Discussion Boards
Blackboard's Discussion Boards are available in all courses and are accessible by all students.
Blackboard's Discussion Board allows students to discuss and share ideas and information without requiring all participants to be online at the same time. Discussion Board conversations are logged and organized with conversations grouped into threads that contain a main posting heading and all related replies.
Discussion Boards may be graded / ungraded.
In order for students to post threads (messages) to the Discussion Board, you must first create a forum on a specific topic
How Do I Create a Forum?
- Login to your Blackboard course and select Discussion Board from left-hand side menu tab (can also access from the expanded Control Panel under Course Tools, Discussion Board)
- Click “Create Forum” button near the top left-hand side
- Type in a Name(required) for the forum and type in any instructions or text in Description
- Choose options for “Available” or “Date Time restrictions”
- Forum settings suggested (other than default settings):
- "Allow Author to Delete Own Posts" - only posts with no replies
- "Allow Author to Edit Own Published Posts"
- Subscribe: allowing users (instructor/students) to subscribe to forum(s) will send an email when a new post is submitted (see "Using the Subscribe Option" below)
- Grade: If grading option selected type in number of point possible. Once selected the option to "Show participants in "needs grading" status after x number of posts
- Associated Rubrics: Ability to Add (grading) Rubric will also become available if grading option selected
- Click Submit
How do I Create an Initial Thread?
Now that you have created the forum, you suggest that an initial thread is created to start the conversation and instruct the students to “Reply” to the thread with their posts.
- Select Discussion Board forum name created above
- Click the “Create Thread” button near the top left-hand side
- Type a name in the Subject box and thread (question) text in Message box
- Click Submit
Using the Subscribe Option
When creating a Discussion Board forum, selecting the option to allow "subscriptions" will allow users to receive email notifications whenever new activity is posted to the forum (or thread). Select the option to either "Include body of post in email" or just to include a link to the post.
If you have selected the option to allow subscriptions, you and your students can select Subscribe to selected forums/threads. An email will be sent (to your email listed in Blackboard) when a new reply is posted. To subscribe:
- Select the forum by clicking the hyperlink
- Click Subscribe You can unsubscribe at any time but click the option to Unsubscribe.
When a new reply is posted by other participants, you will receive an email