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Creating Private Categories in the Discussion Forum with Course Groups

You can restrict access to a Discussion Forum category so only a specific group of students can see and interact within that category. This allows you to divide the class into small groups to work on assignments and projects. You also have the option to hide the categories while you're creating the groups until it is time for the students to begin working on their assignments. All of this works in conjunction with course groups set up in the Course Groups tool.

 

How to Create a Course Group and Associate It with a Discussion Forum Category

  1. Click Course Groups on the main Faculty Tools page.
  2. Click Create New Group.
  3. Type a title for the group in the Name of Group field. What you type here will also appear as the name of the category in the Discussion Forum.
  4. Select Yes to Make a private Discussion Forum category for this group option. If this option is not selected, a category will not be created in the Discussion Forum.
  5. Select Yes if you would like to Hide this group from the student view. Selecting this option will cause this group to be hidden from all student views within the course site. You may want to select this option while you are putting together groups.
  6. Select each student name from the Students In Class box that you would like to add to the group.
  7. Click the Add button and the student's name will appear in the Students In Group box. Repeat this step for each selected student.
  8. Click Save Group Setup.

 

How to Associate a New Category with an Existing Course Group

  1. Within the Discussion Forum, click the Admin link at the top right of the page.
  2. Click the New Category link at the top of the Admin page.
  3. Enter the title of the category and a description of the exercise.
  4. Under Topic Options and for the Topic Status field, select Only specified users can see this category from the drop down list.
  5. Under the Access to This Category section, select the Course Group option and then select which group you would like to give access.
  6. If you do not want the students to view the category yet, check the box to Hide from Students' View.
  7. Select any other options on the form if necessary.
  8. Click Create Category.