Course Discussions

Most courses have a discussion area where you can ask questions, share ideas, and learn from other people taking the same course. This article explains how to start a discussion, reply, and manage your own posts.

Who can take part

• Anyone enrolled in the course (including people who already completed it) can start discussions and reply.
• If you have not enrolled yet, you can read discussions but not post. Enroll in the course first.
• Your instructor and your organization’s admins also take part, and they moderate the discussion area.

Open the discussions

1. Open the course from My learning or Explore.
2. On the course page, click the Course discussions card (View discussions).
3. You will see the list of discussions for this course, newest first.

Click any discussion to read it.

Start a discussion

1. On the discussions page, click Start a discussion.
2. Enter a short, clear Title (for example, “Question about Module 2”).
3. Write your Message.
4. Click Post discussion.

Your discussion opens right away and other learners can reply.

Reply to a discussion

1. Open the discussion.
2. Scroll to the reply box at the bottom, write your reply, then click Post reply.
3. To answer a specific message, click Reply under that message instead. Your answer appears indented under it.

You can reply to a main message, but not to a reply — this keeps conversations easy to follow.

Edit or delete your own posts

• Edit: click Edit under your post, change the text, then click Save changes. Edited posts show an “(edited)” note.
• Delete: click Delete under your post and confirm. The post is hidden from the discussion.

You can only edit or delete your own posts. To remove a whole discussion, ask your instructor or admin.

When a course has no discussions

Discussions are turned on for courses by default, but the person who set up the course can turn them off. When they are off:

• The Course discussions card is not on the course page.
• Nobody can post, reply, or edit — not even instructors.

If discussions are turned back on later, everything that was already posted comes back exactly as it was. Nothing is deleted.

If you expected a discussion area and it isn’t there, ask your instructor or admin.

Locked discussions

An instructor or admin can lock a discussion. A locked discussion shows a Locked badge:

• You can still read everything.
• You cannot post new replies or edit posts while it is locked. You can still delete your own posts.

Troubleshooting