Student

How do I participate in a discussion?

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Discussions

Teachers can create a discussion forum within a course. As a student, you will have the possibility to use this forum to submit assignments, consult, ask questions and discuss with your fellow students. 

  • Navigate to Activities in the navbar of your course. 
  • Click Discussions. You will navigate to the Discussions homepage.
  • Here you will find an overview of all discussion forums and topics the teacher has created for this course. This is called the Discussions List.

Discussions consists of three different components:

  1. You can discuss with fellow students in a discussion forum.
  2. This is done within one or several themes (topics).
  3. Within this topic, it is possible to create one or multiple threads.

It is possible that teachers decide to create separate topics and/or threads for specific groups within the course. They can choose whether you can or cannot see the topics/threads of other groups. Teachers thus can decide which components will be visible for who.

Topics and threads

A topic is the place within a forum where you can post and read messages. Within the topic you can create threads, which is a main message to which people can respond with a post. A thread is created the following way: 

  • Go to the Discussions homepage and click a topic. You will see a description of the topic and all threads that have been posted previously.
  • Click Start a New Thread.
  1. Enter a subject.
  2. Add text, for example a question you want to ask or the reason for creating the thread.
  3. When you have created a thread, you will automatically receive notifications (emails) when someone replies to your thread. If you do not want to receive these notifications, deselect Subscribe to this thread.
  4. Click Add attachments to add a file. Then click Upload and find the right file.
  5. Click Post.

React to a post

Within a topic it is possible to react to other peoples' threads. For example, you can provide other students with feedback if they have posted an assignment or answer a question that another student or the teacher has asked.

  • Click the desired topic on the Discussions homepage.
  • Click on the title of the thread you wish to react to. 
  • Click Reply to Thread.
  1. Write your reaction to the thread in the HTML-editor.
  2. Click Add original post text to add the post you are reacting to.
  3. When you react to a thread, you will automatically receive notifications (emails) when someone replies to your thread. If you do not want to receive these notifications, deselect Subscribe to this thread.
  4. Click Add attachments to add a file. Then click Upload and find the right file.
  5. Click Post.

You can also tag someone in your response.

  • Type the @ symol and then a few letters of the name of the person you want to tag. All people in the course whose first or last name starts with those letters will appear in a list.
  • Click the person you want to tag.

The person you tagged will receive a notification and an email of the tag. If someone tags you, you will also receive a notification in your Subscription Alerts in the minibar. It will look like this: 

If you do not wish to receive an email when you are tagged, then you can change this by changing your notification preferences. Read more in the following manual: Which notifications can I turn on or off and how do I receive them per email?

When and how you can react to a thread depends on the teacher. They can choose to make it a requirement for you to start your own thread before you can react to someone else's. If this is the case, you will see Must post first when you access the topic and you will not see any posts. Only when you have started a thread yourself you will see the posts of fellow students.

Where can I find responses?

There are several ways to know when someone has responded to your thread.

  • Below your thread you will see the word Unread. The number above indicated how many unread reactions your thread has. Click Unread to read them.

It is also possible to receive notifications for Discussions. Read the article What notifications can I turn on or off and how do I receive them per email? for more information on setting up notifications. You can also change these settings by going to Discussions.

  1. Click Subscriptions on the Discussions homepage.
  2. Select which notifications you would like to receive.

Rate a post

If the teacher enables this feature, it is possible to rate the posts of other students. There are several ways to do this: 

  • Five-Star Rating Scheme: you can give other students one to five stars for their post.
  • Up Vote/Down Vote Rating Scheme: you can give the post a positive or negative vote.
  • Up Vote Only Rating Scheme: you can give the post a positive vote.

Five-Star Rating Scheme

If you are using the five-star rating scheme, you can use Ratings to select the desired number of stars. It is possible to change or delete your rating by clicking a different number of stars or by clicking the circle with a bar. You can vote both on the original post of a thread as well as on the reactions. 

Up Vote/Down Vote Rating Scheme

  • Click the plus icon to give the thread a positive vote.
  • Click the minus icon to give the thread a negative vote. 

You can alter or undo your rating by clicking the plus or minus icon again. You can vote once on each post.

Up Vote Only Rating Scheme

If the only option you have is a positive vote, you can vote by clicking the plus icon. Clicking the icon again allows you to change or undo your rating.

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