About the Discussions Tool

The Discussions tool provides an area for collaboration and communication. It allows students and instructors to post, read, and reply to messages on different topics, share thoughts about course materials, ask questions, share files, and work with peers or colleagues.

Discussions consist of forums, topics, threads, and posts. Forums are used to organize your discussion topics into categories. Your course can have multiple forums and topics. Topics are where students post and read messages, and they cannot exist outside of forums.

Anatomy of a Discussion

Discussion Hierarchy

Why Use the Discussions Tool?

You can use the Discussions tool to:

  • Create collaborative spaces for groups to work on group assignments
  • Pose a question for the class to debate
  • Encourage students to share thoughts on course material
  • Set up spaces for students to ask questions
  • Discuss the answers to an assignment

What Tools Interact with Discussions?

Discussions interact with a variety of tools. These tools include:

  • Content: Discussion topics are seamlessly integrated within the Content tool, allowing students to participate in discussions without ever having to leave Content. You are able to edit and modify the majority of the properties in a discussion topic from the Content tool.
  • Grades
  • Groups
  • Video Note
  • Rubrics
  • Class Progress

Learn to Use the Discussions Tool

Accommodations in Discussions

Discussion Reports