How do I post a topic in Conversations?

Depending on your permissions within the Conversations tool, you may not see all of the topic options shown below. For example, if you don't have grading permission, you won't be able to see the grade options.

Go to the Conversations tool.

Select the Conversations tool from the Tool Menu of your site. 

Click Create new topic.

Select the Topic Type.

You may choose to add a Question topic, or a Discussion topic.

Question topics are designed for posting questions that require an answer.

Discussion topics are designed for more structured interactions where site members respond to one another within a thread of discussion.

Choose the topic type that best fits your question or discussion prompt. The selected type is highlighted in blue.

  1. Question topics display a question icon (This is a question topic) near the title of the topic.
  2. Discussion topics display a speech bubble icon (This is a discussion topic) near the title of the topic.

Give your topic a title.

In the Details field, enter a question or a discussion prompt.

Add Tags (Optional)

In the Tag topic area, optionally attach a topic tag and click Add.

If there are no tags available, or if you would like to add new tags, select the Edit tags for this course button. See How do I manage tags in Conversations? for more information.

Tags will appear below the drop down menu once they have been added to a topic.

You may add more than one tag to a topic if desired.

To remove a tag, click on the X next to the tag you'd like to remove in the list of current tags.

Choose who can see the post once it is published.

By default, Everyone in this site is selected.

Select Instructors in this site to create a topic that only instructor users can view.

Select Only members of selected groups, and then select one or more groups, to make the topic available to those groups only.

Set availability of the topic.

Choose if you want to Make Available Now (the default option), or Specify Dates for your topic.

If you choose to Specify Dates, you have three different dates you can choose to set.

  • The Show date is when the topic will become visible to site participants.
  • The Lock date is when the topic will be locked so that users can still view the topic, but they cannot post to it any longer.
  • The Hide date is when a topic is no longer visible to site participants.

Select Grading options.

If you would like to grade student posts to this topic:

  1. Select the check box for Grade this Topic.
  2. Enter a maximum point value for the topic.
  3. Select to Create a new Grading Item (the default option) or Associate this Topic with an existing Grading Item if you have already added a Gradebook item for this activity.

Set Due Date.

If you would like to specify a Due Date for this graded activity:

  1. Check the box for Set Due Date and enter a date into the calendar field below.
  2. (Optionally) Check the box for Accept late responses until and enter a date into the calendar field below. Choosing this option will automatically lock the topic upon the accept until date.

Specify Post Options.

In the Post options area, choose additional visibility options:

  1. Selecting Pinned will keep your topic at the top of the topic list so that it is easily visible to site participants.
  2. Activate Anonymous to hide your profile name to viewers of your post. Note that instructors and site owners can still view the profile name of the poster even if the topic has been set as anonymous.
  3. Activate Anonymous Posts to hide the profile names of posts that reply to the new topic.
  4. Activate Student must post before reading responses if you want to make it so that participants must reply to the topic before reading other replies.

Click Publish.

Once you have finished editing the topic settings, click Publish to make your post available to site participants.

Optionally, you may select Save as Draft if you are not yet finished editing. Draft topics are only available to the author of the topic.