GUIDELINES for Communications in the Discussion Board
DB_DIRECTIONS
Postings to Discussion Board
The conventions of communication in the Online Course may differ
from other types of online communication that you have experienced.
Many websites provide information about what some refer to as
"netiquette. The points noted below are highlights to keep in mind
when making posts to a Discussion Board or a Wiki and when you are
communicating with fellow students or instructors via email.
Online posts don’t convey "tone": Humor, sarcasm, and
other more subtle messages that might come through more
clearly when there are facial gestures, body language and
other non-verbal, interactive cues. Keep this in mind, as
your online communications may not be interpreted as you
intended them.
Think before you send: If you are angry or feel strongly
about an online communication, pause before hitting submit.
Consider re-reading the post, to make sure you understood
the context fully. It may help to draft your post using a
word processing program first. Then you may cut and paste it
into your response. This will contribute to the clarity of
your communication, and may build in a mechanism to require
you to weigh what you have written. If you still feel the
need to send an angry response, wait 24 hours before doing
so.
You are in class: These college courses are in an
online format – but don’t forget, this is a (virtual)
college environment. So it’s important to remember that
communication that would be considered inappropriate in a
face-to-face classroom is inappropriate in an online
classroom as well.
Offer criticisms but attempt to make them positive. Show
civility and respect for others. INTERACT with your
classmates in a manner that will improve on the frequency
and manner of INTERACTIONS in the LEARNING COMMUNITY.
Ask questions of one another. Offer answers. Ask for
assistance with anything you do not understand. Offer
assistance to others. Bring in online materials relevant to
the matter being discussed.
Emoticons and Abbreviations: You may use such symbols
ONLY in the Student Cafe or CHAT ROOM of this virtual
classroom. ONLY in the Student Cafe or CHAT ROOM
These guidelines are brief and are meant to build on and refer to
standards that have been developed at other colleges or
universities. For example, see the University of Wisconsin
guidelines here
http://online.uwc.edu/Technology/onlEtiquette.asp
Another more detailed set of guidelines can be found here:
http://www.albion.com/netiquette/corerules.html
Within each forum, the messages are listed with the
subject towards the left side of the screen and the name of
the person posting the message in the middle. To read a
message, click the underlined subject (on the left) not
the person's name. (Clicking the name either brings up an
incomprehensible error message or an e-mail message form
addressed to that person.)
Read each message. Once you open a message, you can get
to the next one simply by clicking the words Next Post
(Message)
If you want to reply to a message, click the Reply
button beneath it. You can change the subject that appears
(by deleting it and typing in a new one). Then type your
message in the message box. When you're done, you can either
click Preview to see how your reply will look before
you submit it or click Submit to submit it.
Remember: If you forget to click Submit, your
message will be lost forever.
Options for Listing and Reading
Threads and Replies
Click VIEW UNREAD MESSAGES to see only the messages that
you have not read.
Click COLLAPSE ALL (the box with the - in it
on the top right side) to see all the threads. (When you do this,
each thread that has at least one reply will have a + before
it--but you won't see the reply until you click the + before
the thread.)
Click EXPAND ALL (the box with the + in it
on the top right side) to see all the threads and every reply to
each thread.
Click SEARCH you start a search for specific messages
based on keywords (e.g., you remember somebody said something about
a key term, but you don't remember neither name of the person
posting nor date of the posting. This way you can find a message
quickly.).
After you finish reading a message, you can click Next Post
(Message) to see the next one. If the words Next Post
(Message) are gray instead of black, then there is no next
message to click. Then just click the OK button on the bottom
right to return to the list of messages.
Under the SEARCH option is a tab with the words SHOW OPTIONS
on it. If you click this tab, you get additional options. All
messages now have a check box in front which allows you to perform a
certain action to all the messages you check. You can set all
checked messages to be marked "as read" or "as unread." Or you can
"collect" all checked messages, meaning the full text of these
messages will be displayed on one page, and you can print them. If
you want these check boxes to go away, simply click the tab which
now reads HIDE OPTIONS.