Blackboard Vista: Using the Discussions Tool

PDF version of this document: UsingtheDiscussionsTool.pdf [1.66 MB].

The Discussions tool enables instructors, teaching assistants and students to asynchronously post messages in a public forum. The Discussions tool is generally considered a “Low Threshold Activity” because you can achieve a high level of student interaction with minimal amount of setup time. You can use discussions to:

  • post important messages,
  • generate class discussions during non-class hours,
  • facilitate peer review,
  • and evaluate students based on their responses.

Terms to Know
Category: Group of similar discussion topics. Categories are optional.
Topic: A single theme which can contain multiple messages. A topic may be a question or the introduction of a new concept.
Message: An individual post or reply.
Thread: A series of replies to a single post. Threads could be considered a subset of a topic since there can be multiple threads within a topic. It is possible to have threads within threads.

Which tab (or role), Build or Teach?
From the instructor’s point of view most tasks within the Discussions tool can be done from either the Build or the Teach tab. The two exceptions are:

  • Adding ‘instances’ (will be explained later) to the Course Content Home, folders or learning modules must be done from the Build tab.
  • Grading discussions must be done from the Teach tab.

Navigation
The next few “steps” will point out the terms listed above so you understand the terms when we start adding discussion messages, or posts.

Step 1: Go to Discussions Tool

You do not need to add any ‘instances’ to use Discussions.

  1. Click Discussions from the Course Tools menu (Build or Teach).

NOTE: The (H) in this example means that it will NOT be displayed to students in their Course Tools menu.

Step 2: Categories & Topics

This example shows two categories, Communication Tools and Uncategorized; and four topics, Announcements, Calendar, Main (Discussions), and Notes.

  1. Click Main (Discussions), or other topic.

NOTE: “Uncategorized” is Blackboard Vista’s default category. If you do not create any categories or did not place a topic into a category it will be displayed here. “Default Topic” is a Blackboard Vista default.

Step 3: Icons & Preferences

There are a few icons worth pointing out within the Discussions tool. In many browsers moving your mouse pointer over the icons will display the “tool tip” reminding you what it does.

  1. Click the Display Complete Thread icon.

NOTE: Toggle means that the control is in one state or another. As it applies to Expand or Collapse Thread, it means that if the plus is showing you can expand the thread. If the minus is showing you can collapse the thread.

Step 4: Displayed Complete Thread

The illustration on the right is an example of a thread window. The original post will be at the top with replies underneath. With each individual message you have an opportunity to reply to that specific part of the thread.

Create a Topic

Unless you are satisfied with one single topic, Default Topic, you must create topics. Because categories are optional we will not show you how to use the “Create Category” option, but you will see where it is possible to create a category at the same time you are creating a topic.
You will need to begin at the main Discussions screen. If you are not there you can click on the Discussions tool in the Course Tools menu on the left (not illustrated).

Step 1: Go to Create Topic

  1. Click on Create Topic. The Create Discussion Topic screen is displayed.

Step 2: Choosing Topic Type

Blackboard Vista offers three types of discussion topics. Each discussion topic actively engages students and requires them contribute to discussions in various ways. The discussion topics include the following:

  1. Threaded Topic
    • Create a threaded topic for a more traditional online discussion. Users post and reply to messages. Replies that are associated with the same post are grouped together, creating message threads that can be expanded and collapsed. To create a threaded discussion, go to step 3.
  2. Blog Topic
    • Create a collaborative blog (weblog) space by allowing participants to post a chronological series of entries on a particular topic. Participants can then add comments to any blog entry. To create a blog discussion, go to step 4.
  3. Journal Topic
    • Create a journal topic to give Students a place for their own writing. The journals can be kept private between the Student and the Section Instructor or shared with the class. To create a journal discussion, go to step 5.

