Restricting access to discussion forums and topics

You can restrict access to forums and topics in four ways:

• Hide the forum or topic from all users.
• Lock the forum or topic from all users.
• Use release conditions to display a forum or topic based on other activities within the course (for example, reading a content topic, completing a quiz).
• Restrict access to members of specific groups or sections.

Any restrictions you place on a forum also apply to all topics within the forum.

Table of contents

1. Hiding a discussion forum or topic
2. Locking a discussion forum or topic
3. Setting release conditions for a discussion forum or topic
4. Setting group and section restrictions for a discussion forum or topic
5. Automatically create restricted discussion topics for all groups in a category or sections
6. Restricting access to shared forums

Hiding a discussion forum or topic

Hidden topics do not display on the Discussions List page, except to users with permission to see hidden forums and topics or to manage discussions. By hiding topics, you can control which topics users can access at different times throughout the course. For example, you can create weekly discussion topics for users to reflect on the material covered in each week of the course and make each topic available for one week only.

You can specify start and end dates for when a forum or topic is visible so you can set up visibility ahead of time to match your course’s calendar.

Tip  Instead of scheduling a topic to disappear as soon as you want the discussion to end, consider locking the topic at that point and keeping it visible for another few days. This allows users to review the discussion after it closes so that they don’t miss the last posts added.

Hide a forum or topic

1. On the Discussions List page, click Edit from the context menu of the forum or topic you want to hide. You can also set visibility options when creating a new forum or topic.
2. In the Availability section of the Restrictions tab, select the options you want:
   • To hide the forum or topic immediately, select Hide this forum or Hide this topic. The forum or topic remains hidden until you select Forum is always visible or Topic is always visible again.
   • To hide the forum or topic until a certain date or after a certain date, select Forum is visible for a specific date range or Topic is visible for a specific date range, then select Has Start Date or Has End Date to specify the dates.
3. Click Save and Close.

Locking a discussion forum or topic

Locking a topic prevents users from creating new posts or modifying existing posts, essentially making the conversation “read only”. Users with permission can modify the contents of a locked topic. Locking a topic is an effective way of closing a conversation while allowing users to refer back to posts.

You can specify start and end dates for when a forum or topic unlocks so you can set things up ahead of time to match your course’s calendar.

Tip  Consider locking a topic to end a conversation, then using a pinned summary post inside the topic. When users access the topic, your summary appears at the top.

Lock a forum or topic

1. On the Discussions List page, click Edit from the context menu of the forum or topic you want to hide. You can also set visibility options when creating a new forum or topic.
2. In the Locking Options section of the Restrictions tab, select the options you want:
   • To lock the forum or topic immediately, select Lock forum or Lock topic. The forum or topic remains locked until you select Unlock forum or Unlock topic again.
   • To open the forum or topic within a date range, select Unlock forum for a specific date range or Unlock topic for a specific date range, then select Has Start Date or Has End Date to specify the dates.
3. Click Save and Close.

NOTE: if you set dates on both visibility (hidden) AND locking, be sure that the dates coincide.  If the visibility is different than the lock dates, students will not be able to post even if they see it; or they may not be able to see it if the locking feature dates are open but the visibility is out of range.

Setting release conditions for a discussion forum or topic

Release conditions enable you to specify requirements that users must satisfy before they can access a discussion forum or topic.

For example, you can require that users view a content topic or submit an assignment to a dropbox folder before accessing a discussion topic. Or, you might create an extra-help discussion topic for users who fail a particular quiz.

Add release conditions to a forum or topic

1. On the Discussions List page, click Edit from the context menu of the forum or topic you want to create release conditions for. You can also set release conditions when creating a new forum or topic.
2. In the Release Conditions section of the Restrictions tab, do one of the following:
   • If you have already created a release condition elsewhere and want to attach it to this forum or topic, click Attach Existing. Select the conditions you want to add, then click Attach.
   • If you want to add a new release condition that does not already exist, click Create and Attach. Enter the details for the new release condition, then click Create.
3. Choose whether All of the following conditions or Any of the following conditions must be met in order for users to access the forum or topic in the drop-down list above the listed conditions.
4. Click Save or Save and Close.

