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Info for moderators

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docs/en_us/course_authors/source/cohorts/cohorts_discussions.rst
......@@ -4,30 +4,48 @@
Managing Discussions in a Course with Student Cohorts
##########################################################
The experience that students have in the course discussions is different in
courses that do, and do not, enable the cohort feature. Additional features are
also available to the staff members and community TAs who moderate the course
discussions. This section describes how students and staff can :ref:`find out
who can read a post<Finding Out Who Can See a Post>`.
.. to come in a separate PR: a better introduction, info on how a moderator can post into one cohort or all cohorts, how students see posts in a course with cohorts, more
In a course that has the cohort feature enabled, every post has an indicator of
who can read it: either everyone, or only the members of a single cohort group.
For students, this is the only noticeable difference between discussions in
courses that include cohorts when compared to courses that don't. You can share
the examples in the :ref:`Read the Cohort Indicator in Posts` section with your
students, along with the :ref:`Discussions for Students and Staff` section of
this guide.
Staff members who have the discussion admin, discussion moderator, or community
TA role see the same indicator of who can read each post. Unlike the students,
however, the discussion staff members can read and contribute to every post,
regardless of the cohort group assignment of the student who posted it.
.. note:: Students who have the Community TA role can read and
contribute to all posts.
In courses that enable the cohort feature, members of the discussion staff can
also:
* Choose who will be able to see the posts that they add to divided topics. See
:ref:`Choosing the Visibility of a Post`.
* Filter the posts that are listed on the **Discussion** page by cohort group.
See :ref:`Viewing the Posts of a Cohort Group`.
All of the other options and features described in the :ref:`Discussions`
section continue to be available to the discussion staff.
.. _Finding Out Who Can See a Post:
********************************
Finding Out Who Can Read a Post
Identifying Who Can Read a Post
********************************
In a course with the cohort feature enabled, all posts include a cohort
indicator above the title. This indicator appears after a student or staff
member adds each post. Other than choosing the cohort group names carefully
when you add them, no configuration is necessary to include this identifier.
You can share the information in the :ref:`Read the Cohort Indicator in Posts`
section with your students.
In a course that includes cohorts, all posts include a cohort indicator above
the title. This indicator appears after any student or staff member adds a
post. Other than naming the cohort groups carefully when you add them, no
configuration is necessary to include this identifier.
For students to see who will be able to read their posts before they add them,
you can name the discussion topics so that they identify who will be able to
see posts. See :ref:`Apply Naming Conventions to Discussion Topics`.
Optionally, you can name your discussion topics to show students who will be
able to view their posts. See :ref:`Apply Naming Conventions to Discussion
Topics`.
.. _Read the Cohort Indicator in Posts:
......@@ -36,7 +54,8 @@ Read the Cohort Indicator in Posts
==================================
Every post includes a sentence that identifies whether everyone can see and
contribute to it, or only the members of a cohort within the course.
contribute to it, or only the members of a cohort in the course. Examples
follow.
.. image:: ../Images/post_visible_all.png
:alt: A discussion topic post with "This post is visible to everyone" above
......@@ -46,13 +65,9 @@ contribute to it, or only the members of a cohort within the course.
:alt: A discussion topic post with "This post is visible to" and a cohort name
above the title
.. image:: ../Images/post_visible_default.png
:alt: A discussion topic post with "This post is visible to Default Group"
above the title
You see this identifier after you add your post. The responses and comments
that others add to a post are visible to the same group of people as the
post itself.
You see this identifier after you add your post. All of the responses and
comments that other contributors add to a post are visible to the same group of
people as the post itself.
.. _Apply Naming Conventions to Discussion Topics:
......@@ -60,29 +75,25 @@ post itself.
Apply Naming Conventions to Discussion Topics
=========================================================
All of the content-specific discussion topics that you add to units in Studio
are divided by cohort. However, course-wide topics can either be divided by
cohort or remain unified (all students can read and react to all posts).
Optionally, you can use a naming convention for your discussion topics to give
your students the audience context of their posts *before* they add them.
Applying a naming convention can be useful if the students in your cohort
groups are particularly sensitive about the privacy of their conversations.
Optionally, course team members can give students the audience context of their
posts before they add them. Indicating who will be able to read posts in the
names of the topics themselves can be useful when a cohort is particularly
sensitive about the privacy of their conversations.
