Discussion Boards provide a positive space for families to connect, ask questions, and get support, with built-in AI moderation to help your team monitor the conversation. Once you've implemented a Discussion Board, check out our other Discussion Boards Guides to further your understanding.
Setting up a Discussion Board
In the admin area, navigate to the Discussions Board icon and click the "Create a Discussion Board" button.
Put in the key details for your Board. This includes:
Name - Make this specific to your audience
Description (optional) - Add a short introduction, description, or welcome message to families. This appears to users when they click into this discussion board.
EXAMPLE: Welcome to the Model University Family Forum, a space for families to discuss all things Model U! For a quick guide on how to use the Discussion Board, click HERE!
You may want to use this space to share important links or guidelines to families. We recommend using the example above with the linked guide, but you are welcome to customize this!
Audience - Target your audience based on who the Board is for (e.g. all families, first year families, first-gen families, etc.)
💡 Pro Tip (strongly recommended): Tag the audience to a test community that you're in before switching it to the proper audience when you’re ready to launch, so you can test out how your Board looks.
Visit our Guide on Dynamic User Targeting to see every option for user targeting and learn how you can segment your Discussion Board audience further.
When you're done with the setup, click the "Create a Discussion Board" button.
NOTE: The Discussion Board will automatically set to active on the setup page. You can disable your Board at any time.
Turning on Admin Notifications
NOTE: You can only turn on notifications once you set at least one Discussion Board to active.
If you want to set notifications for yourself, click the person icon and "Edit My Notifications." If you want to do this for another user, you can have them follow the same steps or Impersonate them.
Select notifications. There are two options:
Checking off Discussion Boards Notifications notifies admins of reported content.
Checking off Discussion Boards Digest notifies admins a summary of activity in the Discussion Board. There is both a daily and weekly option.
NOTE: Different admins can be notified for different Discussion Boards.
Adding Your Initial Posts
NOTE: You can only create a post in the Discussion Board once your Board is set to active.
We suggest adding 1-3 initial posts for each Board so that families see something they can engage with when they check it out for the first time.
Click on the "Discussions" icon and click "Create a Post".
Alternatively, you can always click on the “chat” 💬 icon in the top right corner of your homepage and click “Create Post” button to add a new post.
Select the Discussion Board you want to post to. Here you can:
Add a Headline
Upload an image (optional, but recommended)
Add an attachment (optional)
Write your content in the text box
Submit your post when you're ready! You can check out your post by clicking on the "chat" 💬 icon in the top right corner.
NOTE: Once you create a post, you cannot edit it. Make sure you are ready to post!
💡 Pro Tip: Click on the carrot icon next to a post and “Pin post” to pin it to the top of the Board. Don't forget to unpin it once you are done!
Handling Year Over Year Transitions
We recommend reviewing the setup of your Discussion Board(s) at least once a year to account for any maintenance that might be needed. Here are suggestions we have for some unique use cases:
➡️ Discussion Board Use Case | ❓How to Handle |
If your institution uses both CampusESP for Student Enrollment and Family Communication and your Discussion Board is for an incoming family audience (i.e. a stage with a funnel workflow like Deposited or Enrolled) | There is no need to adjust this audience if you want them to continue using the Board throughout their student’s college experience. |
If your institution uses CampusESP for Student Enrollment and your Discussion Board includes earlier stages of the funnel (i.e. Inquiry, Applicant, Admitted) | Make sure you disable the Board at the end of the cycle and create a new Board for each cycle. |
If your institution uses CampusESP for Family Communication and your Discussion Board is for a specific class year community (i.e. First Year Families, Second Year Families, etc.) | You will need to update the Board annually. We suggest aligning this with the annual class year workflow, which typically occurs in May or June. |