Discussion boards

Discussion boards
Forums
Threads
Messages

Discussion boards are part of Learn.UQ's collaborative tools. A discussion board allows users to post discussion items and reply to the posts of others. You may be required to participate in course discussions. They are sometimes an assessable part of your course.

Discussion boards are organised in Forums, Threads and Messages. Click the tabs for more.

Tips for writing messages

Do not use any form of electronic communication, including email or discussion boards etc, to attack members of staff or fellow students:
1. You may not be able to delte the messages
2. Use of the University network is subject to our code of practice
Make the subject heading specific to the content so that readers of the discussion can establish whether the message will be relevant to them. Subjects like "Hi" and "Help me!" are generic and can be frustrating.
Message content should be relevant to the subject of the specific discussion board and thread of conversation. Your colleagues will appreciate you staying on point.
The text editor contains tools to help you format your content. Make sure your text is easy to read and well formatted.

Forums organise course discussion by defining appropriate threads of discussion.

For example: your instructor might create two forums:

Discuss the weekly reading
Course Questions and Answers

On the first forum your instructor might post a thread each week referencing a particular course reading. Your task might be to post a reply on the weekly thread with an analysis of the reading.
On the second forum users might be encouraged to create threads regarding a particular question about the course. Other users or the instructors might post responses.

Threads are literally threads of conversation. A thread is usually about one thing as defined by the creator of the thread. Users can reply to the original post or to replies by other members of the course.

Messages are the individual items created by discussion board users. Messages are posted in reply to threads or other replies to threads.

Click Discussion Board in your course menu
Or the 'Communication' or 'Tools' menu item.

Using the discussion board

Creating threads

Within a forum:

Click Create Thread

Enter a subject relevant to the forum
Type and format your message

Attach a file if required

Click Submit to publish the thread within the selected forum on the discussion board

Creating messages

Select a message within a thread and click:

Reply to create a blank message
Quote to include the content of the post to which you are replying. This allows you to refer to something said in that post without having to retype anything.

Type and format your reply
Click Submit to publish your message

Drafting messages

Creating a draft

When creating a thread or message:

Click Save Draft to save your post in an unpublished form so you can return later and update the content.

Publishing a draft

Locate your draft:
- If you are drafting a thread go to the relevant forum
- If you are drafting a message: go to the relevant forum and thread
Select your message (draft)
Click the Edit button on the post
Update the content and click Publish to make the post visible to the course

Viewing and collating threads and messages

Select the forum and thread you wish to examine

Select a message you wish to read and it will appear below
- Message posts are displayed as a list of titles, the author and the date. Messages are displayed grouped with any replies to that message.

Collect posts for easy reading

Instead of view discussion board messages individually you can collect the messages for easy reading or printing. You can also collect the contents of a whole thread.