Ed Discussion

ed discussion

ed discussion is a question and answer discussion board used for teaching and learning. It can be accessed through a Blackboard Learn course or directly through the ed discussion website, via the Imperial College single sign-on.  

ed discussion facilitates collaborative interaction among students and is designed to model face-to-face group discussions, allowing for the creation of complex questions and answers.

Questions can be posed by both students and instructors, and answers can generate additional follow-up questions and answers, adding clarity and depth to the original post. Instructors have the option to endorse or reply to student answers increasing the appetite for student collaboration.

Available features include:

 

  • Discussion board posts can be marked as Read as in the discussion tool, but can also be marked as Unread, Starred, Answered, Unanswered, as well as organised into categories that you define. These categorisations can then be used to filter the display of posts.
  • Allows for the insertion of runnable programming code snippets.
  • Discussion threads can be made private, available to instructors only.
  • Discussions can be configured to allow anonymous posts, opening options for peer and instructor feedback.
  • Links to all the courses in which ed discussion is used are immediately available in the ed discussion interface, allowing to easily switch to other discussions.
  • Maths equations and other symbols may be added to posts by entering LaTex markup.
  • ed discussion supports the creation of Post Templates. Post templates allow instructors to define a structure for student posts, outlining for example the information you expect to be included in each post.
  • Supports the use of Markdown for formatting posts.
  • Integrated notifications allow users to send announcements to the entire class or to be notified when a user responds to a specific post.
  • Commonly used replies may be saved and reused. This is helpful when offering recurring feedback on student posts. 

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Student Support

Accessing ed discussions

 
Accessing ed discussions via Blackboard

To access ed discussion via Blackboard you will see a link in your Blackboard Course that will link you directly to the appropriate discussion board.

 

 

Accessing ed discussions directly
  1.  Go to https://edstem.org
  2. Click on Login
  3. Select "United Kingdom" from the dropdown
  4. Enter your college email address e.g. jo.bloggs15@imperial.ac.uk (do not use a shortened version)
  5. Sign in using your usual Imperial username and password

 

Help Guide

Help on how to use the ed discussions interface is available via the ed student guide.

Technical Issues

Any technical issues with ed discussions should be reported to the ICT Service Desk.

ed discussion accessibility statement.

Staff Support

Accessing ed discussions

 
Accessing ed discussions via Blackboard
  1. Log on to Blackboard Learn
  2. Select the course that you would like to add a ed discussion assessment to from the My Courses list
  3. Navigate to the appropriate Content Area of the course and ensure that Edit Mode is switched On
  4. Select Build Content and then select Ed Discussion
  5. Enter a Name for your discussion board and select Submit and Launch
 
Accessing ed discussions directly
  1.  Go to https://edstem.org
  2. Click on Login
  3. Select "United Kingdom" from the dropdown
  4. Enter your college email address e.g. jo.bloggs15@imperial.ac.uk (do not use a shortened version)
  5. Sign in using your usual Imperial username and password

Help Guides

Help and Support


For further help and support in using ed discussion, please visit the external help materials provided by ed: https://edstem.org/us/help

Alternatively, if you have any questions on or problems relating to ed discussions, contact the ICT Service Desk. Here you will find knowledge articles relating to ed discussions or you can raise a ticket.

How to log feature requests for Ed Discussion.