The Discussion Boards within Blackboard are a way for you to post messages,
which can
be read by other members of a course - students and staff. Anything which
is posted within
these boards stays within the Blackboard system and
you will need to log in to Blackboard
to read any new messages, reply
to a message or post a new message of your own.
Discussion Boards are found within Blackboard programme / module spaces. Enter the
Discussion Board by by clicking on the Communication or Tools button
at the left of the screen, then on Discussion Board in
the main screen. (It is also possible that there may be a Discussion
Board button in the left hand navigation menu which will take you directly into the discussion board).
The discussion board is structured at two levels – forums
and threads.
Forums
Within each board there can be a number of discussion forums, which can
only be created by your lecturer. Each forum will be used to discuss
a specific topic area, for example issues which emerge from each week’s
lectures.
When you enter the discussion board in your Blackboard
course, you will see a list of all of the forums. To enter a forum, click
on its title. Beside each forum you will see the total number of messages
within it, and the number of messages which you have not yet read.
Threads
Each forum within a discussion board contains a number of threads – these
are the messages that people have posted within that forum, and the replies
that other people have posted in response.
To add a new message, click the “Create Thread” button
on the toolbar. This will display a screen allowing you to
enter the title for the message, along with the content of the message.
Your lecturer may also allow you to add files to the message as attachments.
Check with them if you need to do this.
To read a message, click on its title. Click on ‘Reply’ to
respond to the message.
You now have the option to quote from a previous post in your response.
You can also - if the lecturer has allowed this - subscribe to a Forum or to an individual thread, so that you are notified by email when a new message has been posted.
