About Discussions

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As its name implies, the Discussions tool is used to facilitate class discussions. Your instructor will typically post a discussion topic related to the course material and you and your classmates respond by posting messages. The Discussions tool is much like a message board in an online community, as communication does not take place in real time and messages are organized into threads.

Watch the Discussions tutorial

The Discussions Tool

Discussions Features

The Discussions tool has the following features:

• You may be able to post messages to topics anonymously.
• You can attach files to messages. For example, you might want to attach a document to allow your peers to review it and provide comments.
• You may be allowed to edit your messages after you have posted them.
• Your instructor may create a topic that is assigned specifically to a group of which you are a member.
• Your instructor may lock a topic, so that the messages are read-only and you cannot post any new messages.
• Discussion topics may be gradable, meaning that your participation in the discussion will be counted towards your final grade for the course.

If the Discussions tool has been added to your course, it will appear under Course Tools. If you click the Discussions icon, you are taken to the main screen for the Discussions tool. Alternatively, your instructor may add a discussion topic to the Course Content Home, another folder, or the Action Menu of a learning module. If you click the discussion topic icon, you are taken to a screen that contains that specific discussion topic.

Let's look at discussion topics and threads next.

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