Use Discussions in Brightspace

1. Log into your UFV online course at brightspace.ufv.ca.

2. In the green menu bar, click Activities.

3. In the drop down menu, select Discussions.

Each discussion is broken down and organized into three levels - forums, topics and threads.

Forum:

Think of a forum as a container or category.

It organizes related discussion topics.

Example: A forum called "Week 1 Discussions" might contain several topics related to that week.

Topic:

The topic is where the actual discussions happen.

Instructors create topics within forums for specific questions or activities.

Example: A topic under Week 1 Discussions might be "Introduce Yourself".

Thread:

A thread is a student’s or instructor’s post within a discussion topic.

It starts a conversation that others can reply to.

Example: You post your introduction—that’s a thread. Any replies to it form a conversation.

1. Click the title of a discussion topic to open it and view other people's threads.

2. Click More to expand the view and read the entire thread.

1. Click the blue button Start a New Thread.

2. Enter a Subject (title) for your thread.

3. Type in your content (using text and formatting) by inserting Kaltura or Youtube videos, links to websites, images, equations, tables, etc.

To get notified when someone posts a new message in response to your thread, select the corresponding box.

Under Attachments, you can attach a file to your message.

You can:

1. Upload a file from your device: click Upload

2. Record a video or audio message directly into the post: click Record and select either Record Video or Record Audio. Follow the prompts.

3. Select a file from your file locker (or, if this is for a group assignment, from a group locker: Click Choose Existing > My Locker or Group Locker

Click Post to post your message.

To view responses and reply to a thread:

1. Click the discussion topic title to open it.

2. Click the thread title you would like to read and answer.

You will see the entire thread and all the responses to that thread.

Click on Reply to thread to reply to that thread.

Type in your message in the Brightspace editor text box that appears underneath.

This text editor has all the same options as when you created a new thread.

Click Post to post your response.

You can also reply to a response to a thread, by clicking the Reply button underneath a response to a thread.

To return to the main topic, click View Topic in the link breadcrumbs (below top green menu bar).

In Discussions, you can subscribe to a Forum, Topic, or Thread, as a way to get notifications to an area of interest in that discussion.

To subscribe to a Forum

If you subscribe to a Forum, you will receive a notification every time someone creates something in that forum (new topics, new threads, new responses).

Click the Actions dropdown menu near the Forum title and select Subscribe.

To subscribe to a Discussion topic

If you subscribe to a Discussion topic, you will receive a notification every time someone creates a new thread or respond to a thread in that topic.

To subscribe to a Discussion topic, click Subscribe underneath the topic title once you opened it up.

To subscribe to a Thread

If you subscribe to a Thread, you will receive a notification every time someone creates a new thread or respond to a thread in that topic.

To subscribe to a Thread, click on Subscribe underneath that Thread's title.

You can then chose which type of notification you would like to receive and then click Subscribe.

To check or change your subscriptions

Go to Discussions List (Click Activities > Discussions).

At the top, click the Subscriptions Tab.

You will see the list of all you subscriptions, and you can also edit them.