Reading and posting in discussion forums

In a Discussion Board a message and all of the replies to that message are collectively called a thread. Threads are stored in Forums; each Forum is set up by the Instructor and can have different properties. All of the Forums together form the Discussion Board (which is linked from the course menu). Depending on the environment that your professor has created for the class, some of the options described below may not be available.

Creating a thread

Step 1: Click the Discussion Board button from the course menu.

Step 2: Click on the forum title (for example, Rain Forest Ecologies) to enter that forum.

Step 3: Click the Add New Thread button.

Step 4: In the Subject field, type the topic of your thread (for example, Kinds of Rain Forests).

Step 5: In the Message field, type your message. Leave the text formatting option set to Smart Text.

Step 5: Click the Submit button. You are returned to the forum and will see that your message has been posted. To read a message you click on the message's title. Click on the message title, Kinds of Rain Forests, to read the message. Step 6: : Click the Submit button. You are returned to the forum and will see that your message has been posted. To read a message you click on the message title. Click on the message title Kinds of Rain Forests to read the message. This message is part of the Forum titled: Rain Forest Ecologies. To respond to other forums you must enter them first.

Responding to a thread

Step 1: Click the Dicussion Board button.

Step 2: Click on the forum title (for example, Rain Forest Ecologies) to enter that forum.

Step 3: Click the tiltle of the thread that you want to respond to.

Step 4: Click the Reply button.

Note: Leave the Subject field as is.

Step 5: In the Message field, type your message. Leave the text formatting option set to Smart Text.

Step 6: Click the Submit button. You are returned to the forum and will see that your message has been posted below the original message.

Note: When granted access, students may have the different options listed:

Anonymous posts: Threads will be posted without an author's name attached.
Edit message after posting: Students are sometimes given the option to change the content of their thread after it is posted.
Remove own posted messages: Students can delete their own discussion threads.
File attachments: When posting a thread, users can also attach a document or image to the thread.
New threads: Students can begin a new discussion thread in a forum.

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