Discussion boards are asynchronous "bulletin boards" used by faculty and students to participate in substantive academic exchanges. Begin my getting online, pointing your web browser to http://bb.wpunj.edu, logging on and accessing your course.

1. Add Forum

Enter the Control Panel, click on Discussion Boards
then click on Add Forum:

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Type in the title of the discussion and a description. It is important not to type the question itself in this area; this is just a link to the discussion forum itself, which is where you want to insert the question (see New Thread, below

As a default choose to enter the description as Smart Text

In the Forum Settings you can choose to allow students to post anonymously, to edit or remove their messages, use attachments and add new threads
In the User Settings area you can delegate administrative duty to a student or students, or you can block students from participating in the discussion

2. New Thread

Once you have created the Forum you should add a Thread. The "thread" is the discussion itself, and here is where you type the question. Unless you add the question at this level students will have no way of responding to you. One common mistake is to place the question in the description area (see above) but placing it in that area tends to confuse students.

The Forum is kind of a link to the Thread, or discussion. When the Forum is created click into it, then click on Add New Thread:

Enter the subject of the question, then the question itself:



Enter an attachment if desired, then SUBMIT to complete the operation

3. Manage Views

The finished question features a "Remove" button (for the faculty member) and a "Reply" button to allow students the option of, well, replying



Student replies are indented to show the message to which is being replied; each message is a reply to the previous level of indentation. One may select the boxes to the left of each message read or remove each item. By selecting all the items and clicking on Collect one can see all the messages "in-line," that is, on one page.

Click this link to obtain help: http://euphrates.wpunj.edu/bb/hd/