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Discussion Boards - Instructors
| Online Learning Module |
Contents |
OPENING THE DISCUSSION BOARD
The Discussion Board in WebCT is a place where faculty will post questions for the students to answer. Questions should be posted weekly and require an initial response that is 150 words minimum, have correct spelling and grammar, and contain relevant references. Other students are encouraged to post replies for other students for feedback and further discussion.
- Click on the Discussion Board link on the Course Menu or click on the Discussion Board link on the Homepage.
- There are three buttons across the top of the page:
- Compose Message will allow you to post a discussion message.
- Search will allow you to search for certain students postings.
- Topic Settings will allow you to add/delete/modify each topic.
- Enter a discussion room by clicking on one of the topic links (Week 1, Week 2, etc.). The link titles refer to the week in which questions should be posted i.e. questions for the first week should be posted within the link titled Week 1.
DISCUSSION BOARD OPTION BUTTONS
Any Discussion Board postings are in the center of the page. There are important buttons across the top of the Designer Options page.
- Compose Message will allow you to post a discussion message.
- Update Listing will refresh the browser so you can see the latest postings.
- Search will allow you to search for certain students postings.
- Mark all as read will change the status of all the postings to read.
- Designer Message Options – this link will show up only if there are posted questions in the Discussion Boards. This link displays some advanced options below the postings:
- Compile allows you to select certain messages and view them in a new window.
- Mark as Read allows you to select desired messages and mark them as read.
- Mark as Unread allows you to select desired messages and mark them as unread.
- Delete allows you to select certain messages and delete them.
- Move to: allows you to select certain messages and move them to another topic.
Below the buttons near the top of the Discussion Board page are Display options:
- All or Unread allows you to toggle between displaying all messages or just the unread.
- Threaded or Unthreaded allows you to display the postings in threads according to each question or in chronological order in which they were posted. All and Threaded is the best way you can view all postings in an organized fashion. However, when they are selected, it will appear that there are boxes around Unread and Unthread as seen above. This is correct.
- Select Topic allows you to move to a different week or topic.
DISCUSSION BOARD POSTS
The initial instructor’s question (or thread) will create a subject heading in bold. The actual question is right below the heading. All of the students’ responses follow below the question.
There are three important things to be aware:
- The Expand/Collapse button appears next to a question heading once posted responses appear. By clicking on this button, you can either hide or reveal all the responses in a thread.
- The Magnifying Glass button allows you to view all the responses in a thread in one window. This is beneficial because you can copy and paste all of the responses at once into Word and read them offline.
- The Indention Arrow organizes the responses by indenting them to the right of the posting.
COMPOSING A MESSAGE
Note: Only faculty should be composing messages within the Discussion Boards. Unless faculty instruct their students otherwise, students should only respond to questions and not pose their own.
- To compose a message, click on the Compose Message button. The following window appears:
- You will need to select a Topic (Week 1, Week 2, etc.), type in a Subject, type your Message, and click the Post button. WebCT offers some extra options for composing a message:
- The Height of the Edit Area, the area in which you compose your message, can be resized by selecting a new height from the drop down box and clicking the Resize button.
- Don’t Wrap Text/Wrap Text option allows you to specify whether you want your text to be displayed all on one line (Don’t Wrap Text), or if you want it to automatically go to the next line (Wrap Text).
- The HTML Editor button allows you to type your message with formatting options.
- The Equation Editor button allows you to create a mathematical formula in your message.
- The Attachments section allows you to attach files to your message. Click the Browse button to locate your file and then click the Attach File button.
- The Preview button allows you to preview your message before you post it.
- The Cancel button will cancel your message without posting it.
OPENING A MESSAGE
- To open a posting, click on its subject link. A new window containing the message will open.
- The subject, author, date, and message appear. Some options appear at the bottom:
- Reply allows you to reply to the posting.
- Quote also allows you to reply to the posting, but retains the original message in the response.
- Download lets you download the posting to your computer.
- Close will close the message posting.
Allows you to navigate to the previous thread.
Allows you to navigate to the previous message.
Allows you to navigate to the next message.
Allows you to navigate to the next thread.
REPLY TO A POSTING
In order to reply to a posting, we recommend that you first create the reply in a Word document. This allows you to carefully construct a grammatically correct response and save it on your computer for your records.
- Click Reply (or Quote if you wish to keep the original question in your response).
- Change the Subject line of your message to say “Reply to ____”,
- Type/paste the message from your Word document in the message box.
- You may use the HTML editor to format the text.
- Click the Post button when you are ready to post the message.
For additional information on discussion boards, click on Help within the Discussion Boards web page.
