Messages in Discussions

In this section the following message topics will be covered:

• Reading messages
• Expanding and collapsing threads
• Replying to messages
• Forwarding messages
• Creating a message and adding an attachment
• Editing a message
• Changing the number of threads that display

Reading Messages in Discussions

1. Click on the Discussions link in the Course Tools menu. The Discussions screen displays.

Figure 4-1

The Discussions tool can be divided into categories which help to organise the topics. In each category there are specific topics.

In figure 4-1 the Discussions are divided into two categories.

• Semester 1 Discussions
• Semester 2 Discussions

Beneath each category are different topics. For example, under the Semester 1 Discussions category there are three topics: Technical queries, General Discussion and Brainstorming follow up. The Discussion tool can be arranged in many different ways with the use of categories.

To access messages in a discussion topic you need to access the topic.

2. Click on the topic title link to access a topic. The selected topic screen displays as seen in figure 4-2.

Figure 4-2

The topic screen displays all the threads in the topic. The Subject of the thread is the first column in the table.

In the Technical queries topic in figure 4-2 ,there are two threads: Technical Issues and SRC Meeting.

The Messages column displays the amount of messages in that particular thread. In this example there are three messages in each thread.

The table also provides information about the Author and the Date that this particular thread was created.

3. Click on the subject of the thread to view the message. The Message window opens displaying the message. See figure 4-3.

Figure 4-3

The message displays in the top half of the new window. The bottom half of the window contains links to the other messages in the thread. The Display Complete Thread button enables you to see the full thread.

4. Click on the Display Complete Thread button. The window refreshes and the whole thread displays.

5. Click on the Close this window link to close this window once you have finished reading the messages. The screen refreshes and the topic screen displays.

Note: Another way to view a whole thread is to click on the plus button to the right of the thread subject. This immediately brings up a new window with the full thread displaying.

Expanding and Collapsing Threads

A thread is an original message and all its responses. In a particular topic you may have many different threads. Users normally created a new thread when a different subject needs to be discussed in a particular topic. In a topic you may expand a thread to access all the messages contained in the thread. You may collapse a thread which hides the messages in the thread.

1. Click on the Discussions link in the left hand Course Tools menu. The Discussions screen displays.

2. Click on the topic title link to access a topic. The selected topic screen displays as seen in figure 4-4.

Figure 4-4

In figure 4-4 the topic is called Technical queries. The two threads are Technical issues and SRC Meeting.

3. Click on the Expand All button. The screen refreshes and the threads expand showing the messages contained in the thread as seen in figure 4-5.

Figure 4-5

4. Click on the Collapse All button. The screen refreshes and all the threads are collapsed. The messages within the thread are hidden and only the thread subject displays.

Replying to messages in Discussions

1. Click on the Discussions link in the left hand Course Tools menu. The Discussions screen displays.

2. Click on the topic name that you would like to access. The selected topic displays.

3. Click on the subject of the message to view the message. A new window opens. See figure 4-6.

Figure 4-6

In the Message window that opens you have the option of either replying to the message or forwarding the message.

4. Click on the Reply button. The window refreshes and the Reply screen displays as seen in figure 4-7.

Figure 4-7

5. Place your cursor in the Subject text box and type in the subject of your response if required.

6. Type in your response into the Message text box.

7. Click on the Post button once you have completed the response. The screen refreshes and a message appears at the top of the screen stating that your message was posted successfully. See figure 4-8.

Figure 4-8

Forwarding Messages in Discussions

The forwarding option in Discussions allows you to forward a discussion message to a user's Mail tool within WebCT. With this feature it allows you to send private messages from the discussion board to any user in the course.

1. Click on the Discussions link in the left hand Course Tools menu. The Discussions screen displays.

2. Click on the topic title that you want to access. The selected topic displays.

3. Click on the subject of the message that you would like to access. A new window opens displaying the message as seen in figure 4-9.

Figure 4-9

4. Click on the Forward button. The window refreshes and the Create Message screen displays as seen in figure 4-10.

Figure 4-10

5. Click on the Browse for Recipients button. The Select Message Recipients window opens as seen in figure 4-11.

Figure 4-11

From the Select Message Recipients screen you may select:

• A specific role
• Particular individuals
• A group

In figure 4-11 Group A is the recipient of the message (To); Group B have been carbon copied (CC) and all the auditors have been blind carbon copied (BCC).

6. Select recipients you would like to forward this message to using the To, CC and BCC check boxes.

7. Click on the Save button. The Create Message screen refreshes with the recipients added as seen in figure 4-12.

Figure 4-12

The recipients are now added. The next part of forwarding this message is typing in a new subject if required and the message.

