Discussions project (BD-38) comprises of upgrades that’ll be rolled out in two stages:

1. Rollout stage 1: New discussions experience

2. Rollout stage 2: In-context discussions

What is the “New discussions experience”?

New discussions experience comprises of a better looking user interface along with following changes/new features:

Tabular layout

1. My Posts tab shows posts authored by the user.

2. All Posts tab shows all posts in the course.

3. Topics tab shows hierarchy of discussion topics (categories and subcategories).

4. Learners tab shows list of enrolled learners and allows viewing forum activity of a particular learner.

Open

Aggregated filters and sort

Sorts and filters for threads have are now aggregated in one menu. Filter for post type (Discussion or Question) has been added. In future, a filter for un-responded discussion posts will be added.

Open

Endorse a response

Users having moderation privileges can endorse a response, similar to how they would mark a response as answered. In future, endorsed responses will move to the top of the list of responses.

Post close reasons

Users having moderation privileges can specify the reason when closing a post. This reason will be visible to other moderators and the post author.

Content editing reasons

Users having moderation privileges can specify the reason when editing content. This reason will be visible to other moderators and the content author.

Learner stats and sort

1. Sort menu for learner list. At present, Most activity and Reported activity are available. Sort by Recent activity will be added in near future.

2. Count of posts authored by the learner in this course.

3. Count of total content (posts, response or comments) authored by the learner in this course.

4. Count of content that is currently in reported state.

5. Count of content that was reported in reported state, but was later marked as un-reported.

6. Back button to go back to the list of learners.

7. Name of the selected learner.

8. List of threads that the selected learner has interacted with.

Topic stats

1. Course-wide discussion topics will be shown on top in the topics list.

2. Content-specific discussion topics will be listed as a 2 level hierarchy: category and subcategories.

3. Count of discussion type posts in the topic.

4. Count of question type posts in the topic.

5. Breadcrumb bar can be used to navigate categories and subcategories.

Upgraded search experience

Same search bar can be used to search content, topics and learners. This will be determined by the tab that has been selected as seen in the gif below.

Search results are more descriptive.

Partial usernames can now be searched.

Landing experience is new for learners and moderators

A learner will “land” on My posts when they access the discussion tab with following filters and sorts selected:

1. Post type: Show all

2. Post status: Any status

3. Sort: Recent activity

Users having moderation privileges will “land” on All posts tab when they access the discussion tab with following filters and sorts selected:

1. Post type: Show all

2. Post status: Reported

3. Sort: Recent activity

Content view refactored

1. Type of thread is now represented alongside avatar; a question mark for a question type thread.

2. Time elapsed since the post/comment/response was created, with following abbreviations:

   1. 1 second: 1s

   2. 1 minute: 1m

   3. 1 hour: 1h

   4. 1 week: 1w

   5. 1 month: 4w

   6. 1 year: 1y

3. Cohort visibility info is moved towards bottom right of the post view. Mouse over on the icon will display cohort that this thread is visible to.

4. Reported info is now shown in a bar on top of the reported post, response or comment.

5. Endorsed or answered info is visible in the bar on top of the reported response.

6. “Vote” has been renamed to “Like”. Functionality is the same.

7. Follow option has been moved towards bottom left of the post view.

8. “Mark as answered” option has been moved inside the actions menu of a response.

9. Comment can now be added on a button

10. Username colour is according to their role. A role icon for staff and TA has been added.

Interactive post summary card

1. Username of post author is now visible on post summary. Users having course staff, course admin, discussion admin, discussion moderator role will have red text colour and a staff icon next to the username. Users having community TA and group community TA role will have grey text colour and a staff icon next to the username.

2. Number of likes on a post are visible on its summary. The like icon itself can be used to like/unlike the post. In case the current user has liked the post, the icon is filled.

3. The star icon can be used to follow/un-follow a post. If the post if being followed, the icon is filled.

4. A question mark next to the avatar indicates that the thread is of type question.

5. Hovering over the people icon indicates that cohort that this post is visible to.

6. “Reported” indicator appears on a post’s summary if the post itself is reported or any of the responses or comments on the post have been reported.

7. “Answered” indicator appears on a post’s summary if the post was of type question and it has a response that has been marked as answer.

8. Indictor for total number of responses or comments on a post. Icon is filled if a response or comment has been added after the post has been read.

9. Institution icon with “Staff” appears next to post author’s username if the author has course staff, course admin, discussion moderator or discussion admin role. In this case, username text colour is red. Academic cap icon with “TA” appears next to post author’s username if the author has community TA or group community TA role. In this case, username text colour is grey.

10. Pinned indicator is moved to top right of post summary and space is added between pinned posts and other posts.

11. Time elapsed since post creation is now visible on post summary.

12. Unread post is now indicated by white background with bold post title.

Known issues in the new experience

xblocks render legacy experience

Discussion xblocks, viewed in course content, will still render the legacy experience. These xblocks will eventually be deprecated with the rollout of “in-context” discussions (see details below).

Load time of new experience

The new discussions experience take slightly longer to load as compared to the current experience. A fix is currently in progress and will be implemented in a few weeks.

Learner stats are not visible

Learner stats are currently not visible in learners tab. A fix is currently in progress and will be implemented in a few weeks.

Short demo of new discussions experience

What is “in-context discussions”?

In-context discussions is another upgrade to discussion forums, currently under development. It comprises of:

1. New topic structure

2. Discussions sidebar

An overview of in-context discussions is presented here: Discussions upgrade: Sidebar and new topic structure