[ARCHIVED] How do I create a graded discussion visible to only students in the same section?

[TeacherSmeacher]

I am an instructor. I would like to have the same discussion prompt to be graded, but with posts only visible to those students in the same section as the poster. I also want it to appear as one column in the gradebook when viewing students across all sections.

How can I accomplish this WITHOUT using the groups feature?
(I know that you could create 1 group for each section by automatically assigning groups and checking the box that students must be in the same section.  However, this is not a viable solution for me, because the way my university works every student automatically enrolls in my class as being a member of two "sections", their real section and the only lecture section, which everyone is in. If I try to make groups this way, section groups have only a few students of that section in the group and >100 students are put in the lecture group instead of their section group. Even if this was adjusted manually >100x, as students add or switch sections, they may end up back in the lecture group instead of their section group. So, this is not a viable option.)

WILL THIS WORK INSTEAD? 

Create discussion, check GRADED box, in the ASSIGN TO box select every section one-at-a-time so that all sections appear in the box. Will this make it such that students only see posts in their own section? or is this essentially the same as if I just selected "Everyone"?

Alternatively, what if I only add one section to the ASSIGN TO box and then hit +ADD at the bottom and create a new ASSIGN TO for the second section, as if I wanted to assign different due dates but just use the same due dates? Will this make it such that students only see posts in their own section?

Thank you

[colona2 · Accepted solution]

Hello @TeacherSmeacher !

In the "Assign to" part you can click the x on "Everyone" and just add the sections but that has its limitations. If you press the "+ add" at the bottom and do each section separately, that will not separate each section. The only thing the "+ add" does at the bottom is to give a different due date and/or availability date.

Here is a solution I would use as an example. I have 6 sections so I will create 6 different graded discussion boards. I would put each section by itself in the "Assign to" part. The student will only see their section so you technically can even have ALL 6 section dicussion boards in the same module, but they will only see the one assigned to them.

[TeacherSmeacher]

Thank you for your quick reply. Thanks for confirming that "+ add" will not solve my problem. 

Unfortunately, the solution you propose will lead to 24 columns in the gradebook for this one assignment. I'll have to just open this to everyone in the course, not just restrict students communicating with their own section. Thanks again