For example, you can use a naming convention such as "everyone" for unified
course-wide discussion topics to distinguish them from topics that are divided
by cohort. (You may only find it necessary to identify topics that offer a
unified, public audience for all posts in this way. However, in this
illustration, each topic has been given an identifier of either "everyone" or
"private".)
For example, you add "(everyone)" to the names of the unified course-wide
discussion topics in your course.
.. image:: ../Images/discussion_category_names.png
:alt: The names you supply for course-wide topics in Studio appear on the
dropdown list of discussion topics in the live course
When students visit the **Discussion** page and use dropdown lists to select
one of the course-wide topics, the topic names indicate who can see the posts,
responses, and comments.
When students visit the **Discussion** page and use dropdown lists to select a
course-wide topic, the topic names indicate who can see the posts, responses,
and comments.
(In the illustration above, every topic name includes either "(everyone)" or
"(private)". You may only find it necessary to explicitly identify topics that
have a unified audience for all posts.)
For more information about adding and configuring course-wide discussion
topics, see :ref:`Organizing_discussions` or :ref:`Identifying Private
......@@ -97,3 +108,84 @@ you could include an identifier like "(private)" or "(small group)" in the
:alt: The Subcategory name that you supply for a Discussion component in
Studio appears on the dropdown lists of discussion topics in the live
course
.. _Choosing the Visibility of a Post:
***************************************
Choosing the Visibility of a Post
***************************************
If you have the discussion admin, discussion moderator, or community TA role,
you can make posts to divided discussion topics visible to everyone who is
enrolled in the course or to the members of a selected cohort group only. When
you :ref:`add a post<Add a Post>`, the **Visible to** dropdown list appears
above the **Title** field.
This example shows a new post being added to a content-specific
discussion topic.
.. image:: ../Images/visible_to_contentspecific.png
:alt: The fields and controls that appear when a staff member clicks
New Post for a content-specific topic
As a discussion staff member, you can choose the visibility of your posts in
topics that are divided by cohort. This means that you can add a single post
with information that you want everyone to see, rather than having to write a
separate post for each cohort group. It also means that it is possible for you
to unintentionally share information with a different audience than you
intended.
.. note:: Students do not choose the visibility of their posts. The
visibility of student posts is determined by the configuration of the topic
they post in. See :ref:`Options for Discussion Topics`.
Posts that discussion staff members add to unified discussion topics are always
visible to all students, regardless of cohort assignment.
.. _Considerations When Editing Posts:
===================================
Considerations When Editing Posts
===================================
It may be helpful to keep these additional considerations in mind when you edit
posts in a course that includes cohorts.
* You cannot change the visibility of a post after it has been added. If you
notice that a post contains information that is not appropriate for the
cohort who can read it, edit the content of the post or delete the post.
* If you change the topic that a post appears in, the visibility of the post
and its responses and comments **does not change**. This ensures that
students who are following the post, or who have contributed responses or
comments to it, will still be able to read it.
* All of the responses and comments that are contributed to a post will be
visible to the same group of people as the post itself. You cannot change the
visibility of individual responses or comments.
.. _Viewing the Posts of a Cohort Group:
************************************
Viewing the Posts of a Cohort Group
************************************
When a course includes student cohorts, you can view posts and monitor
discussion activity for one cohort group at a time. You can also view all
posts.
Above the list of posts on the **Discussion** page, the **in all cohorts**
filter is selected by default. You see every post when you make this selection,
as shown in the illustration on the left. To limit the list so that you can
view the same set of posts as the members of a cohort group, select the name
of that group as shown on the right.
.. image:: ../Images/viewing_all_or_cohort.png
:alt: The list of posts on the Discussion page, first showing all posts then
showing only posts that members of the Univeristy Alumni cohort group can see
Note that both of these lists include posts that are visible to
everyone. When you filter the list by cohort group, you see the same, complete
set of posts that the members of the cohort see.
For other options that you can use to view posts, see :ref:`Find Posts`.
docs/en_us/course_authors/source/cohorts/cohorts_overview.rst
......@@ -8,19 +8,19 @@ Cohorts create smaller communities of students within a course. Students who
are in a cohort can communicate and share experiences privately within course
discussion topics.
