is_cohorted course descriptor property, docs

common/lib/xmodule/xmodule/course_module.py

@@ -361,6 +361,17 @@ class CourseDescriptor(SequenceDescriptor):
         return self.metadata.get("show_calculator", None) == "Yes"
 
     @property
+    def is_cohorted(self):
+        """
+        Return whether the course is cohorted.
+        """
+        config = self.metadata.get("cohort-config")
+        if config is None:
+            return False
+
+        return bool(config.get("cohorted"))
+
+    @property
     def is_new(self):
         """
         Returns if the course has been flagged as new in the metadata. If

doc/xml-format.md

@@ -258,6 +258,10 @@ Supported fields at the course level:
 * "discussion_blackouts" -- An array of time intervals during which you want to disable a student's ability to create or edit posts in the forum. Moderators, Community TAs, and Admins are unaffected. You might use this during exam periods, but please be aware that the forum is often a very good place to catch mistakes and clarify points to students. The better long term solution would be to have better flagging/moderation mechanisms, but this is the hammer we have today. Format by example: [["2012-10-29T04:00", "2012-11-03T04:00"], ["2012-12-30T04:00", "2013-01-02T04:00"]]
 * "show_calculator" (value "Yes" if desired)
 * "days_early_for_beta" -- number of days (floating point ok) early that students in the beta-testers group get to see course content.  Can also be specified for any other course element, and overrides values set at higher levels.
+* "cohort-config" : dictionary with keys 
+    - "cohorted" : boolean.  Set to true if this course uses student cohorts.  If so, all inline discussions are automatically cohorted, and top-level discussion topics are configurable with an optional 'cohorted': bool parameter (with default value false).  
+    - ... more to come.  ('auto-cohort', how to auto cohort, etc)
+
 * TODO: there are others
 
 ### Grading policy file contents