Discussions
The discussion tool is a public, asynchronous communication tool; i.e., you can read and respond to classmates' posts from anywhere you have an Internet connection and at any time that is convenient for you. Throughout the semester, you will be expected to regularly participate in online discussions and post questions that might be of general interest to all students (such as questions about assignments, tests, etc). It is important to remember that all discussions are public (i.e., everyone, including the instructor, will be able to view posts and responses. Thus, it is expected that all students follow rules of online netiquette when posting messages. Individuals who violate the netiquette policy or engage in disruptive online behaviors such as flaming, posting inappropriate comments, and/or shouting may have their course access privileges revoked and/or be referred to the Student Dean. Any student who continues to engage in unacceptable online behavior even after being warned, may be permanently denied access to the course and/or may receive an 'F' for the course. Finally, please do not use Internet short hand such as ROTFL (rolling on the floor laughing) or BTW (by the way) when posting messages, as not everyone knows what these acronyms/abbreviations stand for.
Your e-learning courses may require you to contribute to online discussions. It is therefore essential that you know how to access, read, and contribute to discussion topics. Note: Uses and application of the discussion tool will vary from course to course. The following illustrations will demonstrate the various functionalities of the discussion tool.
You may also watch a 2 minute instructional video by clicking the video camera icon:
Step 1: Under Course Tools, select Discussions (see figure below). Note: Some intructors will build individual discussion topics into the course content. Accordingly, you may not have a link to Discussions within the Course Tools menu (i.e., you will access individual discussion topics from within each unit/chapter/week/module).
Step 2: The main discussion page will appear (see figure below). Your location within a Blackboard course is always indicated in the top-left corner. From the Main Discussion page, you will see discussion categories (with descriptions), as well as topics (with descriptions) within each category. You may also see uncategorized discussion topics (e.g., 'Welcome' in the figure below). Click the name of the discussion that you would like to access.
Step 3: Click the Create Message button to compose a new discussion message (see figure below).
Step 4: A new window will appear. Type a subject for your message within the Subject text box. Type your message within the Message text box. Note: You may format your message using the HTML editor.
Step 5: (OPTIONAL) You may add one or more attachments to your message by clicking the Add Attachments button.
Step 6: There are four buttons at the bottom of the Create Message window: Post, Preview, Cancel, and Save as Draft (see figure below). You can click the Preview button to preview your message before posting it to the discussion thread. The Cancel button cancels your message. Save as Draft allows you to save your message and send it at a later date. The Post button will immediately post your message to the discussion thread, and return you to the discussion topic (e.g., Welcome) page. From the discussion topic page, you will see a message indicating that your message was posted successfully, along with your subject, name, and date/time of posting.
Step 1: Access the discussion topic that you would like to contribute to and/or view.
Step 2: Click the subject of the message that you wish to read/view (see figure below). Note: The plus sign indicates discussion threads. You may click the plus sign to expand (see all messages within) a thread.
Step 3: A new window will appear (see figure below). Click the Reply button to reply to the message (and add to the discussion thread). To view and/or reply to other/all messages in the thread, you may: (1) click the Next Message link to view the next message in the thread, (2) click the Display Complete Thread button to view the entire discussion thread, or (3) click any message within the thread to view a particular message.