8. Place your cursor in the Subject text box and type in a new subject if required.

9. Place your cursor in the Message text box and type in your message.

10. Click on the Preview button. The preview displays showing who the message is from and who it is being sent to. See figure 4-13.

Figure 4-13

11. Click on the Send button. The message is sent and the Message window displays.

12. Click on the Close this window link to close this window. The topic screen displays.

Forwarding Messages in Discussions

The forwarding option in Discussions allows you to forward a discussion message to a user's Mail tool within WebCT. With this feature it allows you to send private messages from the discussion board to any user in the course.

1. Click on the Discussions link in the left hand Course Tools menu. The Discussions screen displays.

2. Click on the topic title that you want to access. The selected topic displays.

3. Click on the subject of the message that you would like to access. A new window opens displaying the message as seen in figure 4-9.

Figure 4-9

4. Click on the Forward button. The window refreshes and the Create Message screen displays as seen in figure 4-10.

Figure 4-10

5. Click on the Browse for Recipients button. The Select Message Recipients window opens as seen in figure 4-11.

Figure 4-11

From the Select Message Recipients screen you may select:

• A specific role
• Particular individuals
• A group

In figure 4-11 Group A is the recipient of the message (To); Group B have been carbon copied (CC) and all the auditors have been blind carbon copied (BCC).

6. Select recipients you would like to forward this message to using the To, CC and BCC check boxes.

7. Click on the Save button. The Create Message screen refreshes with the recipients added as seen in figure 4-12.

Figure 4-12

The recipients are now added. The next part of forwarding this message is typing in a new subject if required and the message.

8. Place your cursor in the Subject text box and type in a new subject if required.

9. Place your cursor in the Message text box and type in your message.

10. Click on the Preview button. The preview displays showing who the message is from and who it is being sent to. See figure 4-13.

Figure 4-13

11. Click on the Send button. The message is sent and the Message window displays.

12. Click on the Close this window link to close this window. The topic screen displays.

Creating a Message in Discussions and Adding an Attachment

When you create a new message in a topic you are creating a new thread. It is best to create a new message when the subject you want to discuss is a new subject within a topic. If the message you want to post is linked to a subject that already exists in the topic then it is better to reply to one of the messages in that particular thread.

1. Click on the Discussions link in the left hand Course Tools menu. The Discussions screen displays.

2. Click on the topic subject you would like to access. The topic screen displays as seen in figure 4-14.

Figure 4-14

3. Click on the Create Message button. The Create Message window opens as seen in figure 4-15.

Figure 4-15

4. Place your cursor in the Subject text box and type in the subject of your message.

5. Place your cursor in the Message text box and type in your message.

Note: If you require specific formatting for the message, access the HTML Creator by selecting the On radio button just above the message text box. If you do not require specific formatting you can type in your message as seen in figure 4-15 and continue creating your message. To find out how to use HTML Creator please refer to Section 8: The HTML Creator.

6. Click on the Add Attachments button. The Get Files screen displays as seen in figure 4-16.

Figure 4-16

7. Click on the My Computer icon to access the files on your computer and add an attachment to this message. The Open window displays as seen in figure 4-17.

Figure 4-17

8. Click on the file name you would like to add as an attachment to your message. The file name is highlighted.

9. Click on the Open button. The My Computer Applet window opens at the top of your screen displaying the progress of the upload. See figure 4-18.

Figure 4-18

Once the upload is completed that window closes automatically and you will see the Create Message screen displaying with the attachment added as seen in figure 4-19. In figure 4-19 we have added a file called Respond.jpg.

Figure 4-19 Note: To the right of the file Respond.jpg there is a page icon with a red arrow.

If you have added the incorrect attachment, clicking on this icon will delete the attachment.

Note: If at this stage you require to spell check your message you would need to access the HTML Creator. Please refer to Section 8: HTML Creator to see how to spell check your message.

10. Click on the Post button to post your discussion message. The Topic screen refreshes and your message is posted.

Editing a Message in Discussions

You may only edit discussion messages if the designer has given you permission in the topic to edit your own posts.

1. Click on the Discussions link in the left hand Course Tools menu. The Discussions screen displays.

2. Click on the topic heading that you would like to access. The topic screen displays. See figure 4-20.

Figure 4-20

3. Click on the message subject that you would like to edit. The Message window opens as seen in figure 4-21.

Figure 4-21

4. Click on the Edit Message button just below the message. The Edit Message screen displays as seen figure 4-22.

Figure 4-22

5. Edit the message where required.

6. Click on the Post button. The message is posted and the topic screen displays with a message at the top stating "Your message was posted successfully".

Changing the Number of Threads Displaying on the Screen

The number of threads displayed on a particular page can be edited by the student. The more messages that appear on a page the longer the page will take to load.

