** This article is specific to creating a group Discussion Board.  If you need to create groups, please see this article - https://support.atu.edu/support/solutions/articles/7000075625  **


1.  Click into your course shell.


2. Click the Discussion tab at the top of the content area and then click New Discussion at the far right:




3. Give the discussion a name at the top of the screen:



4. After it has a name the settings icon will appear in the upper right corner.  Click on that:




5. This is where you set all the settings for the discussion, and assign it to groups.  Scroll down and click Assign to groups:



6.  If you haven't yet created any groups then you can do it on this page.  If you already created groups then click the drop down menu and click the group set you previously created:




7. Be sure to click Save in the lower right corner:



8.  Now back on the Discussion Settings menu you can scroll down and see the group assignment:



9.  Each group now has a version of this discussion that only their group members can participate in.  



10.  If you want the link to the discussion to appear in the main content area of the course then be sure to leave this option checked:



11 With that option checked, the link to the discussion shows in the main content area as well as the Group area:




and 




12.  If you uncheck that previous option, the link to the group discussion will only show to the student in the Discussion area of the course: