Online Discussions

Option A – From Discussions

• From your course navbar, click on Activities and choose Discussions on the pull-down menu.
• In the Brightspace Discussions area, you can create a new Forum and then create new Topics for that Forum.

Option B – From Content

• From your course navbar, navigate to Content. 
• Click into a content module. 
• Click on the Upload/Create button. 
• Select New Discussion from the list. 
• A window will open to create a new Topic.
• In the Brightspace Content area, you can create a new Topic, and then create a new Forum for that Topic.

Discussion Forums are the top organizing level and are used to house Discussion Topics. Note that since Forums are structural, students can’t do anything in an empty Forum. Discussion Topics must be added by the instructor for discussions to take place.  

Option A — From Discussions

To create a new Forum in the Discussions area, click the New button and select New Forum.

Option B – When creating a new Topic

When you create a new Topic, by default, Brightspace will create a new Forum for it with the same title. However, you also have the option at this step to change the forum for the topic to an existing one or create a new one.

Whenever you create a new forum, the forum’s Properties window opens.

• You must provide the forum a title.
• You can add a description of the forum.
  • Remember to use the Accessibility Checker for the forum description.
• In addition, on the Properties page there are settings for common options.

Forum Options

• Allow anonymous posts: Enables students to post with their names hidden.
• Users must start a thread before they can read and reply to other threads in each topic: Students are required to create their own thread before they can read and reply to their classmates’ threads.
• A moderator must approve individual posts before they display in the forum: With this option selected, the instructor must read and approve each student response before making it visible to the class.
• Display forum descriptions in topics: If checked, students will see the description within an individual topic, in addition to the topic prompt.

Note: All settings for a Discussion Forum will apply to every Topic within the Forum.

On the Forum Restrictions tab, you can set availability or visibility conditions for the forum. All restrictions on the availability of a forum will apply to all the Topics nested within it. For this reason, you’ll generally want to leave the default settings for Forum Restrictions, and instead, apply any availability restrictions to the individual Topics within the Forum.

In Brightspace, Discussion Topics are where students can start new threads and reply to threads, engaging in conversation. A Discussion Topic is where instructors state what is to be discussed and provide instructions for how students should participate in the discussion. Discussion Topics can be graded.

Option A

• From your course navbar, navigate to Activities and choose Discussions.
• Navigate to the forum in which you want to place the new topic.
• Click on the arrow next to the forum name.
• Select Add Topic.

Option B

• From your course navbar, navigate to Activities and choose Discussions.
• Click on New and New Topic.

Option C

• Navigate to the module or submodule where you would like to insert the discussion topic.
• Click on Upload/Create.
• Choose New Discussion.

On the Topic settings page you will give the topic a title, you can change the forum that the topic is nested in or create a new forum (by default Brightspace will create a forum with the same title as the topic), you can decide if the discussion topic will be graded, and you can add a discussion prompt and instructions to the topic description. The fields you can modify, in order from top to bottom, are:

• Topic Title: enter the Topic title. This field is required.
• Forum: you can change the Forum under which the topic is nested. 
• Grade Out Of: add the maximum points possible if you want to grade the Topic. Leave the Ungraded option if you don’t wish to grade the Topic.
• Description: add instructions and the discussion prompt in the Description box.  Remember to use the Accessibility Checker in the Brightspace Editor for the topic description.

On the Topic settings screen you can also set up:

• Availability Dates & Conditions
• Post & Completion
• Evaluation & Feedback

You can restrict the availability of the topic with start and end dates, according to other release conditions (ex., completing the module readings), or by group or section.

If you wish, you can allow anonymous posts (note that Instructors and Administrators can still see the names associated with each post), set the topic to be “post-first” (learners must create their own thread before they can read or reply to other threads), or make the topic moderated (posts must be approved before they are displayed to the whole class).

In Brightspace, feedback options for discussions include rubrics, grading individual posts, and allowing learners to rate each other’s posts.

• Rubric: add a rubric to grade student responses. You can either select an existing rubric or create a new one.
• Evaluate Posts: set individual student responses to be graded separately and allow students to rate their classmates’ posts.
• Allow Learners to Rate Posts: In Brightspace, the option “Allow learners to rate posts” means that students are allowed to score or rate their peers’ posts in a discussion. This feature mimics what learners are used to on social media. This can increase peer-to-peer interaction and provide learners with feedback on their posts. It can also be useful in situations where you want to get a quick read on whether your learners agree or disagree with a point.

The Topic Visibility setting, at the bottom of the New Topic window, controls whether students can see the discussion topic. When students see the topic can be further fine-tuned by Topic Availability Dates & Conditions. Recall that Forum-level visibility and availability conditions override Topic settings: if a Forum is unavailable, all the Topics within the forum will be inaccessible regardless of their individual settings.

Save: allows you to save your progress without exiting the editing mode. It is useful if you want to continue working or need to double-check settings.

Save and Close: saves your changes and takes you out of the editing mode, bringing you back to the main Discussions or Topics list.