How to create a discussion topic

d2l create discussion topic configure assessment

Introduction

This article shows you how to create specific discussion topics that can be linked to your content area. Your course can have multiple forums and topics, but you must create a forum before you can create a topic since all topics belong to forums.

Environment

An internet-connected device with a web browser (Edge, Firefox, Chrome, or Safari).

Instructions

Create a discussion topic

On the navigation bar, click Communications > Discussions.
On the Discussions List page, from the New button, click New Topic.
From the drop-down list, select the forum you want to put your topic in. If you want to create a new forum for your topic, click New Forum.
Topic Type
Note: You cannot edit the topic type once you save the topic.
1. Open Topic is the default setting unless you are using groups.
2. To grant everyone access to the topic and restrict learners to only seeing threads from their own group or section, under Topic Type, select Group or section topic.
Enter your New Topic Details: Title, Description, Option settings.
On the Restrictions tab, select Availability options for your topic.
Select Locking Options for your topic. Locking a topic prevents users from posting to it until it is unlocked; they can still read posts made prior to it being locked.
Click Save and Close.

Configure a topic for assessment

On the navigation bar, click Communications > Discuss.
From the context menu of the topic, you want to configure for assessment, click Edit Topic.
In the Assessment tab, configure your topic for assessment by doing any of the following:
1. If you want your assessments to count toward the learner's Final Grade, and you want the learner to see their assessment score and feedback in the Grades tool, associate the topic with a numeric grade item.
  1. Use the Grade Item drop-down list to attach an existing numeric grade item, or
  2. Click New Grade Item to create a new numeric grade item. Note that you can only associate numeric grade items with discussion topics.
2. Give the topic a Score Out Of to evaluate the overall score of the learner's contributions to the topic.
3. Click the Add Rubric button to attach one or more existing rubrics, or click the Create Rubric in New Window link to create a new rubric for the topic. By default, students will be able to view the rubric once their grade/feedback is published.
NOTE: The following are advanced settings that we do not recommend using Show
1. If you want to score individual posts, select the Allow assessment of individual posts check box, then select your calculation method to allow assessment of individual posts in the topic. When this check box is not selected, you can give a single overall score to the learner for their participation.
2. If you want to score all the posts within a topic, select the Allow assessment of individual posts check box, and then select the Sum of post scores calculation method.
3. If you select Allow assessment of individual posts, the Include unassessed posts in the calculated topic score as zero check box becomes available. When you select this check box, the system automatically assigns a score of zero to individual posts that you have not yet evaluated, and the overall score for the learner is calculated from the score of all posts, including those not evaluated with a score of zero. Selecting this check box does not affect the Sum of post scores option. If you do not select the Include unassessed posts in the calculated topic score as zero check box, posts without a score are ignored and do not factor into the overall score.
Click Save and Close.