Is it possible for me to respond privately to a student's Discussion post without approving the post

Question

I use Discussions for students to post answers to reading questions. I moderate the posts and approve them after they're due. The goal is for students to be able to refer to their classmates answers to study for tests. But I'd like to be able to privately respond to students' answers. I can't do that on approved or unapproved posts. I'd like to be able to correct students' answers without publishing their errors to the whole class. Right now I'm having to use the feedback area in Grades, and it's not ideal.

Susan.K.9589 · Answer

Thanks. That answers my question. It can't be done. It says right at the top - "If your topic is moderated, you must approve posts before you can assess them." The whole point of assessing posts is to not have to approve poor posts where the whole class can see them.  I'll go back to the old method of going back and forth between Discussions and Grades. I don't know why there have to be so many extra steps for everything.

Bharti.B.332 · Answer

Hello @Susan.K.9589 ,

If you have added an assessment to a discussion topic, you can assess a student’s participation in their discussion threads.

Here’s a step-by-step guide in our knowledge base for your reference:
Assess Users in Discussion Threads

Thanks and Regards,

Bharti

Susan.K.9589 · Answer

Thanks, but I'm not sure what you mean by "assess the thread." Do you mean create a grade for it? I've done that. And I can leave feedback for individual students there, but it's a lot of back and forth between Grades and Discussions. Within the Discussion area there's not an option to select the student's name and open their evaluation page.