
******************* 
Create a Discussion 
*******************

To create a discussion in your course, you create a question and Discussion
component in Studio. You can then encourage the students to respond by seeding
the discussion space on edX or Edge.


Create a Discussion Component 
*****************************

Keep in mind the following best practices when you create a Discussion
component.

• Be very sure that you want to add the Discussion component. Discussion
• categories are immediately visible in your forum (on the Discussion tab for
• your course) when you create them, even if the unit that contains the
• Discussion component is set to Private

• When you create an ID for the Discussion component, be very careful—especially
• if you are adding the Discussion component to a running course. Follow the
• format in step 10 below to make sure that the ID is unique across all courses
• on edX.

• Edit only the fields at the top of the Discussion component edit box. Do not
• change the XML in the large box.

To add a Discussion component:

1. Open Studio.

2. Make a note of the **Display Name** of the Subsection you are in and the
**Display Name** of the Unit you are in.

3. At the location in the Unit where you want to start your discussion  :doc:`create_html_component`  
that contains the  question you want students to discuss.

4. Directly under this new HTML component, click **Discussion** under **Add New
Component.**

.. image:: images/image057.png

5. When the following box appears, click **Discussion Tag.**

.. image:: images/image059.png

6. When the following box appears, click **Edit.**

.. image:: images/image061.png

The following editing box opens. You will change the values in the small boxes,
but you will not change the text in the large box.

.. image:: images/image063.png

.. note::

	In the future, these boxes may be filled in for you with a default value.

7. In the **discussion_category** box, type the name of the category that you
want to create for the discussion. You can include spaces.

8. In the **discussion_target** box, type the name of the subcategory that you
want to create for the discussion. You can include spaces.

.. note::
	The category and subcategory names only appear in the discussion forum for
	your course. They do not appear in the discussion space inside the Unit.

For example, if you set **discussion_category** to be “The Discussion Component”
and you set **discussion_target** to be “Online Instruction Methods,” the
category and subcategory appear as follow in the category list in the discussion
forum:

.. image:: images/image065.png
 :width: 300

9. In the **display_name** box, type a name for the discussion. The display name
appears when a student hovers the mouse over the ribbon.

10. Click **Save.**

.. raw:: latex
  
      \newpage %


Seed a Discussion Space in Your Course 
**************************************

When you create a discussion, many students may feel hesitant to be the first to
post an answer to your question. You can get the discussion started by posting
your own answer—preferably anonymously or as a student, so that students will be
more comfortable replying if they disagree with your post.

To post as a student, follow the steps below. If you later want to reply as
yourself, log back into your usual account and omit steps 1 and 2.

1. Set up a test account on edX or Edge with an e-mail address that is not
associated with your Course Team.

2. Go to your course URL and register for your course.

3. On edX or Edge, locate the Unit that contains the Discussion component.

4. In the Unit, locate the discussion space.

5. Click **New post.**

6. Type a title for your post in the Title box, and then enter text for your
post.

7. If you want to, select the **post anonymously** check box or the **follow
this post** check box.

8. When you are satisfied with your post, click **Add Post.**

Your new post appears at the top of list in the unit. Posts are listed in
reverse chronological order.

