Forums are used to organize discussions on related topics. Students and Instructors click discussion links to access a forum from the main Discussion Board page. When a discussion is started within a forum it is called a thread.
Follow the steps below to open a Discussion Board forum.
Step 1 Click Discussion Board in the Course Tools area of the Course Control Panel.
Step 2 Double-click on a forum link to access a discussion forum. The forum opens and the discussion threads within the forum appear.
The table below details the functions available on the General Discussion page.
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To . . . |
click . . . |
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start a new discussion thread |
Add New Thread. The Add Thread page will appear. On the Add Thread page a new subject title and new discussion description may be added. |
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view all messages |
the View all Messages up arrow. All messages will be shown. |
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view unread messages |
the View Unread Messages down arrow. All unread messages will be shown. |
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see all the threads and responses |
EXPAND ALL (+). All threads and responses will appear. |
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see only the threads |
COLLAPSE ALL (-). The topic threads will appear. |
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read a message |
a link to a message. The message will appear along with any available options for modifying the message, removing the message, or responding to the message. |
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Send an email to the author of a thread |
the name of the person. The email program associated with the local machine is activated and an email will appear with their name in the To: field. |
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view tool bar |
Options tab. The options tool bar will appear. The options include: · select all · unselect all · invert action · mark as read · mark as unread · collect selected messages in one place for reading · lock marked threads · unlock marked threads · remove the selected messages.
These options are described in the next table. |
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archive a Discussion Board thread |
Click Here for Archives. Discussion Board forums can be archived from the page that appears. |
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resort the list of messages |
the drop-down arrow and select one of the following options to Sort By: · Default: to have the messages sort by the earliest date.
· Author: to have the messages sort by the author of the message.
· Date: to have the messages sort by the earliest date. Note this is the default.
· Subject: to have the messages sort by the subject. |
The table below describes the options available on the Options tab.
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To . . . |
then . . . |
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select all threads and messages in the forum |
click Select All. |
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unselect the messages selected |
click Unselect All. |
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unselect the threads and messages that have been selected and select the threads and messages that have not been selected |
click Invert. |
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mark messages as read |
select the threads and messages and click Read. |
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mark messages as unread |
select the threads and messages and click Unread. |
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view multiple threads or messages |
select the threads and messages and click Collect. |
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lock a thread or message |
select the thread and messages and click Lock. Participants can view but not reply to a thread that is locked. |
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unlock a thread or message |
select the thread and messages and click Unlock. |
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remove a thread or message |
select the thread and message and click Remove. |