Discussions

Discussions can be a way of determining students' comprehension of material, and a way of generating interaction between students and the instructor. Discussions can be graded or ungraded.

Creating a Discussion

1. On the main menu, click Discussions.

2. Click New Discussion.

   

3. Provide the discussion details.

   

   1. Name the new discussion.

   2. Describe the topic and what the students should write in their submissions. Optionally, you can also:

      1. Format the description for appearance with standard formatting tools.

      2. Attach a document with details.

      3. Provide a link to a website.

      4. Insert a URL, image, or YouTube video, or upload from cloud storage.

   3. Click the Grading link or the Settings icon.

      

      1. By default, the discussion will not be graded. Check Grade Discussion to access grading settings.

      2. Change any default settings, as necessary.

         

         1. Set a due date and time.

         2. To change the grading type to percentage, click the dropdown for Grade using.

         3. Set the number of points.

         4. Click Add grading rubric to grade according to a chart you have created.

4. Click the dropdown arrow to make the discussion visible to students.

   

Student Access to the Discussion

1. Students can access the discussion by clicking the link in the Activity Stream.

2. Students will enter their response and will have access to the formatting tools if they want to upload a document or insert a link.

3. Students will click the Respond button.

   

Accessing a Student’s Discussion Response

1. When students have submitted a response to a graded discussion, an alert will appear in your activity stream. Click this link.Kathy Pepple check on this, and what it looks like if it is not graded.

   

2. You will be taken to the gradebook and the student’s submission. Click within the row showing an item needs to be graded.

   

   1. You can also see that students have submitted responses to a graded discussion after you click Discussions in the menu bar and see the discussion listed with a blue icon. Clicking the icon takes you to the student’s submission.

      

   2. If the discussion is not graded, find student responses by clicking Discussions and then the name of the discussion.

3. Within the student response, you can do the following:

   

   1. Reply to the student.

   2. Enter a grade.

   3. Click the plus sign to provide feedback.

      

   4. View the discussion analytics to compare the student’s response to others in the class. Discussion analytics will be more accurate as student submit their responses.