How Do I Use the Discussion Board?

Make sure that you follow the directions given by your instructor for posting to the Discussion Board!

1. Navigate to your Blackboard course
2. Select Discussion Board on the left menu (or follow instructor’s directions)
3. You can view the total number of posts, unread posts and total participants to the right of each forum (thread)
4. Select (click) the desired forum (thread) link to open
5. Click Reply to respond to either the Forum or Thread and type in your reply in the Message field
6. When complete click Submit

Note: If you copy/paste information it is best to use a "pure" text editor such as Notepad. Using a word processing application such as Word will also copy "hidden" formatting and may not align properly.

What is the Discussion Board "Subscribe" option? How Do I Use It?

If your instructor has selected to allow subscriptions, you can select Subscribe to selected forums/threads and an email will be sent (your email listed in Blackboard) when a new reply is posted. To subscribe:

• Select the forum by clicking the hyperlink
• Click Subscribe (if you do not see the option, the instructor has not made it available). 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

Collect / Sort / Print Forums/Threads

Use the collect option to gather forum (thread) replies or selected posts onto one page where they can be sorted, filtered, or printed.

• To the right of the thread name, click the checkbox to select
• Select (click) Collect at the top and to the right of Thread Actions. Posts will be displayed on a page and can be sorted by author; date; or thread; ordered by ascending/descending or Select All.
• Use Print Preview (Print) to view and send to printer.

How Do I Use a Group Discussion Board? 

1. Log into your Blackboard course, under the course menu items, click My Groups to expand the menu. You will see a listing of the group(s) you have been assigned
2. Click on the Group Name to expand the available options set up for your group; e.g., File Exchange, Group Discussion Board
3. Select (click) on Group Discussion Board
4. You will see the Group Name listed as a Forum; to open the Forum click the Group Name link. If no conversations (threads) have been added by other members of the group, you can create a thread (start off the conversation) by clicking Create Thread
5. Type in a Subject name for your thread in the Name dialog box; type in the text of your message in the Message editor box
6. Click Submit

Note: Do not use copy/paste from Word! Use a "pure" text editor such as Notepad. Using a word processing application such as Word will also copy "hidden" formatting and may not align properly.

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