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New Mexico State University
Learning Technologies
Instructional Innovation & Quality

Discussion Board in Blackboard 8

 

As you participate in online discussions you will be expected to post and reply to messages as part of the discussion with your instructor and classmates. Notice an important distinction between creating a message and replying to a message. Creating a discussion board message begins a new starting point for the discussion, and separates your post from the rest of the discussion. On the other hand, replying to a discussion board message will link your response to the rest of the discussion and develop a continuous discussion. 

Throughout the semester, you might also want, or be expected, to share information in your discussion messages by attaching files. Furthermore, you might want to keep track of discussions by marking messages as read or unread so that you will know where you are in the discussion at a later time.
Workout: Create a Discussion Board Message
  1. From the homepage of your course, under Course Tools, click Discussions.
  2. Click on the message to which you want to respond.
  3. Click Create Message.
  4. Enter the subject of the message.
  5. Enter the message.
  6. Click Post.
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Workout: Reply to a Discussion Board Message
  1. From the homepage of your course, under Course Tools, click Discussions.
  2. Click on the message to which you want to reply.
  3. Click Reply.
  4. Enter your reply.
  5. Click Post.
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Workout: Post a Discussion Board Message with an Attachment
  1. From the homepage of your course, under Course Tools, click Discussions.
  2. From the list of discussion topics, click on the topic in which you wish to participate.
  3. Click Create.
  4. Enter a message title in the Subject box.
  5. Enter a message in the Message box.
  6. Click Add Attachments.
    The Content Browser pop-up window appears.
  7. In the Content Browser pop-up window, locate the file(s) you want to attach.
  8. Click OK.
  9. Click Post.
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Workout: Mark a Discussion Board Message as Read
  1. From the homepage of your course, under Course Tools, click Discussions.
  2. From the list of discussion topics, click on the topic in which you wish to particiapte.
  3. Check the box to the left of the message you want to mark as read.
  4. Click Mark as Read.
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Workout: Mark a Discussion Board Message as Unread
  1. From the homepage of your course, under Course Tools, click Discussions.
  2. From the list of discussion topics, click on the topic in which you wish to participate.
  3. Check the box to the left of the message you want to mark as unread.
  4. Click Mark as Unread.
    The unread message is bolded and the word “New” appears next to the message.
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