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Contents:
- Introduction
- Bulletin Board Features
- How the BBS Is Set Up: Categories, Topics, Messages
- How to Post a Reply to an Existing Topic
- How to Add an Attachment to a Posting
- How to Post a Message on a New Topic
Advanced Features:
- Changing BBS Options
- Private Topics
- Advanced Search Features
- Creating Topic Polls
Using the course bulletin board, or BBS, you can send and receive messages with information pertinent to your course. You may discuss issues, pose questions, provide feedback, even work on group assignments in small or large groups.
The bulletin board is a tool for asynchronous interaction, meaning you send and receive messages according to your own schedule — much like email. Unlike email, however, all communication in the bulletin board is public — messages posted to a BBS can be viewed by others in your course, and others can respond to your messages in a very public way. While there are "private" message functions in a BBS, most communication is public.
You can find the bulletin board for each Web course in the Communication Center area.
- Messages: Messages are the basic units of communication in the bulletin board. You create a message by typing the information you wish to share and then "posting" (sending) the message. Messages can include special word processor-like formatting and emoticons.
- Categories: The individual messages in each course bulletin board are organized in general directories — or categories — based upon topic. For example, you may have a course with categories labeled "Exercise 1," "Exam Study," and "Module 1." To help keep the bulletin board organized as clearly as possible, you should post messages pertaining to different topics in the appropriate categories.
- Topics: Subtopic — or "threads" — of discussion further categorize messages in each category. For example, in an "Exercise 1" category, a discussion of how the exercise will be graded might constitute one topic; another topic in the same category might pertain to ideas for completing the exercise. There can be multiple topics in each category.
- Advanced searching: You can search an individual category for messages containing a specific word or phrase, and you can sort postings by author, date, or keyword.
- Custom user preferences: You can customize your bulletin board view by filtering messages or displaying messages by the date they were posted.
- Email notification options: You can elect to receive notification by email of any new messages posted to a specific topic.
- File attachments: Messages can include attachments such as graphics, Microsoft Word files, and PowerPoint files.
- Topic polls: You can add a poll to a specific topic and allow everyone who has access to that topic to vote on your poll. Each person can vote only once.
