Message Center
(Messages and Forums, formerly Discussion)

Creating Forums and Topics
Posting Messages
Viewing Messages
Replying to Messages

Use the Forums tool to post messages online; other site participants can reply at a later time. Forums differ from the Chat tool in that they are not "instant." Participants do not need to be logged in at the same time to exchange messages.

Creating Forums and Topics

An instructor must enable a discussion by setting up a forum and a topic or topics within that forum.

Click the "New Forum" button, in the Forums toolbar below the "Messages Area."
Provide a Forum Title (required).
Click the "Save Settings & Add Topic" button and complete the fields on the page that follows.
Provide a Topic Title (required).
Click the "Save Settings" button to save your topic. If you want to add additional topics, click the "Save Settings & Add Topic" button and repeat the topic-related steps above.
To add a new topic to an existing Forum, use the "New Topic" button to the right of the Forum Title.

There are a number of optional fields. You may chose to :

Provide a Short Description which will display to site participants.
Provide a longer Description which will display to site participants. An HTML editor allows you to choose the size, color, and style of text, add links, etc.
Click the "Add Attachment" button to browse for and attach a file.
Provide a Short Description which will display to site participants.
Provide a Description which will display to site participants (Note the WYSIWYG editor which allows you to choose from a variety of formatting options such as adjusting the size, color, and style of text.)
Click the "Add Attachment" button to browse for and attach a file.

[ Back to Top ]

Posting Messages

Click on a topic link. Topic links may be difficult to identify; they appear below the boxed forum links. Each has a "Topic Settings" button on the right.

If you have just created the topic, you may have to use the reset button at the tool's upper left to escape the " Create Topic" screen and see your forums and topics.
This happens when you save your topic with the "Save Settings & Add Topic" button instead of the "Save Settings" button.
To post the first message in a topic or post a message at the topic-level (versus replying to an individual message) click the "Post New Thread" button and complete the fields on the page that follows.
Complete the Title field (required).
Enter the body of the message. An HTML editor lets you to choose the size, color, and style of text for the body of the message.
Optional click the "Add Attachment" button to browse for and attach a file.
Click the "Post Message" button.

Viewing Messages

Click on a topic link. You will not see messages listed under a topic until you expand it by clicking.
Click on the subject link of a message you wish to view; messages marked in bold are those that you have not yet read.

Replying to Messages

Click on a topic link. You will not see messages listed under a topic until you expand it by clicking.
Click on the subject link of a message in order to post a reply.
Click the "Reply to Thread" button at the top of the page or the "Reply" link on the right and complete the fields on the screen that follows.
Enter the body of the message. An HTML editor lets you to choose the size, color, and style of text for the body of the message.
Optional: click the "Add Attachment" button to browse for and attach a file.
Click the "Post Message" button.