getting started with discussion forums
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getting started with discussion forums. this guide explains how to read, post and reply to messages in a discussion forum. click your mouse button to step through this guide use the yellow button to retrace your steps . viewing this guide full-screen. Try this now: - PowerPoint PPT PresentationTRANSCRIPT
Blackboard student guide page 1 of 7
getting started with discussion forums
this guide explains how to read, post and reply to messages in a discussion forum.
click your mouse button to step through this guide
use the yellow button to retrace your steps
Blackboard student guide page 2 of 7
viewing this guide full-screen
Try this now:
Position the cursor anywhere over this guide and click your right mouse button.
Then select Full Screen from the pop-up menu
Press the Esc key on your keyboard at any time to return to Blackboard.
Blackboard student guide page 3 of 7
what is a discussion forum?
A discussion forum enables a group of people (e.g. your class) to communicate online.
It is similar to email, but is separate from your usual email account.
The forum stores and organises all of the group’s messages.
You can read old messages or post new messages at any time.
You can search the forum for messages containing keywords that you specify.
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accessing the discussion forum
click on the Communications button and then select the link to the Discussion Board
your tutor may also have chosen to add a button that links directly to the Discussion Board
your course may have more than one forum, each of which contains messages about a specific topic
you can see how many messages the forum contains, as well as how many of them you have not read yet
click on the forum’s name to see a list of its messages
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the list of messages
these are the messages you have already read
these are the messages that you have not read
note the New icon to the left of these unread messages
click here to switch between viewing all messages and viewing only unread messages
Click on the author of any message to send them an email
Click on the subject of any message to read it
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message threads
A thread is a series of messages about the same topic
It consists of a message that starts a new topic, plus any replies to that message plus any replies to the replies, and so on.
They make it easier for you to follow the discussions about a particular topic within a forum
note that only new messages are being shown
this + icon shows that this is a thread – click it to see all the messages in the thread
these are all the messages in the thread…
note that this + icon shows that there are also replies to this message
use EXPAND ALL to view a list of every message in all threads
use COLLAPSE ALL to view a list of only those messages that start a new topic
these paperclip icons show that the messages have a file attached
you could click the– icon to collapse (hide) the thread again
click on the link to the first message to follow (read) the discussions in this thread
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following a thread
this is the text of the first message in the thread
use these buttons to read the next message
use these buttons to read the next message
scroll down to see links to all the messages in this thread – use these to ‘jump’ to a specific message
click the Reply button to respond to this message.Your new message will be added to the end of this thread
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replying to a message
note that your reply’s subject is based on that of the original message – it is often a good idea to edit this so it summarises your reply – click to see an example of this.
a descriptive subject will help everyone follow the thread and make it easy to identify each message.
scroll down to see the text of the message you are replying to.You can copy-and-paste some of the text into your reply if you want to.
click on the Submit button to post your reply
alternatively, click on the Preview button to read through your message before you post it and check that it is readable and makes good sense!
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starting a new thread
Don’t start a new thread if your message would be better as a reply to an existing message.
Always give your message a clear, concise subject so that it is easy to see what the topic of your new thread is.
You tutor may have decided that you cannot start new threads in some discussion forums.
click the Add New Thread button to start a new thread
make sure the subject is clear, concise and descriptive
click on Submit or Preview when you are ready to post your message
come back tomorrow to see if anyone has replied – but everyone is busy, so don’t be too disappointed if they haven’t. Even your tutor may only check the forum once a week – and won’t respond to every message!
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a final request
that is the end of this guide
please take a minute to provide me with some feedback on this guide: would you recommend it to other students? how could it be improved? what other topics should these guides cover?
simply follow this link to the feedback form it will literally take just a minute to complete!
Thank you.