Create discussion topics

Discussion topics let you communicate interactively with students about a particular topic. Both instructors and students can post responses and attach supporting files.

Notes

• Although you can add activities to the Course Materials Library or My Course list, it is strongly recommended that you create all activities in the Course Materials Library and then move them to the My Course list where you can set appropriate scheduling.
• If you do add an activity directly to the My Course list, you will be prompted to save the new activity to the Course Materials Library. In this case, navigate to and select the Course Materials Library folder where you want to save the activity and then click Add and Close.
• Another option for creating course materials is to use Course Materials Wizard. To access the wizard, select Course Materials from the menu bar. This wizard lets you add assignments by taking you to the Course Materials Library, copy materials from another course using the Course Materials Library, and manage your content library. Refer to Using the Course Materials Wizard for more information.
• These directions are for creating a discussion topic that can be assigned to the calendar. Alternatively, you can chat informally with students in real time.

Add topics

To add discussion topics:

1. Go to the Course Materials > Add from Library or Course Materials > Manage Course Materials page.
2. Click Add Course Materials.

3. Select Add Discussion Topic.
4. In Title, type a discussion title of up to 255 characters and an optional Description of up to 500 characters.
5. In Time to Complete, enter the time in hours and minutes (HH:MM) that you expect students need to view or complete a discussion entry. The time you enter is an estimate used to calculate the percentage of course work completed by the student. The time does not limit the actual time students have to complete the activity.
6. Click Choose File to attach a file to the discussion, select the file, and then click Attach. The file name appears; you can click it to open the file. To remove an attachment, click Delete to the right of the file name.

   Note: You can attach up to 3 files with a maximum file size of 2.5MB each.

7. Click Record next to Post Audio to record and post an audio message.

— and/or —

Type the discussion message in the content editor.

8. Select one of the following Student Posting Rules:
   • Students can post messages: Select to let students post messages (responses) to the discussion topic.
   • Students can reply to the messages posted: Select to let students reply to the messages (responses) posted by the instructor.
9. To prevent students from viewing the message author or other student details, select Student posts are anonymous.
10. Click Save and Close.

Edit topics

To edit discussion topics:

1. Select Edit from the topic's options menu.
2. Make the appropriate changes.
3. Click Save.

Note: For information about how to use discussion topics, see Manage discussions.

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