Desire2Learn

Discussions: Forum and Topic Options

Once your forum or topic has been established, you can modify the settings to meet your individual needs. Several options are available, allowing you to restrict group permissions, view a student's discussion statistics, and search discussions.

• Modify the Order of Forums or Topics
• Remove Forums or Topics
• Modify Forum/Topic Names and Descriptions
• Set Group Permissions
• View Statistics
• Search Discussions

Modify the Order of Forums or Topics

The order of your forums and topics can make it easier or harder for you and your students to locate the desired forums and topics. Here are a few strategies for ordering forums and topics.

• Arrange all forums and topics in alphabetical order
• List forums and topics in the order created with the oldest forum first (default setting)
• List forums and topics in the order created with the newest first

1. From the Course Home page, on the Navigation bar, click DISCUSSIONS.
   The Forums & Topics List appears.

2. Click Re-order.
   The Re-order dialog box appears.
   NOTE: The numbers beside each forum and topic designate the order.
   
   

3. Change the numbers beside the forums or topics you wish to re-order.
   EXAMPLE: To make Olympic Martial Arts appear first and Ethics and Manners appear second, in the text box next to Olympic Martial Arts, type 1, and in the text box next to Ethics and Manners, type 2.
   
   

4. Click SAVE.
   The order of the forum(s) or topic(s) is modified.

Remove Forums or Topics

A forum or topic can be removed at any time.

WARNING: When you remove a forum, all topics and messages are also removed.

1. From the Course Home page, on the Navigation bar, click DISCUSSIONS.
   The Forums & Topics List appears.

2. Click DELETE.
   The Delete dialog box appears.

3. Select the forum(s) or topic(s) you wish to remove.
   A forum or topic is selected if a check mark appears in the box next to it.
   
   
4. Click DELETE SELECTED.
   The Confirmation dialog box appears. Click YES.
   The forum(s) or topic(s) are removed.

Modify Forum/Topic Names and Descriptions

After the forum or topic is created, you may want to change its name and/or description.

1. From the Course Home page, on the Navigation bar, click DISCUSSIONS.
   The Forums & Topics list appears.

2. Click EDIT FORUM or EDIT TOPIC on the right of the forum or topic you wish to modify.
   The Edit Forum or Edit Topic dialog box appears.

3. Make the desired changes in the Forum Title and Description text boxes.

4. Click SAVE.
   The forum or topic is updated.

Set Group Permissions

Once a forum and discussions have been created and groups have been defined, you can set group permissions for your discussions. Therefore, you can set up discussions for specified groups by restricting those forums or topics. If you restrict a forum or topic, only members of designated groups will be able to view or post messages in that forum or topic.

1. From the Course Home page, on the Navigation bar, click DISCUSSIONS.
   The Forums & Topics list appears.

2. Click EDIT FORUM or EDIT TOPIC to set permissions for a forum or topic.

3. Click on the Restrictions tab.
   Select Restrict this forum to the following groups or Restrict this topic to the
   following groups and click ADD GROUPS.
   

4. The Add Groups dialog box opens.
   Under the Group Name, select the appropriate Group.
   A group is selected if you place a check mark in the box.
   NOTE: If you restrict a forum or topic, only members of the designated group will be able to view or post messages placed in that forum or topic.
   

5. Click ADD, and SAVE.
   The group permissions are set.

View Statistics

View Statistics: By Users

Viewing statistics by users allows the instructor to view each student's activity in discussions. This is helpful if discussion participation is required and students are being graded on their activity. Desire2Learn provides a statistics graph showing the relationship between how many messages a student has read and how many he/she has posted.

1. From the Course Home page, on the Navigation bar, click DISCUSSIONS.
   The Forums & Topics List page appears.

2. Click Statistics in the left tool menu to view statistics for all topics in your course.
   
   OR
   To view more detailed statistics for each topic or forum, click STATISTICS   to the right of a forum or topic .

3. The Topic or Forum Statistics dialog box appears.
   

4. From the View By pull-down list, select User and enter the user name in the Search For text box.

5. To view more detailed statistics for each user, click the desired name.

6. When finished, click CLOSE.

Search Discussions

The Search feature allows the instructor to search all forums and topics in the course for messages pertaining to specific terms.

1. From the Course Home page, on the Navigation bar, click DISCUSSIONS.
   The Forums & Topics List appears.

2. Select a topic.

3. Click SHOW SEARCH.
   

4. The Search Discussions dialog box appears.
   
   
   

5. In the Search text box, type the appropriate search word(s).

6. In the Search In section, select the type of content to search.

7. OPTIONAL: To specify a date parameter for the search,
   1.   Select Start Date and End Date.

   2. Using the pull-down lists, select the appropriate time constraints.

8. Click SEARCH.
   The Search results are displayed.