Discussions: Basic

Follow these steps to set up and use Discussions in Carmen. For a general overview of Discussion features, see Discussions: Overview.

To begin, log in to Carmen, go to a Course Home page, and click Discussions. (Note: Discussion List in the Main Menu box and Forums & Topics List in the Top Toolbar should be highlighted.)

Create Forums and Topics

Show me how to create forums and topics.

Forums contain related discussion topics and provide students with a title (or theme) and description for the topics within that Forum.

Discussions screen

To create a forum:

1. Click New Forum in the top toolbar.

2. Type a forum Title.

3. Optional: Type a Description to provide information on the types of material students will expect to find in this Forum.

Check Create a new Topic in this Forum with the same title to simultaneously create a discussion topic.

You may use the HTML Editor to enhance your description with formatted text, a QuickLink, or an image. However, images and large-formatted text will take up screen space as your students use the Discussion tool. Use these elements judiciously.

4. Choose optional settings:

Check Allow anonymous messages if you want to allow all users (both instructors and students) the option to post anonymously. Discussion participants will have the option to post anonymously each time they post a message or a reply.
Check Messages must be approved before being displayed if you want to review and approve each message posting before it is made available to others in the discussion forum.

5. Set optional availability settings: Under the Availability heading, you may choose visibility options by clicking on the link Show Forum visibility options.

Default is Forum is Always Visible, which allows those with forum access to view its content. See the section about Locking Options to control whether students can post messages and comments.
Select Hide this Forum to make the forum invisible to students. Remember to uncheck this box when you are ready to release the forum to students. Note: if you hide a forum, all the topics included in the forum will also be hidden.
By selecting Forum is visible for a specific date range, select Start Date and specify a date and time when the discussion topic will become available to students.
Select End Date and specify a date and time when the discussion topic will be hidden from student view.

Selecting an End Date will hide the forum from the student's view and thus disallow posting messages. If you would like the students to view the forum but not post messages, enable the Locking Option instead of hiding the forum.

6. Under the Locking Options heading, you may choose locking options by clicking Show locking option. By locking a topic, you prevent students from adding to the forum or topic discussion; however, students will still be able to view previously entered discussion postings.

Default is Unlock Forum, which allows those with forum access to view its content AND post messages and comments.
Select Lock Forum to make the forum viewable, but not editable, to students. Remember to unlock when you are ready for people to participate in the discussion topic. Note, if you lock a forum, all the topics included in the topic will also be locked.
By selecting Unlock Forum for a specific date range, select Start Date and specify a date and time when the discussion topic will become editable to students.
Select End Date and specify a date and time when the discussion topic will be locked, thus preventing additional discussion postings.

7. Click Save, or click Save & Add Topic to immediately create a topic in this forum.

To add a topic:

If you clicked Save & Add Topic in the previous step, you are ready to add a topic. If you clicked Save in the previous step and returned to the Discussions main page, click New Topic next to the forum to create a new topic.

1. Type a Topic Title.

2. Type a Description to provide information about this topic.

As with forum descriptions, you may use the HTML Editor to enhance your description with formatted text, a QuickLink, or an image. However, images and large-formatted text will take up screen space as your students use the Discussion tool. Use these elements judiciously.

3. Choose optional settings. These options are similar to optional settings for Forums, as listed above.

4. Click Save and then Forums & Topics List (or click Discussions in the navigation bar) to return to the Discussions page, or click Save and New to create additional topics within this forum.

Participate in and Manage Discussions

To participate in discussion topics, use the buttons at the top of the forum area and at the top of each topic.

discussion participation

All users, regardless of role, can view messages, compose new messages, and reply to messages.
All users can mark messages as read, search for specific messages, and control personal display settings. Users can also compile and print messages, if desired.
All users can subscribe or unsubscribe to have new messages delivered to their email address (more detail...).
All users can edit, delete, or copy their own messages.
If enabled by the instructor, all users can rate messages.
Instructors can edit, delete, and copy messages created by students. Instructors can also see a history of activity related to each message.
Instructors can assess messages, if a topic is set up for assessment.

