Discussions
The Discussions tool allows you to communicate with other students. You can subscribe and specify how you receive updates to forums, topics, or threads from the Notifications tab (accessible from your personal menu on the Minibar).
There are two ways to navigate to Discussions:
The Discussion tab from the top menu
Discussion items on the left menu from the Content tab. The Discussions will be located under each module.
Please keep the Code of Student Conduct in mind when communicating with others at Purdue Global.
Table of Contents:
Navigate and Post to Discussions from the Content tab
From the Course homepage, click on Content in the top navigation tabs. Once open, scroll in the left navigation to find the units and their corresponding materials, including Discussion.
Click on the desired Unit to expand the content for that Unit.
Locate the Unit X Discussion Instructions. Clicking on this will open the instructions for the Discussion.
Click on Access the Unit X Discussion Board to navigate to the discussion board for that Unit.
Click the blue button Start a New Thread to open a dialogue box.
Enter a subject in the subject line.
Type the content of your post in the box below the subject line. Formatting tools and adding attachments are options available for discussion threads (subscribe to this thread is also available).
Click the blue button Post when done.
Navigate to Discussions from the Discussions tab
From the Course Home in the top navigation tabs,
Click on Discussions, the second tab from the left.
The Course Forum will display showing a listing of all Discussions within the course.
Post a new thread to the discussions in the Discussions List view
Click on the name of the discussion within the list.
Click the blue button Start a New Thread to open a dialogue box.
Enter a subject in the subject line.
Type the content of your post in the box below the subject line. Formatting tools and adding attachments are options available for discussion threads (subscribe to this thread is also available).
Click the blue button Post when done.
Discussions Tool Navigation
Settings
There are various selections to set up your personal discussion display and other features. Click on the gear icon Settings (see below) and choose each setting by clicking on the corresponding box. Click the question mark icon (see right) for information on each setting. Save your choices by clicking the blue Save button.
Help
The Help pop-up shares general information about Discussions in Brightspace.
Note: Some of the information does not apply to Purdue Global Instructors. Your chair or course lead can provide for more information and answer any questions.
Discussions List
View all topics and threads for all Units here. You may navigate from this view to a desired thread to create a new thread or reply to posts.
Filter
While in the Discussions list tab (default), filter Discussions by unread posts by clicking on Unread. The number of unread posts will be indicated by a blue number in parentheses. Click on the blue number in parentheses to view the unread posts.
Subscriptions
In this area, manage subscriptions to be notified of Forum, Topic, and Thread activity via email.
Notifications settings can also be edited here by clicking Change your notification settings.
Subscribe to Threads
Subscribing to a discussion thread will allow notifications in accordance to your notification settings.
Reply to a Discussion Thread
To reply to an existing discussion thread, navigate to the desired Unit Discussion.
Click on the Subject Line of the thread to reply.
The discussion thread will expand to show the post and any replies.
Click on the blue Reply to Thread button.
When replying to a thread, the original post will appear above your reply entry area.
The subject line will default to the original thread subject. This can be altered as needed.
Enter your reply text here. Formatting options are available.
Click the Add original post text to add the original post text to your response.
Note: This option will only show if it is not already checked off under Discussion settings.
Subscribing to this thread will allow you to get notification alerts for this thread according to your subscription preferences.
Attachments can be added to the reply as needed.
Click the blue Post button to finish and post your reply.
Alternate Views
There are two view options for viewing discussion threads. From the Discussions Settings, you can select Grid or Reading View. You will need to save changes by clicking the blue save button at the bottom of the settings page to update to a new view.
Grid View
An expandable list appears on the left of the screen to preview the entire course forum. Unread posts are highlighted with bold titles and numeric indicators in parenthesis next to the title.
The Grid can be viewed by a few options – threaded or unthreaded. Unthreaded provides additional filter options.
After selecting a view option and filter, click apply to update the grid.
The Done button will return you to the Discussion overview.
Reading View
The Topic list appears on the left of the screen to preview the entire course forum. Unread posts are highlighted with bold titles and numeric indicators.
Topics are searchable in Reading View.
Filter options include Flagged and Unread posts.
Topics can be sorted by a variety of options in reading view.
Thread posts can be expanded to view all text in the post or condensed to the first few lines of text.
