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What are the discussion settings? (Ultra)

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When you edit or add a discussion in your Blackboard Ultra course, there are a few settings you can use to ensure the activity works the way you want it to. From the discussion page, click the gear on the right side.

Discussion settings gear icon

Details & Information

Details & Information discussion settings

In the Details & Information area, you have checkboxes that appear.

If Display on Course Content page is checked, the discussion will appear within the course content area of the course, alongside your pages and other activities. If it is unchecked, the discussion will only appear on the Discussions tab. The Discussions tab will be covered in more detail in this article: Using the Discussion Tab (Ultra).

Check the Post first box if you wish to force your students to post their own response to your discussion prompt first before they can respond to other students’ posts.

Check the Grade discussion box if you want to grade this discussion. If this box is checked, additional options will appear.

Participation & Grading

Participation & Grading discussion settings

In the Participation & Grading section, you can set a Participate by date and time, which functions like a due date. If students respond to the discussion after that date, their responses will be flagged as late.

Determine what type of grading you will use, either points, a letter grade, or percentage, as well as the maximum points possible for students to earn.

Additional Tools

Additional Tools discussion settings

If you are using a rubric to evaluate the discussion, you can add it by clicking the Add grading rubric link. Rubrics are covered in more detail in another article.

If you want to make this a group discussion, click the Assign to groups link. Using groups will be covered in more detail in another article. Note that discussions that have already been graded cannot be converted to group discussions.

Click Save when you are finished. You will now see the settings you applied under Discussion Settings on the right side.

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