Create a Group Discussion Topic from the Groups Tool

The steps below provide instructions for creating a group discussion topic from within the Groups tool.

  1. On the nav bar, click the People menu, then select Groups.
  2. Select New Category, then fill out your Category Name, selecting the enrollment type, and number of groups.
  3. Under Additional Options, check the box to Set up discussion areas.
    Groups Set up Discussion Areas
  4. Instructors can now associate existing discussion topics to a new group or section during the group or section creation process. In addition, users can associate existing discussion topics to groups or sections not associated with any other discussion topic. Note that users can only choose existing discussion topics that have no existing discussion posts for association. This feature is useful for creating groups or sections after copying a course, or if discussion topics were accidentally created before. groups or sections.Group Associate Existing Topic
  5. Set any other preferences you have, then click Save.
  6. On the page that follows, either select an existing Discussion Forum or click New Forum.
    Groups Weekly Discussions
  7. Select your topic type.  The default is Create one topic per group.  This requires the instructor to set up separate grade items in the Grades tool.  The second option is Create one topic with threads separated by group. It is recommended to use this option if you want to have only ONE grade item for the discussion topics with group members only seeing their group member responses.  In the example below, Groups Weekly Discussions was selected, then a topic titled Week 1 Discussion was created.
    Gropus One Discussion Topic by Group
  8. Click Add Another to create an additional discussion topic (such as Week 2 discussion, etc.) or click Create and Next to complete the group setup.
  9. To associate your new discussion topics to a Grade Item:
    1. On the nav bar, click the Activities menu, then select Discussions.
    2. Select the context menu next to the discussion topics you created, and select Edit Topic.
    3. Select the Assessment tab, then associate topics to your Grade Item.
    4. Save and Close.
    5. Repeat for additional Discussion Topics.