Setting Completed Discussions to "View Only"

The following Q&A came from the Blackboard Communities site to our team via its weekly "digest." Since we've had a few faculty over the years ask us about making completed discussion forums visible (but not editable) by students for the rest of a course, we wanted to share this with our UHCL Blackboard users who may be interested in a solution to that request.

Question: "Is there a way to make a graded Discussion forum available so that students can see their previous posts without allowing them to post again? In other words, I’ve graded the forum, and I don’t want to give the students the opportunity to post again, but I would like for them to see their previous work. "

Answer: If you go into the forum, and click the "select all" icon to select every thread, one of the thread actions available is "lock."  This allows every thread chain to be read, but there are no reply options.  If you then edit the forum settings and uncheck things like "Allow Members to Create New Threads," the forum will be read only. 

Blackboard Suggestion Box

Adapted from the University of Houston - Victoria's web page, Blackboard Suggestion Box

If you have a suggestion, recommendation, or feature enhancement for the Blackboard Learn system, you can send this information directly to Blackboard. Use the steps outlined below to share your recommendation with Blackboard:

1. Visit the Blackboard Community website.
2. If this is the first time you're visiting the Blackboard Community site and you're not already a registered community member, select the Register option in the upper, right-hand corner of the site and register as a member of the Blackboard Community. 
• If you're already a member of the Blackboard Community, login with your Blackboard Community credentials. IMPORTANT: Blackboard Community credential information (username and password) is not maintained and/or affiliated in any way with UHCL. Our staff is not able to provide users with Blackboard Community credential information nor will UHCL staff be able to reset passwords for users on the Blackboard Community site. 
3. Once you have successfully registered with the Blackboard Community, click the Log in option in the upper, right-hand corner of the site and select the Community Site Login option (make sure you don't select the Behind the Blackboard Login option). 
4. Once you've successfully logged into the Blackboard Community site, click on the Submit an Idea option and complete the form information that appears on that page to submit your suggestion, recommendation, or feature enhancement for the Blackboard Learn product. NOTE: For the Product Version option, UHCL uses the "Original" product (not the "Ultra" product or "Coursesites"). 
5. Make sure you click the Publish button to submit your suggestion, recommendation, or feature enhancement. 

IMPORTANT: If you receive an error message similar to "An unexpected error has occurred" when you click on the Submit an Idea option, this is usually an indication that you have not logged into the Blackboard Community site first before clicking on the Submit an Idea option. Make sure you have logged into the Blackboard Community site first before clicking on the Submit an Idea option.