Discussion Board

Manage course discussions, moderate posts, and engage with students through the discussion board

Discussion Board

Pawtograder’s discussion board feature allows students and staff to discuss course content and ask questions. It is not intended to be a replacement for office hours, although there is an option to format the post as a question that needs an answer (as opposed to a “note” that does not need an answer).

Key Features

Feed and Topic Organization

The discussion board uses a feed-based layout with two main views:

• My Feed: Shows all posts relevant to you, including posts from topics you follow
• Browse Topics: Allows you to explore posts organized by topic categories

Posts can be filtered by “Followed topics” to show only content from categories you’re interested in.

Pinned Posts

Instructors can pin important posts that appear in a dedicated “Pinned Posts” section in the sidebar. This is useful for:

• Highlighting frequently asked questions
• Surfacing important announcements
• Drawing attention to helpful resources

Pinned posts remain visible and easily accessible regardless of how many new posts are created.

Post Visibility and Identity

Posts can be shared with the entire class, or with course staff only. Each user in a class has a pseudonym, and can choose to use their real name or their pseudonym. Staff can always see the real name of a user.

Students can edit their own posts, and staff can edit any post.

Post Metadata

Each post displays:

• Topic tag: Color-coded category (e.g., “Logistics”, “Assignments”)
• Author email: The poster’s identity
• Timestamp: When the post was created
• Reply count: Number of responses, with indicators for new replies
• Like count: Community engagement metric
• Answered badge: Indicates whether a question has been resolved

Active Help Request Integration

When a student has an active help request in office hours, a widget appears in the discussion board sidebar showing:

• The current status of their help request (e.g., “in_progress”)
• Video call notifications when staff starts a video chat
• A “Join Video Call” button for quick access to help sessions

This integration ensures students never miss updates on their help requests, even while browsing the discussion board.

Error Pins

Error pins are a powerful feature that automatically surfaces relevant discussion posts to students when they encounter errors in their submissions. When a student’s autograder run produces an error, the system:

• Matches the error message against discussion board posts
• Displays relevant pinned posts and discussions to the student
• Helps students find solutions without joining the office hours queue
• Reduces repetitive questions by surfacing existing answers

Creating Effective Error Pins

To maximize the effectiveness of error pins:

1. Pin posts about common errors: When you notice students frequently encountering the same error, create and pin a discussion post explaining the solution
2. Use clear error messages: Include the actual error message text in your post so the system can match it
3. Provide step-by-step solutions: Make pinned posts comprehensive so students can resolve issues independently
4. Update regularly: As new common errors emerge, create new pinned posts to address them

Error pins integrate with the test insights dashboard to help you identify which errors are most common and deserve dedicated discussion posts.

Notifications

By default, users do not get notifications for new posts, but can optionally “watch” a post to receive notifications when the post is updated or receives a new reply. Interacting with a post (e.g. replying to it) will automatically watch the post.