Creating Discussions
- Aine MacNeill
- ellen bell
When creating a discussion in Blackboard Learn Ultra, you have two choices of how to add them to your module from the top navigation panel or within Content.
Instructions
Creating Discussions from the top navigation panel
Select the Discussions tab along the top navigation panel.
Click ‘New Discussion’
3. Create your discussion by inputting title and your discussion prompt
then you can adjust the settings and make visible to students.
Creating Discussions within Content
You can also create Discussions from the Create option within Module Content. Select the + icon wherever you want to add content and click Create.
Then select Discussion in the Participation and Engagement section.
This brings up the Discussion editor.
4a. Either add a title and your discussion prompt manually and click Save …
4b. … or select Auto-Generate discussion
Always check AI-generated content for accuracy or bias.
This will bring the AI design assistant:
Define the discussion: add a Description or Select course items to inform the AI
Clicking on Select course items, allows you to select items from your module to inform the AI. Use the check boxes to select the items and click on the Select Items button
Chose the Desired cognitive level from the dropdown menu e.g. Evaluate or Inspire me for selection of levels. Then chose Complexity on a scale from undergraduate to PhD.
Now select Generate.
This will give you a number of discussion prompts and titles with relevant cognitive level (if not specified before hand). Select the most appropriate prompt and click Add.
This adds the prompt and the title to the editor, here you can edit the text. Click Save when you are happy with the prompt.
Make the discussion visible and students can access it in the normal way:
Find out more about Blackboard AI tools
Once created you can adjust settings and release to students
Adjusting settings in Discussions
Once you have given your discussion a title and a topic/context /a question or a starting point etc. you can adjust the settings by clicking on the cog in upper right hand side.
Under the settings you can decide if it is marked etc.
If you choose to allocate marks for the discussion, more options appear.
Click Save to save your settings
Your new discussion will appear in the list on the Discussions screen. Active discussions will display a little blue speech bubble.
When you click on the discussion, it opens the discussion forum with responses and replies appearing under the topic and a list of participants on the right.
To create multiple threads under one topic, create different responses, students can then reply to which ever thread is relevant to them:
Students can then reply under their chosen response.
Panopto video: Creating Discussions in Blackboard Ultra
Creating Group Discussions
You can either use an existing group set (recommended if you want to reuse the group) or create groups within the discussion (these groups are not visible in the groups tab)
To create a group discussion using an existing Group set to set up your groups
In Groups view, I have a group set with my two e-tutor groups:
Click on Discussions in the Course toolbar. Click on New Discussion.
This will open up the Discussion editor. Add a Discussion name and a Discussion Topic and click Save.
Click on the cog to open up the Discussion Settings:
Under the Group discussion section, select Assign to Groups.
This will open up the group setting for your discussion. Open the Group students drop-down menu and select the appropriate Group Set from the Reuse groups listed (NB Group Sets, not groups are displayed). Click Save.
Alternatively, if you don’t have a Group Sets or any groups set up, you can set up a new Group Set with groups. Open the Group students drop-down menu and select Custom, Randomly assign or self-enrolment to set up your new groups as normal. Click Save.
Note these groups will only exist within this discussion.
You will return to the Discussion Settings menu, the number of groups in the selected/created GroupSet should now appear under Group discussion, click Save.
You can then swap between group discussions using the drop-down menu
Your new group discussion will now appear in the Discussions list (make sure it’s set visible to students).
Students will only have access to the discussion within their group:
Related articles
Related content
Centre for Digital Learning Enhancement
ulster.ac.uk/learningengancement/cdle