This article discusses the course discussion feature, which allows learners to collaborate and tap into the collective genius of their cohort as they go through a guided learning journey.
What is the discussion feature?
Cohort learning courses in our platform are multi-modal, meaning they leverage several learning modalities such as videos, readings, reflections, assessments, and others. Discussions are a key piece of any course because they offer an opportunity for learners to interact with other members of the cohort to engage in structured dialogue, learn from each other, collaborate, and tap into the cohort’s collective genius.
Every course activity contains an action label, found above the activity name in the course map. Activities with the action label “discuss” contain discussions. These activities are found throughout each course and within each lesson.
How to post in discussions
Each discussion activity contains a prompt, under which you can use the Contribute to This Discussion section to post a comment.
Posting a video
If you prefer to record a video instead of typing a comment, simply click the video icon and upload your video file (Note: Make sure the file fully uploads and click Post Comment to ensure it is posted to the discussion).
Using the @ mention feature
To tag a cohort member or Featured User (e.g. Sponsor, Moderator) in your post, type “@” and their name. As you type, you will see other cohort members displayed and can click on the user(s) you wish to tag. You must click on the user(s); writing their name(s) does not tag them and they will not receive any notifications. You can tag as many cohort members and Featured Users as you’d like in a discussion post.
When you tag someone in a post, they receive an email notification that they have been tagged in a discussion post.
Replying to a discussion post
Discussions are nested such that you can reply to a specific discussion post, or even to a reply. Simply navigate in the course activity to the comment you’d like to reply to and click the Reply link. The person you are replying to will automatically be tagged in your reply and, once you click Post Reply, they will receive a notification letting them know you have replied.
Liking comments
Similar to social media platforms, our platform’s discussion activities allow comments and replies to be Liked. To Like a post, simply click the thumbs up icon below the post.
After you have Liked the post, the icon will fill in with color to indicate you have Liked the post.
Who can see discussion posts?
Discussion posts can be viewed by other learners in your cohort, the Moderator, the course Sponsor(s), and any admins included by your organization’s learning leader for the course. Learn more about common roles in a course. Depending on the cohort, if the live event capstone includes faculty, they will be able to see discussion posts as well.
Learn how to view course discussions, including new posts, popular posts, and popular posters using the course discussions widget.
Thematic analysis
When there are more than 10 applicable posts in a course discussion, the themes of the discussion are displayed above all shared comment, along with the number of posts attributed to each theme. Each theme may be clicked to filter to a specific topic as well.
Learn more about the thematic analysis feature.
Discussion notifications
There are several notifications that can be triggered from a discussion activity in a course. In particular, the following are most common. Learn more about course notifications.
- When you are tagged in a post
- When someone replies to a discussion thread you have contributed to
- When someone replies to your post
Tip: When you receive an email notification regarding a discussion post and want to reply to the discussion post, click the View Comment button in the email to go directly to the discussion. Replying to the email does not reply to the discussion post.
Viewing past discussions
All discussion posts you make are stored in your backpack and can be viewed as long as your account is active.