The Discussion Board is a tool for sharing thoughts and ideas about class materials asynchronously (not at the same time). The Discussion Board is administered by the faculty member and made up of forums that may appear anywhere in the course but are also all centrally located in the Discussion Board tool.
In the Discussion Board, a forum is a general topic for discussion. A thread is subordinate discussion within the forum.
Students can access the Discussion Board through the Tools menu link in the Course Menu, or a faculty member can create a Discussion Board link to display as part of the Course Menu.
To create a Discussion Board forum: From the Course Menu, click Tools, click Discussion Board, then click Create Forum in the adjacent content frame.
In the Discussion Board, a Discussion is a general topic for discussion. A Response is an original post to the Discussion. A Reply is a post made to comment on a particular Response.
Discussions can be created on the Course Content page, at the top level, within a folder, or within a module. This allows students to access the Discussion along with the other course materials, which helps to ensure they are aware of the activity. Discussions created on the Course Content page also have visible indicators when new Responses are posted, which can prompt students and faculty to visit the Discussion to read others' posts and continue the conversation.
Discussions can also be created on the Discussions tab in the upper right (it looks like two conversation bubbles). All Discussions appear on the Discussions tab, whether they are created here or created on the Course Content page.
In Ultra Course View, a Discussion can be designated for group participation in the Settings. This creates a single Discussion where students can only see the responses from their group members. If grading is enabled, there is a single column for the Discussion.
While you can use Discussions to develop or share ideas, you can also use Class Conversations for quick exchanges on specific content or assessments.
Discussion board forums include a "subscriptions" feature, which you can enable for both you and your students, to notify you of recent activity. To enable subscriptions on a forum, and to subscribe to it:
815-753-8100
servicedesk@niu.edu