1. Click on the Discussions link in the left hand Course Tools menu. The Discussions screen displays.

2. Click on the topic name that you would like to access. The topic screen displays as seen in figure 4-23.

Figure 4-23

Notice in figure 4-23 in the far right hand corner there is a page icon.

3. Click on the page icon. The Edit Paging window opens as seen in figure 4-24. The edit paging setting enables you to select how many threads will display on a page in a particular topic.

Figure 4-24

4. Type in the number of threads you would like to display in a page in the Number of records per page text box.

5. Click on the OK button. The Edit Paging window closes and the setting is saved. The screen refreshes displaying the amount of threads set in step 4.

Note: If a topic page has more records there will be a menu found at the bottom of the page as seen in figure 4-25.

Figure 4-25

This menu enables you to access the other pages within this particular topic. You will notice a drop-down menu (with each separate page and all the pages) as well as an icon to go to the next page.

Threaded and Unthreaded

You may view your messages as threaded or as unthreaded in discussions. Threaded enables you to see the original message with all the responses to the message. Unthreaded messages are listed in a chronological order. That is messages are listed according to the date and time they are posted.

1. Click on the Discussions link in the left hand Course Tools menu. The Discussions screen displays.

2. Click on the topic subject to access the topic. The topic screen displays.

3. Click on the Threaded button to display the messages as threaded. See figure 4-26.

Figure 4-26

Note: If this threaded button is greyed out this means that the topic is already displaying as threaded.

4. Click on the Unthreaded button. The screen refreshes and the messages are displayed as unthreaded in chronological order. See figure 4-27.

Figure 4-27

All or Unread

You have two options to view messages in discussions:

• Viewing all the messages in the topic
• Viewing only the unread messages in the topic.

1. Click on the Discussions link in the left hand Course Tools menu. The Discussions screen displays.

2. Click on the topic heading you would like to access. The topic screen displays and by default all the messages in the topic display.

3. Click on the Unread button to access the new discussion messages in this topic. Only the unread or new messages display in the topic as seen in figure 4-28.

Figure 4-28

4. Click on the All button to access all the messages in this topic. Both the read and unread messages display as seen in figure 4-29.

Figure 4-29

Marking messages as read

The Discussions screen automatically refreshes and marks messages that you have read as read. You may manually mark messages as read if required.

1. Click on the Discussions link in the left hand Course Tools menu. The Discussions screen displays.

2. Click on the topic subject to access the topic. The topic screen displays.

3. Click on the Expand All button. All the threads are expanded in the topic.

4. Select the message/s that you would like to mark as read by clicking on the check boxes to the left of the message subjects. See figure 4-30.

Figure 4-30

5. Click on the Mark as Read button. The screen refreshes and the messages are marked as read.

Marking Messages as Unread

1. Click on the Discussions link in the left hand Course Tools menu. The Discussions screen displays.

2. Click on the topic subject to access the topic. The topic screen displays.

3. Select the messages that you would like to mark as unread by clicking on the check box to the left of the message subject.

4. Click on the Mark as Unread button. The screen refreshes and the selected messages are marked as unread.

Note: Messages that are unread display in bold in the Discussions screen.

Creating a Printable View

You may create a Printable View of your discussion messages and save them as a file on your computer or print them. This is useful when you want to read your discussion messages while you are offline. You may select a whole thread and save it on your local computer and access it later. You only need to be online to post your replies to any of those messages you have read.

1. Click on the Discussions link in the left hand Course Tools menu. The Discussions screen displays.

2. Click on the topic name to access the topic. The topic screen displays.

3. Select the messages that you would like a printable view of, by clicking on the check boxes to the left of the message subjects. See figure 4-31.

Figure 4-31

4. Click on the Create Printable View button. The Compiled Messages window opens as seen in figure 4-32.

Figure 4-32

You have two options in the Compiled Messages window. You can either print the messages or you can save these messages as a file.

Note: To print the messages you would select the Print button. The print window will open and you will follow the usual prompts to print.

5. Click on the Save as File button to save these discussion messages as a file on your computer. If the messages contain attachments, a window will appear stating: These messages contain attachments do you want to save the attachments also? If none of the messages contain attachments the File Download window displays as seen in figure 4-33. (Skip step 6-7 and continue with step 8.)

6. Click on the Cancel button if you would like to save the messages but not the attachments. The File Download window displays as seen in figure 4-33.

Or

7. Click on the OK button if you want to save the messages as well as the attachments. The File Download window displays as seen in figure 4-33.

Note: If you are using a browser other than Internet Explorer follow the prompts to save the file. If you are using Internet Explore follow the steps below.

