Directions for Setting Up a Threaded Discussion Board on Sharepoint
Step One: Setting Up the Discussion Board
1. Login to Sharepoint and go to “My Teacher Site”, where you will see all your files (in the
middle) and all the classes you teach (on right-hand side.)
Note: Student’s sites look similar to this. They have all their files listed, and all the
classes they are taking.
2. Click on the class you want to set the discussion board. (Ex: ENGLISH 9)
3. Once in the class homepage or workspace, there is a blue bar running vertically on the left-
hand side of the page. Select “Discussions.”
4. There will be an option to “Create.” Click here.
5. You will come to a screen with lots of options. Under “Communications”, click on
“Discussion Board.”
6. Next, you will be asked to give the Discussion Board a name and provide a
discription. This is what your students will see. You want to select “Yes” to display the
list on the Quick Launch.
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7. You will know that you have successfully created the discussion board when you see
it listed on the left-hand side of your screen under “Discussions.” (See next picture.)
8. The next step is to add the discussion topics.
Step Two: Beginning a Discussion
1. Once you have created your discussion board, you can enter it, but there will (obviously) be
nothing posted yet. To post the first thread/message, on this discussion board, select “New”
and then “Discussion.”
2. Here, either post the first topic or question. When you have typed what you want to say,
click “Save and Close.”
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(Note: The “subject” is like the subject of an email—it should be the main question or topic.
Under “Body”, you can give further instructions or direct students to post a reply. This is also
what students will do when posting their own topics. )
3. You should see the first topic on the discussion board.
4. Repeat step two to input all the discussion topics.
Step Three: Selecting Users
1. The next important step is making sure all students have the correct permissions to add to
the class site. (The Sharepoint default does not let students contribute to discussion boards,
only read them.)
2. To do this, you need to be on the main page of the discussion board. At the top left-hand
side of the screen, you will see a tab called “Site Actions.” Click there and select “Site
Settings.”
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2. In the “Site Settings” option, find the “Users and Permissions” heading. Select “Advanced
Permissions.”
3. Here you will see a list of all those who can control, view, or read this discussion board.
(Your name will be there, probably administrators, and students. Students’ permissions will
most likely be listed as “Read.” To change this, select the “Actions” tab, and then “Edit User
Permissions.”
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4. In the Edit Permissions screen, you want to change student permissions so they can post on
the discussion board. Click “Contribute” then “OK.”
5. Back at the Permissions screen, the students should now be listed as Contributors. This
means they can now post on the discussion board!
*If you have further trouble with this, your CRS can probably help you.
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Step Four: Replying to a Post
1. When students enter the discussion board, they will see questions you have posted on the
discussion board. To respond, click on one topic, read the entire post, then click “Reply” at the
top left corner.
2. Students will type a response in the “Body” area, then click “OK” when they are done.
3. All posts can be seen on the main discussion board screen. You can choose “Flat” or “Threaded” (see
picture for step #1) for different views. Choose the one that makes the most sense to you.
Good luck! Enjoy the discussion!
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