Overview of Discussions

Discussions are used to facilitate online conversations with your classmates in Blackboard. Below is a short guide on how to access and contribute to the class discussion forums. Discussions may be graded, associated with groups, anonymous, and/or require the user to create their initial post before viewing the contributions of others.  

Procedure

1. Upon entering your course shell, select the Discussions option from the top menu. Available discussions will appear below. Alternatively, the discussion assignment may also appear in the main content area.

2. Click on your discussion activity of choice.

3. In some cases (shown below), you may not be able to view others’ posts until you create your initial post.

4. If the discussion is graded, you will see the total possible points on the right side of the screen. If your professor has created a rubric for this assignment, it will also appear in this area.

5. To respond to the prompt, begin typing in the bar under the discussion topic. Upon clicking on this bar, several writing tools will be made available to you. Linked here is a guide on how to use these tools in written assignments. Click Respond once your answer is complete.  Each time you open a discussion, new responses and replies appear with "New" to show any activity that's happened since your last visit.

6. If done correctly, your response will appear in the area below the bar.

7. Clicking the three dots next to your response will allow you to delete or edit your text. You may not be able to edit past comments depending on whether your instructor has made this an option. Deleted posts that have responses from other students will remain visible with the text removed.

8. You may use the option in the bottom right corner to search for other users who have created posts. Clicking on their name will sort only their responses.

Rubrics

If your instructor is grading the discussion with a rubric, you may view it in the right-hand menu upon entering the forum. This menu will also display the due date, total possible points, and group status.

You may click on the blue text to review the rubric. This will open a small menu on the right side of your screen where you may read each of the requirements. Click on the drop-down arrows to view the specific details and associated points or percentages.

Group Discussions

Group discussions are indicated by the "Groups" icon shown below. Additionally, upon entering a discussion, your group title and members will be displayed. In a group discussion, one's contributions will only be visible to their team and the instructor, meaning that other groups and users will not be able to review your posts.

Anonymous Discussions

Your instructor may configure your discussions to be anonymous. Anonymous discussions are never graded nor can they be associated with groups.

Anonymous discussions are indicated by a sunglasses icon in the right-hand menu. Additionally, a checkbox will appear under one's post as they are writing it.

Checking this box will keep your post anonymous, hiding your name and profile picture from the view of all other users in the course (instructors and students). You may edit or delete your posts depending on how your instructor configured the discussion forum.

 

Follow a Discussion

You can follow a discussion to get notifications on your activity stream every time there is new activity from instructors or students in a specific discussion. Select Follow to follow a discussion. 

If you no longer want to receive notifications for a discussion, select Unfollow. You can also refresh a discussion to see if there were any updates by selecting the arrows beside Follow or Unfollow. 

You can control what sorts of notifications you get for discussions you follow by going to Settings on your activity stream. You can select or deselect receiving notifications for:

• Activity on my responses 
• Activity on responses I have replied to 
• Responses from instructors 
• Responses for followed discussions 
• Replies for followed discussions 

Video about Participating in Discussions

The following narrated video provides a visual and auditory representation of some of the information included on this page.

See also: Discussions