When you enable the cohort feature for your course, the discussion topics
that you include in units by adding discussion components are divided by
cohort. This means that each post that a student makes to those
content-specific topics can only be read, and responded to, by members of the same
cohort. However, any course-wide discussion topics that you set up for your
course remain unified. This means that all posts can be read, and responded to,
by every student. You can change some, or all, of your course-wide topics to be
divided by cohort. See :ref:`Options for Discussion Topics`.
When you enable the cohort feature for your course, the discussion topics that
you include in units by adding discussion components are divided by cohort.
This means that each post that a student makes to those content-specific topics
can only be read, and responded to, by members of the same cohort. However, any
course-wide discussion topics that you set up for your course remain unified.
This means that all posts can be read, and responded to, by every student. You
can change some, or all, of your course-wide topics to be divided by cohort.
See :ref:`Options for Discussion Topics`.
This section also describes your options for :ref:`assigning students to cohort
groups<Options for Assigning Students to Cohorts>`. When you enable the cohort
feature, you define a set of cohort groups to reflect the student cohorts, and
select a strategy for assigning students to the groups. Note that:
feature, you define a set of cohort groups to reflect communities of students,
and select a strategy for assigning students to those groups. Note that:
* Every student must be assigned to a cohort group. This assures that every
student has the ability to read and contribute to all of the course
......@@ -47,7 +47,7 @@ Options for Discussion Topics
By enabling the cohort feature in a course, you provide students with the
ability to ask questions of, and have conversations with, other members of
their cohort. By offering these cohort-only discussion oppotunities, the cohort
their cohort. By offering cohort-only discussion oppotunities, the cohort
feature can help students develop a sense of community, provide specialized
experiences, and encourage deeper, more meaningful course involvement.
......@@ -241,9 +241,16 @@ when they visit the **Discussion** page or a discussion topic in the course
content.
Students who are assigned to the default cohort group see a cohort name of
"Default Group" in discussion posts. See :ref:`Read the Cohort Indicator in
Posts`. If you want students to see a different cohort name, add an auto cohort
group with the name that you prefer. See :ref:`Define Auto Cohort Groups`.
"Default Group" in discussion posts.
.. image:: ../Images/post_visible_default.png
:alt: A discussion topic post with "This post is visible to Default Group"
above the title
If you want students to see a different cohort name when your course starts,
you can add an auto cohort group with the name that you prefer. See
:ref:`Define Auto Cohort Groups`. (Adding an auto cohort group to your course
for this purpose is not recommended after your course starts.)
You can check the :ref:`student profile information report<View and download
student data>` for your course to see if any students are assigned to the
......
docs/en_us/course_authors/source/running_course/discussions.rst
......@@ -27,8 +27,9 @@ sections:
* :ref:`Close_discussions`
For information about how enabling the cohort feature for a course affects the
course discussions, see :ref:`Moderating Discussions for Cohorts`.
For information about how enabling the cohort feature for a course affects
options for moderating course discussions, see :ref:`Moderating Discussions for
Cohorts`.
.. _Overview_discussions:
......@@ -93,9 +94,9 @@ that contains it. Students cannot contribute to these discussion topics until
that date.
.. note:: In courses that include the cohort feature, all of the
content-specific discussion topics are private. Student posts to these topics
can only be read, and responded to, by members of the same cohort group. See
:ref:`Cohorts Overview`.
content-specific discussion topics are divided by cohort. Student posts to
these topics can only be read, and responded to, by members of the same cohort
group. See :ref:`Cohorts Overview`.
.. _Create CourseWide Discussion Topics:
......@@ -153,10 +154,10 @@ Discussion list now includes the topic you added.
:alt: Image of a new topic named Course Q&A in the list of discussions
.. note:: In courses that include the cohort feature, the course-wide
discussion topics that you add are public. All of the posts can be read, and
discussion topics that you add are unified. All of the posts can be read, and
responded to, by every student, regardless of their assignement to a cohort
group. You can configure course-wide discussion topics to be private. See
:ref:`Identifying Private CourseWide Discussion Topics`.
group. You have the option to configure these topics to be divided by cohort.
See :ref:`Identifying Private CourseWide Discussion Topics`.
.. _Assigning_discussion_roles:
......
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