Create a Discussion Board Thread

Creating and responding to a discussion board thread:

With Edit Mode On:

Locate your discussion forum in your Blackboard course to begin creating a thread of conversation. In the below example the forums are located in the Discussion Board link from the course menu. You may have your discussion board in a content area within your course in Blackboard. Locate your forum where it is located in Blackboard.

  1. Click on the Discussion Board link from the menu on the left side of the page.
    discb
  2. Click on the title of a forum in which you want to create a new thread in.
     
  3. Click on the Create Thread button.

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  1. Fill in the Subject (usually the title of your message) and Message fields.
  2. You may choose to attach a file to your thread.
  3. Scroll down to the bottom of the page and click the Submit button.
    The following image illustrates a thread in a forum and provides the folloiwng information:
    Date – the date and time  the thread was created; Thread title; Author – who created the message; Status – Published, Unread Posts – displays number of posts unread and Total Post – number of posts in this thread.
     

viewthreaddb

readrespponddbRead a Thread

  1. Access the discussion board forum.
  2. Click on the name of the thread title (usually in blue text) that you wish to read, in the above example this is 'Topic A'.
  3. The post opens to display the message. Note the 'orange start shield' icon indicates that this post was written by an instructor (staff) of the forum. The following actions are permissable. Note that the 'Quote', 'Edit', 'Delete' buttons appear when you are a member of staff and hover your 'cursor' over the Reply button. Students view 'Reply, 'Quote' and 'Email Author buttons. This depends on what forum settings you have set.

     

     

     

     

     

     

     

     

     

     

     

    Message Options Available

    The following options are available for use within the current post:

    •Reply: Opens a text editor to allow the user to reply to a message. Replies can include formatted text, images, links and attachments.

    •Quote: Includes the text of the original message in the reply.

    •Edit: Changes the content of the post. This appears if the option is enabled in the Forum and for Forum Managers and Moderators.

•Delete: Delete the post and all replies to that post.


Message Actions Available

Further message actions on posts are available from the 'Message Actions' drop down button. To action the posts listed here you will need to ensure you have selected the message 'checkbox' (can be more than one) to action the setting:
 

Message Actions

Read: Posts that have been marked as read display in normal type. Read posts can be used as a way to filter threads in the collection.

Unread: Posts that have been marked as unread display in bold type. Unread posts can be used as a way to filter threads in the collection.

Set Flag/Clear Flag: Displays a Flag in the message list or clears a Flag in the message list.

Clear Flag: Clears flags that have been set for posts.

Collect: Gather selected posts onto one page where they can be sorted, filtered, or printed. Tags can only be added to posts that have been added to a collection.

Expand All – This expands all posts in a thread so you can read the posts

Collapse All  – This collapse all posts in a thread so the post messages are not viewable

Please note that if the forum is set to subscribe to threads a 'Subscribe' link is available to select in this view.

Respond to a Thread

1. Select the Reply Button to reply.
2. Enter a Subject title and type your Message using the content editor (you can attach a file if you wish)
3. Select 'Submit' when you are complete or 'Save Draft' if the message is incomplete.
4. Click OK

The following thread actions availalbe to an instructor:

Mark as Read: Posts that have been marked as read display in normal type. Read posts can be used as a way to filter threads in the collection.
Mark as Unread: Posts that have been marked as unread display in bold type. Unread posts can be used as a way to filter threads in the collection.
Set Flag: Diplays flags that have been set for posts for later attention
Clear Flag: Clears flags that have been set for posts.
Publish: Threads are availablefor all users
Hidden: Threads are not displayed unless the user chooses to reveal hidden threads. Hidden threads may not be edited
Make Unavailable: Threads only visible to forum managers
Lock: Threads are availble for reading, but isers cannoy create new posts or edit existing posts. Locking a thread allows grades to be assigned without users updating or changing posts
Unlock: Threads can be unlocked and therefore posts can be added and edited
Subscribe/Unsubscribe: Displays the users subscription for each thraed. Available if only subscriptions are enabled.

Students in their view on thread actions see only the following options: Mark as read; Mark as Unread; Set Flag; Clear Flag; Subscribe/Unsubscribe

Further Options:
Search: Enter criterion to find specific posts in the current forum or all forums in the course
Grade Information – If you have set a forum to be graded, by selecting this link you can select a student and read all their posts and leave a grade and feedback

 

 

 

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