions are required leave the fields blank.
3. Click the [Submit] button located on the lower right-hand side of the screen, then click on the [OK] button presented on the next screen.
2. To create a new forum click on the [Create new forum] button.
1. Enter a Title for the forum in the “Title” field.
2. Type or paste the discussion guidelines in the “Description” field.
3. Select the forum rules by clicking on the check boxes under the “Forum Setting” header.
4. Click the [Submit] button located in the lower right-hand corner of the browser page (may have to scroll down to see the button) to save the forum.
5. The “Add Link” page will be displayed again. Click on the Discussion Forum you just created.
6. Next click the [Next] button located in the lower right-hand side of the screen.
7. Type or paste instructions into the Text field.
8. If you would like to restrict the dates and times that students would be able to access the forum set the Date Restrictions. If no restrictions are required leave the fields blank.
9. Click the [Submit] button located on the lower right-hand side of the screen, then click on the [OK] button presented on the next screen.

Note: Discussion forums created in Content Areas actually reside in the Discussion Forums area. The instructions and an internal link are posted in the Content Area. Navigate to the Discussion Board to remove unwanted forums.   

More on Creating and Managing Forums

Click on the following hyperlinks for additional information.

• Discussion Forum Overview
• Adding Discussion Forums
• Discussion Thread Do's & Don'ts
• Guidelines for Community Building
• Grading Discussions
• Rubric Samples