Managing in-course forums

Managing in-course forums

Roles: Primary Admin, Admin

Description: In this article, you will learn how to turn the forum on or off for a single course, learning path, or event. Each training can have its own forum, so learners can discuss the content right where they learn it.

Benefits:

  • Control per training: Keep forums on for trainings that benefit from discussion, and turn them off where they don't.
  • Discussions next to the content: Learners ask questions in the forum of the training they are taking.
  • Nothing is lost: Turning a forum off hides it. Turning it back on brings it back.

Note: Training forums are available when Social Learning is turned on for your organization. See How to enable/disable social learning?

Step by step: turn a course forum on or off

  1. In the top navigation menu, go to Training > Courses and open the course.
  2. Click Course Settings in the panel on the right of the course page.
  3. In the Course Settings window, stay on the Configurations tab and scroll to Forum.
  4. Set Forum to Enable or Disable.
  5. Click Update.

Course page with Course Settings and its gear in the right panel and the Forum tab

The Forum setting says: "Disabling the forum here hides the forum's access from users. Enabling allows the access."

Course Settings window on the CONFIGURATIONS tab with Forum set to Enable, Cancel, and Update

Step by step: turn a learning path forum on or off

  1. Go to Training > Paths and open the path.
  2. Click the settings (gear) icon at the top of the path page.
  3. In the Path Settings window, find Forum and set it to Enable or Disable.
  4. Click Update.

Path page with the gear icon next to the three-dot menu and Publish, and the Forum tab

Path Settings window on the SETTINGS tab with Forum set to Enable, Cancel, and Update

You can also set Forum in the Settings step when you create or edit a path.

Step by step: turn an event forum on or off

  1. Go to Training > Events and open the event.
  2. Click the three-dot menu at the top of the event page.
  3. Select Enable Forum to turn the event's forum on. When the forum is on, the same menu shows Disable Forum instead, to turn it off.

Event three-dot menu with Edit Event, Duplicate Event, Cancel Event, Enable Forum, and Copy Event URL

Where learners see the forum

  • Courses and learning paths: Learners see a Forum tab on the training page. Learners and admins can open it to read posts and join the discussion.
  • Events: When the forum is on, the event page has a Discussion tab for the event's forum.

Forum tab of a course in the learner view with Add a post, Latest, and Popular

Admins see the same Forum tab on the course and path pages. It lists the latest and most popular posts, and View All opens the full list.

Forum tab of a course in the admin view with Latest, Popular, recent posts, and View All

What happens when you turn a forum off

  • Learners can no longer open the training's forum, read its posts, or add to it.
  • Existing posts, comments, and replies are not deleted. They come back when you turn the forum on again.
  • General forums and the forums of other trainings are not affected.

Common questions

Does turning off a training's forum turn off Social Learning?

No. It only affects that one training. To turn forums off for the whole organization, see How to enable/disable social learning?.

Will I lose posts if I turn the forum off?

No. Posts, comments, and replies are kept, and they appear again when the forum is back on.

Where can I see all posts from all trainings?

Go to Engagement > Forums and click the Posts tab. Each post shows where it was posted, such as a course, learning path, event, or general forum.

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