Discussion Board - Create a Forum

The Discussion Board is a communication tool used to conduct class discussions. Because the discussions are asynchronous (not live), participants can respond at any time. Instructors can create forums that establish multiple topics of discussion. Discussions that take place in these forums are grouped in "threads" that contain the main message and all replies to that main message. All threads are logged and organized. Ideas to enhance a course with online discussion.

Step One: Create a Forum

New: Watch a closed-captioned movie that shows you how to create a Discussion Board forum in BeachBoard [opens a new window]

Forums are used to organize threads and must be manually created by the instructor.

1. Login to BeachBoard at https://beachboard.csulb.edu/
2. Under My Courses, click the name of the course in which you would like to add a Discussion Board forum.
3. Click the course's Control Panel link.
4. Under Course Tools, click the Discussion Board link.
5. On the Discussion Boards page, click the name of your course [e.g., 2084_LBCMP_ECON_100_SEC01]
6. Click the Add Forum button.
7. Key in a name for the forum in the Name box [e.g., “Week 1 Discussion”, “Chapter 1 Discussion”] This is required.
8. Key in a description of the forum in the Description box. This is optional.
9. In Forum Availability, choose the appropriate availability and date restrictions.
10. In Forum Settings, check the appropriate boxes if you choose to
    • Allow anonymous posts.
    • Allow author to remove own post.
    • Allow author to modify own published posts.
    • Allow post tagging. Instructors can create and apply text labels of their own choosing to messages in a forum; other Discussion Board users can read, filter, and search messages using the tags, but cannot create new ones. For faster Discussion Board page loading, do not allow message tagging.
    • Allow users to reply with quote. This allows users to include the text of the original message in any replies to that message. This is enabled by default.
    • Allow file attachments.
    • Allow members to create new threads.
    • Subscribe. If this is enabled, discussion board users can subscribe to a thread or a forum and receive email alerts once new messages are posted to that thread or forum. These messages can contain either a link to the new message itself or a link and the text of the new message. An instructor can choose to allow no subscriptions, subscriptions at the thread level, or subscriptions at the forum level. If subscription is enabled, the instructor can choose to have subscription email messages contain either the message contents or a link to the new discussion board post(s).
    • Allow members to rate posts. This enables a peer-review process that allows users to rate other users posts on a fixed, five point scale
    • Force moderation of posts. This requires that the instructor must manually review and approve all of the users' discussion board messages before those messages are posted to the forum.
    • Grade. Instructors can enable grading at the forum or thread level. See Step Four: Grade Discussion Board Participation (Optional) for more information.
11. Scroll to the bottom of the page and click the Submit button.

Step Two: Start a Thread

Step Three: Read and Reply to a Discussion Board Post

Step Four: Grade Discussion Board Participation (Optional)

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Additional Discussion Board Tools and Features