Set Forum and Topic Restrictions (Optional)

You can set up private discussion forums and topics in your course. This allows you to limit access to a particular conversation to a specified set of individuals in your course. For example, you may divide your class into smaller groups to encourage interaction among students. You could also use private discussion topics to allow groups of students to collaborate on a project (see Discussion Tips for detail).

Private discussion topics are accessible only to specific individuals within a Carmen course. As such, instructors should take care when setting up private discussion topics to make appropriate inclusions and exclusions.

Setting up private groups is a two-step process:

Creating appropriate groups within the Groups tool. See Groups for instructions about setting up groups.
Associating the groups with topics in the Discussions tool.

Creating Discussion Groups Automatically

You can automatically create restricted discussion topics when you create Groups using the Groups tool. This is the fastest method to create private discussion topics. Follow the instructions in that area.

If you already have groups created, you can continue to the next step to create the private discussion topics for each group from within the Discussions tool.

Restricting Forums and Topics Manually

Choose the option that best suits your needs. These options assume you have already created groups using the Groups tool.

Option 1: Use Release Conditions

This option would be most useful if students must complete some other action in addition to group membership before they can begin to participate in the discussion.

From within Edit Forum or Edit Topic, click on the Restrictions tab. Use the Release Conditions area to specify requirements that students must satisfy before they can view the item. See Release Conditions for more information.

Option 2: Set restrictions for each topic individually

This option would allow you to create group-based restrictions as you create each topic.

From within Edit Forum or Edit Topic, click on the Restrictions tab. Use the Group Restrictions area to identify which group should be able to see the topic. Check the box to "Restrict this topic to the following groups" and then click the Add Groups button to select the desired group or section.

Option 3: Set restrictions for a many topics at the same time

This option will work best if you have already created both your groups and your topics.

1. From the main Discussion area, click Group Restrictions in the main menu.

2. Use the dropdown menus to choose the Group Category and Forum you want to work with. Notice how the information available under Edit Restrictions changes based on the choices you make in the dropdown menus.

3. Check the boxes to set restrictions. Check the box in the Restricted column if you want to limit access to that forum or topic. Then, check the box to indicate which group can see that forum or topic.

We recommend that you not to restrict anything at the forum level. If you were to restrict the forum (instead of the enclosed topics), only the members of the group itself (that is, only the students in the specified group) would have access to the forum.

restricted discussions

In this example, all students will see the forum called "Usability Concepts" since it is not restricted. Inside that forum, members of Alex's Group and Brett's Group will only be able to see (and participate in) the "Cognitive Theories" topic; members of Chris's Group and Dana's Group will only be able to see (and participate in) the "Ergonomics" topic.

3. Click Save when you are done.

Assess Discussion Participation (Optional)

Enable Assessment

Carmen allows you to seamlessly connect the Discussions tool with the Grades tool.

We recommend you set up your Gradebook first to ensure categories and items are organized as you desire. See Grades: Basic for more information about setting up your Gradebook.

To create the connection between a Discussion topic and the Gradebook:

1. Access the Discussions tool.

2. Click Edit to the right of the topic for which you would like to assign a grade.

3. Click the Assessment tab.

4. Choose the Grade Item to which the topic score will be connected.

5. Determine the points value for Score Out of:

6. Choose your calculation method. This will determine how scores assigned to individual messages will be combined before being sent to the Gradebook.

7. Check Include unassessed messages in the calculated score as zero if you would like.

8. Click Save.

Assess Messages

Once students have finished a discussion, you can assess messages and assign grades.

To assess individual messages as you read them, click the Assess link at the top of the message and assign a score. Carmen will combine scores from multiple messages associated with a single student, based on the calculation method you chose above.
To assess all messages from each student, start at the Forums & Topics List. Click on the Assess icon next to the topic you wish to assess. Click on a student's name. Read the messages and assign scores. Depending on the calculation method you chose, you may need to enter a score for each message or a single score for all messages.

