Topics - Discussions

Before you can create a forum topic, at least one forum must exist on your course site. Steps on how to create a Topic are listed below. To review steps on how to create a forum please visit Create New Discussion Forum - Brightspace at Brock Documentation - Confluence (atlassian.net).

Create an Ungraded Discussion Topic

On the navbar, click Discussions.
On the Discussions List page, select the arrow on the forum and select Add Topic.
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In the New Topic, add the Topic details:
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1. Add Title - I.e. Classroom Q & A, Case Study 1 etc.
2. Select Parent Forum - Note the current parent forum listed. If creating a topic without a parent forum a new Forum will be created. TO change the parent forum select Change Forum text.
3. Grade Out Of - The default for a new Topic is ungraded. Here a grade can be assigned (ie. out of 10) or can be linked to a gradebook item. See Grading Topics in Advanced Topic Features for more detail.
4. Add Description - Provide a brief description that can include the instructions for students.
Select Save and Close to publish the Topic

Note. By default, new Topics created are visible to the class when published via Save and Close.

Automatically Create Group-Restricted Topics

While it is possible to create topics individually and then assign a group restriction to them through Group and Section restrictions in the topic editor, there is a faster way to quickly create one topic per group in a category. These steps require the groups be created first, instructions for group creation can be found in CPI documentation on group creation.

If planning to grade the students posts, please consider creating a single topic with posts separated by groups instead. Any topic can be restricted in this manner from the Manage Restrictions area in the Availability Dates and Conditions sub-menu. By creating a single topic instead of multiple, the instructor will be able to tie their assessments to a single grade item in the gradebook.

In the Discussions area, select the Group and Section Restrictions tab.
Click on the Automatically create restricted topics link.
Select the proper group or section category from the Group or Section Category drop-down menu.
Select the forum to create the topics within, or click [New Forum] to make one.
Click Create.

Topics separated by groups (or sections) will be automatically created in the chosen forum.

Topic Advanced Features

Access and Release Conditions

Start Date and End Date are not required to created a new topic. If specified, students will only be able to access the Topic form the Start Date to the End Date.
Release Conditions can be specified requiring specific actions before a student can view/access the Topic. For more information contact edtech@brocku.ca.
Group and Section Restrictions. Select Manage Restrictions to view options:
1. Restrict Topic. Only students in the group selected below will be able to view the Topic and all of the threads within it.
2. Restrict Topic and Separate the Threads. All students can view the Topic, but they will only be able to view threads posted by members of their group.
  1. Example: a Topic titled “Week One Introductions” with groups for a course set as Section 1, Section 2, and Section 3. With this option each section can see the Topic and instructions, but they will only see posts from their group. ie. Section 1 will only see posts from other students in Section 1.

Participation Settings.
1. Default Participation. Students are able to view, reply, and create threads once they are able to access the Topic depending on the Availability/Release conditions set.
2. Allow learners to hide their name from other learners. This option allows for students to make anonymous posts, replies, and threads, in addition to the default participation settings. Allows for anonymous discussion/participation.
3. Learners must start a thread before they can view or reply to other threads. Students must make a post of their own by creating a thread in order to view or reply to other student’s threads. Useful if requiring students to make an individual post that is graded in addition to graded responses.

Moderator Setting.
1. Posts must be approved before they display in the topic. This setting can be combined will all participation settings. Each post and thread must be approved by the Instructor or TA before is it visible to other students in that Topic.

Rubrics. Select Add Rubric to create new or to attach a previously created rubric to this Topic.
Learning Objectives. Here learning objectives can be associated with this Topic. Learning objectives must be created in that tool before they can be associated with the Topic in this window.
Evaluate Posts.
1. Allow evaluation of individual posts. This option requires the topic to have assigned points (this is set in the Grade Out Of field). When selected, instructors can assign scores to each post on this topic. If NOT selected the Topic will be graded as a whole item, not by each post.
2. Allow learners to rate posts.
  1. Five-star Rating. Students can rate each post on a scale from 1 to 5 stars.
  2. Up Vote/Down Vote Rating. Students can rate each post with an Up Vote (thumbs up) or Down Vote (thumbs down).
  3. Up Vote Only Rating. Students can rate each post will Up Vote (thumbs up) only or no vote.

Grading Topics

Topics have the following options related to grading:

Edit or Link to Existing Item in Grade Book
Not in Grade Book - the Topic will NOT appear in Grade Book.
Reset to Ungraded - The Topic will appear in Grade Book as Ungraded.

In the New Topic or Edit Topic tab, select an existing grade item from the Grade Item drop-down list, or click New Grade Item to create a new one.
1. Please note that only one Forum topic can be associated with a gradebook item. However multiple forum topics can be associated with one gradebook category.
2. If you Select New Grade Item: Fill out the parameters for the gradebook item. Please note that by default the item is set to be scored out of max 10 points. All items here refer to the gradebook linking, category here, refers to existing gradebook categories, availability dates refer to the visibility on the gradebook tool, not the Discussion tool.
Set the score out of X points. Be sure that the points match the points set in the grade item.
(Optional) Attach an existing rubric or create a new rubric.
Determine if you’d like each individual post to be graded. Then set the overall topic score calculation rules within Grade Book.

After configuring the Topic details, restrictions, assessment and learning objective Click Save and Close to return to the discussion tool main page.

Brock University Educational Technology and Teaching Support