...

Milestone v1.7 primarily consists of two improvements: Discussions sidebar and New discussions topic structure.

Discussions sidebar

Users will be able to see and interact with discussions corresponding to a course Unit, along side the Unit in a collapsable side-bar, when they navigate to that course Unit.

This setup assumes a 1:1 mapping between course Units and discussion topics, something that the legacy experience does not enforce. Therefore, a new discussions topic structure is introduced (details below).

...

New discussions topic structure

In legacy discussions experience, course authors can create course-wide discussion topics (details) and content-specific discussion topics (details). Content-specific discussion topics are created using discussion Xblocks (details). A 2 level hierarchy of these discussions Xblocks is created using the Category and Subcategory property of the discussion topic.

To satisfy the need for 1:1 mapping between course Units and content-specific discussion topics, we have introduced a new topic structure wherein which:

• Each course Unit has AT MOST , ONE 1 content-specific discussion topic associated with it.

• Each content-specific discussion topic has EXACTLY ONE course Unit associate.

Rollout phases

Phase 1: Adoption for new courses and course re-runs (optional opt-in)

After rollout of 1.7, New courses and course re-runs will see the same discussions providers as before rollout.

...

When course teams proceed to configure settings for edX provider, they’ll see a banner. This banner will:

1. Inform them about the new topic structure and discussions sidebar

2. Contain link to detailed documentation.

3. Contain a button to switch to the new topic structure

...

Course teams can learn more about how the new topic structure works via Learn More. Once they click Switch to new topic structure, they’ll see a confirmation message.

...

When course teams click Switch to new topic structure:

1. A script will run in the background to find out whether or not the course can be migrated. A course cannot be migrated if the course:

   1. Has already started (verified by course start date???).

   2. Has unit(s) having more than 1 discussion xblocks.

   3. Has 1 or more discussion xblock that has been referenced in more than 1 unit.

2. If found that the course cannot be migrated, a message box with relevant info will appear.

   Image Removed

3. If found that the course can be migrated, the current message box will close and discussion settings will be updated in accordance with new topic structure.

4. Image Removed

Phase 2: Adoption for new courses and course re-runs (compulsory opt-in)

Pending…

Phase 3: Adoption for running courses (optional opt-in)

Pending…

Phase 4: Adoption for running courses (compulsory opt-in)

...

• 1 course Unit associated with it.

These discussion topics and their associations are automatically created for all units in the course upon migration.

For a new unit, an associated discussion topic is created when the unit is published.

Course teams will have the option to skip discussion topics for graded units.

Rollout decisions

What will the rollout look like?

Rollout will be done in 2 phases:

1. In phase 1, all new courses will be configured to use new 1.7 by default. For all running courses, migration will automatically happen at re-run mark.

   1. Once a new course or course re-run will be created, a banner will show up in studio saying something like “Hey we’ve migrated discussions over to the new topic structure. Learn more about it here.” For course re-runs having complexity in xblock mapping, the banner will additionally say: “Here’s a list of discussions xblocks in the course that did not make it to the new discussions hierarchy. Learn more here.”

      1. How do we show the list on banner? It could be a long list?

      2. Should the banner be time bound or should it disappear upon

2. In phase 2, running courses will be migrated upon request from the course team.

   1. This is kept optional because running courses will contain threads in discussion xblocks. Theoretically we can connect “topics” (cs_comment_service lingo) in existing discussions xblocks to course Units. But it becomes complex when a Unit has more than one discussions xblock or one xblock is referenced in multiple Units. A mechanism for this migration is yet to be developed.

Other questions

1. What happens to Xblocks?

   1. Courses that switch to v1.7 will no longer have the option to add new xblocks.

   2. Existing xblocks will be visible but “collapsed” by default. “Expanding” the xblock will open discussions in the side, instead of rendering in the xblock itself.

2. What would be the names of discussion topics that will be automatically created for course units in 1.7?

3. Assumption: Names of existing discussion topics will be retained?