Discussion Forums: Moderating, Contributing, and Grading

Set up a Discussion Forum

In the designer, click Add Interaction, select Discussion, then enter your prompt and determine the settings.
In the Timing tab, select Advanced to open up the settings and enter the length of the time. Use the arrows to adjust how long the discussion forum will appear in the bulb, then click Done.
Adjust the point value by clicking the triple dots icon and moving the points slider.

By default, when a learner submits a comment to a discussion forum that is worth points, they will automatically receive full credit. However, it is possible for instructors to configure discussion forum interactions such that they are manually graded instead, i.e. learners will not receive credit until the instructor views their response in the bulb gradebook and manually assigns a point value.

To enable manually-graded discussion forums, under the Advanced settings, uncheck the checkbox labeled Learners automatically earn full points on submission of comments.

Note : This feature is only available to members of institutional licenses.

If the instructor does not want learners to see other learners' comments before posting their own comments, please check the checkbox for Hide discussion posts until learner contributes option.

Click here to learn how to assign your bulb to learners in an LMS.

Click here to learn how to assign your bulb to learners outside of an LMS.

Note: Discussion interaction will not fade away after the learner submits their comments; therefore, they can continue to reply to others' comments. This behavior will cause the discussion interaction to block other interactions in the same group behind the discussion. Please separate the discussion interaction from the group, or place it in a different place from other interactions in the same group to prevent it from blocking other interactions.

Moderate a Discussion Forum

Instructors can participate in discussion forums as well as delete inappropriate or off-topic comments.

If accessing an assignment from an LMS, launch the assignment and select Preview on the grey screen.
Otherwise, if accessing the assignment from PlayPosit, navigate to the Classes page, click on the class title, and then click the bulb thumbnail. Select Preview.
1. Discussion forums can also be accessed by instructors via the Activity feed. Click here to learn more about the Activity feed.
Fast forward, if needed, to where the discussion forum appears in the bulb. Make or reply to comments, or delete comments that are either offensive or off-topic. Click the Filter options dropdown menu to filter for a specific learner's comments or display the comments in the order from newest or oldest.

Note: If an instructor deletes a learner's comments, the learner still will earn full points for that comment unless the instructor manually changes the learner's grade for that specific discussion. See this section for more information on manually grading discussion forums.

Contribute to a Discussion Forum

If accessing an assignment from an LMS, launch the assignment and select Preview on the grey screen.
Otherwise, if accessing the assignment from PlayPosit, navigate to the Classes page, click on the class title, and then click the bulb thumbnail. Select Preview.
Fast forward, if needed, to where the discussion forum appears in the bulb. Click the Filter options dropdown menu to filter the specific learner's comments or display the comments in the order from newest or oldest, view comments, reply to learner comments, and contribute your own comments to the discussion.

Note: In a discussion forum the rich text editor will display an emoji button on the left side. This feature is only available to users who are part of certain institutional licenses. Contact your Account Manager to learn more.

The emoji button will give learners or instructors the option to insert emojis into comments by clicking an emoji.

Expand and collapse discussion posts

By default, all reply threads will open in discussion forums.

To collapse or expand reply threads, click on the Expand/Collapse button.

If there are no reply threads in the discussion forum, the Expand/Collapse button will be disabled.

Grade a Discussion Forum

Click on the discussion forum icon from the Bulb Overview gradebook, and then select Grade All.
In the Answer column, click on the discussion forum icon and then click Show Discussion. This will show that learner's post and their replies to posts.
If the discussion forum is worth points, then the instructor can adjust the points earned by each learner who submitted a comment to the discussion. When finished grading, select Save Grades to save changes and then click on the title of the bulb to return to the main gradebook view.

Note: If using a Learning Management System, don't forget to Sync grades from the main monitor page after manually grading any responses.

Export a Discussion Forum

This feature is only available for instructors of the course. Learners will not be able to export a discussion forum.

Export the discussion from the bulb preview

If accessing an assignment from an LMS, launch the assignment and select Preview on the grey screen.
Otherwise, if accessing the assignment from PlayPosit, navigate to the Classes page, click on the class title, and then click the bulb thumbnail. Select Preview.
Fast forward, if needed, to where the discussion forum appears in the bulb. Select the export icon to export a text file of the discussion forum.

Note: Comments that are part of a thread and that are deleted will appear as shown below. Stand alone comments that were deleted will not appear.

Export the discussion from the monitor page

If accessing an assignment from an LMS, launch the assignment and select Monitor from the gray screen.
Otherwise, if accessing the assignment from PlayPosit, navigate to the Classes page, click on the class title, and then click the bulb thumbnail. Select Monitor.
Click the Discussion Forum icon, and then select Interaction Data.
From here, select Export Discussion Attempts to export a text file of the discussion forum.
Note: Comments that are part of a thread and that are deleted will appear as shown below. Stand alone comments that were deleted will not appear.