VIU Campus

Manage Discussions

Once you have created discussions for your course, you may want to rearrange, move, edit, or delete existing topics. You can also move or delete individual students' posts or threads if needed.

Rearrange Discussions

By default, newly added forums and topics are always added below existing content. Once you have added all your forums and topics, you may want to reorder them to better match the organization of your course.

  1. From the course navigation bar, select Communication and then Discussions from the dropdown menu.

  2. Click the grey More Actions button and choose Reorder.

  3. You will see a screen with all of your forums and topics displayed. Use the drop down boxes on the right side of the page to choose what order you want the forums and topics to display in. 

  4. When you are happy with the order, click the blue Save button. 
  1. In the Discussion tool, locate the Topic you want to move.

  2. Click on the arrow to the right of the topic title to open its context menu and select Edit Topic.

  3. Click the Change Forum text.

  4. Click the name of the current discussion forum and select another existing forum from the dropdown menu.

    Alternatively, click the Create a forum textbox to create a new forum. Give your forum a new title in the input field provided.

  5. Click the blue Apply Changes button. 

  6. Once you have finished editing, click the blue Save and Close button.

Please note that if you have set conditions at the forum level, these conditions will affect all topics in the forum as long as those topics stay in the forum. If you move the topic to a new forum, it will not retain the settings from its original forum. 

Sometimes a post may be saved to the wrong discussion topic and needs to be moved. As the instructor in the course, you can copy a post to another location and then delete the original post in order to move this post to the appropriate location.

Please note that if you are moving a reply to a thread, that reply will be posted as the start of a new thread in its new location. It is not currently possible to move a reply from one thread to another. 

  1. In the Discussion tool, navigate to the post, thread, or reply you want to move. 

  2. Click on the arrow beside the post title to open it's context menu. 

  3. Select Copy Thread or Copy Post.

  4.  In the window that opens, select the forum and then the topic where you want the post to be copied to. If the topic you select is a group restricted topic, you will be given a third drop down menu which allows you to select which group you want to copy the post to.
    • To copy an entire thread (including all replies) check the box for Copy Replies.
    • To delete the post in its original location automatically, check the box for Delete original post after copy completes. (Note: you can always delete the post manually after confirming the copied post appeared as expected)
  5. When you have set all of the options you want for the copy, click Copy

  6. You will see a confirmation that the post has been copied successfully. 

Edit Discussions

  1. In the Discussion tool, locate the forum or topic you want to edit.

  2. Click on the arrow to the right of the forum or topic title to open its context menu and select Edit Forum or Edit Topic.

  3. Make any changes to your forum or topic settings, title, or description.

  4. When you are finished making changes, click the blue Save and Close button. 
  1. In the Discussion tool, navigate to the post you want to edit.

  2. Click on the arrow to the right of the post title to open its context menu and select Edit Thread or Edit Post.

  3. Make any change to the post content, attachments, or title.

  4. When you are finished making changes, click the blue Save and Close button. 

Delete Discussions

  1. Click on the arrow to the right of the forum or topic title to open its context menu and select Delete from the drop-down menu.

  2. Click the blue Yes button to confirm. 

If you delete a forum or topic in error, it is possible to restore this deleted activity from the Discussion tool. 

  1. In the Discussion tool, click on the grey More Actions button.

  2. Select Restore.

  3. You will see a list of forums and topics that have been deleted. Click Restore to the right of the forum or topic you want to restore.

  4. You will see a confirmation message that the forum or topic has been restored. When you are finished, you can use the course navigation bar or the breadcrumbs at the top of the page to return to the Discussions list.

Please exercise caution when deleting replies or entire threads. Threads and replies cannot be restored once deleted with these steps. Deleting a thread will also delete all replies to that thread. If a student has posted something inappropriate, you may want to copy the topic to a hidden discussion instead of deleting the post outright so you can retain the post for your records without it remaining visible to students. If you have any questions, please contact learnsupport@viu.ca and we will be happy to book a consultation to assist you. 

  1. Navigate to the discussion post you want to delete. 

  2. Click the arrow next to the title of the post or thread.
     
  3. Select Delete Thread or Delete Post

  4. You will see a confirmation pop-up. Select Yes to permanently delete the posts, threads, and/or replies. 

  5. You will see a confirmation message at the bottom of your screen letting you know that the posts, threads, and/or replies have been deleted.