This article talks about a BETA version of the tool. If you're not a part of an institution that participates in the testing, please refer to the other article.

Introduction

In this article, we'll walk you through how to set up a Discussion on Topic activity from the perspective of a teacher.

Discussion on Topic allows students to respond to a discussion prompt and engage with contributions from their peers. If you'd like more information on how this tool works, check out these articles:

• Discussion on Topic: For Teachers (Active Assignment)

• Discussion on Topic: Overview

• Discussion on Topic: For Students

Tool in Action

How this article is structured

Setting up an activity follows three stages, shown in the bar at the top of the activity whenever you're in edit mode:

1. Build activity — get an overview of your activity and add or remove learning steps.

2. Edit steps — configure each step individually, including how students create and participate in discussions.

3. Finalize activity — configure settings that apply across the activity, such as deadlines and grade weighting.

This article follows the same order. Everything below describes what you can configure before the activity is published. Students cannot access the activity at this stage. Some settings can still be changed after publishing, but certain options may become locked once students start making progress.

Note: When you open a published activity, you'll land on the Active Assignment view by default. To return to the setup view, click Edit in the upper-left corner.

Accessibility

We're devoted to making our tools as accessible as possible for all learners. To read more, see Accessibility: Within FeedbackFruits Tools.

Stage 1 — Build activity

This is your starting point. Here you can see all learning steps in the activity and adjust its structure before configuring each step.

A default Discussion on Topic activity contains:

1. Instructions

2. Create a new discussion post

3. Discuss with your peers

You can use the Learning steps panel to add optional steps to your activity, including:

• Reflections

• Select most valuable contributions

• Non-FeedbackFruits Step

Click a learning step to add it to the activity, or drag it into place. Once your activity structure is ready, continue to Edit steps.

Stage 2 — Edit steps

Here you configure each learning step individually. A Student preview is shown alongside the settings so you can see how the activity will appear to students.

Step 1: Instructions

Add the instructions students will see when they begin the activity.

Type your instructions directly into the field on the right. The Student preview shows how they will appear to students.

Step 2: Create a new discussion post

Configure how students create their initial contribution to the discussion.

Students post as

Choose whether students create their discussion post:

• An individual

• A group

Discussion prompt

Add the statement or question you want students to discuss. This prompt is displayed to students when they create their post.

Required number of posts

Choose how many discussion posts each student is required to create. You can set the requirement to:

• Exactly

• At least

Then select the required number of posts.

Required minimum length per post

Set the minimum length students need to meet for each discussion post.

Submitter anonymity

Enable Submitter anonymity if you want students' posts to appear anonymously to their peers.

Advanced settings

Click Advanced settings for additional options for this step.

Discussion coach

Enable Discussion coach to provide students with AI-powered, real-time feedback to help them improve their discussion posts.

Step 3: Discuss with your peers

Configure how students interact with the discussion posts created by their peers.

Discussion type

Choose how students participate:

• Free form discussion allows students to choose which posts they want to engage with.

• Assigned discussion assigns students specific peers whose posts they need to discuss.

Students can discuss

Choose which students or groups they can interact with.

Required number of peer discussions

For an assigned discussion, set how many peers each student is required to discuss with. You can also select All peers if students should engage with every peer assigned to them.

Instructions

Add optional instructions explaining what you expect from students when responding to their peers.

Replier anonymity

Enable Replier anonymity if replies should appear anonymously to other students.

Stage 3 — Finalize activity

The final stage contains settings that apply across the activity, including deadlines and grade weighting.

Deadlines

Turn on Deadlines to add end dates to applicable learning steps. You can set an end date directly next to each step. For Discussion on Topic, this includes:

• Create a new discussion post

• Discuss with your peers

If no end date is set, the step remains available without a scheduled closing date.

Grade weighting

Turn on Grade weighting to assign a percentage to the graded components of the activity. For Discussion on Topic, you can assign grade weighting to:

Create a new discussion post

• Has created the required number of posts

Discuss with your peers

• Has completed the discussion

• Has written the minimum number of comments

• Has participated in an extra discussion

The Total grade weighting must add up to 100%.

Advanced grading settings

Click Advanced settings under Grade weighting to configure additional grading options.

You can choose the Grade type:

• Percentage

• Pass/fail

You can also configure:

• Require participation to receive a grade — only students who open the learning activity receive a grade.

• Schedule grade publish — automatically publish grades at a selected date.

• Auto-publish after completing graded steps — automatically publish an individual student's overall grade once they complete all graded learning steps.

These advanced grading controls match the pattern already used in the beta setup articles.

Once everything is configured, click Done.

Good to know: Anonymity

Discussion on Topic contains two separate anonymity settings:

• Submitter anonymity applies to the student's original discussion post.

• Replier anonymity applies to replies students make when discussing with peers.

When anonymity is enabled, students do not see the person's identity, but teachers can still see their real name.