Discussions allow learners and other users to communicate and engage with course content directly within the learning application. BenchPrep supports two primary types of discussions: Public Discussions and Private Discussions.

Public Discussions allow users to participate in conversations that are visible to other learners, while Private Discussions provide closed discussion groups that are limited to invited participants.
 

Public Discussions

Public Discussions allow users to leave and reply to public comments within:

• Lessons

• Questions

• The Discussions Page

Public Discussions: Learner Experience	Requirements	How To Configure
Learners can create and respond to discussions that are visible to other learners. Discussions made by learners that feature certain "trigger" words will be automatically deleted as soon as they're submitted. The learner will receive a false success message to dissuade them from re-submitting the offending comment.	Public Discussions is configurable at the Tenant, Course, and Branch levels. The feature is OFF by default at the Tenant level and ON by default at the Course and Branch levels. The feature must be enabled at the Tenant level for Public Discussions to be available.	Enable Public Discussions at the Tenant level in Console. Once enabled at the Tenant level, Public Discussions are available across courses and branches by default. If Public Discussions should not be available for a specific course or branch, turn the feature OFF for that course or branch. See Public Discussions for additional information and instructions.

 

Discussion Visibility: Public Discussions are visible to users with access to the same course, regardless of their Branch membership. While Public Discussions can be enabled or disabled at the Tenant, Course, and Branch levels, these settings control feature availability and do not restrict discussion visibility by Branch.

 

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Private Discussions

Private Discussions allow users to communicate in closed discussion groups with selected participants. Unlike Public Discussions, only users who are invited to a private discussion can participate in that discussion.

There are two separate feature accesses for Private Discussions:

• Private Discussions (created by admins/instructors): Controls private discussions initiated by users with the Create private discussions with learners permission.
• Private Discussions (created by learners): Controls whether learners can create their own private discussion groups.

Private Discussions: Learner Experience	Requirements	How To Configure
Private Discussions allow selected users to communicate in closed discussion groups. Users with the Create private discussions with learners permission can create private discussion groups with learners. Learners can participate in private discussions they have been invited to. When the Private Discussions (created by learners) feature access is enabled, learners can also create their own private discussion groups.	For private discussions created by admins/instructors: The Private Discussions (created by admins/instructors) feature access is configurable at the Tenant and Branch levels. The feature is OFF by default at the Tenant level and ON by default at the Branch level. The feature must be enabled at the Tenant level. The user must have a role with the Create private discussions with learners permission. The user must have an active enrollment in the course. For private discussions created by learners: The Private Discussions (created by learners) feature access is controlled at the Tenant level only. The feature is ON by default. When enabled, learners can create private discussion groups across the tenant. When disabled, learner-created private discussions are disabled for the entire tenant. Additional requirements: There is no limit to how many private discussions can be created. There is no limit to the number of users who can be included in a private discussion. Private discussions can only include users within the same branch.	For private discussions created by admins/instructors: Enable the Private Discussions (created by admins/instructors) feature access at the Tenant level in Console. Once enabled at the Tenant level, the feature is available for branches by default. If private discussions should not be available for a specific branch, turn the feature OFF for that branch. Ensure the user has a role with the Create private discussions with learners permission. Confirm the user has an active enrollment in the course where they need to create private discussions. For private discussions created by learners: Use the Private Discussions (created by learners) feature access in Console to allow or prevent learners from creating private discussion groups across the tenant. See Private Discussions for complete requirements and instructions.

 

Discussion Visibility: Private Discussions are only visible to invited participants within the same Branch. Unlike Public Discussions, having access to the same course does not automatically provide access to a private discussion. Feature access settings control the availability of private discussions, while participation is determined by group membership.

 

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Verified Instructors

Within Public Discussions, certain users may display a Verified Instructor checkmark alongside their responses. This designation helps learners identify responses from instructors or other designated users.

The Verified Instructor designation is controlled through the Manage Discussion Messages permission (manage:discussion_messages) assigned to a custom role.

Users with this permission can respond to questions within Ask an Expert and display the Verified Instructor designation when responding to Public Discussions.

Configuring Verified Instructors

1. Open the appropriate custom role in Console.
2. Add the Manage Discussion Messages permission (manage:discussion_messages) to the role.
3. Save the role configuration.
4. Assign the custom role to the appropriate user at the desired scope.
5. Confirm that the user has access to the course where they will participate in discussions.

The permission can be assigned at the Tenant, Content Package, Branch, or Group scope.

Note: Assigning this permission does not automatically grant access to a course. Users must also have access to the relevant course to participate in discussions. The Manage Discussion Messages permission is separate from the Create private discussions with learners permission used for instructor-created Private Discussions.

 

 

Ask an Expert

In addition to Public and Private Discussions, the Learning Application supports an optional Ask an Expert experience. When enabled, learners can submit questions through the Ask an Expert tab within Discussions.

Learners can follow up on their own questions but cannot respond to questions submitted by other learners. Users with the Manage Discussion Messages permission (manage:discussion_messages) can respond to learner questions.

Discussion Visibility: Like Public Discussions, Ask an Expert questions and responses are visible to users with access to the same course, regardless of Branch or Group membership. Feature access settings control where Ask an Expert is available but do not restrict discussion visibility to a particular Branch or Group.

Configuration: Ask an Expert is managed through feature access settings at the Tenant, Course, and Branch/Institution levels. By default, the feature is OFF at the Tenant and Course levels and ON at the Branch/Institution level. To make Ask an Expert available, enable the feature at both the Tenant and Course levels. Once enabled, the feature is available across Branches/Institutions by default unless it is turned OFF for a specific Branch/Institution.

Note: Ask an Expert does not currently provide dedicated notifications to instructors when learners submit new questions.

 

 

Managing Discussions

Public Discussions can be reviewed and moderated in BluePrint. For instructions on viewing, responding to, editing, or deleting discussion messages, see Moderating Public Discussions.

NOTE: Currently, the Discussions feature is not available within Asset-Based Courses. For BenchPrep Courses, Assets can be embedded within lessons to allow for discussion within the Lesson modules.