sing the Discussions Builder, you can create a forum in which your students can express their ideas on topics you post to your Class page. Students and parents can access the discussion on the Coursework panel of their portals. While students can view and participate in active discussions, parents can only view them.

Important: You will only see Discussions options if your PlusPortals administrator has enabled them.

Although you can assign a discussion to multiple classes, discussions are class-specific, meaning replies to one class discussion don't appear in the same discussion for a different class. When creating a discussion, you can send an e-mail notification to students and/or parents. You can also choose to be notified when students reply to a discussion.

For more information on basic Discussion Builder tasks, see the following articles:

• Post a Discussion
• View a Discussion
• Edit a Discussion
• Delete a Discussion

As the creator of a discussion, you can also perform the following moderating tasks:

• Hide or Show a Discussion
• Receive Notification When Students Reply
• Edit or Delete a Student Reply
• Lock or Unlock a Discussion
• Lock or Unlock Student Discussion Accounts

Post a Discussion

You can create a discussion and post it to multiple classes. Students and parents can view the discussion from the Coursework panel in their portal, but only students can post replies.

Important: You will only see the discussion options described in this task if your PlusPortals administrator has enabled them.

To create a discussion and add it to your class pages, follow these steps:

1. On the Home tab, for the class you want to add the discussion to, click> Add New Discussion.
    
   or
    If you're on the Class Page, click the Overview tab, scroll down to the Discussions panel, and click Add > New Discussion.
    
2. See the diagram and table below for a description of the Discussion Builder.
   

3. Click Save to save the discussion.
4. In the Discussion Saved dialog box, do one of the following:

• To notify students and/or parents that you've posted a discussion, click Send E-Mail Notification. (See Automatically Send E-mail Notifications.)
• To exit the Discussion Builder without sending an e-mail, click OK.

Hide or Show a Discussion

To hide or show a discussion you've posted to your class page, follow these steps:

1. On the Home tab, click the class that contains the discussion.

2. On the Overview tab, scroll down to the Discussions panel.

Note: If you don't see the discussion, select All in the drop-down list.

3. Do one of the following:

View a Discussion

To view a discussion you've posted to your class page, follow these steps:

1. On the Home tab, click the class that contains the discussion.

2. On the Overview tab, scroll down to the Discussions panel and click the discussion, or click> Go to Discussion.

Note: If you don't see the discussion, select All in the drop-down list.

The Discussions panel appears.

3. See the diagram and table below for a description of the Discussions panel.

Edit a Discussion

To edit a discussion you've posted to your class page, follow these steps:

1. On the Home tab, click the class that contains the discussion.

2. On the Overview tab, scroll down to the Discussions panel. For the discussion you want to edit, click > Edit.

Note: If you don't see the discussion, select All in the drop-down list.

The Discussion Builder opens.

3. Edit the discussion, and then click Save.

Note: For details on the Discussion Builder, see Post a Discussion.

The Discussion Saved dialog box opens.

4. Do one of the following:

• To notify students and/or parents that you've changed the discussion, click Send E-Mail Notification. (See Automatically Send E-mail Notifications.)
• To exit the Discussion Builder without sending an e-mail, click OK.

Receive Notification When Students Reply

You can set up your user preferences so that you receive a PlusPortals message or e-mail when a student replies to a discussion. The notification contains a link to the relevant discussion.

Note: By default, your teacher account is set to receive PlusPortals message notifications.

1. On the User menu, click [your name] > Settings.

2. Scroll down to Discussion Notifications.

3. Select the check box for the type of notification you would like to receive.
4. At the bottom of the page, click OK, and then click OK again to acknowledge the update.

Lock or Unlock a Discussion

You can lock a discussion to prevent students from submitting replies. Parents and students still see the discussion.

To lock or unlock a discussion you've posted to your class page, follow these steps:

1. On the Home tab, click the class that contains the discussion.

2. On the Overview tab, scroll down to the Discussions panel.
3. For the discussion you want to lock or unlock, click > Lock/Unlock Discussion.

Note: If you don't see the discussion, select All in the drop-down list.

4. In the Lock Discussions dialog box, do one of the following, and then click Save:

• Select the check boxes for the classes you want to lock out of the discussion.
• Clear the check boxes for the classes you want to include in the discussion.

The image below shows a locked discussion. Existing replies appear opaque, a lock icon appears next to the discussion title, and Discussion Locked appears in the upper-right corner.

Edit or Delete a Student Reply

To edit or delete a reply posted to a discussion, follow these steps:

1. On the Home tab, click the class that contains the discussion.

2. On the Overview tab, scroll down to the Discussions panel and click the discussion, or click > Go to Discussion.

Note: If you don't see the discussion, select All in the drop-down list.

3. For the reply you want to edit or delete, click and do one of the following:

• Click Edit Reply, make your changes, and then click Submit.
• Click Delete Reply.

Lock or Unlock Student Discussion Accounts

You can lock student accounts to prevent them from replying to discussions. You can also unlock student accounts.

1. On the Home tab, click the class that contains the discussion.

2. On the Overview tab, scroll down to the Discussions panel.
3. For the discussion, click> Lock/Unlock Students.

Note: If you don't see the discussion, select All in the drop-down list.

4. In the Lock Students dialog box, do one of the following:

• Select the check boxes for students you want to exclude from the discussion.
• Clear the check boxes for students you want to include in the discussion.

5. Scroll down and click Save.

Delete a Discussion

To delete a discussion you've posted to your class page, follow these steps:

1. On the Home tab, click the class that contains the discussion.

2. On the Overview tab, scroll down to the Discussions panel.
3. For the discussion you want to delete, click > Delete.

Note: If you don't see the discussion, select All in the drop-down list.

4. Confirm the deletion by clicking Delete.
    

Send Discussion E-mails

To send an e-mail to students and parents concerning a discussion you've posted, follow these steps:

1. On the Home tab, click the class that contains the discussion.

2. On the Overview tab, scroll down to the Discussions panel.
3. In the Actions column for the discussion, click > Send E-Mail.

Note: If you don't see the discussion, select All in the drop-down list.

The Select Recipients dialog box opens.

Note: By default, Students and Parents is selected under Which Recipients and the class the discussion is posted to is selected under Students from which Sections.

4. Optional: Under Students from which Sections, select the check boxes for additional sections, or clear a check box to deselect a section.
5. Under Which Students, select the check boxes for the students you want to send the e-mail to, or select the check box next to Recipient Name to select all the students in the selected sections.
6. Next to Send Email To, select the Students and/or Parents check box.
7. Click Next.

The Select Recipients dialog box lists recipients with valid e-mail addresses and recipients with invalid e-mail addresses.

8. Click OK.
9. In the New E-Mail dialog box, compose your e-mail and click Send. (See Send an E-Mail.)