Discussion Board

The Discussion Board allows you to conduct or augment class discussion with either the whole class together or with discrete groups of students. (Read about Groups)

Students can read each other's posts and reply to them at a time that is convenient for them. Using the Performance Dashboard, the instructor can the students' activity, see participation, frequency of posts, and word count.

How to set up a Discussion Board

1. If it is not already in your course menu, you'll need to add a link to the Discussion Board:
   • Click the "+" button above the course menu
   • Choose "Tool Link"
   • Choose "Discussion Board," give it a title, and make sure to check the "Available to Users" box so students will see the link
   
   
2. Or, to add a link to the Discussion Board to a content page:
   • Make sure you Edit Mode is "ON"
   • On a content page, click the "Tools" button
   • Choose Discussion Board
   • Click "Next," choose settings, and then "Submit"
   
   
3. The next step is to create Forums, which are topic areas, within your Discussion Board. Click the "Create Forum" button, choose your settings, and submit.
   
   
4. You can choose, in the forum settings, whether you want students to initiate their own threads, or conversations. If you choose not to allow students to start multiple threads in the forum, then you will need to post the initial conversation thread, so students can reply to it.

For more info, see Blackboard's tour of the Discussion Board