Begin by accessing Discussions from within Communication and clicking the Add Discussion icon.
The General Tab will open automatically after you’ve clicked to add a discussion. This is where you will define General Settings and optional Advanced Settings.
Once you have defined all settings (you can edit the discussion settings later if you want to change anything) finish adding the discussion by clicking the Add Discussion button on the bottom right of the screen. You can also choose to Cancel the addition by clicking the red button.
Once the discussion has been created you can edit it by returning to the Discussion tool, clicking into the discussion you wish to edit, and clicking the Edit icon.
Once you have added a discussion it will show up on the main Discussion page. New discussions are automatically released however discussions can be put into Draft Mode (under the Availability Tab).
The following icons will appear at the top right of the Main Content Area:
Edit – allows you to edit the Discussion settings.
Delete – deletes the entire Discussion, including any submissions.
Access Reports – contains viewing data of which students have visited the Discussion and which features they visited.
Menu – click here to view the Activity Log which displays all administrator editing activity, Content Details, and to Print this Page.
The following options will appear at the top of the Discussion's page:
Grade – takes you to the Detailed Grader in order to review, grade, and provide comments for the discussion submissions. This will only be available if the discussion has been attached to the Gradebook.
Pin This Discussion – discussions are displayed on the main page in order of most recent post so that the discussion with the most recent post will appear at the top of the discussion list. You can pin a discussion so that it is always at the top of the list, regardless of when it received its last post, by clicking this button.
Lock This Discussion – clicking this button closes the discussion and prevents any further posts from being made. The Lock/Unlock buttons will not be available for graded Discussions. A graded Discussion will automatically lock once the due date has passed.
Once a discussion has been released you can go back and change it back to draft mode and make changes. Unlike Exams, submissions will remain once the discussion is reverted back to draft mode.
Add Discussion icon.