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Discuss-It is a new feature in the LibreTexts ADAPT homework platform designed for interactive asynchronous discussions using text, audio, and video. It is intended to be a low-cost alternative to software like VoiceThread or Flip.

• Origin and Motivation: Developed as an open educational resource (OER) alternative to expensive proprietary tools like VoiceThread, which the presenter's institution is moving away from [00:04:41].
• Integration with ADAPT: Discuss-It is a native question type within the ADAPT platform, which already offers various auto-graded and non-auto-graded activities [00:06:58].
• Key Features of Discuss-It:
  • Supports threaded discussions with text, audio, and video responses [00:11:26].
  • Offers automatic captioning and transcription powered by open AI Whisper technology, available in multiple languages with high accuracy, even for Spanish [00:12:05].
  • Allows students to interact with each other asynchronously [00:12:51].
  • Provides instructors with the ability to review transcripts and leave feedback via text or audio [00:10:12], [00:15:55].
• Oral Assessment Options: ADAPT now offers both individual oral assessments (where only the instructor hears the recording) and group oral activities using Discuss-It [00:07:55].
• Collaborative Activity Example: The presenter shared an example of a "chain story" activity where students built upon each other's audio narrations based on a chosen image [00:16:11].
• Ease of Assignment Creation: Setting up a Discuss-It assignment involves adding a prompt and optionally uploading media [00:18:20].
• Group Management: Instructors can divide students into groups automatically, or manually (e.g., alphabetically) [00:19:13].
• Grading Options: Discuss-It assignments can be set for auto-grading based on completion criteria, or graded manually by the instructor [00:19:47].
• Response Settings: Instructors can choose the types of student responses (text, audio, video) and set requirements like minimum word count or recording duration [00:20:33].
• Cross-Disciplinary Potential: While initially used for language learning, Discuss-It has the potential for use in various disciplines, including Chemistry (for problem-solving discussions), and Math (for explaining solutions) [00:23:34], [00:31:24], [00:44:28].
• Accessing Discuss-It Questions: Within a LibreOne instructor account, users can search for "discuss-it" questions under the "search questions" tab on the dashboard [00:25:50], [00:33:38].
• Remixing and Cloning: Instructors can clone and modify existing Discuss-It activities, even those in different languages, to suit their needs [00:34:11].
• Mobile Accessibility: Discuss-It works on mobile devices, allowing students to record and submit using their phones or tablets [00:09:43].