Brightspace Discussions
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The Discussions functionality in Brightspace allows students for online discussions with each other. Discussions work asynchronously; the options for participation are flexible, and everyone has an equal chance to join in. The variety of ideas shared in a discussion forum can make learning more interesting.
This functionality can be used in various ways, for example:
- Setting up a Q&A after a lecture or seminar. If there is not enough time during contact hours to answer students’ questions, you can use Discussions to set up a Q&A. Students can post questions and, as a teacher, you can answer them. The answers are then visible to all students within the course. This gives you insights into the topics that students are still struggling with.
- Using a Q&A in Discussions as “peer learning” where students answer each other’s questions. In that case, you as a teacher can moderate the answered questions.
- Encouraging students to collaborate by sharing information. You can create separate discussion topics for separate groups and also provide opportunities to share files.
- Have students provide each other with (peer) feedback: in a discussion topic, students can share files such as documents and videos that everyone in the topic can see. This allows students within the topic to give peer feedback on the shared files and receive feedback on the files they share. This can be done, for example, with a predefined rubric or a star rating.
Make use of the manual on the Brightspace Support page if you want to know more about Brightspace Discussions.
Is it possible for students to participate anonymously?
When creating a discussion forum, one of the options is to allow anonymous posts, which means that students will not see names associated with posts. In this case, posts are only anonymous for students, but the teacher, as moderator, will still see the names associated with the posts.
Is it possible to moderate a discussion forum?
As a teacher, you can moderate by determining whether messages can be posted immediately or only after approval. When you create a forum or topic, you can choose to make posts visible only after you have reviewed them. As a teacher, you can also add or delete posts or respond to them.
You are free to share and adapt, if you give appropriate credit and use it non-commercially. More on Creative Commons
