11.4. Keeping Up with New Activity

This topic describes how to keep up with discussion activity in your edX course.

11.4.1. Reading New or Updated Posts

The list of posts in the discussion navigation pane on the Discussion page provides visual cues to help you distinguish posts that are new, or that have responses or comments that you have not read yet, from exchanges that you have already read completely. For information about the labels and icons used in posts, see Discussion Navigation Pane.

11.4.1.1. Sorting by Activity

In the discussion navigation pane you can sort posts by activity. To do this, select the drop-down list of sorting options at the top of the discussion navigation pane and select either by recent activity or by most activity.

Sorting by recent activity changes the order of the posts so that the post that was most recently updated appears at the top of the list. Updating includes having responses or comments added.

Sorting by most activity changes the order of the posts so that posts with the most responses or comments appear at the top of the list.

11.4.1.2. Sorting by Votes

In the discussion navigation pane you can sort posts by the number of votes received. To do this, select the drop-down list of sorting options at the top of the discussion navigation pane, and select by most votes.

Sorting by the most votes changes the order of the posts so that posts that have received the most votes appear at the top of the list. In this view, instead of the response and comments count indicator, the number of votes that each post has received is shown. Votes for responses are not included in the number.

For more information about voting for posts, see Vote for Posts or Responses.

11.4.2. Receiving Notifications

When you add a post to a discussion, you might receive an email notification about the first reply to the post. You can also receive a digest email message each day that summarizes activity for the posts that you are following.

11.4.2.1. Receiving Email Notifications

If your course is set up to send email notifications for discussion posts, the first time another learner or member of the course team responds to a post that you have made, you receive an email notification.

If you do not want to receive this email notification, clear the Receive updates checkbox before you add your post.

You only receive an email notification for the first response. For additional responses and comments, you automatically receive information in a daily digest email message. For more information, see Receiving Daily Digests.

11.4.2.2. Receiving Daily Digests

You can subscribe to a daily digest to receive an email message each day that summarizes discussion activity for the posts you are following. To subscribe to the daily digest, follow these steps.

  1. In your course, select Discussion.
  2. In the How to use edX discussions graphic, select the Receive updates checkbox.
"How to use edX discussions" graphic with the Receive Updates checkbox circled.

11.4.2.3. Unsubscribing from Notifications

If you want to unsubscribe from notifications, complete either of the following actions.

  • If you received an email message, select Unsubscribe in the message.
  • On the Discussion page in your course, clear the Receive updates checkbox in the How to use edX discussions graphic.

Note

These actions unsubscribe you from daily digest email messages. If you create a new post, you will still receive an email message the first time that a learner responds to that post. To prevent an email notification for a post, clear the Receive updates checkbox before you add the post.