Discussion Boards in eCampus Ultra

Discussions boards are built into the course in eCampus Ultra as a tab at the top of the course. Discussions can provide opportunity for thoughtful back-and-forth on the actual course topics or a place for students to ask questions about the logistics of the course. Discussions can be graded or not, and they can be organized into folders – for example if they will participate in a new discussion for assigned readings every week, you can group those discussions together.

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Blackboard Anthology Help: Discussions

Create a Discussion for General Questions

1. Click the Discussions tab to switch to that page of the course.

2. Click New Discussion to create a forum for a discussion topic.

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3. Enter a Name for the new discussion at the top of the page, such as Help with this Course.

4. In the text box, type a discussion prompt to get the discussion started. Use the formatting and editing options to clarify your content or add links, files, or media.

   1. Suggest a question you would like students to answer about a lesson,

   2. or state the topic about which they should ask their own questions.

5. Save your post to this new discussion thread. You will see any responses listed below your post.

6. Click the gear icon to edit Discussion Settings, including:

   • Display on Course Content page - selected by default, this option will place a link to this discussion on the main course content page. If your content lives in learning modules or folders, you can drag-and-drop the discussion into that container.

   • Post first - hides any discussion activity until students respond to the discussion.

   • Prevent editing - once published, students cannot edit or delete their posts.

   • Grade discussion - turn on grading for this discussion. You will be able to read and provide a grade for students' contributions to the discussion.

   • Align with Goals & Standards - select from a list of institutional goals and grading standards that apply for this discussion/assessment.

   • Group discussion - select and assign groups who will participate in this discussion.

   • Save any changes to the settings.

7. Select the release conditions from the drop-down in the upper right corner to choose whether students will see this discussion topic now, or later. Note that this will also affect the visibility of the Course Content page link.

8. Close (X) the new discussion page to return to all Discussions.

Create a Graded Discussion

You can require interactive discussion on course topics by making the class discussion a graded item in the course. You can see and grade each student’s contribution to the discussion from the gradebook or the Discussions page.

1. On the Discussions page, click the New Discussion button.

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1. Place the discussion inside a lesson by adding as a content item to a learning module, folder or on the main content page.

   1. Click the plus + to get the add content menu.

   2. Click Create to choose what type of content to add.

   3. Under the Participation and Engagement section, click on Discussion.

2. Enter a Name for this discussion at the top of the screen.

3. In the text box, share a question to prompt responses from your class. Click to Save set the topic.

4. Click the Discussion isn’t graded link that appears below the Discussion Settings heading (or click the gear icon).

5. On the settings panel, click the checkbox to Grade discussion. This will make the Grading and Participation options available.

6. Set a Due Date for when students should have added something to this discussion.

   1. Choose a date from the calendar, and a time of day.

   2. Click the checkbox to set whether to stop posting activity for this discussion after the due date has passed.

7. The Grade Category will default to Discussion - it will be calculated with the rules assigned for Discussions in the overall grade. You can change the category.

8. Choose the type of grading to be used for this discussion: assign letter grades, points, percentages, completion, or pass/fail.

9. Set the Maximum points available for participation in this discussion.

10. Select any additional grading tools that you’d like to use with this discussion:

    1. Grade with a rubric

    2. align with university goals & standards

    3. assign participation in this discussion for groups.

11. Save the new graded discussion.

12. When you are ready for students to begin the discussion, make the discussion visible to students.

Accessing 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.

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.