When you add a new post to a course discussion, you will choose:
The topic of the post
Post type: question or post
Where to post: on the Discussion page or (for specific content topics only) in the course unit.
Decide on the topic of your post
Each post in a course discussion must be associated with one of the topics that the course team has created. You will choose a topic from the list when you create your post. Before adding a post, check the topic list in the course discussions so you can decide which topic is most appropriate for your post.
Decide on the type of your post
Decide if you want to ask a question or start a discussion.
Questions pose a problem for course staff members, assistants, or other students to provide answers.
Discussions start a conversation by sharing thoughts and reflections, and invite community participation.
Think about whether you want to get concrete information (a question) or start an open conversation (a discussion). If you are asking a question about the course and need a response from the course staff, be sure to create your post as a question, so that the course staff will see that an answer is required and respond appropriately.
In the discussion navigation pane, the post type is indicated by an icon, so you can easily find question or discussion posts. A question mark icon identifies question posts, and a conversation bubble icon identifies discussion posts.
For discussion topics throughout the course, you can add a post to the discussion page. For content-specific discussions in a course unit, you can add a post to the talk page or directly to the course unit.
How to add a post to the talk page
On the Discussion page, you can add a post for course-wide or content-specific discussion topics.
On the Discussion page, select Add a post.
Determine the type of post you want to add and select Question or Discussion.
Determine the most appropriate topic for your post and select the topic from the Subject Area list.
In the Title box, type a short, descriptive title. The title is the part of your post that others see when they navigate the Discussion page or when they scroll through one of the specific content topics.
Write the text of your publication. To format text or to add links or images, use the formatting options above the text box.
Any text or image formats you add will only be visible when others read your post in a web browser. The edX mobile app does not currently display the added format or images.
How to add a post to a course unit
If you come across a discussion while working on course units, or if you know where in the course a particular discussion originates, you can add a post for that discussion in the course unit.
The following steps apply only to specific content discussions.
From within the course, open the unit that includes the discussion topic you want to add a post to, and then scroll to the discussion.
The title and first line of each post are displayed in the post list.
To read a full post and view responses and comments, select any part of the post preview.
To add a new post to the discussion, select Add a post and follow the same steps you use to add a post to the discussion page.
To reply to a post or comment on an existing reply, follow the steps in Adding replies or comments to a discussion.