Navigating Discussions D2L
Quick Start Guide:
The discussions tool is a collaboration area where students can post, read and reply to threads on different topics, share thoughts about course materials, ask questions, share files, or work with their peers on assignments and homework
Locating D2L Discussions:
- Discussions can be found in the course navigation bar. Click Communication and then click Discussions.
D2L Discussions Terminology: These topics are organized in a top-down structure.
- Forum – The top of our organizational structure. Your instructor will organize topics within the forums.
- Topic – The actual question, or discussion topic. Within topics are where you and your instructor will interact.
- Thread – These are the actual conversations on the discussion topic. This is where your work begins as a student! You will respond to the topic by starting a thread.
- Reply – Responding to an existing thread creates a “reply.”
So, for example, you will navigate to the correct forum where your desired discussion topic is. You will then start a thread with your response to the discussion topic. You will also be able to reply to other student’s threads – as required by your instructor..
For additional assistance, please see the Complete User Guide:
Navigating Discussions User Guide:
Participating in Discussions on D2L
Quick Start Guide:
Creating a New Thread in a Discussion Topic:
- Navigate to the Discussions You can do this from the course navigation bar, click Communication and then click Discussions.
- Click on the Topic where you would like to start a new thread.
- Click Start a New Thread.
- Important: If you do not see the Start a New Thread button, the discussion topic has been locked. Students can view locked discussion topics, but cannot post or reply to these topics. The locked icon and/or locked dates would be listed under the topic’s name on the Discussions List page.
- Enter a Subject.
- Enter the text for your post – Make sure to reference the rubrics or instructions attached to the topic when creating your response. If your topic has a rubric attached, you can click on the rubric to view it.
- If you are writing a large post, you may want to compose it first elsewhere (such as Microsoft Word or OneNote) to periodically save it as a back-up copy. Then, you can copy/paste your response into D2L. D2L discussions will not automatically save your work if something happens to your browser!
- Click Post.
Reply to an Existing Thread in a Discussion Topic:
- Locate the thread you want to reply to.
- Click Reply to Thread to reply to the main thread or click Reply to reply to a particular post inside the thread.
- Important: If you do not see the Reply to Thread button, the discussion topic has been locked. Students can view the discussion topic, but cannot post or reply to it. The locked dates are listed under the topic’s name on the Discussions List page.
- Enter your text for the post.
- To include the original post’s text in your reply, click the Add original post text
- Click Post.