This is a quick tip for those that would like to create a private discussion space between course instructors and learners without relying on email or other external messaging platforms. Discussion Groups can be created with a separate, private group, exclusive to each learner. These can be used to maintain multiple conversation threads during the course.
Instructions (New Group Management Experience):
- In the course, go to Course Admin > Groups.
- Select Create Category.
- Enter a Category Name.
- Under Enrollment Type, select Single user, member-specific groups.
- If you don’t see this group enrollment type, ensure that d2l.Tools.Groups.AllowSingleUserNamedGroups is enabled in the Configuration Variable Browser.
- Under Additional Options, check the box to Set up discussion areas.
- Select an existing forum or click New Forum to create a new one.
- Select Create new topic.
- Click Save.
- Click Ok.
- On the Create Restricted Topics page, select Create one topic per group.
- Click Create and Next.
- Click Done.
The resulting Discussion Topics are restricted to the individuals named. All of them will appear to the course instructor but a student will only see their own private chat and can proceed to create multiple conversation threads within.
To learn more about Groups in Brightspace, see this article on Groups Enrollment Types. To learn more about Discussions, see About Discussions here on the Brightspace Community.
