Date
February 6, 2025
Type
KB
Owner
Alex D'AdamoTags
Blackboard Learn
In an online learning environment, discussion boards are powerful tools for fostering engagement, collaboration, and critical thinking. By encouraging students to discuss course topics, share perspectives, and offer feedback, they help build a sense of community and deepen understanding. Below are step-by-step directions on how to create a new discussion board forum in Blackboard, including setting up grading options and linking it to your course content area.
Navigate to the Desired Content Area
- Log into Blackboard and select your course.
- In the course menu in the left sidebar, click on the Content Area where you want to place the discussion (e.g., “Learning Modules,” “Week 1,” “Assignments,” etc.).
Add a Discussion Board Link
- Hover over the “Tools” button in the action bar (near the top of the content area).
- From the dropdown, select “Discussion Board.”
Create a New Forum
- On the “Create Link: Discussion Board” page, you can either link to an existing Discussion Board forum or create a new one.
- Click “Create New Forum” to open the forum creation screen.
Configure the Forum Settings
- Name: Enter a clear, descriptive title for the forum (e.g., “Week 1 Discussion: Introductions”).
- Description/Prompt: In the text box, type or paste the instructions or discussion prompt for students. This is where you explain the topic, your expectations, and how you will grade. It’s important to put the full prompt here, as this will copy over to Canvas when we migrate courses in the future.
Set Forum Availability and Viewing Options
- Make the Forum Available: Ensure “Available” is set to Yes (so students can see and access it).
- Force Users to Post Before Viewing: Look for the setting labeled “Participants must create a thread in order to view other threads in this forum.” Select Yes to require students to post first.
Enable Grading for the Forum
- Select Grade Discussion Forum or Grade Threads.
- When instructors grade the entire discussion forum, they can provide a single overall score for all student created threads, making grading simpler.
- Grading individual threads offers more precise feedback and granular evaluation of each conversation thread, but can be time-consuming. Students cannot create threads with this setting enabled, so you must make each thread and determine their point value, which will create multiple Grade Center columns.
- Points Possible: Enter the number of points the assignment is worth.
- If students must reply to other posts, check “Show participants in ‘needs grading’ status after every # posts” and set the amount of posts a student needs to make in total.
Set the Due Date
- Check the Due Date field, and use the calendar and clock icons to enter the due date and time to ensure the assignment appears in students’ calendars.
Submit and Create the Forum
- Double-check all other settings (do you want students to be able to delete or edit their posts?), then click “Submit.”
- This creates the new forum and returns you to the “Create Link: Discussion Board” screen.
Link the Forum to the Content Area
- Now that your new forum is created, click “Select a Discussion Board Forum”
- Click the new forum you just made from the list. It will then be highlighted blue.
- Scroll down and click “Next”
- On the next screen, you can modify the link name and provide the same prompt/instructions in the description box that you wrote previously.
- Click “Submit” again to finalize.
Confirm the Forum Link
- You should now see the Discussion Board link in your content area.
- Click on the link to make sure it goes to the correct forum.
Tips for Success
- Test the forum by switching to Student Preview mode (in the top right corner) to confirm that students can access the forum.
- Provide clear guidelines for how you will evaluate their discussion posts (word count, references, timeliness, etc.).
- If using “Grade Discussion Forum,” a Grade Center column will automatically be created. You can find it under Full Grade Center or Needs Grading to enter grades.
QILT is here to help you and answer any questions you may have. Schedule a consultation with the team!
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