Discussions
The Discussion tool is a communication tool designed for asynchronous communication to enhance your online course. Students conversations are logged and organized into a Discussion Board thread that contains a main post and all the related replies.
All D2L posts are divided into Forums and Topics. Forums basically work as the broad subject or title under which the Topics will the actual items to be discussed. Students cannot access the Forums unless there is a Topic setup to discuss. Be sure to check for messages and unread message information to make sure you have created Topics inside your Discussion Forum.
Adding a Forum
You will need to create a Forum in order to create Topics for the students to post messages to.
1. Select the button and the New Forum page will be displayed
2. Enter a Title for the Forum
3. Enter a optional Description for the Forum or you may choose to enter a description for the Topics inside the Forum
4. If you want your students to be able to post anonymously be sure to check the Allow Anonymous Messages checkbox
5. If you would like to approve messages before they are posted be sure to check the Approve Messages checkbox
6. The Availability options will allow you to change when or if the students can view the Forum
a. The Hide this Forum option will allow you to hide the forum from the student’s view. You may want to choose this if you want to have access to the forum once the student’s are at a certain point in the course
b. The Start and/or End Date will allow you to set the discussion forum to appear and disappear from student’s view on certain dates you set. Leaving the option set to No will display the forum immediately without restrictions
7. Locking Options will allow you to make the Forum read only
8. Be sure to Save when finished or select Save and Add Topic to begin adding topics to this Forum
Adding a Topic
You will need to create a Forum before you can create Topics for students to make posts to.
1. Select the button from the main Discussions page
2. Click the Forum drop-down menu to select which Forum you want to list the Topic under. You may also create the Forum at this step if you previously not created one
3. Enter a Title for the Topic
4. Enter a optional Description for the Topic, or you may have entered a description for the Forum
5. Set the post options for the Topic, should you want to allow anonymous posts or want to approve messages before they are posted, select the appropriate checkboxes
6. Set the Availability options for the Topic, such as the Start/End Date and whether the Topic is hidden or visible
7. The Restriction Tab will allow you to add release conditions to the Topic
8. The Assessment Tab will allow you to add a graded discussion (see below)
9. Be sure to Save when finished
10. Once you have added a Topic your Discussion Forum will now be visible and student will be able to make posts
Graded Discussions
The Assessment Tab under the New Topic page will allow you to grade a discussion Topic should you choose to. Turning the discussion into a grade item is similar to setting other tools in D2L such as the Dropbox or Assessments into a grade item.
1. Go to Edit Topic by selecting the 
icon or select the Assessment tab when creating a new Topic
2. If editing a previously created Topic select the Assessment tab
3. From the drop-down menu select a grade item or add new to create a new grade item in the Gradebook
4. The “Score Out of” box will allow you to set the maximum amount of points the grade item will be worth
5. To Assess each message individually, check the checkbox and select the calculation method such as counting the lowest or highest in a series of terms you would like to use
6. Be sure to Save when finished
Adding a Message
You will need to have created a Forum and Topic in order to post a message.
1. Access the Discussion Tool by clicking the Discussion link from the top navigation bar
2. Select the Topic you would like to create a new message in
3. Click the Compose button
4. Enter your Subject and a Message for the Topic post
5. Click the Post button to save your message and post it to the Discussion Topic
Settings
Some features of the Discussion Tool can be changed on the individual users view. Students can also change the way they view discussions. You can access these settings by clicking the settings from within the Discussion Tool.
1. Org Unit Settings refers to settings you enable for your course. You can choose whether users can rate one another’s messages and if message descriptions are shown in the topics list.
2. Reply With message – Includes the text of the previous message in your reply. This resembles an email when seen on the screen. Please note that this preference is dependent upon the poster of the message. Inform your students if you would prefer they not use this feature.