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Discussion Board

The Discussion Board tool lets you create class conversations to enhance a website. Blackboard groups conversations in threads that contain a main posting and all replies to that main posting.

lock icon Click to learn more about FERPA: Student Privacy and this tool.

Creating a New Thread
Managing Forum User Settings
Viewing a Forum - Tree View and List View
Reading/Responding to a Thread
Searching the Forum

Collecting Discussion Threads
Copying Forums
Creating a New Forum

From the Control Panel:

  1. Click on the Discussion Boards link in the Course Tools section.
  2. Click on the appropriate Discussion Board course link.
  3. Click on the Add New Forum button.
    forum button screen shot
  4. Type information in the appropriate text fields.
  5. Scroll down to the bottom of the screen and click on the Submit button.
    Note: You must either allow your students to create new threads or create a thread so that your students can post within this Forum. Scroll down to the bottom of the screen and click on the Submit button.

Forum Availability:

  • Do you want to make the Forum available? – Enable this option to give your students access to the Forum.
  • Choose Date and Time Restrictions – Enable both the Display After and Display Until options to control when the Forum is available. This option automates the “make the Forum available” option.

Forum Settings:

  • Allow anonymous posts – Enable this option to let users post messages anonymously. Blackboard still requires that the user be enrolled in the course to post messages.
  • Allow author to modify own published posts – Enable this option to let users edit their own messages after their initial posting.
  • Allow author to remove own posted messages – Enable this option to let users remove their own posted messages.
  • Allow message tagging – Enable this option to allow tags to be added to messages on the Forum. For faster Discussion Board page loading, do not allow message tagging.
  • Allow users to reply with quote – Enable this option to allow users to include the text of the original message in any replies to that message. This is enabled by default.
  • Allow members to create new threads – Enable this option to allow Forum members to create new threads in the Forum.
  • Subscriptions –Forum Managers can choose from the following subscription options for a Forum: no subscriptions, subscriptions at the thread level, or subscriptions at the Forum level. If subscription is enabled, then the Forum manager can choose to have subscription messages contain the message contents, or a link to the message.
  • Allow members to rate posts – Enable this option to allow Forum members to rate individual posts.
  • Force moderation of posts – Require that all messages are reviewed before they are posted to the Forum.
  • Grading – Select Grade Forum and enter a point value to evaluate participants on performance throughout the Forum. Select Grade Threads to evaluate participants on performance in each thread. When the Grade Threads option is used, a Points Possible option appears each time a thread is started. Keep in mind that users cannot create new threads if Grade Threads is selected for the Forum.
  • Allow file attachments – Enable this option to let users upload supplementary files with their postings.
  • Allow new threads – Enable this option to let users post new messages.

Creating a New Thread

From the Course view:

  1. Click on the Discussion Board link in the Communication section.
  2. Click on the Discussion link of the discussion you want to enter.
  3. Click on the Add New Thread button.
    screen image of the add new thread button
  4. Type information in the appropriate text fields.
  5. Scroll down to the bottom of the screen and click on the Submit button.

Options:

  • Post Message as Anonymous – Enable this option to not let other users know you posted the message.
    Note: As the instructor, you must have this option enabled for it to show up. If you do not see it, you have not enabled this option.
  • Attach a file – Use this option to upload a supplementary file with your posting.

Managing Forum User Settings

From the Control Panel:

  1. Click on the Discussion Board link in the Course Tools section.
  2. Click on the appropriate Discussion Board course link.
  3. Click on the Manage button next to the Forum whose settings you want to modify.
    screen image of the discussion board manage button
  4. Click on the dropdown menu next to the user whose acecess rights you wish to modify.
  5. Select the appropriate Forum Role for the user whose access rights you wish to modify.
    Screen image of the Manage User window

  6. Scroll down to the bottom of the screen and click on the Submit button.

Forum Roles:

  • Moderator – A Forum Role that grants Participant privileges as well as the ability to modify, delete, and lock posts. If a Moderation Queue is used, the Moderator may also approve or reject posts in the queue.
  • Reader – A Forum Role that grants the user the rights to read the contents of a Forum. Users with this role may only view content and cannot add or respond to posts.
  • Manager – A Forum Role that grants all privileges.
  • Grader – A Forum Role that grants the user Participant privileges as well as the Grading privileges for the Forum.
  • Participant – A Forum Role that grants the user read and write privileges in the Forum.
  • Blocked – A Forum Role that blocks the user from accessing the Forum.

