Reviewing and updating discussion forums before the start of the term is crucial in ensuring a seamless learning experience for your students. This process involves verifying that the prompts are clear, relevant, and designed to foster meaningful engagement, as well as confirming all technical aspects of the forum are functioning correctly. It also includes making sure that discussion timelines align with the course schedule.  Undertaking these measures will help establish a structured, respectful, and productive discussion environment right from the onset of your course.

Check All Discussions Are Present

1. Select Communication in the navbar, and then Discussions
2. Scroll down the page, making sure all the course’s discussion forums and topics exist; if available, refer to the Detailed Course Schedule

Update Discussion Availability Dates

To update directly from the Discussions tool:

1. Select Communication in the navbar, and then Discussions
2. Scroll to the desired discussions forum or topic
3. Select the down-arrow attached to the forum/topic title
4. Select the Edit Topic option from the actions list
5. From the right-hand panel select Availability Dates & Conditions 
6. Adjust the End Date (and time) as needed to match the current term’s course schedule
7. Select the text stating “Visible with submission restricted” and from the pop-up window select Add availability dates to Calendar
8. Under Post and Completion confirm “Learners must start a thread before they can view or reply to other threads” is selected
9. Save and Close the discussion forum/topic

For more information about thew new discussions experience, view the video below:

Review Group Discussion Associations

1. Select Communication in the navbar, and then Discussions
2. Scroll to the first group discussion topic
3. Click or tap the down-arrow attached to the topic title
4. Select the Edit Topic option from the actions list
5. From the right-hand panel select Availability Dates & Conditions 
6. Under Group and Selection Restrictions review the selected groups to ensure the correct groups have been associated to the discussion topic (e.g., Visible to All Groups in Assignment 2 Groups)

• Note: You cannot edit this group association. If incorrect groups are listed, you will have to create a new discussion topic with the correct association (View the video above “Create a Discussion Topic” for more information).

8. Click or tap on the Cancel button when you are done (no settings should have been adjusted)
9. Repeat steps 3-8 for the remaining group discussion topics in the course

Create Group Discussions

1. Select Communication in the navbar, and then Discussions
2. If you already have a discussion topic that you would like to assign groups to, scroll down to the discussion topic, click the downward arrow next to the discussion topic (not the forum), and click or tap on Edit Topic
3. Under the “Topic Type”, select the second one (Group or section topic) – this will give you a Confirmation pop up, click Yes
4. From the drop down, select the new group category created (“Discussion groups”)

Note: if your discussion topic already has student posts in it, you will not be able to do these steps, so you will need to create a brand new discussion topic (view the video above “Create a Discussion Topic” for more information)and set it up as mentioned above

For more information about Groups and Group Work Spaces, visit Groups: Creating, Reviewing and Modifying Enrolment

References

BrightSpace Tutorials. (2023, March 30). Thew new discussions creation experience – instructor. YouTube. https://youtu.be/6rgdlXf75Us