As a contributor to this site and others, I am unclear why we would "Submit forum topic" vs "Create a story". Technically, they are nearly identical, both having the capability of creating a document to which others can add their own comments and discussion. So, the difference must be more philosophical and user expectations about how these are to be used. The intent for any forum (aka discussion list, message board) is to have a place for ongoing discussions within a community around certain topics. In our case, online learning is the broad category for the topics. Places where this works well that I have experienced are where users have questions or problems, and there is a community of experts or experienced persons willing to monitor and respond to these postings. That, I think could work well here, but the question is how to get it "off the ground" and possibly the bigger question is whether there is real benefit to the effort that this might take. Another use of forums is where a topic is discussed that is controversial in some way or there are a variety of ideas about the topic. Political, "flame baiting", discussions about Linux vs Windows or taxing the rich come to mind, although these and others can have genuine substance as well as just tired ranting. I don't see that this is likely to be the kind of thing that would have much longevity or value on a site like this one.

The story idea is simpler in my mind for a site like this one, since it is intended to be more one-way conversation where a document is created that has value by itself. Comments added and discussions generated can improve it and clarify things, but they are really secondary to the original content.

So, the question for discussion (so to speak) is whether forums are helpful to this site and add value or whether they just confuse things? Another thought, or alternative is that forums could possibly be the primary place for contributions, taking the place of a story.