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Remove release conditions from a forum or topic

1. On the Discussions List page, click Edit from the context menu of the forum or topic you want to remove release conditions from.
2. In the Release Conditions section of the Restrictions tab, do one of the following:
   • Click the Remove  icon beside each condition you want to remove.
   • To remove all conditions, click Remove All Conditions.
3. Click Save or Save and Close.

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Setting group and section restrictions for a discussion forum or topic

You can restrict a forum or topic so that it is only accessible to members of a specific group or section. This enables you to:

• Create group discussion areas where members of a group can collaborate on assignments or discuss course material in small teams.
• Create separate forums or topics for each section in a course offering.

Note  You must create groups or sections before you can set group or section restrictions.

Restrict a single forum or topic

1. Do one of the following:
   • On the Discussions List page, click Edit from the context menu of the forum or topic you want to hide. You can also set visibility options when creating a new forum or topic.
   • If you are creating a new forum or topic, you can create group restrictions after clicking Save.
2. In the Group and Section Restrictions section of the Restrictions tab, select the Restrict this forum to the following groups or Restrict this topic to the following groups check box.
3. Click Add Groups and Sections.
4. In the Add Groups and Sections window, select a Group Category from the drop-down list. Select Sections to restrict access to sections.  NOTE: you will need to have the Group or Section created first.  See Managing Groups for details.
5. Select the groups or sections.
6. Click Add.
7. Click Save or Save and Close.

To remove a group’s access, click the Remove icon beside the group, then click Save.

To open the forum or topic to everyone again, clear the Restrict this forum to the following groups check box or Restrict this topic to the following groups check box, then click Save.

Restrict multiple forums or topics simultaneously

1. On the Discussions List page, click Group and Section Restrictions from the tool navigation.
2. Select a Group Category from the drop-down list. Select Sections to restrict access to sections.
3. Select the Forum containing the topics you want to restrict or select All Forums from the drop-down list.
4. To restrict a forum or topic to specific groups or sections, select the check box in the Restricted column, then select the groups you want to have access to the forum or topic.
5. Click Save.

To open a forum or topic to everyone, clear the check box in the Restricted column and click Save.

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Automatically create restricted discussion topics for all groups in a category or sections

You can automatically create a discussion topic for each group in a selected category. Topics get their names from the group categories and groups they associate with.

1. On the Discussions List page, click Group and Section Restrictions from the tool navigation.
2. Click the Automatically create restricted topics link.
3. Select a Group Category from the drop-down list. Select Sections to create topics for each section.
4. Select where to create the topics from the Forum drop-down list. If you want to create a new forum for the restricted topics, click New Forum.
5. Click Create.

Create section-restricted discussions

If your course has multiple sections and you want to offer separate but identical discussion topics for each section, follow these steps:

1. Create a new forum. This forum is for the first section.
2. Create all of the topics for your course within that forum.
3. Copy the forum for each additional section, selecting the option to include topics.
4. Go to the Group Restrictions page and restrict each forum to one of the sections in your course.

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Restricting access to shared forums

Users enrolled in org units with shared forums can access all shared forums and topics in that org unit, provided they have permission to see discussions. You cannot restrict access within the org unit to subsets of users. For example, you cannot create a faculty discussion forum and a user event planning forum inside the Math department, and prevent users from accessing the faculty forum while giving them access to the user one. Each user will either have access to both forums or neither forum, depending on their permissions in the Math department.

To restrict access to shared forums, you must use enrollment and permissions.

If you also want to provide forums for users in the same department, you can create a shared forum for a custom org unit type. You can create a custom type in your organization structure to shadow each department.

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