Setting Up Discussion Forums

Introduction

Discussion forums (GoPost, or message boards) were created by Catalyst, the UW group responsible for developing education technology tools for the UW community. GoPost replaces EPost, the former Catalyst discussion forum tool.

GoPost enables you to:

• Add other persons as administrators—your teaching assistant, your UWEO Assistant Director, their administrative support person, or the Instructional Designer you are working with.
• Set up multiple forums under one URL for your entire course. For example, if in the past you've had a separate forum for each lesson, and thus several URLs, you can now create one forum with areas for each lesson (one URL)
• Set up forums that are restricted to specific UW Net IDs. For example, you can create team forums, and restrict them to team members.

To set up a forum, you will need a UW NetID and password. If you don't yet have a UW NetID and password, See the Online Learning Instructor Handbook for instructions.

Once you have your UW NetID and password, you will follow a step-by-step procedure to set up the forum. Early in the process, you will reach a screen that gives you the URL for the forum. Send this link to your instructional designer to place on the online syllabus.

How to Set Up a Discussion Forum

If you need help with any of the following steps, please e-mail the Catalyst Help Desk at catalyst@u.washington.edu between 8:00 a.m. and 5:00 p.m., Monday through Friday.

1. Go to http://catalyst.washington.edu/tools/ and log in to the Catalyst tools by clicking on Web Tools Login in the upper right corner of your screen.
2. Enter your UW NetID and password. If you haven't yet created a Catalyst account, you will next be prompted to do so, after which you will reach the main menu for GoPost.
3. Select GoPost from the menu on the left.
4. Select Create a new board
5. On the next screen, enter information as described in the table below. You can change any of the information you enter as you're going along or after you've set up the forum. (See Manage below.)

Field	Enter
Name	Enter the board name. We suggest the following format: Course Abbrev: Lesson X Forum. (quarter/year) Example: CM421: Lesson One Discussion Forum (W 2007)
Description	Optional: Add a pertinent description, such as: Please respond to the question for this assignment, found in Assignment 1. or Post your Lesson One discussions in this forum.
Choose how to organize your board	"One list of conversations" or "Create discussion areas to organize your conversations" If you want only one general discussion forum in your course, or if you want a separate forum listed after each lesson and assignment on the syllabus, click "One list of conversations." If you are creating team forums, or want one link under which you list all of your forums, click "Create discussion areas to organize your conversations."

When you are finished, select Save. Notice the URL for the forum at the bottom of the next screen. This is the URL you will send to your instructional designer to post on the course Web site.

Notification Preference

Next, set your notification preferences. This will enable you to receive either a daily summary or an immediate e-mail when someone posts to the forum. Setting this preference is particularly important if you are teaching an individual start course. Directions are at http://catalyst.washington.edu/help/gopost/profile.html.

Managing Your Forum

If you have selected "One list of conversations," you will see a Manage screen similar to the one below, but without the "Discussion Areas" section. If you have selected "Create discussion areas to organize your conversation," you will see the option "Discussion Areas."

 

Following are explanations of some items on the Manage screen.

1. Click "Discussion Areas" if that option is available. If not, skip to Step 7.
   
   
2. Click Default Discussion Area 1
   
   
3. Change the name from Default Discussion Area 1 to a name of your choice (General Discussion Forum, Lesson One Discussion Forum, etc.)
4. Do the same for Default Discussion Area 2, or delete it.
5. Add discussion areas as need by clicking on the "+ Add discussion area" link.
6. Click "Save." This returns you to the Manage screen.
7. Click "Participant Access and Roles."
   
   
   
   Notice the default is set to "Anyone with a UW NetID can participate." We suggest keeping the default setting unless you're setting up teams and want only team members to have access to the forum. If so, click the Edit button in the Participant access panel, then click " UW Groups I create/select (Group Manager)" Select a group you've already created or use the Group Manager to create a group.
8. You can also edit the Visitor Access option on this screen. Visitors will be able to view but not post to the forum.
9. Click the Edit button in the Roles panel to grant administrator or moderator status to someone else. Administrators can edit the forum in any way; the only thing they can't do is delete it.
10. Click Manage to return to the  Manage screen. Notice the forum is closed by default.
11. Click Availability to open the forum.( Note that for GoPost, unlike the former EPost, the default is "closed.") We strongly recommend that you open the forum at this point so that your instructional designer can check the link.
    
    
12. It is not necessary to set a closing date, but if you want to do so, click +Add Event.

Adding Additional Forums

If you chose "Create discussion areas to organize your conversations" when you set up your forum, you can return at any time and add additional forums.

1. From the Catalyst home page, click on Web Tools Login.
2. Select GoPost and find and select your forum from the list.
3. Select Manage from the menu across the top of the page.
4. Select Discussion Area and follow the directions on the screen to add, change, or delete an area.
5. Click Save when you are done.

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