Overview

Enable Discussion Boards/Enable_Discussion_Boards (Administration > Settings > Basic Customization > Discussion Boards) is an institution-wide switch that turns the Discussion Boards feature on or off across the whole system.

Discussion Boards are threaded, forum-style spaces where Teachers can start topics and where Students (and, depending on configuration, Parents) can read and reply. They can be attached to a _Subject_ (Course/Module), to an assessment, or to a Learning Room page.

This is a single on/off toggle for the entire institution. It is not set separately per Academic Period, per user, or per role – once it is turned on, the Discussion Boards tools become available everywhere they are designed to appear, subject to the permissions described in this article.

What This Setting Does

When Enable Discussion Boards is turned ON:

– Teachers gain the ability to create and manage one or more discussion boards at the level of a _Subject_ (Course/Module), at the level of an assessment, or inside a Learning Room page.

– A ‘Discussion Boards’ tab becomes visible on the _Subject_ (Course) page, both when a Teacher is setting up a new _Subject_ and when viewing an existing one.

– A ‘Discussion Board’ content block becomes available as an option when building a Learning Room page.

– Students and Parents who have access to the related _Subject_, assessment, or Learning Room can view the discussion boards attached to it and take part according to the options the Teacher chose for that specific board (see Business Logic section below).

When Enable_Discussion_Boards is turned OFF:

– The ‘Discussion Boards’ tab is hidden from _Subject_ (Course) pages.

– The ‘Discussion Board’ block option is removed from the Learning Room page builder.

– Existing discussion boards and their content are not deleted; they simply become inaccessible through the interface while the setting is off. Turning the setting back on restores access to them.

Where It Is Used

This setting affects the following areas of the application:

– _Subject_ (Course/Module) pages: controls whether the ‘Discussion Boards’ tab appears, both while creating/editing a _Subject_ and while viewing one that is already set up.

– Learning Rooms: controls whether a ‘Discussion Board’ block can be added to a Learning Room page (Learning Rooms are the institution’s mini-site/portal pages for a _Subject_, _Group_, or other topic).

– Assessments: when combined with a separate, more specific option on the assessment type (see Prerequisites below), it allows a Teacher to attach a ‘Graded’ discussion board to a specific assessment, so that student participation can be taken into account as part of that assessment.

The setting itself is a single company-wide switch, meaning it applies to the whole institution at once and is not different from one Academic Period, campus, or _Grade_ to another.

Business Logic / Behavior

Who can do what:

– Administrators, Owners, Secretaries, and Teachers can create, edit, and delete discussion boards. A Teacher who did not create a given board can generally only manage it if they also teach the related _Subject_ or assessment.

– Students and Parents can view boards that are relevant to them (for example, boards attached to a _Subject_ they are enrolled in, or an assessment they are eligible to take) and can post and reply to comments, subject to the options set for that board.

– Students and Parents can edit or delete only their own comments. Administrators, Owners, Secretaries, and the Teacher who manages the board can hide comments from other participants (for example, if a post is inappropriate or off-topic). Hidden comments are no longer shown to Students or Parents, but remain visible to staff so the moderation decision can be reviewed later.

Board settings, chosen individually for each discussion board by the Teacher who creates it:

– Allow Replies: whether participants can reply to the discussion at all.

– Allow Likes: whether participants can ‘like’ comments.

– Allow File Uploads: whether participants can attach files to their posts.

– Status: a board can be in Draft (not yet visible to Students/Parents), Published (open and visible), or Closed (visible, but no longer accepting new replies).

– Expiration Date: an optional date after which the board automatically stops accepting new replies, likes, or edits, even if it is still Published.

Additional behavior:

– Posts are always attributed to the person who wrote them; there is no anonymous posting option.

– Replies can be nested one level deep (a reply to a reply), which keeps related comments grouped together.

– Comments can be sorted (for example, oldest first, newest first, or by number of likes) when viewing a board.

– Deleting a discussion board also removes its comments, likes, and attachments. The system checks for related content before deletion and will warn if the board cannot be safely removed.

– The system does not currently send automatic e-mail or push notifications when a new post or reply is added; participants see new activity when they open the relevant _Subject_, assessment, or Learning Room page.

Examples

Example 1 – Subject-level discussion:

Mrs. Parker teaches ‘Introduction to Biology’ at Riverside Academy. With Enable Discussion Boards turned on, she opens the _Subject_ page, goes to the new ‘Discussion Boards’ tab, and creates a board titled ‘Chapter 4 Questions’. She sets it to Published, allows replies and likes, but does not allow file uploads. Students enrolled in the _Subject_ can now open the board, ask questions about Chapter 4, and reply to each other’s posts. A Student named Alex posts a question about photosynthesis; another Student, Jamie, replies with an explanation and ‘likes’ from three classmates appear under Jamie’s answer.

Example 2 – Graded discussion tied to an assessment:

Mr. Diaz wants class participation to count toward an upcoming assignment in ‘World History 101’. Because the ‘Discussion Boards’ option is also enabled on that particular assessment type (see Prerequisites), he attaches a discussion board directly to the assessment and marks it as graded. Students submit their thoughts on the assigned reading as posts on the board, and Mr. Diaz later reviews the discussion when grading that assessment.

Example 3 – Learning Room block:

The ‘Robotics Club’ Learning Room page is being built by its coordinator. With the setting enabled, a ‘Discussion Board’ block is available in the page builder, and the coordinator adds it so that members can discuss upcoming events directly on the club’s Learning Room page.

When to Use

When to Enable:

– Your institution wants Teachers to be able to run online discussions, Q&A threads, or class forums connected to a _Subject_, an assessment, or a Learning Room.

– You plan to use Learning Rooms as mini-sites for _Subjects_, _Groups_, clubs, or events, and want discussion functionality available as a page block.

– You want to let Teachers factor student participation in an online discussion into an assessment grade (Graded Discussion Boards).

When to Disable:

– Your institution does not want to offer forum-style communication tools within _Subjects_, assessments, or Learning Rooms (for example, if you use a separate external tool for this purpose).

– You want to simplify the _Subject_ page and Learning Room page builder by removing options that will not be used.

– You are not ready to define moderation practices (who reviews and hides inappropriate posts) and prefer to postpone offering this feature until those practices are in place.

Notes

K-12 versus Higher Education mode: This setting behaves identically whether the institution is running in K-12 mode or in Higher Education (college) mode. There is no difference in how discussion boards work, who can use them, or how they are configured between the two modes. (Higher Education mode is controlled separately by the ‘Use College Customization’ setting; it does not change Discussion Boards behavior.)

Prerequisites:

– To attach a discussion board to a Learning Room page, the Learning Rooms feature itself must also be enabled: Enable Learning Rooms/Enable_Learning_Rooms (Administration > Settings > Basic Customization > Discussion Boards).

– To use Graded Discussion Boards tied to a specific assessment, the corresponding ‘Discussion Boards’ option must also be turned on in the configuration of that assessment type (Academics > Assessment Types > [specific type] configuration). Enabling the general Enable Discussion Boards setting alone is not enough for the graded, assessment-linked scenario.

Related settings:

– Enable Learning Rooms/Enable_Learning_Rooms (Administration > Settings > Basic Customization > Discussion Boards) – enables the Learning Rooms (mini-site) feature that discussion boards can be embedded into.

– Discussion Boards option on Assessment Type configuration (Academics > Assessment Types > [specific type] configuration) – a separate, more specific toggle required for Graded Discussion Boards linked to assessments.

Turning this setting off does not delete any discussion boards or comments that were already created; it only hides the related tabs and options from the interface until the setting is turned back on.