Discussion Forum - Advanced Settings

Discussion Forum - Advanced Settings Information

The ANGEL Discussion Forum has many rich features that exploit online communication’s ability to enrich teaching and learning. This tutorial will explain the advanced settings for discussion forums. NOTE - To review how to add a forum and the normal settings, please view the How to Add a Fourm tutorial.

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1. Click on the Forum name link that you wish to edit in advanced mode.

Edit Link

2. Click on the Advanced check box. NOTE - You can set your system preferences to automatically be an advanced user. Please review the tutorial on How to Change your System Preferences.

Advanced Check Box

3. The Link Target drop-down menu specifies whether the quiz will be displayed in the same ANGEL window.

• Selecting new window will cause the linked document to open in a new browser window.
• Selecting parent window will cause the linked document to open in the parent frame (one step up in the frame hierarchy), replacing the ANGEL course navigation bar.
• Same window is the default target for all hyperlinks.
• Selecting current frame will cause the linked document to open in the same browser window or frame as the source document.
• Selecting top window will cause the linked document to open at the top level of the browser window, replacing the ANGEL environment.

Link Target

4. The Editing drop-down menu provides a selection of whether discussion forum posts are editable. If you want to allow users to edit their posts once they have been posted, select Allowed. To not allow editing of a post, select Not Allowed.

Editing List

5. The Anonymous Posts provides the option to determine if posts will be allowed as no anonymous, allow anonymous or always anonymous. No Anonymous restricts anonymous postings to the discussion forum, whereas Allow Anonymous provides the user with the option of submitting a post anonymously or providing their name. The Always Anonymous settings will submit all posts to the discussion forum as anonymous postings.

Anonymous Posts

6. The Attachments allows you to choose to allow or not allow attachments to discussion posts.

Attachments

7. Moderation provides the option to have a moderated discussion forum. This can be Enabled or Disabled. This means that when a student posts to the discussion forum, the post will not automatically show up for everyone. The instructor must click on the Approved or Reject link for each post to allow others to see the post.

Moderation

8. Mode provides the option to use a normal discussion forum, a user journal, or a team discussion forum. A journal discussion forum is a specialized discussion forum that shows only a user’s posts and replies to those posts by course editors. The private nature of this forum encourages more reflective writing and provides the opportunity for one-on-one interaction between student and instructor. The team discussion forum allows each team member to see other team member posts but not allow other teams to view the posts.

Mode

9. The Max Rating text box provides an option for changing the rating value for discussion forum posts. The default is set to 5.

Max Rating

10. The Reply Subjects drop-down menu provides an option to have the original post displayed below the posting area of the reply.

Reply Subject

11. Under the Access Settings, you can specify a begin and ending date for the forum.

Start and End Dates