Figure 4-33

8. Click on the Save button. The Save As window displays.

9. From the Save As window navigate to the location on your computer you would like to save the file.

10. Click on the Save button. The Download complete screen will display as seen in figure 4-34.

11. Click on the Close button.

Figure 4-34

You may choose to open the file, open the folder or close the window. The file will now be accessible on your computer from the location that you saved it in.

Accessing all my Posts

You have the option to access all your posts in the Discussion tool using the All My Posts option.

1. Click on the Discussions link in the left hand Course Tools menu. The Discussions screen displays. See figure 4-35.

Figure 4-35

2. Click on the All My Posts link seen at the top of the screen. The All My Posts screen displays as seen in figure 4-36.

Figure 4-36

In the All My Posts screen you have the option to create a printable view of all your posts. You can also create messages from this screen or just view the different posts that you have posted in discussions.

Viewing all Topics

Using the All Topics option you may access all topics in the discussion tool from one screen.

1. Click on the Discussions link in the left hand Course Tools menu. The Discussions screen displays as seen in figure 4-35.

2. Click on the All Topics link found at the top of the screen. The All Topics screen displays as seen in figure 4-37.

Figure 4-37

In the All Topics screen you may view all messages in discussions because it displays all messages in all topics. You may view these messages in either the threaded or unthreaded mode. You may also create a printable view from this screen. This will enable you to save a file with all the messages in Discussions.

Note: If you access the All Topics option and select the unread messages view, you can access all new messages in Discussions. If you create a printable view of the new messages and save it to your computer you can read all the new messages offline.

Creating a Message and Saving it as a Draft

1. Click on the Discussions link in the left hand Course Tools menu. The Discussions screen displays.

2. Click on the topic subject you would like to access. The topic screen displays.

3. Click on the Create Message button. The Create Message screen displays as seen in figure 4-38.

4. Select the topic you want to post this message to from the Topic drop-down menu.

Note: The only time you will need to select a topic is if you are creating a message from the All Topics screen. If you are creating a message from within a topic, skip step 4.

Figure 4-38

5. Place your cursor in the Subject text box and type in the message subject.

6. Place your cursor in the Message text box and type in the message.

7. Click on the Save as Draft button. The Create Message window closes and the message is saved as a draft.

Accessing a Draft Message and Posting it

1. Click on the Discussions link in the left hand Course Tools menu. The Discussions screen displays.

2. Click on the topic subject name you would like to access. The topic screen displays as seen in figure 4-39.

Figure 4-39

3. Click on the View Drafts button. A View Drafts window opens as seen in figure 4-40.

Figure 4-40

4. Click on the name of the draft that you would like to access found beneath the Name column. In Figure 4-40 you would click on the "Query" link. The Draft Message screen displays as seen in figure 4-41.

Figure 4-41

5. Edit the required fields in the draft message.

6. Click on the Post Now button to post the message. The screen refreshes displaying the topic discussion screen with a messages stating: "Your message was posted successfully" at the top of the screen.

Searching for Discussion Messages

In WebCT you would use the Search Tool to search for discussion messages in the Discussion Tool. You may only use the Search tool if it has been added to the course by the designer.

1. Click on the Search link in the left hand Course Tools menu. The Advanced Search screen displays as seen in figure 4-42.

Figure 4-42

2. Select the radio button to the left of New search to begin a new search.

3. Type the word you are searching for into the Search for text box.

4. Select the check box to the left of the Search area you require to search in. In figure 4-42 the Title and Subject areas have been selected.

Note: If you select the Full text option, it does not search in the title, author or subject areas.

5. Click on the Search tool drop-down menu and select from the drop-down menu what tool you would like to search in. See figure 4-43.

Figure 4-43

6. Click on the Any date radio button beneath the Date heading if you would like to search within any date.

Or

7. Selecting the Specify date range radio button if you would like to search within a specific date range.

8. Select the month, day and year from the Beginning date drop-down menus.

9. Select the month, day and year from the Ending date drop-down menus.

10. Select how you would like your search results sorted from the Sort results by drop-down menu. See figure 4-44.

Figure 4-44

The sorting choices (Relevance, Title, Author, Tool and Date) are explained in the table below.

Item	Description
Relevance	To sort results beginning with records containing the most occurrences of your search terms.
Title	To sort results alphabetically by record title.
Author	To sort results alphabetically by authors name.
Tool	To sort results alphabetically by the tool.
Date	To sort results by beginning with the most recent records.

11. Click on the Search button. The screen refreshes and the results of the search are displayed as seen in figure 4-45.

Figure 4-45

12. To view the topic in discussions, click the hyperlinked title of the topic. The topic screen will display.

Note: The search that you did will remain in the Search tool until you start a new search. You may also search within the results to refine your search.