Using the Vista Discussion Board
Demo: View and Send Discussion Posts
The Discussions tool provides asynchronous communication
between instructors and students, meaning that the users need
not be online at the same time to communicate.
Discussion Overview
Discussions may be divided into topics that help to organize
the communication. Topics can be a related to a chapter or
a specific question or the introduction of a new concept,
depending on how your instructor organizes the discussion
board. Discussion messages can be threaded—threads
are a series of replies to the same subject, allowing users
to more easily follow a discussion from start to finish.
With Vista Discussions, you can
- Read and post messages
- Search the full text of messages
- Sort messages by name, date, author, or number of messages
- Compile and download messages
The Discussion Tool may appear as an icon on the Course Toolbar
(figure 1), providing access to the full discussion board
and a view of all categories and topics at once.
Figure 1: Link to Main Discussions Board from Course
Toolbar
Specific Discussion Topics can also be linked on the course
home page (figure 2) or other organizer pages, as well as
directly from within a Learning Module. Your link to the Discussion
messages may appear in one or more places in your course depending
on how your instructor has set it up.
Figure 2: Link to Specific Discussion Tool from Home
or Other Organizer Page
Viewing
Main Discussion Board
When you click the Discussion tool on the Course toolbar
you will be taken to the main page of the Discussion board
(figure 3). Here you will see a listing of discussion categories
and/or topics. Categories may be used to further organize
discussions. The number of new and total messages within each
topic will be shown, as well as the date and time of the last
posting. Click on the topic title to view the messages in
that topic.
Figure 3: Main Discussion Board Listing Discussion
Topics
Viewing Messages within a Topic
When you click on the Discussion icon/link from the home
page or from within a learning module, you will be linked
directly to the message(s) in that topic (figure 4). Typically,
the title of the topic will be the name of the link.
Figure 4: Messages within a Topic
When viewing the discussion messages (figure 5), you can
choose how you want the items organized.
- Sort by message subject, author, and date.
- Expand or collapse a message thread to view all of the
messages in that thread.
- View an entire thread at once by clicking the Display
Complete Thread icon next to the message title.
- Compile one or more message threads into a single page
that can be viewed, downloaded, or printed.
- Mark messages as Read or Unread, regardless of whether
you have opened the message
- View messages in a Threaded view (all replies to a message
will be grouped together) or Unthreaded view (all messages
will be listed by the designated sort order)
Figure 5: Organizing Messages in a Discussion Topic
Reading Messages
From the messages screen, locate the message you want to
read and click its subject. The message will open in a new
window and display the text and a hyperlinked list of all
replies to that message (figure 7).
Figure 7: View Message and Replies
- If the message includes an attached file, click the filename
and it will open, or you can save it to a folder in your
My Files area.
- You can reply to the message and your reply will become
part of the message thread.
- You can forward the message to another member’s
Mail box. This option opens the Compose mail message window
and the rules of WebCT mail apply.
- To move directly between messages in the thread, you
can click Previous and Next, or you can click on the message
name/subject to go to a different message in that thread.
- To view the entire message thread in another window,
click Display Complete Thread. You can view, save, or print
from this compiled message view.
Composing
Messages
From the message screen, click the Compose Message
button. The Compose Message screen appears (figure 6). Enter
a Subject heading (required) for your message. Enter the content
of your message in the message box. To easily add formatting
to your discussion message, invoke the HTML editor. You can
add text attributes, such as bold, italics, and underline,
as well as images, hyperlinks, and tables. And, you can spell-check
your text. For more details on the HTML editor, refer to that
section later in this guide.
Figure 6: Compose Discussion Message
Other options for a new discussion message include
- Insert math or symbolic expressions in your message with
an Equation Editor
- Add attachments to your message
- Preview your message before sending (especially helpful
if you have not used the HTML editor to create your message)
- Save your message as a draft to edit at a later time
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