Step 3: Create a Threaded Topic

  1. In the “Title” text box, type a title for the threaded topic.
  2. (Optional) In the “Description” area you can include more information.
  3. Select “Item Visibility” option. Show Item is the default.
  4. (Optional) Select which category you would like this Topic to be placed in. If you have not created any categories you can do so now by selecting “Create a category.”
  5. (Optional) Check the “Topic is gradable” if you want a gradable threaded topic. You will then need to choose the grade type. You can choose to grade using numeric grades, alphanumeric grades, or grade by grading form (rubric).

    NOTE: If you choose numeric grade, you must specify the total number of points that can be earned.

    NOTE: If you choose grade by grading form, you will be prompted to select the grading form.
  6. (Optional) Click “Topic Behavior Options.” This will allow the Student Posting Rules options to be displayed.
    Editable posts. This is checked by default.
    Locked. Use this to enable students to read but not post.
  7. Author Identification. Anonymous. Used for sensitive topics where you might feel a student will be more honest if their identity is hidden.
  8. Click Save.

Step 4: Create a Blog Topic

  1. In the “Title” text box, type a title for the blog topic.
  2. (Optional) In the “Description” area you can include more information.
  3. Select “Item Visibility” option. Show Item is the default.
  4. (Optional) Select which category you would like this Blog to be placed in. If you have not created any categories you can do so now by selecting “Create a category.”
  5. (Optional) Check the “Topic is gradable” if you want a gradable blog topic. You will then need to choose the grade type. You can choose to grade using numeric grades, alphanumeric grades, or grade by grading form (rubric).

    NOTE: If you choose numeric grade, you must specify the total number of points that can be earned.

    NOTE: If you choose grade by grading form, you will be prompted to select the grading form.
  6. (Optional) Click “Topic Behavior Options.” This will allow the Student Posting Rules options to be displayed.
    Editable posts. This is checked by default.
    Locked. Use this to enable students to read but not post.
  7. Author Identification. Anonymous. Used for sensitive topics where you might feel a student will be more honest if their identity is hidden.
  8. Click Save.

Step 5: Create a Journal Topic

  1. In the “Title” text box, type a title for the journal topic.
  2. (Optional) In the “Description” area you can include more information.
  3. Select “Item Visibility” option. Show Item is the default.
  4. (Optional) Select which category you would like this Journal to be placed in. If you have not created any categories you can do so now by selecting “Create a category.”
  5. (Optional) Check the “Topic is gradable” if you want a gradable journal topic. You will then need to choose the grade type. You can choose to grade using numeric grades, alphanumeric grades, or grade by grading form (rubric).

    NOTE: If you choose numeric grade, you must specify the total number of points that can be earned.

    NOTE: If you choose grade by grading form, you will be prompted to select the grading form.
  6. (Optional) Click “Topic Behavior Options.” This will allow the Student Posting Rules options to be displayed.
    Editable posts. This is checked by default.
    Locked. Use this to enable students to read but not post.
  7. Author Identification. Anonymous. Used for sensitive topics where you might feel a student will be more honest if their identity is hidden.
  8. Journal Privacy. Private journals are shared communications between the journal author (student) and the instructor. Public journals are shared communications between the journal author (student) and all course participants including the instructor.
  9. Click Save.

Create a Message

After adding a topic you will need to create a message to begin the discussion process. If you are not viewing the Discussions screen, you can click on the Discussions tool in the Course Tools menu on the left (not illustrated).

Step 1: Go to Created Topic

  1. Click on the topic you created in the last step.

Step 2: Go to Create Message

  1. Click Create Message. The Create Message window is displayed.

    NOTE: If creating a journal topic, you will click Create New Entry (not illustrated).

Step 3: Create Message

  1. In the “Subject” text box, type a subject for the first discussion post.
  2. (Optional) In the “Message” text area, type your question or idea.

NOTE: A message is optional because there are times when the subject is self explanatory or an instructor might have actually included the instructions in another area, like the syllabus.

