Using the Discussion Board (Forum)

When you click on a discussion board (also referred to as a forum), you will be taken to a screen like the one below. There, you will find a description of the forum assignment, including what requirements must be satisfied in order to receive full credit.

There are two basic types of discussion boards you will encounter most often while a student here at DCC:

  1. Standard forum for general use
    This is a simple post & response forum. Unless directed otherwise, you should respond to the instructor's question/assignment, then reply to at least 2 other student postings during that week in order to receive full credit for the assignment. You will need to click the button that says "Add a new discussion topic" to make your initial response to the instructor's questions. You should try to give your posting a relevant subject line that will help distinguish it from the other posts by your classmates.

  2. Q and A forum
    Q and A forums are different from the Standard forums in this way: In order to see other responses to the questions, you must first post your own answer. The easiest way to tell if a forum is Q and A is by looking at the space above the description of the forum's requirements, where a line of text will tell you that the forum is question and answer if that is indeed the case. Another way to tell is that instead of the "Add a new discussion topic" button, you will see an "Add a new question" button.

    In Flex classes, your weekly participation forums are in this Q and A format. You may notice that even the "Add a new question" button is usually missing in these participation forums. If that is the case, you are most likely required to submit your response as a reply to your instructor's post rather than creating your own new thread. The same Q and A rules will apply here, meaning that you will not see anyone else's response until you have posted your own answer.

Posting to the Discussion Board

After you click the "Add a new discussion topic" or "Add a new question" button, you will be taken to a screen with a text area and a toolbar much like you see in a word processor. You can create your posting there, or if you prefer you can create your posting in a word processor, then copy and paste it into the forum's posting area:

If you scroll to the bottom of this posting page, you will find an attachment box which allows you to upload a file or files to the discussion board. The process to upload works much like uploading assignments and is illustrated in the help file on submitting written assignments.

If you wish to reply to a post made by one of your classmates or your instructor, simply click on the title of the discussion thread from the forum's description page, then use the "Reply" link in the lower right corner to create your response. In crafting your reply, you will be presented with the same text area and toolbar as above.

How Forum Posts are Graded

Note in the screenshot below that "Grading Rubric" is a link. Clicking this link will take you to a page which explains how Standard forums will be graded unless otherwise indicated in that specific forum's description.

After your instructor grades your post, you will be able to see the score underneath the text of your post. You are the only one who can see your grades.

Account Preferences and Forums

You have the opportunity to set some preferences that effect your experience with the discussion board. You can adjust these preferences by clicking "Edit profile" in the "My profile settings" section of the Settings block which can be found on the left side of any page:

After you click on the "Edit profile" link, you will be taken to the page pictured below, where the following options may be changed relating to your experience with the forums:


Rev. 07.06.13