How to participate in Discussions in Blackboard - Quick guide for students

• Read a discussion message
• Sort discussion messages by subject, author or date
• Post a discussion message
• Edit a posted discussion message
• To edit a draft discussion message
• Mark a message as read or unread

Threaded Discussions allow participants to discuss aspects of the unit with other students and staff teaching the unit. You can post and reply to messages. Replies that are associated with the same post are grouped together, creating message threads. This allows participants to follow the discussion.

Note: Blackboard Vista 4 also allows class blogs and journals to be used for discussions. Refer to the appropriate guide to find out how to participate in these types of discussions.

Read a discussion message

Note: A green asterisk next to the Discussions icon on the Course Tools menu indicates new message(s) have been posted since your last session.

1. Click on Discussions in the Course Tools menu.
2. If you are presented with a list of topics, click on one of the topics to view the message(s) in that topic.
3. Under Subject, click on a message to read it:
   • The original message is listed first, followed by replies to that message. By default, messages in threaded topics are listed in Threaded view. You can change the view to Unthreaded by clicking on the Unthreaded link. They will then be listed in chronological order.
4. To navigate, click Next Message or Previous Message.
5. To view all replies to a subject click:
   • The view thread icon to display the complete thread in a new window
   • The expand  icon next to the subject to expand the thread and click on the title you wish to read.
   • The collapse  icon to return to previous view
   • To view only unread messages, click Unread.
6. To change the order of messages, please see "Sort discussion messages by subject, author or date" below.
7. Within a topic you can do the following:
   
   • Expand all threads within the topic - in the table heading row, click Expand All.
   • Collapse all threads within the topic - in the table heading row, click Collapse All.
8. Click on Paging Preferences (lower right hand side of screen) to edit the number of records you can view per page (the default setting is ten).

Note: If Discussions are not available in the Course Tools menu, navigate to the required Discussion from your unit Home Page.

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Sort discussion messages by subject, author or date

1. Click on Discussions in the Course Tools menu.
2. If you are presented with a list of topics, click on one of the topics to view the message(s) in that topic.
3. Click on the title of the field you wish to sort by (e.g. Click on Author to view the messages in alphabetical author order).
4. An arrow will appear indicating whether the order is ascending or descending. Clicking the title again will reverse the order.

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Post a discussion message

1. Click on Discussions in the Course Tools menu.
2. If you are presented with a list of topics, click on one of the topics to view the message(s) in that topic.
3. To post a discussion message, either:
   • click Create Message to compose a message within a topic, or
   • to reply to a particular message within a topic, under Subject, click on a message to read it and then click on Reply.
4. Enter the Subject of your message.
5. Enter your Message.
6. To attach a file(s) to your message, click Add Attachments. The Content Browser window appears.
   • If you have already uploaded a file to your My Files, select the file and click OK.
   • If you need to upload a file, click on My Computer which gives you access to all files on your computer, select a file and click Open. The file will automatically be uploaded into My Files and attached.
7. Do one of the following
   • Click Save as Draft if you are not ready to post the message but want to save it.
   • Click Preview if you want to preview your message before posting it.
   • Click Post to post the message.
8. You will be returned to the topic page.

Note: Try to limit the size of your uploaded files to 1 MB or less if possible. To avoid any possible issues with uploading files to Blackboard please refrain from using any of the following characters (or spaces) in your file name:
~ ! @ # $ % ^ & * ( ) + /\ : ? < > | ; " = , - Æ

Tip: Key your message in Word and then paste the text into the discussion. This saves online time and avoids losing the message if session times out while you are composing the message.

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Edit a posted discussion message

Note: You can only edit discussion messages you have posted yourself or saved as a draft. You will only be able to edit your messages if that setting has been enabled by your lecturer.

1. Click on Discussions in the Course Tools menu.
2. If you are presented with a list of topics, click on one of the topics to view the message(s) in that topic.
3. Under Subject, click on the message you wish to edit
4. Click Edit Message.
5. You can edit both the subject and message, insert an equation, remove or add a new attachment.
6. To preview your changes, click Preview.
7. To post the message, click Post.
8. You will be returned to the discussions topic page.

Note: The edited message replaces the original message, but it is not marked as a new message. You can also edit replies to threaded messages.

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To edit a draft discussion message

1. Click on Discussions in the Course Tools menu.
2. If you are presented with a list of topics, click on one of the topics to view the message(s) in that topic.
3. Click on the View Drafts button to the right of the screen.
4. Under Name, click on the message you wish to edit and make your changes.
5. Click on Preview to preview your message before posting it.
6. Do one of the following:
   • If you are still not ready to post the message, click Save.
   • To post the message click Post Now
7. You will be returned to the discussions topic page.

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Mark a message as read or unread

1. Click on Discussions in the Course Tools menu.
2. If you are presented with a list of topics, click on one of the topics to view the message(s) in that topic.
3. Click on the box next to the message(s) that you wish to mark as read or unread.
4. Click on the Mark as Read or Mark as Unread  button as appropriate.
   

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