The Discussions tool is a collaboration area to post, read and reply to posts on different topics, share thoughts about course materials, ask questions, share files, or work with your peers on assignments and homework.
Access the Discussions Tool
Select Discussions from the navigation bar.
Changing Discussions Settings
Access Discussions settings
On the Discussions List page, select Settings (located in the upper right corner of the screen).
Personal Settings
Personal settings control the way you view posts inside a topic. These settings apply to all course offerings wherever you access discussions, but do not affect other users.
Display Settings: The following display settings are available:
Always show the Discussions List pane, Use this setting to show or hide the list of topics in the View Topic and View Thread pages. Hide it to save space or show it to switch between topics quickly.
Default View: The following default views are available:
Grid View: The Grid View resembles a traditional email reader where each post’s subject, author, and date appear in a list without the full text of the post. To read a post, click the subject; the full text displays in a separate area.
Reading View: The Reading View shows the full text of all posts in a single view. You read posts by selecting a thread. You can then scroll through the page without having to select posts from the thread and read them one at a time.
Reply Settings: Use this setting to automatically include the original post by default when composing a reply.
Subscription Settings: Uncheck this box if you do not want to automatically subscribe to the thread.
Grid View Settings
Default Threading Style: The default threading style used when accessing topics.
Display Settings:
Show the Preview Pane: Selecting this option displays the lower Preview pane in the Grid View. If this option is not selected, clicking on a post in the Grid View will open the post in a pop-up window.
Show the Search Bar: Selecting this option displays the Search fields in the Grid View.
Post Fields to Display:
Post ID: Selecting this option displays the Post ID for posts in the Grid View.
Character Limits: Put a check mark in the Limit the number of characters of the subject to display in the post box to use this option.
Subject Characters to Display: The number of characters of the Subject to display for each post when browsing topics. (Must be an integer between 1 and 150).
Finding and Reading Discussion Posts and Threads
Once a discussion gets started, new posts can come in very quickly. There are a number of places in D2L that identify new posts to help you keep on top of things:
The Updates widget (may not appear in all courses) on your course homepage lists the total number of unread posts for all discussion topics in your course.
The number of unread posts appears beneath each topic in the Discussions List. To see only topics with unread posts, select Unread in the Filter by: tool navigation.
All topics that contain unread posts appear bolded if you have the Discussions List pane visible when viewing topics or threads. The number of unread posts appears next to the discussion title in the Discussions List pane.
Inside a topic, select Unread in the Filter by: tool navigation.
You can subscribe to specific discussion forums, topics, or threads to receive an email, SMS, or minibar notification whenever there is a new post.
Search for Discussion Posts
On the Discussions List page, select the topic you want to search for posts.
Enter the terms you want to find in the search field and select the Search icon.
To see all posts again, select Clear Search next to Search Results.
Read Discussion Threads
Select a topic to display the View Topic page. Then, select a thread to display all replies to the thread, along with the original post.
Creating and Replying to Discussion Threads
Create a Thread in Discussions
Select the topic where you want to create a thread.
Select Start a New Thread.
Enter a Subject.
Enter your body text (message) in the editor box.
To add an attachment to your post select Add attachments and then Upload.
Select Post.
If the topic is moderated, your post will not appear until a moderator approves it. Moderated topics will display Moderated beside the topic name in Discussions List. Inside the topic, all threads track how many Unapproved replies each thread contains. Inside the thread, any posts requiring approval display Approve Post in the subject header.
If a topic is assessable, and has one or more rubrics attached to it, you will see a Rubrics section in the collapsible Discussions area at the top of the topic that contains links to any rubrics associated with the topic. To preview the expectations for the topic, select the rubric. It will open in a pop-up window.
Note: The rubric does not display any personalized feedback or results.
Reply to a Thread in Discussions
Locate the thread you want to reply to.
Select Reply to Thread to reply to the main thread post or select Reply to reply to a particular post inside the thread.
Enter your reply in the HTML Editor.
Select Post.
Printing discussion threads and posts
You can view posts in a printable format and send the posts to your printer:
Do one of the following:
Select Print Thread from the context menu of a thread to print a thread.
Select Print from the context menu of an individual post to print a post.
In the Printable View pop-up window, select Print.
Following Discussions
Flagging a Discussion Post
If you want to return to a post at a later time, or if you want to monitor replies to a post, you should flag the post. Select Flag Thread or Remove Flag from the context menu of the post to add or remove a flag. To quickly find your flagged posts, select Flagged from the Filter by: tool navigation.
Marking Discussion Threads and Posts as Read or Unread
When you select a thread, it automatically marks all of its posts as read. In some cases you might want to manually mark some posts as unread—for example, if you open a thread but do not finish reading it.
Mark Posts as Read or Unread
Do one of the following:
Select Mark All Posts as Read from the thread's context menu to mark all posts in the thread as read without viewing the thread.
Select Mark All Posts as Unread from the thread's context menu to mark all posts in the thread as unread.
To mark individual posts as unread, click Mark Post as Unread from the context menu of the post.
Managing discussion subscriptions
You can make changes to your subscriptions in Notifications and in the Subscriptions area of Discussions.
Change Default Frequency of Notifications and Internal Messaging Address
Select Subscriptions from the tool navigation in Discussions.
Note: You must be subscribed to at least one forum, topic, or thread to view this option.
To change your internal messaging address, select the Change your notification settings option.
To modify the frequency of your notifications, select an option under the Notification Frequency section.
Manage Subscriptions for Forums, Topics, or Threads
Select Subscriptions from the tool navigation.
To unsubscribe select Subscribed and then select Yes in the confirmation dialog box.
Subscribing and Unsubscribing to Discussion Forums, Topics, and Threads
You can receive email, minibar, and SMS notifications for discussion forums, topics, and threads that you subscribe to. Ensure your Notifications settings are set up properly.
Subscribe to Notifications for an Entire Forum or Topic
On the Discussions List page, select Subscribe from the context menu of the forum or topic to receive notifications of new posts.
Select your Notification Method in the Customize Notifications pop-up window.
Note: If you do not have an email address set up in your user profile to receive instant and summary notifications, select Add an internal messaging address in a new window in the Customize Notifications pop-up window. Select Enable internal messaging notifications, then set your internal messaging preferences in the Internal messaging Settings pop-up window. Select Save.
Select Subscribe.
Unsubscribe from Notifications
Select Unsubscribe from the context menu of the forum or topic you are subscribed to, or select Subscribed beside a thread, to stop receiving notifications.
In the confirmation pop-up window, select Yes.
Enabling Notifications in Discussions
You can sign up to receive immediate internal messaging notifications when new posts are made in discussions you subscribe to.
Important: You must enable both Discussions notifications and subscribe to forums, topics, and threads to receive instant notifications.
Enable Notifications in Discussions
Note: You must set up a contact method before subscribing to notifications.
Select Notifications from your personal menu on the minibar.
Select if you want to receive Internal messaging notifications for the option Discussions - new post in a forum, topic, or thread that I subscribed to in instant notifications.
Select Save.
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