Using FutureLearn comments

It can be tempting to try to read all of the comments on every step of a course. You can do this if you like, but you don’t have to! There can be thousands of them.

This article will cover:

• NEW: Improved ‘Conversations’ tab replacing the ‘Activity’ tab
• Filtering and sorting comments
• Linking to a specific comment
• General tips
• Copyright

NEW: Improved ‘Conversations’ tab replacing the ‘Activity’ tab

We have made improvements to the Activity feed to make it easier for you to engage and interact with discussions across the whole course. While this page remained to be an aggregated view of all step level discussions, you can now use the like, reply, bookmark, and report buttons on every comment in the course here in one place. 

In order to add a brand new comment to any of the steps, you need to navigate back to that specific step and add your comment in the Discussion area at the bottom of the page. To navigate back to the step on which the comment was posted, click on the step number button shown in the below screenshot. 

[Image above shows the five buttons available under each comment shown in the conversations tab with the step button highlighted. The step button is a small logo of set of steps next to the step number] 

Filtering and sorting comments

Above the comments on a step are two options for filtering and sorting the comments - 'Show', which determines whose comments you see, and 'Sort by', which sets the order they appear in.

By default, you will always see all comments on a step, with the newest at the top. But you can use these filters to find comments in different ways. Why not try...

1. Sort comments by ‘most liked’

When you’re browsing through comments and contributing to conversations, use the  button to show your appreciation for a comment or reply. Be generous! It might be an idea or statement you agree with, a really good question that you’d like to see answered, or a useful reply to someone else’s question.

This will make the comment easier to find when comments are sorted by most liked. This brings both comments and entire conversations with a lot of likes to the top of the page. Try this on discussion steps especially, to see what other learners are reacting to.
 

2. Find comments by the people you are following

If you meet another learner who posts comments you enjoy, you can follow them. Press the 'follow' button next to their name or on their profile page. You might find it helpful to do this for the educators on your course too.

This will help you to find their comments more easily. You won't get a notification every time they post; instead, you can choose to filter the comments on a step to see the comments by the people you're following. To do this, use the drop-down menu at the top of the comment section on a course step to select 'Following' from the Show menu.

You can also filter by 'Following' in the discussions for the course, to see what the people you are following have said most recently across the whole course. To do this, select the 'Conversations' tab from the bar at the top of the page on the To-do list or any course step.

[Above image shows an overview of links to the to do, conversations, and progress tabs as shown at the top of step 1.1. of a course]

Tip: following someone means you will be able to see their comments easily in any course you take together.

3.  Use  'your comments'  to see your own comments

You can see your 100 most recent comments across all courses on your profile page. But did you know you can also see what you said on a particular step by choosing your comments from the Show menu? Useful if you've been posting lots of comments!

Tip: You can also filter the Conversations page to see all your comments across the whole course. 

4.  Use  'bookmarked'  to find comments you've bookmarked

If you've click the 'bookmark' icon underneath a comment on a particular step, it will appear if you choose the 'Bookmarked' filter from the Show menu on that step.

Nobody else can see what you've bookmarked - this is for you to keep track of the comments you find most interesting.

Tip: you can also filter the Conversations page to see your bookmarks across the whole course.

 

5. Using week and step filters in the Conversations tab

In addition to all of the above filters, there are two additional filters you can use in the Conversations tab: the 'Week filter' and the 'Step filter'. These filters allow you to see all comments in a particular week of the course, and then to further filter for a particular step in that week of the course. 

[Image above shows the conversations tab, with the week filter set to week 1 and the step filter set to all steps] 

Tip: You will need to select a week in the course first via the 'Week filter' in order to bring up the 'Step filter' within the Conversations tab. 

Link to a specific comment

You can get the 'permalink' to a comment by right-clicking on the date or time in the top right corner of the comment:

Then you can copy the URL (e.g. by choosing ‘copy link address’) from the context menu.

When you paste the URL, it should look something like:

https://www.futurelearn.com/courses/course-name/3/comments/123456

Ta-da! This URL will always point back to that exact comment.

General tips

Here are some tips for making the most of the comments section.

Get stuck in

This is the most important tip! If you’ve never made a comment or replied to someone else’s, you should definitely give it a try.  After you’ve received your first reply, you may find you have plenty more things to say...

And even if you don’t feel you have something to contribute all the time, 'liking' other people's comments will help everyone to find the most useful ones.

Educators can't reply to all comments...

Our courses are often taken by many thousands of students, spread across the globe. Because of the large number of learners on these free courses and the limited time of the educators, educators can't always be present in courses, reply to every comment or speak directly or privately with learners.

...but mentors or hosts might be assisting them...

Some educators will be supported by assistants who will interact with learners, offer support and help to guide conversations. These will be identified with a ‘mentor’ or 'host' label next to their name.

...and learners should be able to answer you too!

We know our learners are great at helping each other out - if you have a question, other students may well be able to answer you.

You can read about our approach to social learning and why it works here.

A quick note on copyright

We don't expect you to check that the content of the course doesn't infringe third party rights, but you're accountable for any claims that may arise from comments you add which are in breach of third party rights. For example, if you add large amounts of text from a textbook as a comment, we aren't responsible for that. It's your responsibility to make sure that you have the right to use what you put up in this public way, especially if it's taken from a book or someone else's IP.