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6.20. Discussion Topics
Create a Discussion Topic
Discussion topics can be a great way to help build learning communities among students and provide a venue for instructors to interact with students as well. Promoting and facilitating classroom discussions can not only help students learn from one another but also help students understand and retain lecture content better.
Add a Topic
Discussions are nested within discussion forums. From the NavBar, choose Discussions, New and then New Topic.
Or, select Add Topic from a specific forum context menu to create a new discussion for that forum.
Add Details
Enter the Title and Description of the discussion topic in the corresponding text boxes under the Properties tab. If the forum was not selected, it will be chosen from this window.
Post Requirements
There are three options for student posts. Users must start a thread before they can read and reply to other threads is typically used, but it may not suit every situation. There are options to allow anonymous posts or require approval before posting. These options are not recommended.
*Please note, if you selected any options at the forum level, those options will automatically apply to all topics within the forum.
A student may also rate discussions by using Five Star, Up/Down Vote, Up Vote Only, or No Rating method.
Availability for Forums and Topics
Availability in Brightspace is synonymous with visibility. Previously, this function in Brightspace used Locking Options. They are now consolidated with the Availability date options. Making availability choices in Forums is discouraged unless all topics will have the same settings. Discussion topic settings cannot be edited once they are set in Forums.
From the Restrictions tab, the Display in Calendar option is now consolidated with the Availability Start Date and End Date options, which adds the start date and end dates to the calendar. The Availability Start Date and End Date options and display as the following new options:
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- Visible with access restricted before/after start/end. The topic/forum is visible to learners before/after the start/end date, but they cannot access it. Previously, Classic Content was the only tool to make discussions visible without access.
- Visible with submission restricted before/after start/end. The topic/forum is visible to learners before/after the start/end date and they can access it, but they cannot post new threads or replies. This effectively makes a discussion read-only. Previously, this was accomplished with the lock option or unlock dates.
- Hidden before/after start/end. The topic/forum is hidden from learners until the start/end date. This is a new feature. Calendar events for Availability Starts and Availability Ends are hidden until the start/end date. Notifications are also not sent until the start/end date. Previously, the hidden status of a discussion topic was decided by the tool displaying the topic.
Restrictions
Select the Restrictions tab at the top of the Edit Topic page.
Restrictions include Release Conditions and Group and Section Restrictions. Release conditions can be set on a variety of tools, including discussion topics. The release conditions allow specific actions a student must take prior to the discussion topic becomes viewable or actionable. When Group and Section Restrictions are enabled, only members of the specified groups or sections will have access to this topic.
(This video from D2L has one change to update in an upcoming version. Locking Options have been replaced by Availability. Please choose Availability Options where the video refers to Locking.)
Release conditions may be applied toward awards, checklists, classlists, competencies, content, discussions, assignments, grades, quizzes, and surveys. Each has other variables to provide specific circumstances to release portions of the course to students. In the next example, a discussion is restricted until the student scores 100% on a quiz.
All conditions must be met is the default choice, but if more than one condition has applied, Any condition must be met could be selected if appropriate.
Groups and Sections may also be restricted. Check the box and add groups or sections as needed. Choose Save to continue.
Assessment
Select the Assessment tab at the top of the Edit Topic page.
If the gradebook has already been set up, select the corresponding grade item from the Grade Item drop-down menu. In Score Out Of, enter the maximum possible points for the discussion topic.
*Please note, if you are using a weighted grade scheme, the possible points will always be 100.
Choose Add Rubric to open the rubric list or search by name. Create Rubric in New Window can be used here if the rubric was not previously created for the course. Rubric development is covered in another section.
Student discussions can be assessed uniformly as an assignment group or they can be assessed individually. Select the Allow assessment of individual posts checkbox and select the appropriate calculation method from the Calculation drop-down menu.
If unassessed posts should be included in the grade calculation as zero, mark the Include unassessed posts checkbox next to the Calculation drop-down menu. Choose Save when finished.
Edit or Delete a Discussion Topic
Navigate to the discussions list and choose Edit Topic from the menu of the topic to edit.
The Edit Topic window will open. Make any needed changes. This process is very similar to creating topics. Choose Save and Close when finished.
Navigate to the discussions list and choose Delete from the menu of the topic to delete.
A window will open confirming you want to delete the topic. Choose Yes to continue. The discussions list page will refresh and the topic will be removed.
Choose Save and Close when finished.
Discussions Grades are Synchronized in Gradebook
When an instructor enters a grade for a discussion in the standard or spreadsheet view of Grade Book, the grade also appears with the discussion post in Discussions. Previously, grades entered in the Discussion were passed on to Grade Book; however, grades for discussions entered in Grade Book were not passed to the Discussions tool. This has been updated to ensure data consistency between Discussions and Grade Book.
(This video does refer to Locking Options. Locking Options have been replaced by Availability Options.)