  1. Click Post.

Additional Tutorial Exercises

If you believe you have enough information on how to view and post discussion messages you may proceed to the Add a Discussion Instance part of this tutorial (page 8). If you would like a more thorough introduction and/or more practice with the tool, continue with this tutorial as we view the first post, create a first reply, and view a thread.

Step 1: Open Discussion Window

  1. Click on the message you created in the last step. The message opens in a new window.

Step 2: Open Reply Window

  1. Click Reply.

Step 3: Create Reply & Post

NOTE: Notice that the original message that you are replying to is located at the bottom of the Reply Window.

  1. In the “Message” text area, type the body of the reply.
  2. Click Post.

Step 4: View a Complete Thread

This is the method you would use if you want to see all messages, within a single thread, at one time.

  1. Click the Display Complete Thread icon.

    NOTE: To see a larger representation of this icon see page 2, Step 3: Icons & Preferences.

Step 5: Compiled Messages

From this window you can do four things:

  • Read all messages (each message will include author, date and time information).
  • Reply to messages. Each message will have its own Reply button.
  • Save as File. This option enables you to download the file to read later outside of Blackboard Vista.
  • Print the complete thread.
  1. Click Close this window when finished.

Add a Discussion Instance

The number of discussion topics can grow over the course of a semester. This growth can confuse students. You can guide your students to the right discussion topic at the right time by hiding the Discussion tool in the Course Menu and adding a link to the specific topic. These individual links can be added to your Course Content Home, a Learning Module, or a Folder.

Step 1: Go to Folder or Module

If you are on the Course Content Home and wish to place the discussions instance there proceed to Step 16.

  1. Click on the Folder or Learning Module where the instance will be added to your course. Our example shows Communication Tools LM.

Step 2: Add Content Link

  1. Click Add Content Link. A drop-down menu is displayed.

NOTE: Where Add Content Link is located is dependent on where you are adding the link:

  • For Course Content Home or a Folder it will be third from the left.
  • For a Learning Module it will be second from the left.

Step 3: Discussions

  1. Click Discussions. The drop-down menu will expand to show Discussions related information.

Step 4: Select Topic

  1. Select the topic you created in Step 6 from the “Select from inventory:” area. Our example shows Discussions.
  2. Click Add Selected.

NOTE: If you wanted to create a new topic, you could do so here by clicking the Create Discussion Topic button.

Grading Discussions

If a topic is gradable, this part of the handout will walk you through grading a student’s response. For this part of the tutorial you will need to be using the Teach tab.
If necessary, go to the Discussions tool home page. Remember, even if you have hidden the Discussions link from your students in the Course Menu, the option is still present for you in the Build and Teach tabs.

Step 1: ActionLinks - Grade

  1. For the topic you want to grade, click the ActionLinks icon.
  2. From the ActionLinks drop-down menu, select Grade Topic.

NOTE: You can also grade discussions from the Grade Book but this method is illustrated because it enables you to see the post at the time you are entering the grade.

Step 2: ActionLinks - View

NOTE: Depending on your monitor resolution, for easier viewing you may want to collapse the menu area.

  1. In the “Grade Discussions” area on the left side of the screen, click the ActionLinks icon.
  2. From the ActionLinks drop-down menu, select View Student Posts.

Step 3: Enter Grade

  1. Read the student’s post on the right.

    NOTE: Depending on monitor resolution you may need to scroll horizontally to see the entire message.
  2. In the “Grade” area, enter a grade.
  3. Press Enter (or Return) on your keyboard. A dialog box will open.

Step 4: Save Grades Dialog Box

  1. Click OK.

Step 5: Current Grade

  1. Click on the current grade. An Edit Value window will appear.

Step 6: Edit Value

  1. In the "Change To:" text area, enter the new grade.
  2. (Optional) In the "Comment:" text area, type any comments.

    Note: Because Blackboard Vista keeps an Audit History we recommend you include why you are changing the grade.
  3. Click Save.

 

Page Maintained By: ctl@uncc.edu

Your screens may look different depending upon your configuration.

University of North Carolina at Charlotte