In your Course Menu, you will likely find a link for the Discussion Board (If you do not have a link to the Discussion Board, you will need to add a tool link to the Course Menu first). However, you will need to create forums for this discussion board. When you create a forum, you can set the settings for that thread including availability, allowing file attachments, allowing authors to delete posts, and grading.

Step-by-step guide

To create a forum

1. In the Course Menu, click Discussions.
   
   
   
2. Click Create Forum.
   
   
   
3. Enter the Forum information in the first section.
   
   
   
4. In the second section, set availability restrictions if desired. Students will not see the discussion board if you select No next to Available.
   
   
   
5. In the third section, select the options you want to include for this particular forum. For example, if you wish to allow members to create new thread or to add file attachments. For an in-depth look at forum settings, view the working with forum settings page.
   
   
   
6. When you are finished, click Submit.

To set up grading for a thread

Instead of grading an entire forum, you can grade user's individual threads. This is useful for more detailed responses or participation grades. 

1. Create a new forum.
2. Under the forum settings, select Grade Threads.
   
   
   
3. The resulting pop-up box lets you choose how often you will be prompted to grade discussion threads. Also, when you select Grade Threads, you will need to start the thread yourself in the forum. Students cannot create their own threads when Grade Threads is selected.