Additional Options:

Modify Properties of Forums or Topics

To modify a forum or topic, including descriptions, availability, and restrictions:

1. Access the Discussions tool.

2. Click Edit to the right of the forum or topic you wish to edit.

3. Make changes as needed to the forum or topic details.

4. Click Save.

Re-Order Forums or Topics

To re-order Forums and Topics:

1. Access the Discussions tool.

2. Click Re-Order.

3. Update the numbers beside the forums or topics to reflect the new order.

Reordering topics will only change their order within their parent forum. To move a topic from one forum to another, the topic must be moved from the previous forum and placed in a new forum by choosing Edit at the top and choosing the new forum from the dropdown menu (or choosing New Forum).

4. Click Save. Your changes will be reflected on the Discussions main page.

Re-Name Forums or Topics

To rename a forum or topic:

1. Access the Discussions tool.

2. Click Edit to the right of the forum or topic you wish to rename.

3. Type the new name of the forum or topic in the Title field.

4. Click Save.

Delete Forums or Topics

To delete a forum or Topic:

Deleting a forum deletes all topics associated with it. Deleting a topic deletes all messages associated with it.

1. Access the Discussions tool.

2. Click Delete.

3. Check the forum(s) or topic(s) to delete.

4. Click Delete Selected .

5. Confirm you wish to delete the selected forum or topic. Your changes will be reflected on the Discussions main page.

View Statistics

To assist instructors in monitoring student participation in discussions, Discussions feature a tracking tool.

1. Access the Discussions tool.

2. Click Statistics in the main menu or to the right of the specific forum or topic.

3. Choose whether to view Statistics for users or forums and topics via the tabs. Statistics can be viewed either by user (to track participation), or by forum/topic (to track general engagement with discussion Topics).

4. For greater flexibility in analyzing the discussion statistics, click Export to CSV File and open the data in your preferred spreadsheet program.

Search Discussions

To find specific words or phrases within the discussion forums, use the search function.

1. Access the Discussions tool.

2. Choose a topic.

3. Click Show Search to make the Search dialog box appear. Search parameters (click on Show Search Options) include:

Search only in subject lines
Search in body of message text
Search for author name
Limit of dates in which to search
Search for flagged or unflagged messages
Search for Message Status
Search for Message Score

4. Type the keywords in which you wish to search.

5. Click Search.

To hide the Search dialog box, click Hide Search.

Modify Settings

Modify Course (Org Unit) and Personal Settings in the Discussions tool.

Org Unit Settings

These Settings apply to all users within the current course (also known as an "org unit").

Check Messages can be rated to allow messages posted to topics to be rated by users with the appropriate permissions. This makes the 5 stars visible and clickable by users.
Check Topic descriptions are displayed in the Message List to display topic descriptions for all users. (Unchecking this option can save space for users at lower resolutions in the Message List.)

Personal Settings

Personal Settings apply to your own view of the Discussions tool. Students will be able to manage their own personal settings.

Display Settings:

1. Check Show the discussion Topics list to display the left Topics List pane in the Message List view.

2. Check Show the search bar to display the Search fields in the Message List view.

3. Check Show the preview pane to display the lower Preview pane in the Message List View.

If this option is not checked, clicking on a message in the Message List view will open the message in a popup window.

4. Check Display deleted messages to see messages that you have deleted.

Students do not have this option. If you have deleted a message, it will no longer be visible to students, even if you have checked this box.

Default Message List View:

Choose either Threaded View or Un-threaded View for the default view that will be used when accessing the Message List view for a topic.

Message List Style:

Choose Grid Style where message subjects are displayed in a grid, or choose Reading Style where the entire message text is displayed for all messages.

Grid Style:

Reading Style:

Message Fields to Display:

1. Check Carmen ID to display the Carmen ID for the message author in the Message List view.

2. Check Message ID to display the Message ID for messages in the Message List view.

Character Limits:

Check Limit the number of characters of the subject to display in the Message List if you would like to display less than the default number of 50 characters.

The Subject Characters to Display must be an integer between one and 50.

Reply Settings:

Check Include original message text in reply to provide the original message text in a new message when composing a reply.

Remember to click Save after making changes to the Org Unit and/or Personal Settings. A blue notification will appear in the Settings window when you have successfully saved your changes.

Current as of December 2010 (D2L 9.1). Not significantly impacted by December 2011 update (D2L 9.4).