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Force Moderation of Posts

What It Is.  

The "Force Moderation of Posts" is a feature that allows instructors to funnel all posts through a designated moderator of a discussion board for approval before the posts are published. The instructor may designate themselves, a teaching assistant, or a student as a moderator. Blackboard offers the option of sending all posts through a moderator prior to being published for all discussion board members to read.

Implications for Teaching and Learning.

Forced moderation can be a good choice for courses in which sensitive material is being discussed, or in situations where student posts have been inappropriate.  This tool allows the instructor, or individuals assigned by the instructor, to have more control over what is posted in the Discussion Board forums of their course.

The image shows the Discussion Forum creation screen for Blackboard.

You will notice that the function of assigning roles is no longer available in the Discussion Forum creation screen.  This function is now available through the Manage button in the Discussion Board forum. 

In the Manage Forum Users screen, the instructor can assign user roles by clicking on the drop down menu beside each users' name. 

When a posting is made to a forum that is in forced moderation,  the moderator clicks on the Moderate Forum button.

A list of posts waiting to be moderated appears.  The moderator clicks on the Moderate button to open the posts.

The moderator can then choose to publish the post, or to return the post to the student for revision.  There is a text box in this area so that the moderator can provide feedback to the student regarding what parts of the post need to be revised before it will be ready to publish.

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