WPMUDEV provides several useful plugins for buddypress communities as well as WordPress plugins. The Q & A plugin allows members (or others) to ask and answer questions in a similar format to Answers.
My students loved the Answers theme from Templatic. It was easy for them to ask and answer questions. The section, though, overwhelmed the rest of the site. After changing themes to BuddyBoss, I started to look around to find a way to get the smoothness of the Q & A feeling. The Q & A plugin was just the ticket.
Installation was the typical ftp upload to the plugins directory and activation in the control panel. Next, settings were adjusted. In order to customize the sidebars, it was important to copy the php files from the default-templates directory of the plugin into the root of the theme. A missing file is the sidebar-question.php file. Additional CSS was necessary to get the sidebar to match the rest of the site.
A quick test run of the plugin appears to work. Since the school year is basically done, students will probably not use the section until the fall. At least it’ll be ready for them.