Discussion prompt settings control who can read responses, how people contribute, and what happens next. Use this guide when you want to change a prompt's behavior.
Before you start
You need permission to edit a content space that contains a discussion prompt. If you have not added one yet, follow Create a conversational course with discussion prompts.
Open the settings
Open your content space and select Edit.
Select the discussion prompt.
Open Discussion prompt options in the block settings.
Changes apply to the selected prompt. Check saved settings on older prompts; they may differ from newly added prompts.
Response field and button
Placeholder: the hint inside the response field, such as “Share an example from your experience.”
Button text: the label on the response button, such as “Send.”
Write the actual question in the content above the prompt.
Who can see responses
Allow participant to see all responses: allows participants to read other people's shared responses. Turn it off when participants should not browse one another's answers.
Show responses before participant responds: lets participants read shared responses before contributing. When off, the shared conversation is shown after the participant responds or follows an available skip path.
Allow participant to choose if their response is visible to others: lets a participant choose whether to share their response with other participants.
The last two options appear when “Allow participant to see all responses” is on.
Private does not mean visible only to the author. Managers and moderators can access private responses. Also, hiding responses until someone contributes is a timing choice, not a permanent privacy setting.
Responses and progression
Allow multiple responses per person: lets someone post more than one response to the prompt.
Allow participant to skip this prompt: gives people a way to continue without posting.
Hide next content: hides the content below the prompt until the participant responds or uses the available skip option. Turn it off to keep the following material visible.
For an optional reflection, enable skipping. For a shared brainstorm, allow people to see responses before posting. For independent reflection followed by exchange, allow shared responses but leave “Show responses before participant responds” off.
AI highlights and summary
Show AI highlights and summary is available when shared responses are enabled. It provides AI-supported highlights and summary features for the conversation, including the option to explore insights through Cobolt where available.
The custom-instructions field in this section can guide the language, tone, or format of the AI response. For example: “Use plain English and end with one question for reflection.”
Switching shared responses on or off can also change the AI-highlights setting. Recheck both when changing the prompt.
Next button and completion
With AI highlights and summary enabled, you can configure:
Mark space complete on Next: marks the space complete after Next is clicked, when the prompt is the last element on the page.
Clicking next button will...: continue to the next content or module, redirect to another space, or redirect to a custom URL.
Choose the destination if you select a redirect. Check that the destination is accessible to participants. Completion records progress; it does not assess the quality of a response.
Notifications
Notify managers on each new post controls manager notifications for new contributions.
Under Email notifications for participants, choose:
These options control the prompt's participant email mode. They do not turn off every other email a member may receive from Sutra. Manager and moderator notifications are handled separately.
Tags
Turn on Auto tag messages if you want to organize contributions with tags. You can apply all selected tags to each new message or use AI to categorize messages with the selected tags.
The tag actions also let you generate tag suggestions from existing messages, apply tags to existing messages, categorize them, or clear their tags. These actions change message categorization; they are not required for a conversational course.
Apply settings to other prompts
Select Apply settings to all prompts on this page and confirm to copy the selected prompt's response, AI, notification, progression, and Next settings to the other prompts on the same page.
This replaces those settings on the other prompts. It does not apply across the whole course, rewrite the questions, or copy the placeholder and tag configuration. Check any prompt that needs a different privacy or completion setup afterward.
What happens next
Return to the course and try the response-to-next-step flow. Use participant preview to check progression, and a participant account to confirm access and visibility.
Troubleshooting
An option is missing: enable shared responses to see visibility and AI options; enable AI highlights and summary to see the associated Next settings.
A private response is visible to you as a manager: management access is different from participant access. Test the participant view before changing privacy settings.
A prompt behaves differently after applying settings to all: the selected settings replaced its previous configuration. Restore the exceptions that prompt needs.
Next does not mark the space complete: check that completion is enabled and that the prompt is the final element on the page.
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