.. _Working with Discussion Components:

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Working with Discussion Components
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Overview
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You can add a Discussion component to a Unit, to pose a question related to the Unit and give students a chance to respond and interact.

See the following topics:

* :ref:`Create a Discussion Component`
* :ref:`A Student's View of the Discussion`


Before you add a Discussion component, it is generally a good idea to add an HTML component that introduces the topic to be discussed. The Discussion component itself does not contain any text and may be easy for students to overlook. 

Also see the following chapters:

* :ref:`Discussions`
* :ref:`Guidance for Discussion Moderators`

.. _Create a Discussion Component:

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Create a Discussion Component 
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.. note:: Before you create a Discussion component, consider that Discussion categories are immediately visible in your forum (on the Discussion tab for your course) when you create them, even though the unit that contains the Discussion component is set to Private.


To create a new HTML component in an existing Unit, ensure the Unit is Private.  
For more information on Public and Private Units, see :ref:`Public and Private Units`.

#. Under **Add New Component**, click the **discussion** icon.

   .. image:: ../Images/NewComponent_Discussion.png
    :alt: Image of the adding a new discussion component
  
   The Discussion component is added:
  
   .. image:: ../Images/EditDiscussionComponent.png
    :alt: Image of the discussion component with the Edit button circled


#. In the Discussion component, click **Edit**.

   The Discussion component editor opens.
   
   .. image:: ../Images/DiscussionComponentEditor.png
    :alt: Image of the discussion component editor

#. Follow the guidelines in the editor to fill in the **Category**, **Display Name**, and **Subcategory**. 
  
#. Click **Save**.

.. _A Student's View of the Discussion:

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A Student's View of the Discussion 
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For students, Discussion component names appear in the course ribbon at the top of the page:

.. image:: ../Images/DiscussionComponent_LMS_Ribbon.png
 :alt: Image of a unit from a student's point of view with the component list showing a discussion component

The Discussion space appears under other components in the unit. 
It doesn't have a label in the body of the unit. 
Instead, students see "Show discussion" or "Hide discussion" on the left, 
and a blue **New Post** button on the right.

In the following example, the Discussion component follows Video and HTML components:

.. image:: ../Images/DiscussionComponent_LMS.png
  :alt: Image of a video component followed by a discussion component

In the **Discussion** tab at the top of the page, 
students can find the category and subcategory of the discussion in the left pane.

.. image:: ../Images/DiscussionComponent_Forum.png
 :alt: Image of the discussion page from a student's point of view


