Creating a Discussion Topic

Discussion Topics are the actual posts, prompts, or questions to which students respond. Topics are organized into different forums. As such, discussion topics will always be placed in a discussion forum.

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Creating a Discussion Topic 

 

  1. From the course navbar, click Tools.
  2. Select Discussions.
  3. Click New, and select New Topic from the drop-down menu.
  4. Enter a Title [A].
  5. Select a forum. If you are creating a new topic from scratch, eLC will automatically create a forum for the topic. Click Change Forum [B] if you want to assign this topic to a specific forum.
  6. (Optional) Determine how the discussion post will be graded [C].
  7. Complete the topic Description [D]. This should contain the post, prompt, starter, or question to which students will respond in the discussion.
    A screenshot of the topic creation window. Title is labeled A. The Change Forum button is labeled B. The Grading box is labeled C. The description box is labeled D.

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Modifying Topic Restrictions

Discussion topics can have different restrictions that control who can access a discussion, how posting works for students, and how the discussion posts will be graded.

 

Availability Dates & Conditions

These settings control when the discussion as active and available to students, and allows you to restrict a discussion post to specific students, groups, or sections.

  • Start Date [A] - Determines when the discussion opens for students to complete
  • End Date [B] - Determines when the discussion post will close
  • Release Conditions [C] - Allow a discussion to automatically release to certain students after they meet criteria that you select.
  • Group and Section Restrictions [D] - Restricts the discussion topic to students who belong to a chosen group or course section.

A screenshot of the availability dates & conditions settings. Start date is labeled A. End date is labeled B. The release conditions button is labeled C. The manage restrictions button is labeled D.

 

Post & Completion

These settings modify how students participate in the discussion and what kind of information is shared with participants.

  • Default Participation [A] - Any student can start a thread, and posts are identified by name
  • Anonymous Posting [B] - This option give students the choice to hide their name when posting
  • Post Before Replying [C] - Requires students to create their own post before they can read and respond to others.

You can also separately choose to require that posts be approved by an instructor or TA before they display in the topic [D]. This enables manual moderation that you or a TA will have to monitor to make discussion posts appear publicly, so it is not generally recommended.

A screenshot of the Posts & Completion settings. The default option is labeled A. The anonymous posting option is labeled B. The post before responding option is labeled C. The separate moderation setting is labeled D.

 

Evaluation & Feedback

These settings control grading and evaluation options for the discussion post, if you choose to have the post be graded.

  • Add Rubric [A] - Attach a rubric, creating in eLC, to use for evaluating this discussion. The rubric will be visible to students and graders.
  • Manage Learning Objectives [B] - If you wish, you can set up learning objectives for your course, associate assignments and tasks with those learning objectives, and then monitor student progress toward those objectives. This setting will allow you to associate this discussion with a learning objective, if you have created one.
  • Evaluate Posts [C] - These settings allow you to individually evaluate all of a student's posts and responses, then choose how their overall grade will be calculated. You can also choose to allow students to rate each others' posts.

A screenshot of the Evaluation & Feedback settings. Add Rubric is labeled A. Manage learning objectives is labeled B. The evaluation options are labeled C.

 

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Last Updated: 12/10/2024