Create a Discussion topic in D2L Brightspace

Discussion Boards

You can use discussions in your online course to encourage students to contribute to class conversations with their classmates.  You can set up discussion topics organized under forums for students to ask you questions about course materials, discuss course content and assignments, and work together in assigned groups.

As an instructor, you can create an open discussion in which students interact with each other, or create a one-on-one discussion in which each student and yourself interact in a private discussion. 

Create an open discussion topic

1. Navigate to the Discussions tool.
2. Select the New button, and then select New Topic.
   
3. Select a forum from the Forum menu.
   Note: To create a new forum, select the Create Forum link.
4. Give your topic a Topic Title. Then enter the topic’s instructions in the Description field.
5. You may choose to score the discussion by using the Grade Out Of field. Learn more about configuring a discussion topic for assessment. 
6. In the Availability Dates & Conditions section, decide whether to set a Start Date and End Date. Learn about setting date restrictions on discussions. 
7. In the Evaluation & Feedback section, you may choose to add rubric and also decide whether to "Allow evaluation of individual posts".
8. When ready, select Save and Close to make the topic available to your students.
   

Create a one-on-one discussion with each student

One way we can engage students in our online classes is to ask our students how they would like to be supported. For example, some students may be reticent about interacting online, and in that case, we may offer private one-on-one discussion spaces.  In many ways, it may be more about discovering how we and our students communicate with each other, and finding the tools to support that communication. Check out this set-up private (instructor-to-student) discussions video in MediaSpace to learn more.

Create a discussion with one student in each group

From the Groups tool, you can create a group category for Single user, member-specific groups. 

1. Select Groups from the Other Tools menu in the course navigation bar.
2. Select New Category.
   
3. Enter a title in the Category Name.
4. From the Enrollment Type drop-down menu, select Single user, member-specific groups.
   
5. For the Restrict Enrollments drop-down menu, leave the ‘No Restrictions’ selected.
6. Under ‘Create Workspace’ section, select Set up discussion areas check box.
7. Select an existing discussion forum, or select the Create forum link to create a new discussion forum.
8. Once you have the discussion forum selected, select the Create new topic radio button.
9. Select Save.
   
10. On the ‘Create Restricted Topics’ screen, leave the Create one topic with threads separated by group radio button selected. This means that a single discussion topic is created under the forum.
11. In the Title field, rename it, such as the name of your group category. The title is the discussion topic's title available to your students and yourself in the Discussions tool.
12. When ready, select Create and Next.
    
13. On the next screen, select Done.
14. On the Manage Groups screen, you will have the groups linked to a single group discussion. In a group-filtered discussion topic, students can only access and respond to the threads created by themselves and their instructor. The instructor, however, can access and respond to all the students’ threads in the single discussion topic.