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How do I use the Discussion Area?

Discussions allows students, instructors, and teaching assistants to send, read, and search for messages.

Discussions is divided into different topics which allow your instructor to create discussion groups around particular subjects. Topics can be public or private. Everyone in your course can access public topics, while private topics are available only to the set of students and teaching assistants that the instructor chooses.

By default, Discussions contains three public topics

  • All: contains all messages from all public topics
  • Main: the main discussion area
  • Notes: messages related to a page of content in a Content Module.

With Discussions, you can

  • send and read messages
  • search messages
  • compile messages into a single file for downloading

Reading a message

By default, messages are presented by threads. Threaded messages are a series of replies to the same subject. The header row of each message thread displays the following information:

Tips:
  • To view both read and unread messages, click All.
  • To view messages in chronological order, click Unthreaded.
  • To display any messages that were just sent, click Update Listing.
  • To view a different topic, from the select topic drop-down list, select a topic and click Go.
 
  1. From Discussions, do one of the following:

    If you want to view messages for a single topic, click the topic containing the messages you want to read. The Discussion Messages screen appears.

    Weekly Discussion Image

    If you want to view all messages, click All. The Discussion Messages screen appears.

  2. In the header row, expand the thread by clicking the arrow next to it. All unread messages in the thread appear. Note: A paper clip icon appears if the message has attachments.

  3. Click the name of message that you want to read. The message opens.
    Discussion Topic Image

  4. If the message includes a file attachment, you can:

    Download the file attachment to your computer:

    From the Discussion Messages screen or an open message, click the paper clip icon or See Attached. The Attachments screen appears.

    Select the file and click Download. Your browser's file download screen appears. Follow the onscreen instructions. Click Close. The message appears.

  5. When you have finished reading the message, you can

    close the message,reply to the message, or download the message.

Sending messages with or without attachments

  1. From Discussions, click the topic to which you wish to post a message. The Discussion Messages screen appears.
  2. Click Compose message. The Compose Discussion Message screen appears in a new browser window.
  3. If you want to post the message to a different topic, from the Topic drop-down list, select the topic to which you want to post the message.
  4. In the Subject text box, enter the subject for your message.
  5. Compose your message by doing one of the following:
    • In the Message text box, enter your message.
    • Click HTML editor.
  6. If you want to insert an equation, use the WebEQ Equation Editor for Microsoft Windows or for Macintosh. Note: Depending on administrator settings, the Equation Editor may not be available.
  7. If you want to attach a file:
    1. Next to Attachments, click Browse. Your computer's file browser appears.
    2. Locate and select the file you want to upload. The path and filename of your attachment appears in the Attachments text box.
    3. Click Attach file. The filename appears as a link, and the file is attached to your message.
  8. If you want to preview your message before sending:
    1. Click Preview. A preview of your message appears in a new browser window.
    2. Click Close. The Compose Discussion Message screen appears.
  9. Click Post. Your message is posted to the discussion topic.

For more information about Discussion, see the Student Help Index.

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