How do I create a discussion in Brightspace?

Discussions in Brightspace consist of forums, topics, and threads; threads are further broken down into posts and replies.

• A forum can be thought of as container in which discussions are organized. An empty forum does not allow students any way to participate. It must have topics inside of it for discussion to take place.
• A topic is where the discussion prompt will reside and where the conversation will take place through threads.
• A thread is created when an instructor, teaching assistant, or student initiates discussion per the original prompt; this initial entry and each individual reply are referred to as posts in Brightspace.

An example of this structure might look like a “Weekly Reading Reflections” forum containing a different topic for each of the weekly readings. Within a topic, students would create threads to post their original response to topic prompt and would create replies to respond to the threads of their peers.

Create A Discussion Forum

1. From the course navigation bar, click Course Tools and select Discussions from the drop-down.
   
2. Click New and select New Forum from the drop-down.
   
3. Enter a Title for the forum and, optionally, a Description.
   
   
4. Scroll down and review the forum Options. Options set at the forum-level will apply to all topics within the forum.  Similar options will be available at the topic-level when creating individual topics.
   
   
5. Click the Restrictions tab to review the availability of the forum. Similar options will be available at the topic-level when creating individual topics.  When finished, click Save and Close.
   
   

Create A Discussion Topic

1. Navigate to the Discussions, click New and select New Topic from the drop-down.
   
   
2. Enter a Topic Title and select the Forum that will house the topic you are creating or click Create Forum to create a new forum for the topic. 
   
   
3. If the discussion will be graded, click within the Grade Out Of box and enter the point value of the discussion. An In Grade Book indicator will appear confirming a grade item for this discussion has been added in the grade book.
   
4. Optional: Click the In Grade Book indicator and select one of the following:
   • Edit or Link to Existing - to edit the newly created grade item properties such as category or connect to an existing grade item previously created in the grade book.
   • Not in Grade Book - to associate a point value with this discussion that will not be included in the grade book.
   • Reset to Ungraded - to remove all scoring
   
   
5. Optional: Add a Description. The description is typically used to indicate to students what criteria should be included in their responses to the prompt and/or the question prompt itself.
6. Click Availability Dates & Conditions at the right side of the screen to set Start Date, End Date, and Due Date as well as any Release Conditions or Restrictions.
   
7. Select your preferred options from the Post & Completion area at the right side of the screen.
   
8. From the Evaluation & Feedback area, you can add a rubric by creating a new rubric or selecting an existing one.
   
9. When you are finished, click Save and Close. The topic will display within the designated forum in the discussion list. NOTE: The default student visibility for new topics is "Visible"; you can toggle the slider to the right of the Cancel button to hide the topic.
   

Add The Discussion To A Content Module

The Discussions area under Course Tools lists all of the discussions in the course.  You can insert them into any Content module to list them with related content.

1. From the course navigation bar, click Content and navigate to the module location where the discussion should reside.
   
   
2. Click Existing Activities and select Discussions from the drop-down.
   
3. Locate and click the discussion forum in which the topic resides.
   
4. Click the name of the discussion topic you would like to insert.
   

Last Updated: 12/21/2023