- First, create a new forum.
- Navigate to Discussion and Private Messages (Figure 1).
- Select “Manage.”
Figure 1

- Click “Forums” from the left Forum Admin panel.
- Click “Add” (Figure 2).
Figure 2

- Provide a name for your forum (Figure 3).
- Select a category from the drop-down menu.
- The description is usually brief.
- Instructions and expectations for the forum will usually be provided by the instructor in the Topic area.
- Modify the settings as necessary.
- Forum Type: “Reply only” allows the instructor to create a topic, and students can only reply to the topic.
- In most cases, that will allow the instructor to keep an organized structure to their discussions and make it possible to see students’ contributions in a threaded view vs. having multiple topics created by students and having to “click around” to view their contributions.
- Under Allow Access, select “All Site Participants” to enable access to all students.
- Click on “Update.”
Figure 3