Viewing a Forum - Tree View and List View

From the Course view:

  1. Click on the Discussion Boards link in the Communication section.
  2. Click on the Forum link of the forum you want to enter.
  3. Click on Tree View to display the thread starter messages and their response messages.
    screen shot of tree view

  4. Click on List View to display the list of threads in a tabular format.
    screen shot of list view
Reading/Responding to a Thread

From the Course view:

  1. Click on the Discussion Boards link in the Communication section.
  2. Click on the Discussion link of the discussion you want to enter.
  3. Click on the Thread link that you want to read.
    screen image of a discussion thread

    4. If you want to respond to the thread:

  4. Click on the Reply button to generate a response to a post, click on the Quote button to insert the text of the current post into a reply to that post:
    screen image of a thread in the discussion board.

  5. Type information in the appropriate fields.
  6. Scroll down to the bottom of the screen and click on the Submit button.

Options:

  • Post Message as Anonymous – Enable this option to not let other users know you posted the message.
  • Note: As the instructor, you must have this option enabled for it to show up. If you do not see it, you have not enabled this option.
  • Attach a file – Use this option if you want to upload a supplementary file with your posting.
Searching the Forum

From the Course view:

  1. Click on the Discussion Board link in the Communication section.
  2. Click on the Forum link of the discussion you want to enter.
  3. Click on the Search button.
    screen image of the search button
  4. Type a keyword or phrase in the Search text field.
  5. Select where to search using the drop down menu for the In field.
  6. Choose Date Restrictions (Optional).
    screen image of the search box
  7. Click on the Go button.

Search in Options:

  • Current Thread – Use this option to search all text in the current thread.
    Note: You must be viewing a thread to search within it and use this option.
  • Current Forum – Use this option to search all text in the current Forum.
    Note: You must be viewing a forum to search within it and use this option.
  • Current Discussion Board – Use this option to search all text in the current Discussion Board.
  • All Forums in Course – Use this option to search all text in all Forums in the Course.

Collecting Discussion Threads

This will allow you to read all the postings on one page.

From the Course view:

  1. Click on the Discussion Board link in the Communication section.
  2. Click on the Forum link of the discussion you want to enter.
  3. Select Select All using the drop down menu on the lower action bar.
    screen image of select all button
  4. Click on the Go button.
  5. Click on the Collect button.
    screen image of the collect button

Copying Forums

Copying a forum creates a clone of a Forum or the Forum settings in the same Discussion Board or in another Discussion Board in the same Course or Organization.

From the Control Panel:

  1. Click on the Discussion Boards link in the Course Tools section.
  2. Click on the appropriate Discussion Board course link.
  3. Click on the Copy button next to the Forum you want to Copy.
    screen image of the copy button in the discussion board.
  4. Type a Name for the Forum Copy.
  5. Select a Copy option.
  6. Select a Location where the copied Forum will be placed.
  7. Scroll down to the bottom of the screen and click on the Submit button.

Options:

  • Copy Entire Forum - Select this option to copy all threads and messages as well as settings. This option copies all content except for uploaded file attachments.
  • Copy Forum Settings Only - Select this option to create an empty forum with the same settings.
  • Location - Select a Discussion Board where the copied Forum will be placed.
More Information

Q: How do I sort the messages?
A: Use the Sort By drop-down menu at the bottom of the messages. You can sort by author, date, or subject.