(Halo | Learn) Discussion Forums

1. To post your initial reply to a discussion question, start by selecting Submit DQ Response for the appropriate discussion question.
   
   NOTE If you see a button that says Review Submission instead of Submit DQ Response, that means that the discussion question has been submitted. You can reach out to your instructor if you need the discussion question to be reassigned.
   
   
2. Enter your response in the text box provided. You can format your responses using the toolbar; visit our (Halo | Learn) Classroom Communication article for step-by-step guidance on using the toolbar, including adding images, media, and additional tools.
   If you’d like to attach a file, such as an image or document to your response, you can do so by clicking Add Attachment and then selecting your document. Please keep in mind, when uploading files, you can only upload 10 files to a single post, with each file having a maximum size of 20 MB. For a list of supported file types, please see the Invalid File Type Error in Halo | Learn article.
   
3. If you would like to preview how your post will look, click Preview.
   
4. Once you are ready to submit your reply, click Submit DQ Response. Depending on the size of your screen, you may need to scroll down a bit.
   
   NOTE Halo | Learn has an auto-save feature. If you start a reply but don’t finish it, the information you entered will remain available until you return to that discussion question.
5. After submitting your response, you’ll see the submission page once again with the status of your submission, as well as a timestamp for when your response was submitted. Submitted status means that a submission has been made for the assignment but has yet to be graded by your instructor, whereas Published status is shown when the submission has been graded by your instructor.
   
6. Your response will now appear in the discussion thread. To navigate to the discussion thread, click Go To Discussion. You can also close the submission window by clicking the x in the top right corner.
   
7. In the discussion thread, your response will be highlighted in yellow, and a star will be visible next to your name. This will make it easier to differentiate your post from your classmates’ posts when navigating through the posts. Responses are ordered by when the post was made, with the most recent post located at the top. You can also click View DQ Response to be taken to your initial post.
   

All posts within a specific discussion question forum can be expanded or collapsed using the Posts Navigation window on the left side or expanding posts beneath the Discussion Description. Responses in the Post Navigation section are indented to help you identify which student and post you are responding to. Responses can also be expanded/collapsed individually using the downward facing icon to the left of any post. 

1. To reply to another person's post, select the Reply button from the bottom right corner of their response.
   
2. Enter your response in the text box provided. You can format your responses using the toolbar; visit our (Halo | Learn) Classroom Communication article for step-by-step guidance on using the toolbar, including adding images, media, and additional tools.
   If you’d like to attach a document to your response, you can do so by clicking Add Attachment at the bottom of the textbox, then selecting your file. 
   
   NOTE Halo | Learn has an auto-save feature. If you start a reply but don’t finish it, the information you entered will remain available until you return to that discussion question.
3. Once you are ready to post your reply, click Post.
   
4. Your response will appear below your classmate’s post and will be indented slightly.
   

If you notice a mistake immediately after posting your reply, you may be able to edit it. However, you will not be able to edit your reply if:

• Your post has been graded by the instructor
• Your post has been marked as substantive for participation
• A student or instructor has replied to your post
• The post was made over 24 hours prior

1. To edit a post, start by clicking the three horizontal dots to the right of the post. Then select Edit. If your post isn’t easily visible, you can locate your post using the Post Navigation menu on the left side of the forum.
   
2. Make any corrections necessary, and then select Update.
   
3. The time stamp at the top of the post will change to the time you made the edit. Your instructor will only be able to see the time of your edit, not the time you initially made the post.
   

If you post a reply to another student and wish to delete the reply, you have the ability to do so. However, you will not be able to delete your post if:

• Your post has been marked as substantive for participation
• A student or instructor has replied to your post
• The post was made over 24 hours prior

1. To delete a post, start by clicking the three horizontal dots to the right of the post. Then select Delete. Alternatively, you can locate your post using the Post Navigation menu on the left side of the forum.
   
2. A notification will appear to confirm that the post should be deleted. If you’re sure that you want to delete the post, click Delete.
   
   
   NOTE Your post cannot be recovered once it is deleted.

Some courses may require a certain amount of substantive discussion post replies per week. Instructors can mark replies as substantive or not substantive in the discussion forums. This mark will appear under the reply text and will show as green (substantive) or gray (not substantive).

When someone replies to your discussion response, Halo will provide you with a notification icon next to the Discussion Forums tab in the navigation menu.

Upon accessing a forum with unanswered replies, you can locate the unread post by selecting Unanswered or using filtering options in the top right corner of the page. Check the box next to the appropriate filter option and then select Apply Filters.

Acknowledging a post as read will remove the notification for that reply. To acknowledge a post, click the eye icon in the bottom right-hand corner. The color of the icon will change to purple, increasing the number or acknowledgment count and indicating that you have acknowledged the post. You can click it again to change it back to Unanswered status.

All faculty have the ability to add more discussion forums to a class. These forums, however, don’t have a point value and are not treated as assessments.

1. Go to Discussion Forums from the navigation bar on the left-hand side.
   
   
   NOTE Instructor added discussion questions will not appear on your Halo Calendar.
2. Select the instructor added discussion forum.
   
3. Click Reply to Discussion.
   
4. Type your response in the space provided and click Post.
   
5. Your post will be highlighted in yellow in the discussion thread with a time stamp of when you posted. 
   

If you receive any errors, such as the “Error---An error has occurred” error, when trying to post a reply, check to see if your post has any emojis or hyperlinks. While these elements don't always cause issues, depending on how they are formatted, they could result in an error. If you've copied and pasted an emoji, try removing it. If you've copied and pasted a link into the text box, try inserting it using the hyperlink button instead.

There may be instances where a DQ requires a response which incorporates programming code or similar language; as a result, you may encounter an error when trying to post the response. To fix this, make sure to add /* to the beginning of the code and */ to the end of the code. This will ensure that the code does not interfere with Halo and produces an error message.

Additionally, if you get the error “Your request was not completed due to changes in the existing content. Please refresh and try again” while trying to post a DQ edit, this means that the instructor graded the DQ at the same time. If you refresh your page, you’ll be able to see the grade you earned. However, you will not be able to edit your DQ posts anymore. If you want to make changes to the response, please reach out to your instructor to have the DQ reassigned.

The Halo | Learn classroom has an auto-save feature saves your responses without posting it. The status of when your response was last saved will be indicated in the bottom left corner of the textbox. If you start a reply but don’t finish it, the information you entered will remain available until you return to that discussion question.

If you are an instructor and see a post that you believe violates GCU Policy, you can request the post gets deleted. Contact Technical Support to see if the post meets the criteria to request that the post be removed. However, if the post does not violate GCU Policy the post won’t be removed, but you can hide the post in the classroom. To hide the post, click the 3 dots to the right of the post and then Hide.

Sometimes, you may want to make a post stand out and you can do so by pinning the post to the top of the post navigation.

To pin a post, start by clicking the 3 dots in the top right of the post you would like to pin. Next, go ahead and select Pin. This will place the post at the top of the Discussion.