Summary
Your forum settings and learner enrollments determine what learners can view and access.
Forum features are available to all customers on request.
Learners can:
- access the forum
- view topics
- create posts on topics by default - you can change permissions to read-only for learners if required
- comment on posts
In forums, learners and moderators generate content that other learners share, as long as the participant is part of the portal. Their account status affects access to the content they create:
- if a learner's account is disabled, the posts they contributed remain part of the portal
- if a learner's account is deleted, their posts are also deleted
See Disable a user account, or delete an account for more about account statuses.
Access permissions
- learners: view Forums by default when the feature is turned on
- all other user types: access Forums from their Learner view
For the redesigned interface, Forums is available only from a learner's view. Select User Settings > Switch to learner to access Forums.
See Navigating LearnUpon: switch to learner view
Learner's view of a forum
See Forums overview: topics, permissions and moderators to distinguish between topics, posts and comments.
Once you set up forums on your portal, your learners can access them from their main navigation.
The following screenshot shows a learner's view of a portal with forums. It includes a topic, and a learning path, and uses the option to view All Posts.
Admins need to create topics, which give learners a place to publish posts and comments: without topics, no one can participate in the forum. See Enable forums for your portal, and add topics
When you create topics, select Anyone with permission to view the topic in Who can post in this topic, so learners can post and comment.
Tip: Use a sample learner account to verify access, to make sure learners can see and create content.
Create a post on a topic
- From the primary navigation menu, select Forum.
- Select a Topic, Course or Learning Path.
- Select Create New Post.
- Enter a Post Title.
- To upload an image, select Upload Image.
- Enter a term in Tags to create a new one or select an existing tag.
- Enter text into Post Content.
- Select Save to save as a draft post, or Publish to publish immediately.
The following screenshot shows an example post for a learning path forum in process.
Create a post on a course or learning path forum
To create a course or learning path-specific topic, viewable only to enrolled learners, you must set up forums in the course's or learning path's Forum settings.
See Forums: set up forums for your portal, and add topics.
From main navigation, the learner can select Forum, and select the course or learning path content.
- Select Create New Post: the associated course or learning path name appears automatically.
- Enter a Post Title.
- To upload an image, select Upload Image.
- Add any Tags, or enter text to create one.
- Enter text into Post Content.
- Select Save to save as a draft post, or Publish to publish immediately.
Add a comment
If Users can comment on post is enabled on a post, learners can add comments.
To make a comment, enter text into the Comment box, and select Add Comment.
The following screenshot shows the text space where a learner can add a comment to a post.
Moderate topics
You can enable any user to moderate forums: the moderator role is not linked to LearnUpon user types. See Forums: add moderators for a topic, course or learning path.
For LearnUpon forums, a moderator has permissions to:
- create new posts
- delete posts or comments
- disable posting
- unpublish the topic
To delete a comment:
- Navigate to Forum > Moderation.
- Find the comment in the post.
- From More (aka 3-dot menu), select Delete Comment.
Search for posts
A learner can search for posts by title, using the search field on the forum page. This search engine applies only to forum content: it doesn't find content from other courses or from the catalog, for example.
The following screenshot shows an example of using the forum search engine.
Filter posts
Learners can filter posts by a topic, course, or learning path, and also by dates and tags.
- In the forum navigation, select Filter.
- Select dates from Created After and/or Created Before calendars.
- Select Topic, Course or Learning Path and then choose an entry from the drop-down menu.
- Select Tags field to view tags.
- Select Accept to create the filter.
The following screenshot shows a sample filter using the Filter Posts dialog.
See: